Real estate: How to market, sell, and scale your business with messaging apps

Being successful in real estate comes down to customization: meeting the right customer, at the right moment with the perfect offer. And clients expect this type personalized service! Messaging apps are perfect for that! They can actually make the difference between accepting an offer or not. Read in this guide, how messaging apps can help you market and scale your real estate business.

If one industry has been in flux in the past years, it's been the real estate market! People went from working in the office to working from home. Demand for houses and apartments went up. And with more flexible jobs, people also started moving to different areas.

Currently, the housing market from the US to the UK to India is booming. The demand for (affordable) housing is as high as never before. In India, for example, the wish for upgrading the lifestyle, low interest rates, and affordable prices are driving the real estate market right now.

How can businesses and agents keep up with that while still offering the personalized, customized service customers expect? By interacting with clients on the most personal and interactive channel there is: messaging apps! 

The advantage of messaging apps in real estate

Meet your customers where they are

What's the best way to reach your customers in 2023? Calling them on their phone, sending an e-mail, or hoping they'll find you on social media? Actually, neither!

Admittedly, all of these approaches can work. However, on the phone, you better hope they pick up (especially when calling from an unknown number). With e-mails, there's always the risk of ending up in their spam folder or your mail just getting lost in the full inbox. And social media can be close to the customer, but only if your posts and ads are not obscured by algorithms. And aside from having a hard time reaching customers, people are also shifting the way they communicate. 

Social media now happens mostly in private groups. The younger generation doesn't even like to talk on the phone. And everyone is growing tired of e-mails. Messaging apps, on the other hand, are on the rise.

Currently, two billion people in the world use WhatsApp, and over 175 million people use WhatsApp to talk to businesses. The Facebook Messenger is used by almost one billion people, and even Telegram has a base of 700 million users worldwide. In some countries like India, Brazil, the UK, and Singapore, pretty much anybody that has a smartphone also has WhatsApp. 

In other words: if you want to stay close to your customers these days, messaging apps are the way to go! 

---

 🚀 From real estate to banking to automotive: check out how companies from all industries use messaging apps to grow their business!

---

Messaging apps build more trust

Because WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and others are so popular with users, they're not only channels they love, but also trust.

They understand the apps, the features, the type of communication that happens, and they'll be more willing to trust a business on messaging apps than, let's say, on your company app. 

Messenger apps is also where users talk to friends and family, so if your business ends up in the same environment, you're automatically inside the circle of trust. 

You'll get quicker responses

People don't pick up calls from unknown numbers, and they take days to answer e-mails. But a message on their smartphones? They'll look at it within 15 seconds and sometimes answer in ten!

Depending on what (business) version of a messaging app you're using, you'll also show up with your business profile and logo, even if a user hasn't saved you as a contact. That's huge for real estate agents that are trying to get in touch with customers, and are being ghosted! 

More multimedia options

Real estate isn't only about the personal touch, it's also about the properties. It's a very visual business! Messaging apps have a lot of great multimedia options, from sending images and videos to uploading a whole catalog of properties to check out: they're much more interactive and visual than a simple text message. 

That's why, from marketing to supporting your customers to closing the deal: messaging apps work so well in real estate!

From marketing to closing a deal

Marketing and lead generation

Finding a new home is a lengthy process. People typically take their time and compare before making such a large and potentially long-lasting financial investment. That's why it's important to be able to stay in touch with potential buyers or renters for a longer period of time. 

Messaging apps make this very easy! 

If an interested customer sends you a question on WhatsApp, it's easy to just use the same chat and send them re-engagement messages in the future. 

You can also invite people to sign up for regular promotional messages. Once you get a user's opt-in, you can send them marketing messages on virtually any messaging app. For example: why not have a newsletter where you send out new available properties?! 

With professional messaging tools, you can also create target groups and send out even more personalized offers that best fit your customers' needs! 

You can even go one step further and generate leads through messaging apps! India's number one real estate company Pin Click, for instance, works with a first-level WhatsApp chatbot. 

The bot collects initial information from potential customers, saves the data, and then hands over to an agent that can then offer fitting properties. That saves both, customers and agents time.

By the way, that's also a great and resource-saving way of qualifying leads! 

Channels and groups

Don't forget about other ways of connecting with potential customers on messaging apps. Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp all have groups and channels where homebuyers and renters like to exchange information. 

You can join an existing group or even start your own group or channel!

Support throughout the consideration phase

As mentioned, buying or renting properties takes time. Most customers will have questions before they make a decision. With messaging apps you offer them a quick, easy, flexible, and convenient channel to get in touch! 

Here, it's important to make sure customers can start the chat as easily as possible. Pin Click, for example, uses a pop-up WhatsApp chat window on their website, which is typically where customers have questions and want to reach out. 

Close more properties with the help of messaging apps

Internet-based messenger apps offer great multimedia options that are especially valuable to real estate companies. You can send video, drop a pin on a property location, and even offer a virtual tour!

Aside from engaging features, you can also combine chatbots and messaging apps to push more sales. And you don't even need a complex AI chatbot for this. Simple chatbots are capable of scheduling appointments or sending out appointment reminders. 

Even when it comes to sending over documents or signing papers, that's also possible through WhatsApp and other messaging apps, and super convenient!

After closing a deal, you can still stick to the messaging channel for sending invoices, bills, and payment receipts. If your customer wants to, you can even send payment links for renters through WhatsApp! 

And even if the deal doesn't go through this time, you already have the contact of an interested customer and can easily send them more offers in the future! 

Best practices for messaging apps for real estate companies and agents

Here are some tips to get the most out of messaging apps for your real estate business. 

1. Promote your messaging channel

There's one downside to users contacting a business on a messaging app: they need to know that they can reach you there. While they can find your business profile on Instagram, Facebook, and even Telegram: it's not the most convenient way. 

That's why you need to think: at what point will customers want to get in touch with me. And that's where you should promote your messaging channel. 

If you want to use WhatsApp, you can set up click-to-WhatsApp links anywhere online and people just click on these links and end up in your WhatsApp chat. 

You can also use click-to-WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram for even more visibility. 

And don't forget about QR codes! These are particularly handy for promoting your WhatsApp channel offline, like on your office window, outside a property listing, or even on your "for rent" or "for sale" signs.

2. Always ask for opt-ins

No matter which messaging app you choose for bulk messaging and promotional messages, make sure you get the user's active opt-in first. That's important because it's actually legally required, but also because you want to make sure users are really interested. 

Otherwise, your messages are just perceived as spam, and you'll hurt your reputation and have low conversion rates. 

3. Connect your CRM system

From targeted marketing messages to lead gen to customer service: you need to connect your CRM systems with the messaging channels you're using in order to be able to save customer data, build target groups, and have access to a customer history. 

If you use a professional messaging software, that's actually very easy, and doesn't require to manually copy data from Excel sheets! 

4. Use a professional messaging software

Most of the mentioned possibilities for real estate businesses are only possible with a professional messaging software. Most free (business) apps have very limited features, so you can't set up chatbots or connect your CRM system. 

And if you're thinking about using more than one messaging channel, it's the only way for you to manage all incoming chats from any messaging channel in one central inbox. 

Sinch Engage is such a professional messenger software that offers: 

• a ready-to-use platform, no IT skills necessary ​

• Scheduled and real-time broadcasts / marketing messages

• Intuitive drag and drop chatbot builder incl. ​

• 100% data compliance

• Comprehensive analytics  

---

Questions? Get in touch!