Hey Alexa, is voice search about to alter property advertising and marketing?
First came the Xerox machine, then photocopiers, e-mail, and in 2000 the Internet – all of which revolutionized the way agents work.
But the next revolution? It’s “voice search”, the latest online trend created by millions of us, which now “broadcasts” our online searches to our smartphones and smart speakers via Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant.
Richard Murray (pictured), CEO of a real estate software company Old, says this latest technology trend will change the way real estate professionals work just as profoundly as its predecessors.
“People are constantly using their phones to search for places near them anytime, and voice search is becoming increasingly popular in local searches such as: ” he says.
Google statistics show that 65% of 25 to 49 year olds speak on their phone at least once a day, while 78% of smart speaker owners search for local businesses on a weekly basis, with 46% saying they do these searches on a daily basis.
The most common action after a voice search is to call the company you are looking for. Other common follow-up actions include visiting the company’s website (27%), visiting its location (19%), doing research about the company (14%), and doing further research on other companies (12%).
Faster than typing
Murray says that this type of online search is catching on because it’s faster than typing.
“For example, typing ‘three bedroom leatherhead house with shed and garage’ is a hassle to type on a cell phone. Saying the same sentence out loud is quick and easy, ”he says.
“Voice search offers the real estate industry new opportunities – from streamlining work processes and creating new communication channels to marketing real estate and natural customer loyalty.”
To take advantage of this, Murray says real estate agents need to optimize their websites to take advantage of this new type of search, targeting the questions that are likely to be asked, and using a more natural, spoken language on your website – more like “corporate language”. ‘.
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