As is the case with virtually every other industry, real estate is growing increasingly mobile. By that we mean that home sellers and buyers are more likely to go their phones first when creating or searching for listings. Could we have imagined just a decade ago using our phones to buy and sell homes? Just as the internet changed the way we create and view home listings, the existence of smartphones and mobile applications have changed it again. Real estate apps like Zillow or Realtor make it easier than have to search for homes and 44% of smartphone owners say they’ve done just that. For those in the real estate business, they can no longer afford to ignore mobile. And with each passing year, ignoring mobile will mean you’re missing out on more and more potential business. With that in mind, here’s how realtors can use mobile marketing to achieve more success.
Invest in SMS marketing
Gone are the days when buyers waited for the realtor to show them ones. More than half of home buyers find online listings on their own before even reaching out to a realtor. You can save yourself a lot of time by setting up an SMS campaign where each property you sell as a registered shortcode and prospective buyers can send off a text containing a keyword to that shortcode to get on the list to receive updates about that particular property. This way, your list of interested buyers is managed automatically by themselves and they can remove themselves by opting out so you don’t have to keep spending your time trying to reach people that are no longer interested.
Adopt a mobile first approach to web design
Though DIY website builders like Weebly and Wix have come a long way when it comes to mobile-friendly design–you build from a template and the website host detects the device being used to view the site and adjusts accordingly–you can do even better by adopting a mobile first approach. Think about what your mobile customers are trying to accomplish when they use their smartphone to view listings on your website. People are five times more likely to leave a website if it’s not easy to navigate on a mobile device. Make sure any links are far enough apart that people won’t actually click over to the wrong page and make sure your contact information is displayed prominently throughout the website. Make sure your phone number is click-to-call so you make it as easy as possible for prospective clients to go from your website to speaking with you on the phone.
Get on all the right apps
Nearly 70% of home buyers will use a mobile app at some point to look at listings. That doesn’t mean you need to go out and create an app for your real estate company. In fact you probably shouldn’t. But you should make sure that your listings are appearing on the most popular real estate apps out there or a sizable part of your target audience may never see them if they’re using apps and not your website.
