Battle of the Bots: Finding the Right Multifamily Chatbot

Today’s consumers have come to expect automation. They enjoy the convenience and instant gratification they can get from modern businesses. The ability to get answers 24/7 is important and now that consumers are familiar with interacting with technology, they don’t care if a robot is supplying them answers. When a robot can’t help anymore, today’s consumers expect to be connected to a real person who is up to date on what was already discussed with the bot, and can start giving them the answers they need right away.

A multifamily chatbot is a bot software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to power its knowledge base and capabilities.

AI comes in many forms today. We’ve all interacted with an AI chatbot when talking to customer service at some point, whether on a website or over the phone. Chatbots have also extended to SMS and email messaging capabilities as well. In multifamily, other leasing AI software, in addition to AI chatbots, have been making waves recently. This is mostly because chatbots are beginning to be incorporated into other leasing technologies.

There are many chatbots available that are geared towards multifamily for the purpose of talking to rental prospects, but they have their differences. Let’s get into one of the most defining differences that impacts the consumer experience; the two different processing technologies that power AI chatbots.

Natural Language Processing vs. Rule-Based Chatbots

An AI chatbot is either a natural language processing (NLP) chatbot or a rule-based one. NLP chatbots are the ones where you message it directly and it responds as if it was writing back to you. The prospect can type “How many 1 bedrooms are available in 30 days?” and the bot will reply back with the answer.

A rule-based chatbot gives the prospect prompts that they have to answer in order to get what they are looking for. Instead of getting straight to the point, this takes more time and the prospect has to go through questions they might not want to answer. The best example of an AI chatbot that gives a better idea of what a rule-based chatbot is would be when you call customer service for your phone, internet, etc and you get a robot menu that you have to go through before getting a person on the phone.

We all know those menu bots on the phone are very frustrating to deal with. It takes forever and sometimes you leave the “conversation” without the answers you need. When it comes to the best multifamily chatbots to talk to, a natural language-processing chatbot is definitely the best. After all, the user is actually asking their question in natural language and not being forced to answer irrelevant prompts. When it comes to the best multifamily chatbot for a website, it’s clear that NLP technology is better because it’s quick and efficient. It gives prospects more time to go through your website instead of trying to get their questions answered through prompts.

A Multifamily Chatbot Is Stronger When Integrated With a Comprehensive AI Lead Management Package

The chatbot component is very important to help leasing teams save time over having to answer the same questions repeatedly.  Today, chatbots come as either stand-alone technologies or as part of more complete solutions that save time and improve conversion. Most of these technologies, whether a chatbot or a complete lead management platform, integrate with your customer relationship management system, or CRM.

There are pros and cons to the different approaches. When you invest in a bunch of single-point solutions that come from different vendors, you have to integrate and manage all these technologies, and hope that they work well together. On the other hand, when you choose a more complete solution, you get the capabilities you need in an all-in-one, whole solution from one vendor. This leaves you with less to manage and less concerns about compatibility.  In addition, some of these complete lead management solutions tout impressive results and can double your lead-to-tour conversion and decrease cost-per-lead by 80%.

PERQ’s AI Lead Management platform is a complete, all-in-one solution with a natural language processing chatbot that works on your website, in SMS and in email.

The multifamily chatbot works in conjunction with interactive website experiences and personalized outreach to prospects to engage, nurture and convert every lead. PERQ’s lead management delivers higher website conversion, personalized lead nurture that delights prospects, and higher quality leads for onsite teams that convert to lease at a higher rate. With PERQ working on your multifamily property website, you can scale your engagement across more visitors than your team could handle and develop every lead to its potential.  And, because PERQ tracks all its engagement with prospects, you get access to insightful lead data, including what was discussed between the AI chatbot and the prospect to help you build better face-to-face relationships.

Today’s multifamily rental prospects are more digitally savvy and accustomed to buying online than ever before. They crave information to learn on their own and explore the options before they decide to tour or speak with a person.  And they are used to the kind of digital engagement they get from other consumer brands. In short, they expect a unified, consistent experience from the brands they choose to buy from — across all their favorite channels. And, if you’re not providing that to them – they’ll find it elsewhere.

To learn more about how PERQ can help your properties make the most of every lead, schedule a demo with one of our specialists.