Whether you operate as a local real estate agency or work as an international intermediary between property owners and potential buyers, implementing conversational AI into the equation can be beneficial for your bottom line. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in the customer outreach and servicing field come in the form of chatbots, or machine-learning algorithms capable of adapting to clients’ needs over time. According to a survey, 27% of adults in the US are ready to conduct business and purchases via chatbots, while 28% of leading global companies already rely on AI for marketing.
There is no better time than now to secure your spot in a constantly-developing chatbot-powered market for the benefit of both your real estate business and its clients. With that in mind, let’s take a look at what makes chatbots unique in their functionality, the benefits of their use, as well as several guidelines that can help you determine the best course of action when it comes to integrating AI marketing in the real estate industry.
The Basics of Chatbots and their Wide-Spread Appeal
Let’s start off by discussing what chatbots represent in practice so that we can make a better case for their day-to-day use. In essence, chatbots are a form of AI that learns over time (since it is based on machine-learning). What this means is that chatbots are capable of gathering conversational data from clients and help you, as their administrator, to craft more meaningful and informative dialogue options over time.
Chatbots are autonomous but they are not independent, meaning that you, as a real estate agency owner or an agent, should direct them in terms of how they should approach new and recurring clients. According to a survey, the real estate industry is one of the leading markets when it comes to chatbot implementation (28%), while experts agree that 85% of total customer interaction will be handled by AI by 2020.
The costs of quality, in this case, are minimal since chatbots require little-to-no downtime and operate around the clock as opposed to real-world client service agents. They are easy to maintain and require only basic supervision and check-ups so that you are aware of new interactions and client requests which come through your website’s chatbot. While their logic and support cannot make up for human agents, their inclusion in your overall real estate marketing activities can elevate your business’ reputation, help your brand stand out from the crowd and gain positive word of mouth as a result.
Adopting an Original Voice
One of the most important benefits of using chatbots on your real estate website is because of their ability to adopt an original voice for your brand. For better or worse, your real estate business is one of many in the industry – this means that differentiation is key to success. If you decide to implement AI into your website, you will be able to interact with visitors in a unique tone of voice specific to your brand.
This can be achieved by writing original dialogue for your chatbot with a casual but professional tone of voice or by creating a persona (Agent Craig, for example). If you don’t have a content creator or writer in-house, you can delegate some of your chatbot writing needs to services such as WoWGrade in order to get the AI set up more efficiently. The more one-of-a-kind your chatbot’s dialogue and approach is, the better your chances will be at engaging visitors and turning them into prospective clients.
24/7 Client Servicing
As we’ve previously mentioned, one of the major benefits of featuring chatbots on your real estate website is their ability to provide you with 24/7 client servicing coverage. Even if your business is set up in the US exclusively, you never know when a client might want to contact you with questions concerning certain properties.
With that in mind, chatbots can efficiently engage visitors around the clock and provide them with rudimentary assistance, point them toward interesting properties and help put the two of you in contact more easily. This effectively eliminates the need for real-life agents to be on standby and wait for potential website visitors, allowing for better time and resource management in your agency.
Increased Lead Generation Potential
As with any business on the market, yours needs to generate revenue and sales in order to stay afloat and operational. Chatbots can assist you in those goals by increasing the efficiency of your client engagement and by suggesting relevant links and properties to visitors.
For example, if an individual does approach your website with the intent to purchase a lakeside property, a mere mention of “lakeside property” can trigger the relevant links to be called up by your chatbot in their next response. If the property is unsuitable to the individual, a chatbot can continue with suggestions based on other filters listed by the user, such as property size, upper price limit, etc. This will not only shorten the amount of time a client has to spend browsing the website but also allow them to confirm a meet-and-greet or a reservation through the chatbot in just a few seconds.
Multi-Channel Coverage
Depending on the scale of your operation as well as how many properties in different states you have on offer, you can extend your chatbot coverage beyond the real estate agency’s website. Chatbots can easily be implemented into social media messaging, email, blog and other online channels with your brand’s presence on them.
This will allow potential clients to engage with and browse through relevant properties even if they are on social media and not yet aware of your dedicated real estate website. Integrating chatbots into different communication channels will effectively increase the scope and coverage of your marketing, directing all potential clients to the centralized real estate database on your website.
Scheduling Agent-Client Meetings
Chances are that your would-be clients will be interested in guided tours and previews of properties on their radars. To that end, chatbots can be highly advantageous by allowing interested clients to schedule calls and meetings with your real estate agents.
This would effectively eliminate downtime which inevitably comes from initial communication where agents and clients still don’t know each other but need to come in touch in order for the tour to take place. Filters such as property area, preferred days and times, as well as any special requests clients might have can all be entered into the chatbot’s chat box and processed accordingly. You can be as basic or advanced with your chatbot-scheduled meetings as you want, depending on your real estate agency’s scale of operations.
Conversational Data Analysis
Lastly, any and all data gathered by your AI can be used for the betterment of your services as a real estate business. You can use the conversational data to enrich existing chatbot dialogue with more varied and organic responses.
It’s also possible to take user preferences and behavior patterns into consideration and implement them across your content marketing strategy and website navigation. This will allow your business to continuously grow and change over time based on current trends, industry standards, and client expectations.
In Summary
The question of whether or not to integrate chatbot technology into your business’ marketing isn’t about whether or not you should, but how to do it properly and take advantage of it. Research your competition and how far along they are when it comes to AI to get a better grasp of the current market you are dealing with.
Make no mistake, chatbots can be useful for both small-scale local real estate agencies as well as cross-state businesses with representatives across the US. Find creative ways to make the most of the technology in your marketing and engagement activities in order to drum up interest in your properties and agency as a whole, opening new possibilities for your business in doing so.
