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Archive for July, 2011

Live Chat for Real Estate – Best Practice #1: The What, When and Where


Posted July 29, 2011, 11:22 PM by ReadyChat

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Based on our experience working with a wide variety of companies within the online real estate space, we’ve developed a set of best practices for companies to effectively use live chat engagement to develop and maintain a competitive advantage online. This is the first of a series of 8 instalments.

When, Where, and How you engage customers in live chat are critical components of an effective online strategy. First of all, it’s important to proactively engage your customers when they are likely to need help the most. And when is that? There are a number of conversion-critical moments on any website, but the most common and critical is when a prospective homebuyer/seller decides to fill out the contact form for a sales representative to contact them. That is the “moment of truth‟— when your site visitor attempts to become a customer.

Tip: Help them convert by offering help when they need it.

Just how do you do that? By developing a system of behaviour triggers that allow you to proactively reach out to customers with live chat before they abandon the site. In addition, making click-to-chat buttons visible in the signup process may help you improve conversion rates and reduce abandonment—when combined with live assistance prior to submitting a request. Plus, making assistance available will help you improve customer satisfaction and brand loyalty at the same time.

To make sure that proactive engagement is introduced at the crucial points of the online conversion process, you should thoroughly analyze your site to understand where and when your visitors are getting lost or abandoning your site. Study your website analytics and see where visitors are dropping off your pages. When you can identify when and where customers are confused, then you can provide assistance before their frustration is so great they can’t be saved.

You should also be present to communicate the right message at the right time, when prospects are displaying signs of abandonment or distress. Examples are when a visitor can’t find the information they were searching for and click the back or home button in their browser menu to leave your site. This is where proactive live chat greetings can become a powerful tool for any online real estate website. It’s critical that your greeting messages be related to the content on the page the visitor is viewing. Many websites fail to send personalized chat greetings but rather use a site-wide or generic greeting, which usually results in poor visitor engagement. Sending a proactive greeting relevant to what the visitor is searching for can dramatically improve online engagement and create opportunities to convert visitors into real estate sales leads.

Stay tuned for our third installment in this series on Live Chat Best Practices.

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Why Have Real Estate Chat Available for Leads?


Posted July 29, 2011, 11:16 PM by ReadyChat

Real Estate Chat

When it comes to real estate lead generation, driving traffic to your website is vital for getting homebuyers and sellers’ leads. However, one major component of most real estate websites is often overlooked.

Companies spend thousands each year driving more and more traffic to their websites in order to generate leads and rarely take the time to focus on the other half of the equation – the part about converting that expensive traffic into actual sales leads.

Real estate chat enabled sites help real estate agents solve one of their greatest online challenges – how to establish trust quickly with online prospects and convert them into viable sales opportunities. Most real estate agents are well aware of the benefits of having a website and visitors, but the challenge lies in converting those online visitors to homebuyer/seller leads.

The best way to do this is by turning your website into a conversation space, where prospects not only find the information they need, but can get quick answers on properties and your services, without having to commit to a phone call. Cold calling is never fun for any salesperson, and you can bet it’s just as annoying to have to pickup a phone and call an agent or new home salesman to start their home search. Many of these visitors are just not ready to commit, because, well, they just don’t know if you or your company is right for them.

The problem with the Internet and businesses models that rely on in-person selling is it’s difficult to establish trust and relationships quickly online. Social Media is great to form relationships online, but even that takes time and nurturing. Luckily, with live real estate chat option, you can easily and quickly connect with live prospects, get them talking about their needs in a non-threatening environment (like over the phone or in-person), and influence them to take action.

Websites that offer real estate chat have not been widely adopted, but there are larger firms adopting live chat, such as, brokers, builders, property management companies. And anyone who does can really establish a competitive advantage online, by getting to prospects before the competition does and offering personal assistance early in the buying or selling process. From a customer service stand-point, homebuyers and sellers appreciate. From an agent’s perspective, this means more connections with online buyers and sellers and opportunities to convert them into actionable leads.

The new standard today involves superior customer service and commitment to your clients. There is no better way currently to demonstrate this commitment than using live chat to provide immediate answers to questions with live assistance so to establish trust and form the customer relationship well before the transaction. Just like a phone call to your office, real estate chat brings you the benefits of real-time communication with prospects, but from your most visited property – your website.

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