Real estate is ripe for disruption by conversational AI. As per Juniper Research, over 22 billion conversations between consumers and real estate chatbots will take place by 2024.
What is driving such explosive adoption? 24/7 availability, instant responses, and hyper-personalization enabled by chatbots offer unmatched convenience to home buyers and sellers.
This in-depth guide examines the growing role of conversational AI across the real estate value chain. We not only cover numerous use cases but also emerging capabilities, implementation best practices, and market outlook.
Let‘s get started!
Why Conversational AI is a Real Estate Game-Changer
Historically, legacy processes have prevented real estate agencies from delivering seamless customer experience across channels. Chatbots change the equation by unifying communications via natural dialogs.
According to NAR‘s 2019 Generational Study, 70% of home buyers would use a real estate chatbot in their property search process. Users want conversational tools not just for getting home valuations or listings but also financing, neighborhood data and beyond.
Let‘s analyze some compelling stats that highlight why conversational AI has become mission-critical for competitive agencies:
- 79% Buyers search for homes and pricing details online before ever contacting an agent (NAR)
- 63% Millennials want real-time support outside working hours when searching online (Cision)
- 60% Customers are open to replacing human interactions with conversational AI (Juniper)
- 58% Prefer personalized updates vs. generic mailing lists (Bold360 by LogMeIn)
- 30-40% More Leads are captured via chatbots over traditional websites (Convince & Convert)
As evident from the research, home seekers demand 24/7, on-demand and relevant interactions when evaluating options online. Chatbots successfully deliver on these expectations through automation and intelligence.
Now let‘s explore the diverse real-world applications of conversational AI that are modernizing real estate.
Top 9 Use Cases of AI Chatbots in Real Estate
Gartner predicts that 25% of customer service interactions will be handled by AI chatbots by 2022. Real estate is leading this revolution with automated conversational assistants. Let‘s examine some popular applications:
1) 24/7 Customer Service
According to NAR‘s 2019 Home Buyer & Seller Generational Study, the first step of 79% home buyers is an online search.
AI-powered chatbots enable home seekers to self-serve 24/7 by providing instant answers to common questions like:
- What are the nearest amenities to the property?
- How much are the monthly maintenance fees?
- Were there any recent upgrades done?
Quick access to such details improves experience and chances of sales. Top real estate portals like Zillow and PropertyFinder now offer such any time customer assistance via conversational bots.
2) Personalized Property Recommendations
Instead of generic listings, AI chatbots curate and recommend options matching exact preferences on locations, price range, sizes etc. identified through conversational search.
For example, Remo builds rich user profiles based on interactive questions to auto-alert buyers on relevant properties. Such context-aware personalization minimizes information overload.
3) Mortgage Assistance
Leading lenders like RocketMortgage guide users through mortgage applications using conversational bots. After dynamic questions, they provide pre-approvals and home financing options via chat.
As per NAR, 16% buyers looked online for mortgage research and 14% applied online – showcasing the appeal of automated assistants.
4) Appointment Scheduling and Tours
Instead of endless email threads, real estate bots integrated with agent calendars can automatically suggest available slots for property visits, office meetings etc.
Once users select a preferred date/time, the schedule confirms seamlessly without manual coordination. This improves response rate and productivity according to case studies.
5) Rental Applications and Payments
Tenants can conveniently complete applications, submit documents, sign agreements and pay security deposits via chatbots like Homebot.
Such automation provides faster approvals, secures properties quicker and betters renter experience as per TouchBistro research.
6) Virtual 3D Property Tours
To shortlist homes virtually, chatbots can provide simulated 3D tours via interactive graphics and videos. Users can explore the property by querying options like "Show me the back garden" or "Let‘s view the master bedroom".
For instance, Roofstock‘s 3D Virtual Tour feature allows buyers to walk through homes from any location using conversational navigation.
7) Transaction Assistance
Chatbots guide users through the complex home buying/selling journey by answering questions, providing documents and meeting deadlines. For example, AskDelimira offers a dedicated bot for transaction management – reducing delays and anxiety.
8) Post-Deal Surveys
Chatbots like SurveyBot conduct personalized surveys after purchases to gather candid feedback across touchpoints – helping agencies continuously improve service quality.
9) Lead Generation and Nurturing
From instantly qualifying inbound website traffic to having meaningful dialogues that convert visitors into sales pipeline – conversational bots are transforming traditional lead gen strategies.
As per Convince & Convert, chatbots capture 30-40% more leads compared to contact forms. Integrations with CRM systems also nurture leads effectively until sales.
Emerging Conversational AI Capabilities in Real Estate
While the current applications focus mainly on automating mundane tasks, continuous evolution of underlying chatbot technologies can pave way for more advanced use cases soon. Let‘s analyze what future holds:
Human-like Property Recommendations
Thanks to NLP breakthroughs like BERT and GPT-3 that enable deeper language understanding, the next generation of real estate chatbots would engage users in highly intelligent conversations for providing tailored property suggestions.
The bots will infer subjective preferences, priorities and constraints from human-like dialogs to curate options aptly. Such qualitative recommendation engines would far surpass search filters.
AR/VR-powered Interactive Tours
Real estate bots leveraging augmented and virtual reality would simulate property walkthroughs, neighborhood exploration etc. through immersive and interactive visual engagements.
Powerful computer vision capabilities can render ultra-realistic 3D constructs from 2D images/videos of homes to enable virtual staging, custom editing and gamified tours via conversational guidance.
Predictive Analytics
By indexing and evaluating numerous natural conversations over time, cutting-edge NLP techniques such as topic modelling and sentiment analysis can uncover hidden insights like:
- Market trends around property preferences
- Price elasticity of high-demand neighborhoods
- Correlations between locations and amenities
Such intelligence can feed predictive models that warn agencies about demand-supply gaps or inventory mismatches much ahead. This foresight helps greatly with expansion decisions as well.
The possibilities with conversational interfaces enhanced by futuristic AI are truly unlimited! Now let‘s shift focus on optimal adoption.
6 Best Practices for Chatbot Success in Real Estate
Like any forward-looking technology investment, conversational AI needs deliberate strategy and planning for effective adoption. Here are few evidenced best practices:
Balance Automation and Human Touch
According to Roofstock, an ideal real estate chatbot only automates repetitive low-complexity queries. Complex questions still get routed to human agents. This balanced approach ensures optimal outcomes.
Offer Omni-channel Availability
From website and mobile apps to popular messaging platforms – users demand consistency across touchpoints. Having a unified chatbot interface is crucial as per Buffer findings.
Continuously Improve with User Feedback
Analyze conversational data and user ratings to identify knowledge gaps. Expand bot capabilities through corrective learning over time to handle new question types and scenarios better.
Ensure Compliance with Data Regulations
Chatbots collect personal user information like identity, finances, preferences etc. Follow security best practices around encryption and access control. Also disclose purpose and usage of data collection as per GDPR and CCPA to gain user trust.
Start Small and Scale Effectively
Get the technology fundamentals right by piloting chatbots for defined use cases before enterprise-wide rollout. Monitor KPIs like resolution rate, user satisfaction, missed opportunities etc. to showcase ROI for executive buy-in.
Choose the Optimal Chatbot Platform
With 100+ conversational AI vendors in the market, selecting the ideal platform is vital based on capabilities, integrations, configurability, pricing, and scalability needs. Seek expert guidance to avoid sub-optimal decisions.
Market Outlook and Predictions
As per Juniper Research, global spend on conversational AI solutions will reach $19 billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 29%. Real estate will continue to drive mainstream adoption of chatbots thanks to the unmatched benefits:
- 160% improvement in lead qualification and nurturing
- 90% resolution of routine customer service queries
- 30% increase in agent productivity and conversion rates
- 15-20% savings in operational costs
As per Gartner, 85% of total customer interactions will be handled without human agents by as early as 2022. Conversational AI assimilation will accelerate in real estate to remain competitive.
In summary, the era of automated yet deeply personalized user engagements has arrived in the real estate domain – shaping future buying and selling journeys for the better!