This article was originally published on 12/08/2021.
The global real estate software market size is expected to reach US$18.66 billion by 2028, increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7% from 2021 to 2028. Keeping this in mind, we will look at some customer relationship management (CRM) platforms for realtors and real estate agents listed on Capterra Canada.
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Mentioning P.E.I Real Estate Association’s statistics in one of its news articles, CBC says that while prices for Canada’s two largest and most expensive real estate markets, Toronto and Vancouver have seen a decline in house prices since March 2022, the market has hit a record with an average sales price of $415,985 in June 2022. That’s 25.1% up from June 2021, according to the article.
Keeping this in mind, it may be safe to assume that the Canadian housing market is growing. A survey by Capterra earlier this year found that 86% of Canadians opted for a real estate agent to help them navigate the buying process. To cope with new clients, real estate agencies may turn to CRM software for realtors to leverage this increase in average sales prices. Realtors can risk missing out on opportunities by relying just on traditional practices.
This article will look at how realtors can benefit from some of the real estate CRM software with a free trial available in the market. With a free trial, realtors can get a taste of what they’re getting into before committing to a product and potentially make better-informed business decisions.
What are real estate CRM software?
A real estate CRM system combines strategies and technology that provide specialized customer relationship tools to help realtors stay organized. With a CRM platform for real estate agents, realtors can not only potentially make data-driven decisions, but they also might be able to capture and manage their leads efficiently. Some of the features of a CRM platform include contact management and follow-up, interaction tracking, lead management, and customer segmentation.
We have curated a list of five real estate CRM software for realtors with a free trial. All these tools have been selected based on specific factors such as software meeting Capterra’s market definition, offering a free trial, and having user ratings above 4/5 stars. The full methodology for the selection of tools can be found at the bottom of the article.
1. Zoho CRM
- Ease of use – 4.1/5
- Customer service – 4/5
- Features – 4.2/5
- Value for money – 4.3/5
Zoho CRM is a cloud-based CRM tool that can be used by small and medium-sized real estate agencies. Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology, this tool can provide realtors with suggestions on the best time of the day or day of the week to contact customers to increase the success rate of a potential deal. Zoho CRM’s contact management feature allows real estate agents to foster better customer relationships with multichannel communication capabilities and follow-ups to move leads through the sales pipeline using the lead management feature.
Furthermore, in order to identify cross-sell/up-sell opportunities and execute targeted campaigns, users can leverage Zoho CRM’s customer segmentation feature to segment prospects into buckets based on predefined criteria. In addition, by utilizing the tool’s real-time notifications feature, businesses can get to know if someone visits their website, posts about their brand on social media, or opens their emails.
Leveraging social media integration, the Zoho CRM platform can potentially help real estate professionals improve brand awareness and build stronger customer relationships. Users can also monitor customers’ feedback on social networking channels, add leads from social media to the CRM platform and track customers’ interactions on their brand’s social media networks. Zoho’s 15-day free trial gives access to all paid features and after that, users can upgrade to any monthly or yearly plan based on their requirements.
2. Pipedrive
- Ease of use – 4.6/5
- Customer service – 4.4/5
- Features – 4.3/5
- Value for money – 4.4/5
Pipedrive allows realtors to add unlimited contacts, create custom fields, and scale the database as per business needs. In addition to native integration with other apps, it lets house and property owners manage sales pipelines for buyers and investors using a single tool to track multiple portfolios. This real estate CRM system comes with a smart reporting feature that can simplify keeping track of costs, conversions, and other key metrics through charts and graphs.
Pipedrive’s CRM software allows users to see a complete history of all calls, notes, emails, and meetings associated with every contact using the contact management feature. By enabling businesses to set up their lead pipeline to match the sales cycle, Pipedrive can help users see and manage the entire sales pipeline at a glance. Businesses can also filter, segment, and sort potential prospects/leads to create targeted lists for personalized follow-ups and increase the chances of conversion.
The Pipedrive CRM platform helps users keep deals on track by sending real-time notifications/alerts. Pipedrive offers a 14-day free trial so users can experience every feature and make an informed decision before buying the software.
3. Salesforce Sales Cloud
- Ease of use – 4/5
- Customer service – 4.1/5
- Features – 4.4/5
- Value for money – 4/5
Salesforce Sales Cloud is a cloud-based CRM platform for real estate agents that offers four different editions per-user, per-month basis to cater to real estate businesses of various sizes. Salesforce’s lead management feature allows agents and brokers to track and manage clients and contracts and nurture leads to sales readiness.
With Salesforce Sales Cloud’s contact management feature, users can get a comprehensive view of customers including key contacts, customer communications, internal account discussions, and activity history. Businesses can also track information about CRM leads by taking advantage of its lead management feature. It can not only give users information about prospects, but they can also see where a lead came from, write and track emails from the CRM software, and gather actionable insights.
Salesforce Sales Cloud allows users to get a real-time view of the entire team’s forecast so that they can see which representatives are on track to meet their sales targets. Salesforce typically uses a customer segmentation strategy to classify customers into subgroups with similar attributes. Segmentation can help in customizing marketing campaigns around specific subgroups and driving potentially better results. The tool’s social media integration feature enables users to pull in social data for a deeper view of their customers and understand how they view their services. Users may be able to uncover valuable insights into their customers’ requirements so they can proactively provide solutions.
Instant real-time alerts and notifications by the CRM software can also help real estate agents manage workflows efficiently. Their 30-day free trial gives access to all the paid features, after which users can upgrade to a subscription plan.
4. IXACT Contact
- Ease of use – 4.2/5
- Customer service – 4.6/5
- Features – 4.2/5
- Value for money – 4.5/5
IXACT Contact is a CRM tool for realtors, designed to offer real estate agencies with customer management and marketing solutions. From contact organization and management to marketing automation, this CRM system is designed specifically for realtors. Using this tool, real estate owners can build a customizable pre-designed website with social media integration. The social media integration feature also lets sellers build contact profiles of buyers to keep a record of their personal information, referral history, property and mortgage details, and other key data.
The contact management feature within IXACT Contact is designed to arrange contacts in a single database, helping to provide a quick overview of customer profiles. This software helps users visualize the sales pipeline data via graphs and charts to understand the business’s performance and make informed decisions for growing their business. Users can use IXACT Contact CRM software to leverage automated lead capture capabilities to manage and capture their leads. To nurture longer-term leads, IXACT Contact also offers an email marketing feature. You can set up automated emails for customers’ birthdays or move-in anniversaries and send a monthly e-newsletter. Their email marketing strategy also allows users to segment mass emails into an unlimited number of contact groups so you can be certain your email is going to pertinent contacts.
By integrating social media channels, IXACT Contact can enable automated marketing and help users capture leads from social media and build brand awareness. Users can also leverage the benefits of real-time alerts/reminders to complete important tasks and appointments on time. This real estate CRM software provides a free trial for five weeks so users can test every feature of the software for their real estate business.
5. RealOffice 360
- Ease of use – 4.2/5
- Customer service – 4.6/5
- Features – 4.2/5
- Value for money – 4.5/5
RealOffice360 assists users in visualizing their business plan, growing their database towards objectives, and maintaining potentially productive relationships with clients. This realtor-focused CRM system has a drag-and-drop interface and includes a task scheduler and planner that allows users to keep track of appointments, important events, and deadlines by sending them real-time alerts/notifications.
This CRM platform for realtors also offers email management tools and allows bulk email sending to update clients via third-party integrations. RealOffice360 can help make contact management easier for real estate agents by consolidating contacts, notes, and follow-ups in one place. RealOffice360’s lead management feature also enables users to set up a follow-up campaign for hot leads, so they can avoid missing out on potential opportunities.
With its segmentation feature, RealOffice360 enables real estate professionals to categorize contacts with group labels so they can execute customized marketing strategies for each group. RealOffice360 offers both a free trial and a lifetime free version.
What are the benefits of CRM systems for realtors?
In this digital era, almost everything can be stored and tracked online. A CRM system can help realtors to turn their contacts into clients, match clients to properties, and access important information in one place. It can also help businesses remember contact details and personal info to create stronger customer relationships.
By using CRM software for real estate, realtors can potentially:
- Save and compare information specific to the real estate market, such as client budgets and preferred target neighbourhoods
- Segment customers by their industry, position, demographics, requirements, and income
- Automate routine tasks such as data entry, email interactions, and auto-logging phone calls
Methodology
To select the five real estate CRM software solutions for small businesses listed above, we considered the following factors:
- Software which offer a free trial of the software.
- Meet the market definition of real estate CRM software: real estate CRM software provides specialized customer relationship tools to realty companies. CRM features often include lead management and follow-up, automated email marketing, mobile tools, and sales force automation.
- Software that have the following core features: lead management, interaction tracking, and contact management.
- Rated more than 4/5 stars by users.
