Digital customer journey and it's importance in real estate

It is difficult to determine a precise percentage of people who trust real estate agents, as this can vary depending on a number of factors including personal experiences and individual perceptions.

However, research has suggested that trust in the real estate industry as a whole may be relatively low. A 2018 survey by the National Association of Realtors found that only 58% of respondents had a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of trust in real estate agents. Other studies have suggested even lower levels of trust, with some finding that only around 40% of consumers trust real estate agents.

It is important to note that these figures do not accurately reflect the trustworthiness of individual agents, as trust in the industry as a whole may be influenced by a variety of factors including negative media coverage and past experiences with untrustworthy agents. However, it is clear that trust is a significant concern in the real estate industry, and agents and companies may need to work to build trust with their clients in order to be successful.
One way to do this is to adopt a digital customer journey. A digital customer journey refers to the series of interactions and experiences that a customer has with a company or service through digital channels, from the initial awareness or consideration phase to the final purchase or post-purchase phase.

The digital customer journey typically involves a number of steps, including:

Awareness: The customer becomes aware of the company or service and begins to consider it as an option.

Consideration: The customer investigates and compares the company or service to other options.

Purchase: The customer makes a purchase or takes some other desired action.

Post-purchase: The customer interacts with the company or service after the purchase, such as through customer service or through ongoing use of the product or service.

The digital customer journey can involve a wide range of interactions and experiences, including browsing a website, making a purchase online, interacting with customer service through a chat or messaging platform, or using a mobile app to access and manage products or services.

By understanding and optimizing the digital customer journey, companies can improve the overall customer experience and build trust and loyalty with their customers.

A digital customer journey can increase trust in a number of ways. Here are a few examples:

Convenience: Digital tools and technologies can make it easier for customers to interact with a company or service, which can help to build trust by demonstrating that the company values their time and convenience.

Transparency: Digital platforms can allow for greater transparency in terms of pricing, terms and conditions, and other important details, which can help to build trust by making it easier for customers to understand what they are getting and what to expect.

Security: Digital platforms that use secure technologies and protocols can help to protect customers' personal and financial information, which can help to build trust by demonstrating that the company takes security seriously.

Responsiveness: Digital tools can make it easier for customers to communicate with a company and get the help they need, which can help to build trust by demonstrating that the company is responsive and accessible.

Personalization: Digital platforms that use data and machine learning can help to provide personalized experiences and recommendations, which can help to build trust by demonstrating that the company understands and values the individual needs and preferences of their customers.

Overall, a digital customer journey can help to increase trust by making it easier, more transparent, more secure, more responsive, and more personalized for customers to interact with a company or service.

So what does this look like in real estate? The awareness and consideration stages mentioned above has long been digitalised. 90% of all enquiries to estate agents come via digital channels. Be that visits to a portal, emails, whatsapp or the agents own websites. Its at the next stage where the system fragments; purchase. Thats where beagel comes in. We automate the process of submitting and evaluating bids for real estate properties. It is typically used by real estate agents to streamline the process of making offers on properties, and to ensure that the best offer is selected in a competitive bidding process. Beagel allow consumers to submit bids online, track the status of their offer, and view the current high bid and other relevant information about the property.

It also includes features such as automatic bid increments, alerts when a user has been outbid, and the ability to set maximum bid amounts in advance. All with no consumer facing branding. The consumer only ever interacts with the agent.

If this sounds like something you’d like to know more about, reach out today and see if beagel can help you.