The Goddess of Texting is alive and well.
Say Gary is a potential homebuyer who’s interested in learning about homes from a specific builder. Rushing to his car after work, Gary drives through heavy traffic to the presentation centre—only to find it’s closed.
Even worse: scowling at the hours sign, Gary learns that the centre opens late and closes early, making it hard for him to get there before or after work.
Gary isn’t pleased. And you know what that means: a displeased potential homebuyer may no longer be a potential homebuyer.
We at BAM are working hard to help our clients solve this problem. As always, we want to do it in an efficient, cost-effective way. So we looked at cheap, ubiquitous technology.
The best option, in our opinion?
Plain old texting.
I’ve already blogged about texting and its relation to advertising campaigns for communities. We like using text messages to communicate with potential homebuyers. Texts are harder to miss than email. They’re also instant, personal, and ever-present. (According to a recent Toronto Star article, Canadians sent 56.4 billion texts in 2010, up 60% from 2009. That’s an average of 154.5 million a day, despite us having more and more digital messaging options.)
In view of such ubiquity, it would be foolish not to tap into the potential of texting.
Back to Gary. Imagine he sees a sign when he gets to the presentation centre. The sign urges him to send a text to a specific number with a keyword attached to it (in this case, that keyword would probably be “Info”). Gary does as asked, and immediately gets a text back that says, “Welcome. My name is Brent. You can reach me at (…) and I’ll answer any questions you have!”
All of a sudden, Gary’s not alone in front of a closed store anymore. He’s a potential homebuyer again, in direct contact with you.
Alternatively, if Gary is circling the presentation centre in his car, he could see a sign saying, “Move-in Special,” with a number to text below that. If Gary were to send a text to it, he’d get a tailored reply.
These messages could contain any type of information. Smartphone users could get a link to a video. Any user could register via a simple text. And if potential homebuyers are lost, they could get directions sent directly to their device. Depending on which sign they see, they’ll text to a different keyword, which will return a different set of directions depending on the location of the sign.
Texting will allow us to engage further with homebuyers, providing better customer service and being there for them even after staff go home.
JohnAmardeil.com 