Real estate professionals urged to use automation for client service

Real estate professionals are being advised to prioritize automation for routine tasks to enhance personal service and improve lead conversion. Naaman Fraser, founder of This Space Real Estate, suggests that property managers use technology to ‘buy back’ time, allowing staff to focus on direct client contact and long-term service quality. He recommends automating enquiry replies and testing application processes to ensure efficiency.

In the UK market, experts suggest that the most critical area for automation is out-of-hours enquiry responses. Data indicates that many agencies lose leads to competitors on platforms like Rightmove and Zoopla because response times for enquiries received between 6pm and 8am can exceed nine hours. Automating these initial responses can prevent potential clients from engaging with other agents. Following enquiry automation, professionals recommend automating viewing coordination and compliance tasks, such as ID checks, while leaving high-trust activities like negotiations to human agents.