6 Things to Look For in an Apartment Chatbot During COVID-19 and Beyond

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Person using a virtual HUD to converse with a chatbot

From Healthcare to Banking to Multifamily, the use of chatbots has increased dramatically since the COVID-19 outbreak. In Multifamily marketing, chatbots have transformed from an emerging trend to a business necessity as leasing offices deal with fewer on-site staff to answer prospects’ questions and address residents’ immediate needs.

Apartment chatbots don’t get sick, they’re scalable, and they free up humans’ time so they can handle more complicated tasks. An apartment community that’s capable of answering prospects’ questions quickly and thoroughly has an edge over the competition.

The human-chatbot interaction should be a positive experience, and that begins with the design. A good apartment chatbot should be created with the end user in mind. In this post, we’ll go over the top 6 qualities to look for in an apartment chatbot.

Human-friendly.

The goal is a seamless conversation that should be close to an exchange between humans. Your apartment chatbot should be able to understand users’ questions and answer them in a friendly, helpful manner. Through natural language processing, chatbots are able to understand human language, allowing them to carry on helpful chat conversations while also building language skills as time goes on.

Knowledgeable and learns quickly.

An apartment chatbot is programmed with information about its apartment community, including amenities, pet policies and availability. Artificial intelligence helps it learn as it goes. This allows the bot to build its knowledge base, making it capable of answering a broader range of questions over time.

Bilingual.

Your apartment chatbot won’t be as effective as it could be if it just speaks one language. About 13% of U.S. residents speak Spanish at home, making it a no-brainer for your ideal apartment chatbot to be Spanish-speaking, too.

Team player.

After unleashing your apartment chatbot, you can gain some insight into how things are going by opting for a service that provides a transcript of all bot-prospect conversations. This also allows human leasing agents to follow up and focus their sales outreach efforts on users who’ve shown an interest in their apartment community. The bot should also be able to nudge the prospect down the funnel by helping them schedule a tour or apply for a lease.

Matches your brand.

Think about your brand at each step of your chatbot design to ensure consistency. This includes what you name your bot, what colors are used and the bot’s personality. If you want to play it straight, opt for a bot with a more businesslike vibe. If you want to send the message that your apartment community is hip and edgy, you can choose one that injects some humor into the conversation.

Human handoff.

The best apartment chatbots have humans available to step in when needed. Ideally, prospects should have the option of talking to a human if they have more complex questions that the chatbot isn’t able to answer to their satisfaction.

Conclusion

Not all apartment chatbots are created equally, so do your homework and opt for one that best suits your needs during COVID-19 and beyond. The Respage Chatbot has all of the above qualities and more. It is the most robust chatbot in Multifamily and was the industry’s first A.I.-powered leasing agent. And, it can start right away because the setup and installation process is designed to be quick and user-friendly.

If you’re interested in seeing the Respage Chatbot in action, check out our sandbox to interact with one right now or reach out to us!

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