What Is Conversational AI and How Can It Help Grow My Home Builder Business?

Over the past two years, conversational AI has advanced into the mainstream of the home builder industry, becoming one of the top industry tools for companies as they deal with labor shortages, inflation, and a changing homebuyer demographic. AI, or artificial intelligence, can help with multiple aspects of your business, from marketing and sales to keeping your building project organized and on-task.

It works for homebuilder businesses by making them more efficient and cost-effective. Ultimately, AI is helping to increase the number of homes being built. We are thankful that AI has not completely replaced human interaction in the business. Instead, it has enhanced the homebuyers’ experience while cutting the amount of time staff spends interacting with unqualified leads.

Not on the AI bandwagon yet? We understand that new technology can seem overwhelming at first. Take a few minutes to read this short explanation of conversational AI and how it can benefit your home builder business. We think you will be impressed by the effectiveness of this technology!

What Is Conversational AI?

Conversational AI is machine-based technology designed to carry on an intelligent conversation with users. Although there are many applications that use conversational AI, the most common uses are chatbots and digital assistants on websites. Natural language processing (NLP) continuously improves the AI’s ability to communicate with humans. This technology also makes it possible to communicate with people who speak other languages, as it can easily translate between multiple languages.

You can customize the way your AI technology works by inputting common questions and answers and developing goals based on those FAQs. This teaches the technology to drive the user forward down a specific path. For example, you can use it to direct the end user to enter their contact information or to choose a budget for a new home.

How Do Home Builder Businesses Use AI?

Home builder businesses can take advantage of AI technology by leveraging its power to make home building more cost-effective, build relationships with prospective homebuyers, and shorten the sales cycle. This can be accomplished a few different ways.

Generate Marketing Materials

According to Pro Builder, 92.3% of the respondents to their home builder survey concerning AI used AI for marketing purposes. While this is not conversational AI, it is a common way that AI is used in the industry.

Certain applications, such as ChatGPT, can easily and quickly generate copy for websites, advertisements, brochures, and other marketing content. Obviously, ChatGPT can’t read your mind. You do have to prompt it with unique information about your home builder company. Once the new content is created, it may require some editing by real people in your company’s marketing department. The main use of this AI tool is to create the raw content faster than it could be created before, reducing costs and making your marketing team more efficient.

Lead Generation

Finding and securing new leads could potentially take hours and hours of your salespeople’s time. Conversational AI tools, such as digital assistants, take over the job of lead generation by providing an easy and convenient way for visitors to interact with your home builder website. Here’s an example of how this can help:

• An anonymous person visits your homebuilder website.
• The digital assistant welcomes the visitor and prompts them to enter their contact information.
• The digital assistant can also ask questions that help qualify the visitor as a good prospective homebuyer.
• If the visitor is unqualified or not ready to commit, the digital assistant can then categorize the person’s contact info and provide automated texts or other types of contact to nurture the relationship.
• If the visitor is qualified, their information can be delivered to one of your salespeople, who will then jump into the sales process.

Engage Customers

A customer who feels ignored is probably not going to be a customer for much longer. Conversational AI is the perfect tool for engaging your customers and making them feel welcome and appreciated. Your AI digital assistant can engage visitors to your website. It can send automated texts to your leads or emails if that is the type of communication your customer prefers. Additionally, it can prompt your staff to reach out to your customers when human contact is necessary in the sales process. Even after the sales process is over and the home has been built, you can still engage with the new homeowner via automated texts, providing extra value during and after the move-in process.

An AI chatbot is another tool home builder companies can use to engage visitors to their website. A chatbot replaces the need for a staff member to be available for a live online chat. It is always available, and it helps answer questions that visitors have about your homes or your company.

Organize Documentation

The homebuilding process requires extensive amounts of documentation, many of which need to be shared with different organizations and the homeowner. Keeping everything straight and ensuring all the documentation is taken care of properly can be a full-time job. Forbes tells a story of how one company is using conversational AI technology to make it easier for builders and owners to collaborate and organize their documents. The technology can also generate digital documentation that helps move the process forward in a more efficient manner.

Analyze Feedback

If your company receives a lot of customer feedback, you are thankful for the input, but you may not be sure what to do with it. Conversational AI tools can both prompt customer feedback, asking open-ended questions that customers answer to express their satisfaction with their homebuying experience and analyze the feedback for you. As a result, you don’t have to read every single comment. AI tools can summarize all the different feedback and pull out valuable insights that can help you improve your home builder company.

The Benefits of Using Conversational AI in Your Home Builder Business

As conversational AI technology continues to grow and improve, its uses will also change and develop. Home builder companies who have already been utilizing the power of conversational AI have experienced profound benefits that help them sell more homes, save money, and create a better homebuying experience. Some specific benefits are as follows:

Increases Qualified Leads

The convenience and effectiveness of a virtual assistant increases the number of people who engage with your website and qualify to buy a home from you. This all happens before your staff steps into the process! More qualified leads equals more home sales.

Helps Your Sales Team Do More in Less Time

Your sales team will work more efficiently since they can focus their energies on actual sales while allowing the digital assistant to do the qualification and nurturing process.

Shortens Sales Cycles

Visitors to your website can self-qualify and instantly receive the information they need to make homebuying decisions. Automated texts help shorten your sales cycles by up to 50%! Shortened sales cycles mean there is more time to sell more homes.

Available 24/7

Over 60% of interactions between consumers and brands happen outside business hours. AI technology is always on, so you don’t have to hire someone to be available for a live chat after normal business hours.

Simplifies Communication

Thanks to automatic translation, AI conversational tools can help you communicate with potential buyers in their own language. You will be able to reach out to more people and ensure everyone understands your process. Best yet, the communication is in real-time, so potential buyers can receive the answers to their inquiries right away.

Less Pressure for Website Visitors

Phone calls, live chat, and other interactions with real human beings can translate into SALES PRESSURE for many potential homebuyers. People are more likely to continue a conversation with a digital assistant, entering in relevant information when prompted.

Instantly Share Information

Give homebuyers the detailed information they want about the home they are interested in. Conversational AI tools will instantly share the relevant information, which could include providing the buyer a virtual tour of the home.

Reinforces Brand Affinity

Automated texts from your company during the sales cycle, the building process, the move-in, and after the move-in help reinforce the fact that you are there for your buyers at all points of the process. Your buyers will appreciate the support and reminders, and they will associate their great homebuying experience with your brand.

Works With Your Existing Technology

A conversational AI system, such as AtlasRTX, integrates easily into your existing software system. You will enjoy a centralized platform that works more efficiently for your company!

Bring Home the Benefits of Conversational AI

If you are a home builder business trying to be more cost-effective and efficient while raising home sales, give conversational AI a try. Your website will be more interactive, meeting the needs of today’s homebuyers, and your sales team will be relieved of most of the legwork that goes along with generating and qualifying leads.

Grow your home builder business with AtlasRTX, your source for conversational AI tools for the home building industry.