One of the challenges of BAM’s business is helping our clients reach the registrants for their new home communities in an effective and expeditious fashion. We want to have valuable communications with our registrants: giving them the info they want, the way they want to receive it. Recently, we used two new techniques to revolutionize how we communicate.
1. Online Appointment Booking
BAM sent out an eblast inviting Pathways’ registrants to an exclusive preview event for Pathways in Caledon East. It led them to a website (see screenshot above) where they could see available appointment times and book one for themselves. When people booked an appointment, an automatic email was sent to them confirming their appointment time and telling them how to get to the venue and how to cancel their appointment if necessary.
Similar to convenient services like OpenTable and other online appointment booking services such as retail services for hair stylists and for purchasing movie tickets, this system benefitted both the builder and the public. We got to control and limit the number of people attending our event without the tedious task of manually managing an RSVP list. Registrants got to book their appointment quickly and easily, and at any time of the day or night.
2. Text Messaging Campaign
Even those who don’t have email on their phones often utilize at least their texting feature. According to Pew Research Center’s 2010 Mobile Access Survey, one of the two mobile activities people do the most is sending or receiving text messages (72%).
Launching a SMS (i.e. text messaging) campaign for the same Pathways event gave us an extra medium to communicate with registrants who wished to be contacted in this way. Being able to contact registrants via text allowed us to contact them on the fly, instead of the slower medium of email that we usually use. This was extremely useful when, for example, our Limited Release Blueprint Preview sold out; we were able to notify people who had appointments booked later in the day that the lots available had sold, and warn people that they could still come to their appointment but would be unable to purchase a home.
Text messaging also has the benefits of being:
– Nearly impossible to miss (vs. email, which often ends up in your junk folder)
– Instant and available to you wherever you are
– Personal
BAM continues to innovate with new ways to engage and communicate with people. It’s a modern, mobile world, and we are constantly adapting to this world.
JohnAmardeil.com 
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