Why Mobile App Is A Must-Have For Real Estate Agency
The technology available for real estate is getting better all the time. With all the time people spend looking at their tablets and smartphones, it creates the perfect opportunity for real estate companies to market their services through mobile applications. Surprisingly, an overwhelming number of real estate businesses are not doing this yet. This leaves a competitive advantage open for any company that does have real estate app.
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How Realtors Can Benefit with Real Estate App
In the year 2018, every business person needs a mobile app for marketing and communication assistance. Statistics show that 87% of people from the millennial generation have their mobile devices with them at all times. If you are a company with their own mobile app you would be constantly connected with all the potential property buyers who have downloaded your app.
Let’s take a look at one of the best realtor apps Zillow as an example. If someone were to save their property search requirements and a new listing becomes available which matches them, that user will receive an automatic push notification. Either that or their assigned agent would receive a message.
According to a Criteo research study, real estate apps are two times more likely to retain users than those who use their mobile browsers. Not only that, there is double the chance that real estate mobile apps users will come back within a month.
Engagement is also high with these apps.
- 29.92% of the people who use real estate apps show “low activity.” They would be active for the first couple of days out of the week and then drop out.
- 31.97% of the people who use real estate apps showed “medium activity.” They would be active for 3 to 5 days out of the week and then drop out.
- 38.11% of the people who use real estate apps showed “high activity.” They would be active for almost the entire first week.
Therefore, over 70% of people who actively use apps are using realtor apps a minimum of 3 times out of the week. So, what does this mean? It means these users are using the real estate mobile apps about 3 times each week to browse properties and calculate their values. If they have questions or inquiries, they can contact the realtor of that listing directly through the app.
Real Estate App Enhances Loyalty to Your Brand
Previously, Adobe examined information pertaining to mobile app usage from more than 600 brands. They wanted to find out how loyal the users were to the apps of these brands. Adobe discovered that mobile users spent more time on apps than on websites. Based on this evidence, mobile app development was considered to be a good investment for a brand to make. Loyalty can be achieved a lot more with mobile apps than with mobile websites.
According to the concept known as “effective frequency,” consumers will build loyalty toward a brand if they see it at least 20 different times. Since mobile apps are more visible to users and easier for them to engage, they increase their chances of building loyalty toward those brands.
Return Traffic From Your Real Estate Website
Whether people are looking to sell or buy property, they dislike using mobile websites to research real estate listings. They would much rather find a real estate agent app for this purpose instead.
The biggest apps in the real estate market are Realtor, Zillow and Trulia. When people use these top apps for realtors, these companies seize the chance to obtain their loyalty for a long time to come. Users say the functionality of the apps is better than how their website counterparts function.
Any real estate agent that wants to be a fierce competitor to these real estate portals will need to begin with getting a mobile app for their real estate agency. This will at least put you on the playing field by bringing in new traffic and keeping it on your real estate website only.
Better User Experience For Your Customers
Users need to have a better experience when they use your customized real estate app.
If you are building a mobile website, you are basically adapting your desktop website’s information for mobile devices. Since these devices have smaller screens, they end up getting stuffed with information which distracts and confuses users.
Mobile apps are different because they don’t need all the information which is found on your mobile website and desktop website. How often do you see realtor biographies, newsletter subscription boxes, or home buyer’s guides on realtor apps? The only thing you’ll see on a good realtor apps, Android or iOS, is a search feature so that users can discover new properties. This keeps the experience simple and easy.
Recommended Reading: Guide To Creating A Successful App
Desktop websites can handle more complicated functionality because they are bigger platforms with large screens. The size limitations of mobile devices mean that you must only present the most important information and functions. Otherwise, you will lose your customers immediately. That’s why the successful mobile applications are the ones that have core features and not tons of functions that are useless for users. If you add too many functions in the very beginning, then you make it too complicated for your customers. You can add them later step by step based on users’ feedback. But you have to start with creating Minimum Viable Product first. That’s the right path to build a best real estate app. Besides, it will take less time to create MVP and app development cost would be lower compared to the full app.
Since you won’t have any distractions on your mobile app you should focus completely on developing the highest quality property search feature that you can. All the functions of your real estate app are developed for interactions that are specific to the device being used. This makes the user experience much stronger.
During the app development process of a realtors app, you need to imagine yourself as the person using the app. With every element that you create for the app, imagine how a user will interact with it on their mobile device. Make the proper adjustments to any areas which show poorly on the mobile device. You’ll want to ensure that the mobile user experience is the best that it can be. So, turn yourself into the user as you develop the app for your real estate agency. Even the better way if you make a survey among your website visitors about what features that would love to see in the best real estate app. On top of that, it will be a good marketing move to promote app of your real estate agency.
What Else?
According to research conducted by Criteo, you will get the best conversion rate from mobile apps than from any other marketing channel. Meanwhile, the worst conversion rate comes from mobile websites. Desktop websites are not much better either.
Best real estate app will provide better user engagement, brand loyalty, and user experience. If a real estate agent is still not convinced that a realtor app is the worth creating, here are some additional reasons for why it is.
Mobile apps will allow agents to:
- Be More Innovative
- Have Better Visibility for their Business
- Use push notifications to reach consumers
- Be more competitive
- Impress clients by showing off your mobile apps
There are just too many good reasons to have a mobile app developed for your real estate agency. Think about including it in your marketing budget.
Realtors’ Missing Link
Enhancing user loyalty and engagement are big reasons to invest in a real estate app. Surprisingly, most real estate agents are not including this in their internet marketing strategies. They will never be able to stay ahead of the competition. As well they won’t be able to establish a strong connection with sellers or buyers without a customized mobile application
Here are the advantages that Real Estate companies will have with an app:
- User engagement can be enhanced to its fullest potential
- Recognition and loyalty toward the brand will increase
- Better traffic from the back portal
- Better user experiences
Many businesses would love to invest in something that would give them at least one of these benefits. By investing in your personal realtors app, you are going to get all of them together. After you’ve created your app, the next thing you need to do is create your marketing plan for it. This is the only way to ensure that you’re getting the most return on your investment. You can read it in our next article. Stay tuned!
