A chatbot is a program for communicating with clients in automated mode. Also, it is an add-on that integrates on a website or in messengers.
How a chatbot works:
A customer writes a message in the chatbot.
The bot reacts to the information and sends the client a response pre-recorded in the system (script). For example, the client’s question “How do I get to your housing estate” is automatically answered with the address of the company or the development object, and contacts for feedback.
Further, the format of communication with the bot depends on the program and the set of scripts.
Artificial intelligence is responsible for processing and receiving messages. The client receives the necessary information, and the sales department does not waste time on an unheated audience.
What a chatbot can do
In real estate, bots act as support and advisors to customers at the top of the sales funnel. They communicate with people you don’t know and who aren’t ready to move on to the next step in choosing a property.
A bot is a constructor that is assembled to meet the business objectives. The options for chatbots are limited only by the capabilities of the builder or programmer.
One recognizable example of a bot not in real estate is the assistant Oleg from Tinkoff Bank. The voice assistant performs several tasks:
- recognizes customer requests,
- conducts transactions in the bank,
- Booking tables in restaurants, signing up for beauty salons,
- buys movie tickets,
- banking advice,
- and just communicates with the audience.
In real estate, bots work for different tasks:
- Chat-bot for sales – advises buyers and helps them select the property developer, notifies them about company news, promotions and discounts.
Example — bot integration for Legenda. Integration of the virtual assistant in Facebook helped the company to get 335 leads. And the price of a lead was reduced by 184% compared to other methods of lead generation.
- Lead-bot – collects contact information of site visitors, and offers to sign up for the opening of the housing estate or the developer’s open house.
- Bot-informant – responds to inquiries, and provides information on apartment options, prices, number of floors, and square footage.
Bot Alfred — a project for the Royal Park. He gives general advice on the residential complex and helps to choose an apartment for the inspection. For difficult questions, the assistant connects with the operator.
- Chat-bot for support – helps with site navigation, chessboard, and calculators.
Bots handle routine operations that can be reduced to a specific algorithm, search and display data, and distribute information. The sales department works faster and customers are happy with the level of service.
Chatcreate shared the results of one of its Facebook bots for real estate. Round-the-clock responses to customer questions and automatic follow-up to the sales department lead to 60 leads out of 1,074 clicks. 3 customers bought apartments in a new building in 10 days.
Benefits of chatbots
Bots communicate with company clients instead of employees. They give users the ability to quickly get the instructions they need and answer queries without waiting for an operator to respond.
Also, chatbots:
- Help increase sales.
Chatbots can suggest the right product, bots with artificial intelligence advise customers and remember their preferences in property type and budget.
- Help cut costs.
Chatbots enable companies to serve more customers by reducing staff time and budget. According to Acquire research, 80% of customer inquiries are solvable without employees.
- They work without interruptions. Chatbots have no off-hours or days off. Unless it’s off to fix technical issues. And whether they will or not depends on the competence of the developer and the price of the program.
- Convenient for clients. 65% of site traffic is afraid to call first and is looking for an opportunity to communicate with messengers or social networks.
- Automate routine operations. Only complex issues are left to the operators.
Completely replacing the staff in the company with a chatbot is not possible. The program cannot improvise, and, if the request is not formulated in the same way as in the database, the conversation can go in circles. But chatbots provide an opportunity to reduce the load on the employees and make the communication convenient for the users.
How else can a chatbot help you?
It all depends on your marketing strategy. We’ve uncovered the main options for installing chatbots.
Increasing an engagement rate on the site
The customer browses the company’s website to see if your offers are right for their situation. There are several ways to track customer behavior on your site. One of them is click-through-rate optimization or CRO.
The main criterion for CRO is how much easier it is for the customer when choosing an apartment. The audience may not call due to the fact that the call lasts more than half an hour or there is fear when talking to a manager.
But chatting is an effortless way for them to connect with you, and get more information to make a decision.
Getting contact information from leads at the top of the sales funnel
When it comes to potential buyers who are very close to closing a deal, they are often looking for more facts.
This is why potential buyers at the top of the funnel may be shy about leaving contact information. We need to nudge them into action even before the conversion stage with a manager.
However, if you use a smart real estate chatbot, you will get more and better contact information for potential customers.
Selecting and segmenting leads in CRM
Smart chatbots ask screening questions and then feed the answers into the CRM. This may seem pretty simple, but it’s usually a lot more information about your potential customer than you can get from a lead form, email, or open house registration.
Chatbots can be programmed to get simple information. For example, what the client is looking for when to move in, and more. During the communication phase, it’s important to gather as much useful information as possible to work with clients.
Also, you can make personalized discounts and offers that will help the client make a decision in favor of your apartment complex.
Scheduling site screenings and calls.
You can also use smart chatbots to schedule screenings or calls and get more information as the sales funnel progresses. Of course, you can do this with other plugins for your site. The results will be different.
When communicating with a chatbot, a person feels a certain warmth. It feels like the answers are coming from a real company employee. Friendliness, understanding, and caring about the customer in the messages will increase the likelihood that someone will order a sales call.
Quickly give the customer the information for which the site is being reviewed
Many of us will ask a salesperson where to find a particular item in the supermarket instead of looking at the signs above each aisle. Why? It’s faster, and more importantly, that’s why the salespeople are there.
But there’s another reason stores have employees who help people find what they need. It gives them the opportunity to direct the customer to something else they want to sell them. On your website, if someone is chatting with a real estate chatbot about what they’re looking for, you can recommend properties that meet those criteria and also suggest other properties that are in the planning and development phase.
A drip-feed approach to clients.
In this option, the chatbot acts as a lead magnet to send out a scripted message. The client communicates with the company’s employee program, which advises them to sign up for the newsletter or join a social media group. Through the following channels, a “drip approach” – sending out a chain of content customized to the user – takes place.
This personalization helps increase the conversion rate in the purchase by 2-3 times, because in fact, you are working individually with each client (or rather, the service works in automatic mode).
The quality of the chatbot depends on the professionalism of the developers, copywriters, and marketers. Tresor offers the best solutions for the benefit of developers. Fill out an application on the website and learn more about our real estate marketing capabilities.