8 Ways a Real Estate Chatbot Generates (High Quality) Leads
In the real estate business, just getting leads is not enough. The quality of those leads and of the relationship you build with them over time; that is what you are after.
Chatbots have emerged as a fantastic way to achieve both in the real estate industry.
Need inspiration? From lead generation to nurturing and building a cross-platform presence, here are eight ways we've seen chatbots help in this sector.
What is a real estate chatbot?
This is the most logical place to start. What is a real estate chatbot?
Chatbot technology has evolved to now reach almost every aspect of our lives. We see them on Facebook Messenger. We talk to them over the phone. They help us plan our trips or crack some jokes.
In the real estate business, chatbots are revolutionising the way customers find properties, as well as how agents sell properties. Instead of forcing them to fill up a boring old form, potential buyers get to ask the robot questions in a natural way. This completely changes the game.
Think of the last time you had to look for a property to rent in your area. Was it the beautiful experience you hoped it would be?
Real estate websites tend to be slow and clunky. Maybe you would have preferred to talk with an agent straight away. It would make it easier to give your requirements over the phone and have them do the digging. But, then, you'd have to talk to a human (huh...), potentially get stuck waiting (huhhh...), and even risk not talking to anyone at all (huuuuhhhhhh...).
Chatbots are flipping the real estate industry on its head. You can now do your searches in a natural way, as you would with a human, without all the downsides.
Sounds cool? Estate agents think so too. Throughout my conversations, I noticed eight main reasons why they are getting excited.
8 reasons to get excited about real estate chatbots
The eight reasons I am going to list below are mostly targeted at real estate agents. These are the reasons why they get excited about chatbots.
Keep in mind, though, that as a consumer these are all reasons to get excited too. You will soon realise why.
Let's get started.
Generate more leads
Who doesn't want more leads?
Real estate chatbots help agencies generate more leads. Why? Because chatbots are 24/7 and helpful. The right chatbot will make sure its users are getting what they need from their search. It will also capture the information necessary to create a valid lead in your database.
It's not a gimmick or a 'fancy form'. It's a true, helpful, AI-powered lead generating tool.
Better quality leads
Alright, so we all want more leads, fine. What we want, though, is qualified leads.
Since chatbots can interact in real time with its users, it can dig deeper into what they want -- with precision. This creates highly qualified leads.
Your chatbot will not merely ask for a name and a phone number, promising a callback. It will capture everything you need to direct that lead to the perfect person in your company.
Real estate chatbots are 24/7
A chatbot is 24/7. There was a time when a website was sold on the premise that it was a 24/7 asset. That was in the 90s. Chatbots are the new ultimate 24/7 asset.
There shouldn't be any reason for you to miss out on any leads because they tried to get in touch with you between 11 pm and 5 am. Your chatbot is there to help, at any time of the day or night, capturing these targeted leads.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) found 56% of buyers 36 years old and younger find their house on the internet. Don't lose any of that buying power by missing out on leads.
Build strong relationships with buyers
I love this one. An incredible number of agents I spoke to got excited about the prospect of building relationships with clients.
A big part of offering great service as an estate agent is the relationship. It's a human-first job. Building trust and comfort is paramount. The trouble is an online form can't convey that. It makes it really hard to build a relationship with a potential client at the start of their journey.
Through a chatbot, though, you can. Your real estate chatbot will speak the language you want it to speak. It will be friendly, interested, attentive, knowledgeable about the area the user is searching in, and more.
Chatbots allow you to start building a relationship from the get-go.
Be available on multiple platforms
While your form may only live on your website, chatbots can live pretty much anywhere you want.
At ubisend, we build ubiquitous chatbots. This means we only have to build a chatbot once, then we can deploy it across different channels in the flick of a switch (thanks to our super smart tech).
Now, instead of solely relying on your website as a source of leads, you can use your website, your Facebook Messenger, Telegram, email, SMS, and more.
A channel for property buyers and sellers
Everything above also applies to people reaching out to your agency to sell their property.
Some of the agents I spoke to got excited about getting sellers through their onboarding process via a chatbot. This can be a gruelling and boring process. Most sellers have loads of questions and very little patience to wait for the answers.
Why not get a chatbot help sellers out?
Tracking and logging conversations
This a surprising advantage over phone conversations. Chatbots log everything in. Whatever was said between the user and the chatbot, it's all in there.
It's an invaluable advantage when an actual human takes over the lead. They can read through the log, understand the conversation, catch up with the relationship that was built, and service the client better.
Need to report on anything? It's all in there. You can dig back through hundreds of conversations and get incredible insights.
Save time
Finally, the one to trump them all: time.
Chatbots save you time. Think of all the things I've mentioned above.
- You create more leads, on automation.
- You build relationships, on automation.
- You log everything in, on automation.
- You onboard new sellers, on automation.
Etc.
Time is our most precious asset. Think of all the things you could do with the time you save. Focus on the things that make you the best in your field, let the bot do the grunt work.
Is a chatbot right for your estate agency?
If you believe your business could benefit from any of the advantages above, then of course yes.
Even if, for a minute, we take your estate agent hat off and look at the situation from a lead generation point of view, chatbots are incredibly valuable. One of our chatbots has created over 30,000 warm leads since its inception. Just by being there, 24/7, chatting to people landing on the website.
Would you want that for your business?
