In the property sector, running their businesses online is making estate agents think again about how they reach out to people, and how they can turn site visitors into prospects.
“Time was when the estate agent on the high street felt confident in a buyer’s market,” explains Russell Mills of CANDDi Chat. “A potential customer would look in the window, walk into the branch to express an interest, and receive the staff’s full attention.”
“Online the rules of engagement are very different,” Russell points out, “and property technology is integral to success”
“How do you engage online window shoppers when you can’t simply welcome them on the threshold, offer them a cup of coffee and begin a dialogue?”
Out of Hours Engagement
With live chat, you can, in effect, be present on your website as if it was a physical shop.
“You can encourage site visitors to interact with you, without losing the essential quality of convenience, which comes with the online experience.”
This is a means of engaging visitors and creating a dialogue with them, in the same way you might traditionally have done so in a physical estate agents.
Furthermore, outsource live chat means you can do this out of hours, when more people will be browsing at their own convenience.
“You could argue this aspect of live chat gives it a distinct advantage over its physical counterpart, because you can create an individually responsive, that extends beyond normal, physical branch opening times.”
Gathering Intelligence
There is more to this than showing an interest in visitors to your website, however.
“Insightful analytics provide the vital information to build profiles of your site visitors, to enable you to refine and deepen your relationship with them”
“Online estate agents need to know whether window shoppers are looking at more than pictures and prices”
“Live chat can be proactive, so that the site engages first, but to do this effectively means having advance information about visitors to it,” suggests Russell. “For example, are they reading your terms and conditions, are they looking for more information about how your services work.”
Live chat, therefore, has the potential of being a sophisticated customer engagement tool, dependent on certain conditions:
- First, it’s got to be live, and responsive. A chatbot is not going to engage in the same way.
- Secondly, it must be convenient. If a customer wants to know more when they’re browsing your property site at 9pm, can you give them what they want?
- Finally, you need the right technical backup and integration
“A fully-integrated live chat and analytics function adds enormous value to a property site,” concludes Russell. “It greatly increases the visibility of data and helps build accurate profiles of prospects.”
To discover how CANDDi Chat can turn your window shoppers into prospects, please call Russell Mills on 07716 081606.
Recently, CANDDi Chat pitched its innovative hybrid of live chat and advanced analytics at PropTech Den in Manchester.
Host, Nigel Stephens had this to say following the event, “Property technology is changing. For estate agents serious about competing successfully online, technology and engagement are two things that they simply cannot afford to ignore. CANDDi Chat personifies both.”
