If you walked into my office 12 years ago and told me that real estate agents would need chatbots screening their leads online, I would have laughed in your face. Well, I probably would have asked if you needed an apartment in the East Village first, but you get the idea.
Today, leads expect their questions to be answered instantly, and real estate chatbots help you do exactly that. We’re here to demystify chatbots, show you how to use them to boost your business, and reveal which chatbots offer the best combination of pricing and features. Not exactly sure what chatbots are? Let’s start with that!
What Is a Real Estate Chatbot?
Real estate chatbots are computer programs that mimic a human conversation and act as a virtual assistant to agents and brokers. A real estate chatbot can answer prospects’ questions, qualify leads, and ensure that there is always speed to lead. Visitors who come to your website text with the chatbot as if it’s you, the agent, or your assistant.
You may be wondering if chatbots qualify as artificial intelligence (AI). The answer is yes—kind of. It depends on the chatbot and how it’s programmed. Some use forms of artificial intelligence, data, and machine learning to develop dynamic answers to questions. Other chatbots use more of a logic-tree, “if yes, then…” platform to deliver the best answer to the question.
How Much Do Real Estate Chatbots Cost?
Since real estate chatbots are relatively new technology, pricing is all over the place—ranging from free to close to $500 a month depending on the number of leads you’re hoping to qualify. If you want a smart real estate chatbot without the learning curve, it’s not cheap.
Here is a quick breakdown of how much our favorite real estate chatbots cost. We’ll dig into their features and drawbacks to help you choose the best one for your business further down.
| Real Estate Chatbot | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Freshchat | Free - $79 per agent per month |
| Tidio | Free - $29 per month |
| Structurely | $499+ per month |
| Customers.ai (formerly Mobile Monkey) | Free - $499 per month |
| Tars | $99+ per month |
| Collect.Chat | Free - $99 per month |
| RealtyChatbot | $119+ per month with the annual plan (+ start up fees) |
How Chatbots Can Help You Close More Real Estate Deals
Here are a few ways agents, teams, and brokerages use real estate chatbots in today’s busy, tech-forward world:
1. Make It Easy to Reach Out
A lead might be interested in your services and happily engaging with your site, but they’re not ready to call or email you yet. This may be because it’s more work for them or they worry they’ll get trapped on a 20-minute sales call. Regardless of why, using a chatbot is a low-effort and instantly rewarding way for a lead to reach out to you.
2. Get Contact Information From Top-of-the-funnel Leads
Leads who are very close to a transaction might actually welcome eager salespeople reaching out to get the ball rolling, but top-of-the-funnel and mid-funnel leads aren’t quite there yet. Because they’re still at the education and research stage, they just want general information. That’s why top-of-the-funnel leads can be shy about giving their contact info.
However, a smart real estate chatbot can quickly warm up those cool leads and help you get more (and better) contact information from them. Maybe even an actual email address, not the hotmail one they created in high school that they only use for salespeople.
3. Schedule Showings or Calls
You can use smart chatbots to schedule showings or calls with leads and get a little more information along the way. Of course, website plugins can also accomplish this, but chatbots feel a little friendlier and will likely increase the odds of someone setting (and keeping) an appointment.
4. Help Visitors Find What They’re Looking for Faster
Let’s face it, many of us will ask a sales clerk where we can find an item in the supermarket rather than looking at the signs above each aisle. If a visitor can ask a chatbot where to find something, it saves them time, shows you appreciate and respect their time, and connects a lead’s question to an answer.
5. Screen & Segment Leads Into Your CRM
Smart chatbots will allow you to ask all kinds of screening questions and then send the answers into your customer relationship management (CRM) software. Chatbots can be programmed to get simple information like what a lead is looking for, how many bedrooms they need in their next home, or when they need to move. That might sound pretty basic, but it’s far more information than you’re likely to get from a form, email, or open house sign-in sheet and is crucial in helping you successfully nurture your lead over time.
The Best Real Estate Chatbots of 2023
While there are a ton of chatbot options these days, here are our picks for the best for real estate pros:
Freshchat’s Freddy
Pricing:
Free – $79 per agent, per month
Freshchat’s Best Features for Agents:
Freshchat lets you interact with your leads using Freddy, an artificial intelligence bot. You can set your chatbot to start chatting with leads based on their website activity. For example, a lead clicking over to a listing page might trigger a chatbot to offer to set up a showing. They also offer chat campaigns, and even let you engage with your leads on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram DMs.
Freshchat’s Drawbacks:
While Freshchat is an affordable option, especially since the free version allows up to ten users, even the upgraded versions (which include sessions, better customer service access, and deeper analytics) lack some of the more sophisticated features as others on our list. The biggest drawback is that Freshchat does not directly integrate with popular real estate CRMs like CINC or LionDesk the way Structurely does.
Tidio
Pricing
Tidio offers a free version (three users, 50 livechat conversations) and several packages that vary based on the number of users and number of livechat conversations. The most expensive is $29 per month.
Tidio’s Best Features:
This is a chatbot at its most customizable—so much so that it looks like a natural extension of your branded site and social media. The out-of-the-box templates are helpful for real estate leads (even though Tidio is not specifically designed for the real estate industry) and it’s easy to create your own. I also like the thoughtful analytics and reporting, which make it easy to see what’s working and what’s not. Tidio is easily one of the top options on our list and a strong alternative to Freshchat.
Tidio’s Drawbacks
Some agents might get tripped up by some of the integrations, but since the customer service is something Tidio prioritizes, they should be able to help troubleshoot.
Structurely
Pricing
$499 to $1,499 per month, depending on the number of conversations
Structurely’s Best Features for Agents:
Structurely offers an AI chatbot that operates like an inside sales agent to qualify and even nurture leads via text messaging. But it doesn’t stop there. Structurely’s AI assistant also qualifies and nurtures leads via email. If you’re worried that there’s a bot sending out emails and texts that are hard to track, don’t. Structurely seamlessly integrates with popular CRMs like CINC, LionDesk, Follow Up Boss, and Real Geeks so you can monitor and log conversations with your leads right from your CRM.
Structurely’s Drawbacks:
Although Structurely offers agents some pretty high-tech features, they are priced accordingly. Many agents spend less for their entire IDX website than what Structurely charges. For a high-end product without the high-end price tag, consider Tidio.
Customers.ai
Pricing
There is a free option, a starter package for $199 per month and the pro package, which is $499 per month. Pricing depends on the number of website visitors and conversations.
Customers.ai’s Best Features
Agents who interact with their leads on social media are going to really appreciate Customers.ai’s seamless integrations. You’re even able to automate your DMs on Facebook and Instagram. Bonus points to Customers.ai for the deep analytic reporting on website visitors so that you get to know your audience and tailor your content better.
Customers.ai’s Drawbacks
Previously MobileMonkey, Customers.ai’s new ownership and brand is talking a big, bold, very vague AI game. I’m going to keep an eye on it to make sure that a rebrand isn’t a sign of potential messiness or lack of vision in the future. I’m also hoping to see better native integrations and higher levels of customer service. MobileMonkey had a kind of cult following so we’ll see if Customers.ai can keep loyal customers happy.
Tars
Pricing
I know pricing starts at $99 per month, but that’s about it. Would love to see more transparency here.
Tars’ Best Features
Tars serves multiple industries and has developed more than 1,000 templates for customers to deploy. It understands speed to lead and promises the fastest responses of any chatbot provider on the list. As a major chatbot player, they are up to date on the most innovative AI technology and are swift to adopt new and better strategies. Throw in that the integrations are pretty good, especially with CRMs, and Tars is an excellent real estate chatbot choice.
Tars’ Drawbacks
Tars has limited social media integrations, so if that is where you’re engaging with most of your leads, this probably isn’t the best option. Consider Customers.ai or Tidio instead. I’d also say that the lack of transparency around pricing is frustrating. Finally, starting at $99 per month puts this tool out of reach for a lot of new agents.
Collect.Chat
Pricing
Collect.Chat has a free version and several packages with the most expensive being $99 per month. Pricing is based on the features and number of responses.
Collect.Chat’s Best Features
Collect.Chat is the ideal starter chatbot for real estate agents. It’s easy to use, has a drag-and-drop builder, and makes it easy for leads to book appointments and schedule showings. Plus the mobile experience is really top notch. This is as close to ready to go out of the box as you can get. If you’re not ready for some of the turbo-charged chatbot providers on this list but still want to try a quality product, this is the one for you.
Collect.Chat’s Drawbacks
This is not as full-featured or robust as Freshchat, Tidio, Tars, or Structurely, and it lacks the social media integrations of Customers.ai. It’s also pretty limited in terms of customization at the free level. But all in all, if I was new to chatbots but didn’t want to waste my time (or my leads’ time), I’d give Collect.Chat a go.
RealtyChatbot
Pricing
If you’re paying once a year, RealtyChatbot will run you $119 a month with a $195 setup fee. Otherwise it’s $149 per month with a $995 setup fee.
RealtyChatbot’s Best Features for Agents
The company’s AI chatbot can modify its responses based on how your lead answers questions. In addition, it offers agents the ability to sync their real estate chatbot to their Facebook page. This feature makes RealtyChatbot a great option for agents who interact with leads from their Facebook page or through Facebook Messenger. It’s also the only chatbot on this list that was designed specifically for the real estate industry.
RealtyChatbot’s Drawbacks
Like Structurely and Tars, RealtyChatbot is priced a bit out of reach for many newer agents. And while it’s an effective chatbot that many agents like and use, it doesn’t have the robust AI features of a Tidio, Structurely, or Freshchat bot. We’ll be watching to see if it can continue to innovate in an ever-changing AI field.
Methodology for Finding the Best Real Estate Chatbots
When evaluating the many real estate chatbots on the market, we took into account the following:
Read more about our methodology here.
Bringing It All Together
What do you think about using real estate chatbots? Love them? Hate them? Any tips for chatbot use or have a favorite provider? Let us know in the comment section!
