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Imagine this.
A potential buyer or seller sees your sign with a contact number and texts you. They receive the property details instantly.
Pretty cool, isn’t it? 😁
Such a real estate text lead capture is also called ‘text-for-info’ method. But how do you do it?
The following section will help you understand this.
How does real estate text lead capture work?
Which of these two would you choose? Filling out a 7-field form or sending a word?
Your audience too, would go for a quicker and easier method to contact you. Text messages have captured the imagination of real estate marketers.
No wonder then that 73% of them have already started using text advertising for business.
There’s a good reason why people and businesses prefer texting.
Primarily, texting is a form of conversational marketing. And 82% of consumers say getting an immediate response is very important when they have a question. Also, businesses already automating lead management using conversational marketing have seen a 10% increase in revenue.
So, how can you be one of them?
The first step is to start using texting for capturing real estate leads. The above example uses “SMS opt-in” to capture leads. An automated process is set up in the back-end, and your target audience gets the information they need with minimal effort.
This timely and quality to-and-fro of messages begins the nurturing journey of your leads.
With CallHub’s SMS opt-in tool, all your prospects have to do to get more information is text you a keyword. They get an automatic response with an answer. This is possible with a feature called ‘autoresponders’.
Autoresponders are automatic replies set up on a text software and go out when a prompt response is received from the other end. The campaign creator sets expected responses as ‘prompts’ and drafts replies that go out when triggered.
Here’s an example of how this works:
Why do you need autoresponders?
Well, your prospects don’t necessarily text you when you are expecting them to. Autoresponders make sure your leads immediately get the acknowledgment or the information they were looking for.
For instance, if they’re interested in your property in Riverdale, your follow-up question could ask them for a date to set an appointment.
Let’s see how the whole process takes place.
The first step is to create an SMS opt-in campaign. Here, you would assign a keyword to represent your properties and rent a number. This is the keyword your prospects will text to your defined number.
Now, how do you know which property your lead is interested in?
Here’s what you do:
- Assign a unique keyword for each property you own.
OR
- Set a common keyword for all your properties and use follow-up prompts to collect further information from your leads.
(We’ll show you how to set up such a campaign later in this article.)
Now, you can promote this keyword through yard signs, on your website, your marketing collaterals, through digital ads, etc. When an interested party sees this, they will text you the keyword.
The autoresponders you’ve set up will direct your audience to the information they were looking for, and you have got yourself a lead!
Why is real estate text lead capture, especially using SMS opt-in so powerful?
For starters, unlike other lead generation methods, your leads here are pre-qualified. Your prospects identify themselves as leads by opting in on their own. Your prospects are voluntarily asking for information.
Doesn’t that make SMS opt-in a powerful lead generation method?
Well, we certainly think it does.
Real estate text message scripts
While sending a text, you need to make sure you don’t sound all salesy. The goal is to get them to the next stage and collect the required information. But, what do you text them?
Before we jump into the scripts, here are some rules of thumb:
- Keep it short and crisp: Ask only one question at a time rather than bombarding them with everything you have. Messages that are crisp and on-point work because they don’t overwhelm your audience. The last thing you want is to scare off your prospects with a lengthy, jargonized message.
- Keep it friendly: Use emojis and text abbreviations depending on the nature of your target audience. This fills emotions in your words, and you don’t come off as a robot.
- Stay on track: Do not distract your prospect with too many call-to-actions. For instance, when they’re interested in your property already, focus on taking them forward in your sales funnel rather than asking them to follow you on social media.
With the kind of messages we’ve illustrated here, you give your prospect a chance to
- Consume the information quickly.
- Reply with bare minimum words.
- Move directly to what they need.
All right, then. We won’t keep you waiting. Here are a few scripts that’ll help you in the process of capturing real estate leads through texts.
Your first aim should be to collect their names when they text you the keyword so that you can personalize the further conversation. You may wonder what is the need to personalize. A study by Epsilon indicates that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences.
So, here’s what your first response would look like: “Hi, it’s great to see you here. Could you tell me your first name?”
(We have a section in this article later on, which will show you how to personalize conversations automatically.)
Now, once they send in their name, you can either collect other required information similarly or directly jump into the questions as below:
1. | Hi, {first_name}! Great choice of neighborhood 😁. When would you like to see the house? |
2. | Hi, {first_name}! This is a great time to buy a house, kudos on the timing! 😄 Here’s an online tour: {link} |
3. | Hey, {first_name}! I see that you’re looking to buy a new house. Could you tell me which area are you looking at? |
4. | Hello, {first_name}! We have a bunch of open houses coming up for Riverdale. Here’s the link: link}. Please let me know what else I can help you with. |
5. | Hey, {first_name}! How many bedrooms are you looking at? I’d love to help you out with the right options. |
6. | Hey, {first_name}. It’s great to know you’re interested in our properties. Do you have a minute to chat so I can catch you up on things? |
7. | Hi, {first_name}. We’ll help you with your home evaluation. I have a couple of questions to ask you. Do you have a minute? |
8. | Hey, {first_name}. We’d be happy to help you sell your house. What’s the timeframe for getting the house sold? |
9. | Hey, {first_name}! I’ll get started on your home evaluation. How old is the house? |
10. | Hey, {first_name}! 😊 Before we start with your home evaluation, do you have a few minutes to get on a call? Please let me know what time suits you. |
You can now copy these templates and modify them as you see fit.
Pro tip: To avoid redundancies and confusion, assign different keywords for different stages of the funnel your prospect may be in. For example, if they saw your yard sign and texted you, they may not have seen the other details of the property. In that case, it makes sense for you to share it with them during your conversation.
But, if they are directed from your property listing or website, high chances are they already know the details you displayed there and are ready to jump into the visit or need some other piece of information.
CallHub provides a real estate text lead capture solution using its SMS opt-in tool optimized with autoresponder solutions.
How to use CallHub for real estate lead generation
The process of setting up real estate text lead capture is easy using CallHub. If you’re using a CRM, then the details your leads text automatically gets synced with our 2-way syncing mechanism.
Let’s see how you can set up a campaign to capture real estate leads through texts.
Step 1: Create an SMS opt-in campaign.
Step 2: Rent a number and enter your keyword. (The keyword may take a few days to get approved. This is necessary to ensure your chosen keyword doesn’t clash with another active one).
Step 3: Choose whether your opt-ins go to an existing contact list or a new one.
Step 4: Type down the first response, which is focused on collecting their first name. Set the ‘Choose expected response’ dropdown to ‘first_name’. Now, add the next prompts and personalize them by using merge tags.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to personalize conversations on CallHub.
Step 5: Publish and promote the keyword and your number online and offline. For example, your website, property listings, social media, signage boards, yard signs, and more.
Step 6: Finish.
Try our SMS opt-in tool for free here.
Get started!
Conversational marketing is one of the best marketing tactics, and SMS opt-in paves the way to that. Your objective for real estate text lead capture can be optimized with this tool.
Here’s how:
Through an SMS opt-in tool, you can collect the required information from your leads using autoresponders. Once you have enough details on them, they can be a part of your nurturing list and, thereby, your future marketing campaigns.
Our mass texting tool and peer-to-peer texting tool can help you stay on track with your conversational marketing efforts. Businesses use mass texting tools to text leads by sending offers and promotions, emergency alerts, reminders, updates, and more. Similarly, peer-to-peer texting tools are put to use for persuading audiences into attending your events, answering their queries, and nudging them towards the bottom of the funnel.
With this detailed guide on capturing real estate leads using texts, we hope you’re all set to get started. Sign up for a free trial today and get access to our SMS marketing tools along with credits worth $3.
Featured image: Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash