Challenges & Benefits of Chatbots in Real Estate

Real estate chatbots provide prompt responses, better lead generation and more sales. 

Before getting into the hows and whys of real estate chatbots, let’s first understand what makes chatbots a must-have for any business. Chatbot, a program that is trained to answer queries almost instantaneously, is a buzzword in the tech space. Also called conversational agents, chatbots today hold an important place in almost every business, irrespective of the work they do. From tech giants to SMEs, every business is making significant investments to adopt chatbots. And so, the global chatbot market is estimated to hit USD 5.63 billion by 2023. However, what makes chatbots so unique and special? AI-based conversational agents can work tirelessly and effectively around the clock. They can comprehend customer queries, analyze the context, and respond in real-time without human intervention. The instant responsiveness enabled by chatbots can help brands retain old customers, attract leads, and manage lead engagement. As a result, brands get an opportunity to generate greater profits and build a reputation for providing excellent customer service. Hence, companies should include chatbots in their digital transformation strategy if they wish to achieve a competitive advantage. While almost every business leverages chatbots, there is one industry that hasn’t seen the mainstream adoption of chatbots yet. And that’s the real estate industry. However, it’s a known fact that chatbots can have a transformative impact in the real estate sector. Real estate chatbots can help the sector achieve increased lead generation, reduced financial expenses, and efficient management of resources.

Challenges Faced by the Real Estate Sector

Until a few years ago, buying a property or house used to be a manual and offline process. People preferred meeting brokers, visiting different sites for options, and then selecting the best one. This approach was time-intensive as well as cost-prohibitive. Besides, continuous follow-ups had to be carried out to keep the agent updated and informed on purchase decisions. These can be too much of a hassle for today’s buyers. And hence, the old approach is not followed today. That’s because most of the buyers today belong to either the millennial era or the centennial era. And people of these eras prefer services to be prompt and accurate with minimal manual interaction. Along with the high-quality service demand, buyers expect real estate companies to keep their prices low. But, while trying to maintain service quality, real estate companies may often incur increased costs. Tapping into the potential of digital transformation is one of the best ways real estate companies can achieve better service quality with minimal expenditure. Following the latest tech trends will help real estate companies to achieve increased customer satisfaction levels. One such great opportunity that real estate companies can grab to fulfill the ever-increasing demands and expectations of customers is by using an AI-powered intelligent real estate chatbot.

Benefits of Real Estate chatbots

With real estate chatbots, companies can not only offer exceptional service to clients but also convert leads to customers faster. Following are a few ways of how real estate chatbots can help companies satisfy client needs and requirements:

1. Offering Round-the-Clock Technical Support

In this digital era, customers are not only highly impatient but also very demanding. They expect their real estate agents to be quick with their services. Hence, real estate companies are struggling to find a balance between providing the best possible client service and meeting tight deadlines. And in their this endeavor, real estate might sometimes fail to be 24x7 available to answer customers’ basic and simple queries. Hence, implementing a real estate chatbot can be extremely beneficial. Always active, these chatbots will never keep customers waiting when they need any assistance. And this holds true during non-working hours too. Such round-the-clock serviceability will make customers feel valued and more satisfied with the process.

2. Responding Instantly

The ability of chatbots to reply instantly is one of the crucial reasons why it is important for any business. And the real estate business is no exception. Real estate chatbots can respond to any query without the help of human agents immediately by accessing the right information from its extensive database. Imagine a buyer who is interested in buying a property or a house and needs details on the same. A real estate chatbot can seamlessly read any customer query, comprehend the context, and send images and information about the property.

3. Automating Follow-up Process

A real estate agent has many tasks to be done in a single day. And therefore, she won’t be left with enough time to attend or call every client to glean an understanding of their requirements. Real estate chatbots can regularly have a quick conversation with every client to gauge their needs and requirements. Besides, if a client wishes to have a face-to-face interaction with a real estate agent, then chatbots can check the agent's availability and fix a time that suits both.

4. Predicting Buyers’ Interests

By interacting with customers, a real estate chatbot can easily apprehend what they actually need. Collecting details from the interaction, the intelligent chatbot can study their buying patterns. Studying their patterns and habits, chatbots can predict what the customer would expect from the brand in the future. Chatbots can share the prediction and make interactions with customers more fruitful.

5. Negotiating for the Best Price

Did you know that chatbots can also be negotiators? With NLP and ML components, a real estate chatbot can perceive the intended meaning of the context in a chat. Chatbots, while having conversations, can study the buyers’ purchase histories and predict their requirements. Besides, they will understand when a buyer is asking a simple question or is trying to bargain. Trained with high-quality and relevant information, the chatbot will provide the best information to customers with impressive deals and offers. Without human assistants having to waste time and effort, a real estate chatbot can close deals quickly and efficiently.

6. Increaing Sales

By providing prompt and efficient service, a real estate chatbot can enhance their customer’s buying experience. Happy customers mean more lead generation, which ultimately means increased financial profitability. With less investment, effort, and time, a real estate chatbot can satisfy old customers while generating new leads all by self. Won’t that be just amazing? Real estate companies should consider the unparalleled benefits of real estate chatbots.

Chatbots are truly the tech trend that’s here to stay and are not just a passing fad. In fact, it’s a necessity for real estate businesses today. While chatbots are essential, there are also other latest technologies that a real estate business owner should consider. For instance, by leveraging big data analytics, real estate agents can understand their customers’ buying habits, their preferences, and their interests. This information can be used to gain valuable insights that can then be used to create an effective marketing strategy for individual customers. In addition, the use of immersive technologies in real estate can be used to offer a novel and interactive experience to their customers.