Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate is overhauling its predictive marketing tool to give agents and brokers a deeper mobile experience.
Called PinPoint, the tool first launched back in 2010, but it has been redesigned to offer agents “rich customer profiles, customizable geo targeting and predictive analytics,” according to the company.
“Relaunching PinPoint during a milestone year for BHGRE is fitting because it represents how our brand—and the real estate industry—have evolved,” Sherry Chris, president and CEO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, said in the announcement.
“The ability to effectively target consumers beyond traditional demographics in a mobile-first, responsive tool brings our network an unparalleled advantage in marketing. We couldn’t be prouder of the new PinPoint tool, the impact it will have on our network, and of the continued innovation in its future.”
PinPoint, available for download free of charge to all affiliated agents, now enables for precise targeted listings down to a street or block. The previous version that did not come with that data flexibility.
The original product, created long before the mobile-focused wave, only allowed agents to choose a zip code or map radius surrounding a pin, which didn’t always generate the most accurate client data.
The redesign gives agents the ability to better match with potential buyers, courtesy of its personalized advanced search feature. For example, customer description can include precise phrases down to “First Time Home Buyer, No Kids,” “First Time Home Buyer, With Kids,” “Move-Up Buyer,” “Empty Nester,” “Mature Mover,” “Premier Consumer” and “Second Home Buyer.” The company hopes this feature will also better market buyers’ homes for sale in the future, further building the relationship between clients and brokers.
Beta testing of the redesign has gone well in the past couple of weeks, with hundreds of preview users having already tried the new PinPoint, according to the company. The tool is now more compatible with mobile phones and tablets to better allow for on-the-go search and presentations by agents.
The company, whose branding is licensed out to Realogy by magazine publisher Meredith Corporation, will be able to take advantage of Meredith’s data-rich audience of more than 175 million customers.
By sharing this overlapping pool of targeted consumers, BHGRE is hoping to use PinPoint to capitalize on Meredith’s loyal fanbase, turning them into potential real estate clients.
And with targeted ads in real estate comes the concern of compliance with the Fair Housing Act. While the tool’s data gathering capabilities could be helpful to sell, say, a penthouse apartment to a city-dwelling couple, it does come with concerns over potential discrimination.
But Better Homes confirms that the PinPoint tool is “designed specifically for marketing purposes and does not have any features enabling targeting based on any protected class.”
PinPoint is now available to any agent or broker within the Better Homes and Gardens network.
