Bots for Business

Generate Real Estate Leads with Chatbots

In the world of real estate, time really does equal money. As a chatbot developer, this is where you come in—if an agent is not in the office and a client has an urgent question, a chatbot can answer immediately. In this article, learn how to create a chatbot that will help you qualify real estate leads.

Among the most time-consuming tasks of any real estate company are finding new market leads and building a customer’s trust. Developing a solid relationship between agents and clients takes a considerable amount of time. In addition to an agent with experience and credibility, customers need a real estate firm that is available at any time.

How chatbots help qualify real estate leads

As a chatbot developer, this is where you come in. If an agent is not in the office and a client has an urgent question, a chatbot can answer immediately. Having their customers’ questions automatically answered by a chatbot assistant will free up agents’ time. Not only that, but chatbots can also qualify potential clients as leads and even follow up with them.

In 2016, Facebook popularized chatbots by allowing businesses to create bots for their Facebook pages. Many companies, including real estate agents, utilize Facebook marketing to promote their business. When people click a real estate agent’s Facebook ad, they are typically taken to a website landing page. Why not drive that traffic to a chatbot instead?

After the customer opens the chatbot, it can ask questions about what exactly the customer is looking for and request their contact information.

Optimize workflow with multiple bots

Several different bots are already being used by real estate companies. Here is a quick look at some of the bots that can help maximize your business’s efficiency:

• Schedule bot. Your team could spend all day emailing and calling people to organize an open house or private showing. Using a schedule bot allows the team to stay in touch with all parties involved in the sale. The agent just enters the time and event information, and the bot keeps the clients informed.
• Lead capture bot. Filing leads into a database is essential but extremely time consuming. When a bot finishes collecting information from a potential lead, it can automatically put that information into your team’s database.
• Lead manager bot. After your lead capture bot enters a client’s information into the database, you can utilize a lead manager bot to help the real estate agents sift through the information. Rather than reading through every lead, the agent can chat with the lead manager bot to find exactly the kind of lead they want to pursue.

How to get your chatbot working for you

When you create your bot, building a script is extremely important. You can program the bot to ask users pertinent questions, including:

• Are you a buyer/seller/renter?
• What kind of property do you want to buy/sell/rent?
• Where do you want to live?
• How many bedrooms and bathrooms are you looking for?
• When are you looking to move?
• What’s your budget?

You can write your chatbot script to include any other relevant questions, but it is best to ask the usual, repetitive questions that realtors need answered every time they meet a potential client. Instead of realtors taking the time to collect this basic information, a chatbot makes it easy for potential buyers or sellers to give the agents all the information they need to start working.

After your chatbot asks the user all the questions the realtor might want answered, the next step is the call to action. Your bot can push the user toward visiting the website, setting up an appointment, or leaving their contact information.

It’s okay if a client doesn’t give their contact information. They might just be window shopping for a real estate agent now, but they could be looking to buy within a few months. Luckily, after a client messages your bot, you can have your chatbot reach back out to them at a later time. Just program a follow-up command, and have your bot automatically contact anyone who has interacted with it.

Just ‘bot’ a new home

Real estate agents are always looking for new clients. Chatbots are a great way for them to establish a good repertoire with their customers, while also finding their next homebuyers or sellers. Real estate companies use many types of bots, so make sure you explore all the options that could work for your team. By creating a chatbot, you’ll help the agents gain leads, save time, and maybe even make more money!