Raveis Automated Marketing Platform, or RAMP, is an in-house solution for its agents to build marketing campaigns around new listings and by extension, their personal brands.
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Raveis Automated Marketing Platform (RAMP) is digital marketing software and services for agents of William Raveis Real Estate.
Platforms: Browser-based; mobile-responsive
Ideal for: William Raveis agents
Top Selling Points:
- In-house, proprietary product
- Multiple forms of marketing outreach
- Flexible payment options
- Integrated insurance and mortgage
- Post-sale buyer dashboard
Top Concern:
Software solutions developed in house are useful, but can lack market-led innovation developed by software companies more attuned to technology trends and consumer behaviors.
What You Should Know
Raveis Automated Marketing Platform, or RAMP, is an in-house solution for its agents to build marketing campaigns around new listings and by extension, their personal brands. It combines social media, website distribution, print marketing, direct mail, photography ordering and a SkySlope transaction partnership. Agents can pay upon order or defer it to closing. While there isn’t anything particularly innovative from a technological standpoint — we’ve seen these brokerage-provided services before — there is certainly an elegant integration to it all, providing exactly what the majority of agents ask for and know how to use.
William Raveis is a well-known independent real estate brokerage in the northeast and Florida that also offers mortgage and insurance services. It has around 4,400 agents, 500 employees and its website promotes a “Digital First™ approach to marketing.”
I can attest to them backing that up, as they’ve clearly devoted a fair amount of resources to making sure their agents are equipped for the market.
I was told in our demo that the company wants to “take back the relationship with the client,” something I’ve been hearing a lot lately. I’m not really convinced the agent has been pushed out as much as many in the industry think. Heck, even the iBuyers — disruption public enemy No. 1 — use practicing agents.
Still, I understand Raveis’ greater point, which is to ensure that its agents and clients remain bound for as long as possible, and technology can help.
While not directly part of RAMP, Raveis’ client dashboard is a valuable tool for its buyers to search for homes, create favorite lists and mark homes they specifically don’t like. It also provides informational feeds on specific neighborhoods, gives shareable stats on the market and facilitates chats between consumer and agent. Buyers can also inquire about pre-qualification and mortgage programs, as well.
Naturally, this is where the client experience begins, and it’s nice for the agent and broker to own more of the data from the top of the transaction. This is why controlling search can help. It’s not vital, but it’s valuable in the discovery process of getting to know a client.
Within RAMP proper, agents leverage a straight-forward admin interface to select from a number of marketing services, a la carte or as packages. Location of the property will determine photographer selection, which the software categorizes automatically.
There’s social media marketing options, all of which are designed and managed by Raveis staff, as well as print material ordering for direct mail campaigns and glossy brochures. Mail lists can be selected in the system, too.
You may have heard me say a time or two that print is not dead. And Raveis knows it, too, because when it comes time to sell big, beautiful luxury homes on the east coast, you’ll need ads in the places people who buy such homes go to find them, The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, among others. You can also get placement on MansionGlobal.com.
Before a final order is placed, the user experience provides a clear breakdown of all orders and costs, from which the agent can pay immediately with a linked account, or defer the payment until closing.
The agent can then print or send a report to the client to show everything that’s going to be used to sell their home and as part of that, they’re given access to the marketing’s performance throughout the listing contract, which includes email stats, social engagements, ad impressions and other insights.
The reports are another tactic for ensuring the agent and customer remain synchronized, as is the post-sale client dashboard, a hub for staying on top of all-things homeownership. Raveis’ take on this isn’t to overwhelm the user with a huge list of tasks and to-dos, but rather with quarterly check-ins, insurance coverage updates and offers, and mortgage rate news and insights.
The company also offers a single sign-on Intranet as a portal to a CRM for agents. It doesn’t get bogged down with features or too many tactical amenities; it’s a simple approach to managing names and profiles, including what Raveis services they’ve engaged. The Intranet also houses access to approved technology vendors, such MoxiWorks and HomeSpotter.
There’s plenty within RAMP, and William Raveis’ other offerings, to attract the attention of any agent who considers technology a primary reason to join a brokerage. It helps that it’s a long-established indy brand, too. In fact, William Raveis Real Estate won an Inman Innovator Award in 2011.
And they’re still innovating.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe
Craig C. Rowe started in commercial real estate at the dawn of the dot-com boom, helping an array of commercial real estate companies fortify their online presence and analyze internal software decisions. He now helps agents with technology decisions and marketing through reviewing software and tech for Inman.
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