Text messaging is vital to staying in touch with real estate clients, especially when a fast response is needed. Research indicates that 73% of real estate businesses plan to expand their SMS use over the next few years. Enabling busy customers to get in touch at a convenient time and get immediate answers provides better service, while texting clients to share property listings and confirm appointments helps your business work more efficiently.
These 8 rules will help you leverage the advantages of SMS:
1. Follow Texting Regulations
It is vital to ensure your texting abides by text messaging laws. Getting these wrong can result in a loss of trust with clients, fines, and having your text messages blocked. Regulations differ by location, but here are some best practices you should always follow:
- Get permission to text your clients about real estate opportunities.
- Get your client’s permission before setting up phone calls or group conversations.
- Only text during normal business hours; in most places, this means 8am to 8pm.
- Avoid spam trigger words. These aren’t part of SMS regulations, but texts containing spam trigger words risk being blocked by mobile providers.
2. Use for Simple Messages
Keeping your text messages short and simple makes it easier for clients to pick out the key details at a glance and ensuring you’re understood. You are more likely to get an immediate response this way. Texting clients is great when you need someone to act quickly, such as confirming a last-minute viewing.
While texting clients is very useful for sharing important information and requests, it also has more room for misinterpretation. If you need to share complex information or negative news with a client, it can be best to call instead to avoid confusion.
3. Be Positive and Friendly
While you should aim to keep your messages short and simple, that doesn’t mean blunt. They should always include a friendly greeting, and avoid one-word answers that could be misinterpreted as discouraging. In informal conversation, don’t be afraid to use the occasional emoji to lighten the mood, but use your judgment as some customers prefer to keep things more formal.
4. Personalize Text Templates
A personalized experience can make a lasting positive impression on customers. That doesn’t mean you should stop using text message templates, however. Templates are useful tools that can save a lot of time and be personalized automatically using a texting app.
5. Keep Texts Relevant
It’s great to set a friendly tone, but don’t get sidetracked. Keep your message focused on the service you are providing. Texting clients is a valuable way to get feedback and referrals from clients, but the time to ask for these is after a project is finished, not during it.
6. Include Images in Listings Texts
A collection of great photos of a property will grab your clients’ attention far more than a text-only description. Besides just images, you can also attach PDF files to send a full brochure with both images and text.
Remember that this will be viewed on a mobile device, so format the document to account for that. Sticking to one image and a few short sentences per page will help keep things easy to read on a small phone screen.
7. Provide a Call to Action
In the context of texting clients, a call to action gives customers clear instructions on moving forward. For example, ask your clients to reply and confirm an appointment if they are interested in a property. This ensures your customers always know what to do next, and helps you avoid delays.
8. Follow Up
Text messaging can help you follow up with clients after a sale to get their thoughts. This is a useful way to get reviews and referrals while your great service is fresh in their memory. Follow up texts can also collect feedback to improve your customer experience. Surveys and questionnaires that branch according to client responses let you get more detailed feedback on specific aspects of the process.
Improve Your Real Estate Experience with Text Messaging
Getting texting right improves client service and makes your business more efficient. Besides automating messages and responses for faster service, the right approach to texting clients and customers adds convenience and a personal touch to your service offerings. Following these rules provides a great foundation to make the most out of text messaging, but be prepared to tweak your approach for each client.
Alexa Lemzy is a content writer for TextMagic based in the United Kingdom.
