Whether we like it or not – and regardless of how quickly we adapt – technology is an integral part of the home-buying and home-selling processes. Consumers are becoming increasingly tech-savvy, so what can you do to make sure you stay ahead of the curve?
CONNECTING WITH YOUR CLIENTS BY TEXTING
Texting is huge. In fact, according to Pew Internet, 97 percent of Americans text at least once a day… to the tune of 6 billion text messages sent every day.
The statistic that makes text messaging extremely effective in real estate, though, might surprise you: Overall, 90 percent are read within 3 minutes – and the average person responds within 90 seconds. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the average person looks at his or her phone as many as 150 times per day.
In real estate, you can build rapport faster with your clients when you’re texting than you could through email; that’s because on average, a person responds to email within 90 minutes, but only 22 percent of emails are opened.
Even more striking is that the average click-through rate (the percentage of clicks to a URL) for a text message is over 19 percent. Through email, it’s just 4.2 percent.
Engagement through text messaging is between six and eight times higher than it is with email, too.
HOW DOES TEXTING AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS?
When you’re even more accessible to your clients through texting, you’ll have more freedom to set up showing appointments quickly. You’ll also have the luxury of being non-invasive – and you won’t come across as too attentive, because they’re already receiving dozens of texts each day.
HOW TO GET ON-BOARD WITH TEXTING YOUR CLIENTS
Many Realtors® are already texting clients, so if you’re not, it’s time to make the switch. Naturally, you can tell your clients they can expect a faster response if they text you; it might even be a good idea to change your voicemail to reflect the fact that you’ll be able to respond more quickly if they text you.
Even your email signature is a great place to nudge clients toward texting – just write “Cell/Text:” instead of “Cell.”
WHAT NOT TO TEXT YOUR CLIENTS
Inman has a great list of texting dos and don’ts that includes:
- Do make sure you only send clear, concise information.
- Do back up your texts when you connect your phone with your computer.
- Do only respond to texts at times you’re comfortable responding. You don’t have to get up at 5 a.m. to respond or interrupt your family dinner – unless it’s something you want to do.
- Don’t use abbreviations for normal language. Sure, you can type acronyms, such as “MLS,” but don’t tell your clients you’ll see them L8R.
- Don’t get into legal discussions or rely on texting to convey important information (if you want to text them about an offer, that’s fine; just make sure you follow up with a phone call later).
- Don’t discuss financial information.
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