Why do companies need a WhatsApp Chatbot for Real Estate? And why do they need one more than ever in 2022, in a post-COVID world?

Opportunity

Real Estate is the driver of development across the globe. In India alone, the real estate sector is valued at US$120 billion. It’s expected to grow to US$ 1 trillion by 2030 and contribute to 13% of the GDP by 2050.

The need for technology in the sector is ever-present. Real Estate startups like Nestaway (Raised $104.2M), PropTiger (Raised $85M), NoBroker (Raised $71M), ZoloStays (Raised $35M), SquareYards (Raised $53M), and CoLive (Raised $12M) have seen large-scale investment from institutional investors.

Developers like Prestige, Embassy, Puravankara, Bagmane, Synergy, Mantri, and Brigade have also expanded rapidly to serve booming demand.

As another investor commented: “Find me a more compelling asset class than logistics in northern India—I’d take that gamble all year long.”

Companies leverage technology and big data to help customers save costs, find better deals and list their properties faster.

Problem statement

While the technology used is cutting edge, the way real estate companies talk to their customers is not. For the real estate sector, communication with a customer presents a unique challenge.

In the Real Estate Industry, Sales and Support are built on two factors, trust and speed.

But tools that real estate companies use, like email and phone calls, do little to inspire either. Emails are often slow and clunky and lack the personal touch needed to qualify and close leads. Phone calls are annoying; the last thing a 9-5 working VP needs is someone calling him every 30 minutes. Additionally, operating both these channels also requires human reps, making it expensive both in the short and long run.

Solution

Real Estate companies are in desperate need of a channel that can generate, qualify and retain customers, in a manner that imbibes trust while being quick and easily automatable.

Suggested Reading: Customer Retention Strategies Practised by the Real-Estate Industry

Enter, WhatsApp Chatbots for Real Estate.

WhatsApp is the world’s largest messaging platform. From homeowners to executives to agents; all of us use WhatsApp every day, to talk to friends and family alike.

This personalization also comes with speed. Chatbots can respond to customer queries, generate & qualify leads, encourage customers to book site visits, facilitate transactions, and send documents, around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

With a WhatsApp Chatbot for Real Estate, companies can save time and resources while ensuring that their customers are always engaged and serviced.

Each real estate company has specific procedures and predefined customer journeys. These could range from lead generation and qualification to property visits or booking slots.

In addition to this, automating these frequent, often monotonous tasks, allows sales and support reps to tackle real problems that need human engagement.

Suggested Reading: Customer Support Automation and Its Importance

To illustrate, we’ll replicate the rough process of purchasing a property and how a WhatsApp Chatbot can help in reaching that step. Starting from screening, to sales, to support.

To take us through the use cases, we’ll create a hypothetical customer.

Let’s name her Mahika. These will be Mahika’s customer details: 

1. She is working as the Marketing Head in a well-established firm.
2. She earns around US$140,000 per year. 
3. Mahika has applied for a home loan on the basis of her desired budget. 
4. Her budget is  US$1.5 million.

We’ll walk through several use-cases for Real Estate Chatbots.

• Lead Generation
• Lead Qualification
• Property Selection
• Site Visit Scheduling
• Visit Confirmation Reminders
• Document Submission
• Payment Reminders
• Owner Support

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Lead generation 

The first step of any sales funnel is to generate a lead. Leads are defined differently based on the company.

For the Real Estate industry, we want to be able to talk to the customer post generation, so we collect three data points. The customer’s Name, Email ID and Phone Number.

For companies to send outbound WhatsApp messages once a company has collected these details, customer consent is a must.

Here, our character Mahika has reached out to the company – HARO Builders.

Lead Generation is an essential function of a well-oiled business. Once automated, however, your sales team can focus on what they’re best at – closing.

The next use case is Lead-Qualification. Usually, qualification occurs in the same conversation as generation or a little bit after the initial interest is curated within the customer.

Lead qualification

Once a customer has shown interest, the process of lead qualification commences. The chatbot for WhatsApp now asks questions that will allow the company to segment the customer.

Certain companies specialize in specific types of properties. Qualification helps them identify high-value customers they can service with ease. It is imperative to correctly identify user needs from the offset.

Once the bot understands Mahika’s requirements, it can now satiate her needs.

These details are then fed into HARO’s internal database and CRM and an agent can be assigned to Mahika.

Once qualified, Mahika is ranked on the strength of her profile. This allows HARO to prioritize leads and engage with the easy-to-sell leads first.

Suggested Reading: Marathon Realty Boasts A 55% Lead Conversion Rate With Verloop.Io’s WhatsApp Chatbot For Real Estate

Property selection

Once Mahika has submitted her requirements for a property, the real estate company can now display its property offerings.

Our WhatsApp Chatbot for Real-Estate now provides Mahika with details for the selected property.n

Mahika can have a cursory glance at the available properties, view them at length and book an appointment in one channel.

This provides a quicker, more enriching experience for a customer. It also adds a personal touch during Mahika’s decision-making process.

Site visits booking

After Mahika has scrolled through her properties and made her choice, she can now book an appointment to visit the site.

By using a WhatsApp Chatbot for Real Estate, this process can be automated.

A customer can book a tour of the property they’re interested in based on the available timeslots.

Mahika used a single interface to move through the sales funnel in a matter of minutes. No more routing to websites, call centres and agents.

Visit confirmation reminders

Once a visit is scheduled, following up is important.

Companies can lose anywhere between 10%-50% of their booked appointments to no-shows. This means lost potential revenue for reasons that range from forgetfulness to a busy schedule.

A WhatsApp bot can send reminders about visit confirmations, timing, property location, and agent details through Message Templates and Outreach campaigns. Customers can also choose to reschedule if required.

Once Mahika says “yes”, the agent knows the visit is definitive and can prepare accordingly. In case, she doesn’t reply with a yes or even fails to pick up the call, it becomes easy for the realtor to reschedule the visit and focus on another property visit.

Document submission

The submission of documents is an unnecessary hurdle to the sales process.

Using a WhatsApp Chatbot for Real Estate, a complete set of documents is one picture away.

Instead of having customers wait in line or for an agent to pick them up, empower your customers to be able to send them to you in seconds.

No longer do you have to subject your customers to high-effort support experiences.

WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption allows your customers can exchange documents and other personal information with you with ease.

Payment reminders

After the sale is closed and Mahika has submitted the required documents, it’s time to ensure she has a great post-sales experience.

Send customers bespoke notifications to gently remind them to make their payments – EMI, Rent or otherwise.

You don’t have to pester customers with a barrage of phone calls and emails anymore. A WhatsApp Chatbot for Real Estate allows you to create a human connection with closed leads.

Owner support

Mahika has made her last payment. Your customer has moved into their house. They’re happy.

But one day, they’re not. They have a query or a complaint.

Use your WhatsApp Chatbot for Real-Estate to address their issues with ease and in comfort. You can choose to automate the process, or simply hand the agent off to a human rep with smart routing.

Your bot can handle queries from owners, buyers or renters with ease. Answer questions about payments, maintenance, etc. with ease.

WhatsApp has over 400 million monthly active Indian customers alone. It’s a great platform for constant conversation and regular customer interaction.

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So to summarize : 

1. They help increase revenue by generating highly qualified leads.
2. Chatbots reduce support costs by automating low-level queries.
3. Real Estate Bots are easier to use than their rivals, for agents and customers alike.
4. They’re a quicker means of communication.
5. Chats create a human connection, which emails do not.
6. They are nonintrusive, unlike calls.
7. Real Estate Chatbots improve CSAT and overall customer experience.

If you’d like to read more about WhatsApp Chatbots, you can choose from the following:

• How do you Create WhatsApp Links?
• How do get Customers to Opt-in to WhatsApp?
• What are some of the UX/UI challenges in building WhatsApp Chatbots? 
• Which is better, SMS or WhatsApp? 
• A Complete Guide to build WhatsApp Chatbots.
• Build a WhatsApp Chatbot with Verloop.io in 5 Simple Steps