There has been a lot of talk about chatbots lately, so I tested one that came highly recommended.
What I found was that the chatbot could not answer any of my questions, and instead tried to push me to leave my contact information so a human could call me back.
Essentially, it served as an automated contact form.
What really bothered me, though, was that users might think they are chatting with a real person. Then, they might wonder why that person is so rude and ignoring all their questions.
Is this really the first impression we want to give a buyer or seller?
A user would most likely just disconnect and go somewhere else for the answer.
One way to prevent this is to be upfront — make it clear that users are chatting with a bot, and not a human. This way, they will understand why all their questions are being ignored.
Real estate is a complex business, and there are many different questions buyers and sellers have.
To try to cover them all with a chatbot is not doable at this time.
With a large commission on the line, each lead could be worth thousands, and we really do not want to risk turning off our next buyer or seller with a rude chatbot.
At my office, we currently have a real chat person available using Olark.com, and we do get some leads from chatting. However, our agent is never rude and always answers the questions.
This is why I won’t use a chatbot on my website at this time.
Bryn Kaufman is the creator and principal broker of OahuRe.com. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.