Maximise customer engagement with real estate technology

With the massive shift to online working, learning and socialisation that has taken place over the past year, the customer experience is more important than ever. In the real estate industry, the relationship between you and your customers no longer revolves around the lease – now, it relies on the customer themselves, whether they’re a residential or a commercial tenant.

Technology that puts the customer first

With the real estate industry transitioning away from paper documentation and trending towards data and digital usage, it is clear that integrated portals and other forms of mobile and web-based technologies are critical to support customer engagement. But while self-service extensions of transactional systems are the most common starting point, there is a bevy of customer engagement solutions now finding their way into the real estate industry.

These new capabilities are helping businesses place the customer (not the lease) at the centre of the relationship by emphasizing certain categories, such as:

• Lifecycle tracking – Understand the tenant from pre-tenancy to post-tenancy, their needs and where they are in the lifecycle. It includes features like pre-tenancy tracking of leasing opportunities, pre-move-in tracking of paperwork and space readiness, tenancy tracking of satisfaction, financial health, lease options and upcoming renewals, as well as post-tenancy tracking of exit reasons and destination.
• Communication history – Track every phone call, email, and text message, both inbound and outbound so that any member of the team can engage with the customer on an open issue or as a follow-up to a prior item.
• Interaction history – See a full history of communications and compile information regarding portal logins, service requests, complaints, payment activity, after-hour needs and any other touchpoint between you and your customer.
• Comparative data – Understand how this tenant compares to other, similar tenants. This is especially important in retail, where performance can be similar in a category of stores. Leveraging analytics and BI solutions can drive future business in other properties where tenant profiles match desired tenancy characteristics. It can also show early signs of distress with existing tenants as compared to a peer group.

Tracking and managing the relationship from prospect to tenant and throughout a tenancy provides a richer context for business. Understanding all touchpoints between a customer and the real estate enterprise can provide important colour on renewal negotiations. Learn about the other real estate technology strategies that can benefit your business.