Think about the last time you had an amazing shopping experience. It could be when your flight-booking website saved you several steps by recommending a luxury hotel in your price range, or when a shopping site reminds you to reorder your favorite vanilla bean coffee before you even realized you were running low.
Whatever it may be, chances are your experience was personalized, and it kept you coming back for more.
Now imagine how your client would feel if you could deliver a highly personalized experience that anticipated their wants and needs throughout the real estate transaction. Personalization used to be a pipe dream for both business and consumers, but now it has become an expectation from most consumers. So, when a product or service lacks personalization, your client might come out of the experience feeling empty or frustrated, leaving you as their agent to feel equally as unsatisfied. The good news is, when leveraged effectively, personalization can help you build better results for your client and reputation.
Personalized experiences are a powerful way to build stronger relationships with clients, but it’s more than just talking to your client like they’re the “only one.” A new wave expected by customers, hyper-personalization, uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to find even more deeply curated data recommendations for the customer journey while giving you a competitive edge.
Emerging technologies in the real estate market help create relationship-based experiences that are content-rich rather than transactional-based experiences. As the market takes a downward turn, it’s critical to invest in tools that allow you to go beyond others and differentiate your business. Here are some of the capabilities and use cases where personalization can elevate the real estate transaction experience:
- Computer vision AI: From building and training models that can analyze an image, to extracting data from images identifying various attributes inside and outside the house (think driveways, pools, flooring, kitchen islands, etc.), computer vision produces a compelling user experience for your customer. In addition, computer vision technology can determine the condition of a single room or an entire property by fusing a wide spectrum of information that the human eye wouldn’t normally be able to capture. This allows you to deliver a truly personalized outcome for the customer whether they are on the hunt for a fixer-upper or that “perfect kitchen” with new, must-have appliances.
- Search recommendations: Historically, search recommendations have lacked personalization, as the technology and tools have largely been one-sized-fits-all. New technologies allow consumers advanced ways to customize their experience. AI and machine learning algorithms can be combined to offer clients a way to upload images or even tag photos, thereby providing personal preferences about their desired search. Searching for the kitchen with hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, good natural light, is driven by these uploads and converted into highly personal recommendations for the buyer.
- Immersive reality: The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that we don’t always have to leave the house to study, work, or buy groceries. The same phenomenon can be applied to agents who want to help their buyer find a home. Virtual reality allows consumers to immerse themselves into different neighborhoods where they can “walk” in real-time through the neighborhood and immediately get a sense of the environment, just as if they were physically present. Augmented reality allows a look into the “what if” of a remodeled room without hoisting a ladder, or the ability to explore different furniture and layouts quickly and efficiently without spending a dime, put the power of personalization in the hands of agents and customers.
Some agents might find tech to be a “cold” tool, but it is a conduit for “forever” relationships, similar to how social media allows people from across the world to connect. According to 2020 research by Salesforce around consumer expectations and personalized experiences, 84% of consumers say being treated like a person, which means understanding their goals and desires, is very important to winning their business.
Happy clients are the best source of referral business, enabling you to convert more clients and close more deals. Agents that take advantage of these special technologies will far outshine the ones that don’t. Hyper-personalization at every point of the homebuying journey will make your client feel like you understand their needs and desires, building trust and satisfaction.
homegenius is several steps ahead of the curve by investing in emerging technologies like geniuspricePro—a property intelligence platform from homegenius Real Estate that leverages advanced technology and the latest developments in data science, machine learning and AI to give agents deeper, more personalized insights to help their buyers navigate this complex, cooling market.
Visit homegenius.com to learn more about the homegenius ecosystem and tools that can bring powerful analytics to living room conversations with your clients.
Steve Gaenzler
SVP, Products, Data, and Analytics, homegenius Real Estate
Steve Gaenzler has spent 25 years at the intersection of technology and the housing industry. As head of the homegenius SaaS Product organization, Steve leads and facilitates the roadmap and creation of all homegenius SaaS products as well as the customer success teams that ensure value is delivered. In addition, he leads the Data and Analytics teams focused on the development of advanced analytics and data products. His organization includes data engineering and data science, advanced analytics (artificial intelligence and machine learning), product design and management. He is also a member of Radian’s Enterprise Risk Management council and Chair of the subcommittee responsible for homegenius model governance.
