Trulia launches Instant Leads
Trulia.com has announced a new online real estate lead notification system for real estate professionals powered by Twilio.com that automatically calls the agent’s mobile phone when consumers leave their phone number, which instantly connects both client and Realtor on a phone call. When a phone number is not left by the consumer or the Realtor does not answer, the Trulia Instant Leads system sends the agent a text message with the consumer’s contact information.
Instant Leads is now offered to all Trulia Pro account holders. Although messaging systems like this are not new and have been used by companies like PropertyMaps.com for years, Trulia would likely claim that its edge is that the Instant Lead systems is using cloud technology.
Twilio and Trulia coming together
“Using Twilio, we’ve built what we believe to be a one-of-a kind powerful service that gives agents the opportunity to respond quickly to consumers inquiries, meet more clients and close more transactions,” said Georg Gerstenfeld, VP of Business Services at Trulia. “Twilio’s technology has allowed Trulia to create instant connections between consumers and real estate professionals. When consumers get a quick response it allows agents to build more relationships with potential clients.”
“Trulia has led the way in many aspects of connecting buyers to properties and agents in the real estate market, and Trulia Instant Leads is a great use of Twilio’s voice and text messaging products,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio CEO. “We’re excited to power another transformative product from an industry-leader, and expect Trulia Instant Leads will re-invent how agents connect with consumers.”
Focusing on lead conversion
We are enthusiastic about any system or method available to Realtors to connect with consumers in a meaningful way. Constance Freedman of the National Association of Realtors’ Second Century Ventures technology fund noted that 65% of all calls to Realtors go to voicemail and 80% of failed calls end up with competitors which amounts to major losses.
Trulia claims their Instant Leads tool increases the chance of turning online leads into a client by one hundred fold.
According to Trulia, “Agents who have instant access to their leads and respond to inquiries within the first five minutes have a greater likelihood of connecting with leads on the first call. Research has shown that the odds of contacting an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 100 times, and the odds of qualifying an online lead if called within the first 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drops 21 times. Using Instant Leads and responding to online leads immediately can allow agents to catch the consumer at the peak of interest—while they’re still searching online and near a phone.”
They note that a recent industry report reflects that “86% of leads considered response time to be “extremely important” when deciding on their real estate agent, 31% of leads expected a real estate agent to reply instantly to their online inquiry while 96% of leads expected a real estate agent to contact them within 4 hours of their online inquiry.
