10 Ways Real Estate Technology Can Enhance the Client Experience

dotloop

December 02, 2020 | comments

How Real Estate Agents Use Dotloop and Other Technology Tools to Delight Clients

Today’s consumer is mobile-first and Zoom-ready. They’re shopping online for houses, researching their home’s value and, in some cases, taking their own listing pictures.

The average home buyer and seller, however, still relies on a real estate agent to help them pinpoint the perfect house, negotiate the deal and navigate the transaction. If you’re still asking your clients to jump across multiple platforms to sign and retrieve documents during the transaction process, you may be causing your clients more frustration and disappointment than necessary.

Here are 10 ways to use real estate technology to help surprise and delight your clients with a streamlined, all-in-one transaction experience.

1. Impress with the Ultimate Listing Presentation

With today’s inventory shortage and hot sellers market, listing agents can’t afford to lose a hot prospect. Dotloop’s customizable listing presentation template provides agents with an easy-to-use tool, which makes a great first impression on these customers. The digital PowerPoint lets agents drag and drop listing images and update with a city’s median sales prices and home values. A client consultation worksheet encourages conversations with prospective clients and creates a compelling, memorable marketing story that will resonate on an emotional level with potential buyers long after the sale.

2. Give Your Clients One-Stop Doc Access

Clients can grow easily frustrated if they need to search their emails and text messages to find their agent/buyer exclusive agreement, home warranty or home inspection. Dotloop stores all docs and contracts in a loop that they can always access, long after the deal is done.

Dotloop also integrates with HomeBinder providing agents with an opportunity to offer their clients a unique closing gift that stores and organizes all their home records on a digital platform. HomeBinder is particularly popular with millennials who hate chasing paper and want everything stored digitally. This integration takes a loop from dotloop and sends it to HomeBinder, which automatically creates a binder that agents can present to their clients as a final value-add to the transaction experience. The agent’s contact info is displayed prominently in the binder, allowing them to stay top of mind with past and present clients.

3. eSign Anywhere

More often than not, real estate clients are in a remote location away from their laptop when they receive an email or text with a document that requires their signature. They may be at an open house when the deal is hot and they want to put an offer on a house on the spot. Or maybe they’re watching their kids play soccer or shopping for groceries when they receive the document from their agent. The dotloop mobile app lets clients eSign quickly and easily whether they’re at home or on the go.

The process is easy: Clients are presented with a flashing blue button stating START SIGNING. Once they click this button, dotloop walks them through the document(s) and assists them with clicking in the proper spots to sign as designated by the agent. They’re also given the option to manually scroll down the document at their own pace and read and/or sign as desired and to draw their own signature using a mouse if they so choose. Clients who choose to create their own free dotloop account will always be able to return to the loop and access their documents.

In addition, the mobile app enables agents to simply hand their phone over to the client for in-person contract eSignings — a must-have for open houses and showings.

4. Text to Transact

90 minutes or 90 seconds? That’s the difference between how long it takes the average person to respond to an email versus a text. Clients see their texts faster than they open emails and they’ll naturally respond quicker. Research shows that people prefer texting to communicate. A Facebook-commissioned survey of 8,156 people, for example, found that 65% of people feel more confident messaging a business than emailing, filling out a form on a website or calling. And, 74% of those surveyed said they expect messaging to enable better customer experiences. That means faster document completion and closings.

Dotloop’s text Messenger gives buyers and sellers the ability to receive, eSign and complete contracts faster on their phone or tablet whenever, wherever they happen to be. With dotloop’s text Messenger, clients don’t have to download any software; they can simply answer their agent’s texts and share and eSign docs from their smartphone.

Text Messenger also makes a great way to make first contact with buyers at an open house when you only have a phone number and want fast, efficient followup. And because the app automatically exports all conversations, agents can quickly and easily access all conversations with the client.

5. Scan Repair Pictures & PDFs from a Phone

Here’s an easy way for clients to scan a document or take a picture of home repairs and improvements from their phones and upload to the loop. Using the dotloop mobile scanner, the client simply needs to open the mobile app and select “Scan a Document.” From there, one tap lets them scan a document or choose pictures from their camera roll. Customers have the ability to crop photos, adjust the brightness, move the page order and more.

6. Send Earnest Money Digitally — Without a Wire Transfer

Dotloop’s integration with Earnnest makes it easy for buyers to send their deposit money quickly and easily while avoiding the worries associated with wire transfers. Using a bank level-encrypted digital transfer, the integration sends the payment to the escrow holder, thus eliminating the need for the client to send a check or wire transfer the money. Agents love it because they can send the transfer request to their buyers conveniently from within the dotloop platform.

7. Get Guided Presentation & Property Tours

BombBomb’s video messaging app helps agents create a first-rate consumer experience when consulting over contracts, touring properties, reviewing comps or showing clients how they’ll be using dotloop throughout the transaction process. The app’s screen recorder feature allows the agent to appear and narrate the content from one side of the screen, as the consumer views the content.
Agents can also use the video app during virtual and 3D tours of properties by using the screen recorder to speak directly to specific information of interest to the buyer.

Once the deal has closed, the dotloop + BombBomb integration allows agents to leverage data in dotloop, such as the close date, to send automated congratulatory and anniversary video emails, which helps to further enrich the consumer experience.

8. Keep Customers on Task

Dotloop’s loop tasks help buyers and sellers stay on task by knowing exactly what next steps they need to take to keep the deal moving forward. These itemized to-do lists alert agents, customers and third-party providers when certain tasks must be completed. Lists can be created within a loop or loaded from preset templates created by an agent or an office. Agents can set due dates for each task and assign the task to themselves or anyone else who is part of the loop. After the due date and person is assigned to the task, that person will be notified daily of upcoming tasks that need to be completed.

9. Get Auto-Generated NHD Reports

Dotloop offers numerous integrations that can make the customer transaction management experience more seamless, including the SnapNHD integration, which auto-generates and delivers a Natural Hazard Disclosure report via email and directly into the transaction loop every time the agent opens escrow.

Natural Hazard Disclosures inform buyers about natural disaster risks in their areas and help them prepare by taking any necessary precautions to protect the home.

Some states require sellers to provide these reports to potential buyers. In California, for example, homeowners are required by law to provide NHD reports when selling. With rising sea levels, wildfire risk and other natural disaster concerns, these critical factors can often mean the difference between a successful close or not. The SnapNHD integration with dotloop swiftly expedites the report and places it directly inside the loop, giving the buyer fast and easy access to this information.

10. Loop-It™ from Gmail for Direct Contact

Using APINation’s Loop-It™ for Gmail integration, agents can create loops directly through their Gmail accounts for fast and easy loop creations and follow-up with new customers. The agent only needs to choose their dotloop profile, select a loop template and Loop-It™ directly from Gmail. Zapier also makes it easy to connect dotloop and Gmail with an integration, which through a series of preset “zaps,” can automatically trigger an email draft when a new loop has been created.

What are some of your favorite ways to surprise and delight your customers? Share your tips in the comments section below.