Every industry has its moment. Its time where it propels into the future and expands massively thanks to technology.

That moment is coming to real estate thanks to the innovations coming out of Proptech today.

The term 'data' can scare people away. With worries of their personal data going straight to the bad guys. However, not only are people getting smarter, governments are taking action too.

Data, when used correctly, is a powerful and safe tool to help optimise your marketing and selling techniques.

It's time to take the taboo away from data collection.

As with any year or season, the changing of trends is ever-present. That's why we've put together what we believe are going to be the top data trends in real estate marketing for 2020. We believe these data trends will really enhance the buying and selling of property developments.

Let's jump right in...

Real Estate Marketing Data Trend 1

Intent Data

We know that 89% of home buyers search for a property online first before going to a real estate agent. The results from these initial searches are also known as Intent Data.

Simply put, Intent Data is data that indicates the intent of a prospect.

By offering an informative online marketing strategy, property developers will be able to track the intent of their leads via their online search.

For example, using software such as REVO allows for the analysis of the type of properties and units admired by prospects.

As the viewer travels around a property development, the intent is captured by analysing how long the viewer spends looking at each typology, and on which floor.

The intent of a viewer may simply have been to view the property, this is why Intent Data doesn't tend to be used alone.

One way to solve this problem is through a lead generation initiative, such as the 'I'm Interested' button seen on REVO. Once this has been clicked by a viewer, they turn into a qualified lead ready to be contacted.

With the expansion of off-plan selling in the UK and the rise of similar tools in France, we see Intent Data being a main driver for growth in the property industry around the world.

Real Estate Marketing Data Trend 2

Data storytelling and visualisation

The real estate sector is collecting incredibly valuable data that can help to:

• price properties,
• source locations,
• enhance the buying and selling of homes, as well as,
• improve the living experience thanks to smart homes.

Yet, if people can't access this data in a readable way, it may as well not be there at all.

Data can be overwhelming. That's because our brains aren't programmed to be able to consume such volumes of statistics. In fact, 50% of our brain is wired to receive visual content. Which means transposing those ugly data points into visually appealing reports.

However, visuals aren't always enough. Delivering a message through a story is twenty-two times more memorable to the reader, which is why we've placed these two trends as one.

With the uptake of big data trending in the real estate industry in the last few years, we believe that Data storytelling and visualisation will be an ever-growing trend in 2020.

Helping departments within large real estate agencies and property development organisations to pitch their data results.

For example, when pricing a property many departments are involved however the decision is made by the property owner or the board of a company. Once a property has been put on the market there are certain data points that can help to evaluate the pricing.

A marketing team would be able to analyse the data from the property development to create visual stories for their supervisors.

By putting this data in a clear, concise and memorable way it will have a much stronger impact.

As data becomes more commonplace within the real estate space, we believe that the visualisation will become more and more popular.

Real Estate Marketing Data Trend 3

Personalised messaging

Personalised messaging is also known as; Personalised Marketing, Individual Marketing, and One-to-one Marketing

An incredible 62% of consumers expect to be contacted with personalised messaging. This has grown over the years as more and more people move away from the impersonal messages on social media.

What is personalised messaging?

It's exactly as it says on the tin. Contacting potential leads and prospects using their names and/or other information known about them.

Using a lead generation tool, developers would have access to the names, contact details and the preferences of their leads. This not only allows them to qualify their leads but also to reach out to them in a targeted way.

Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs) have been used by different industries for years. They help;

• marketing teams know where the leads have come from,
• sales teams keep track of their sales funnel,
• and customer success teams store all their clients' information to streamline their processes.

CRMs are also a great way to store and evaluate prospects information to then target them with the right message.

Currently, only 40% of real estate agents use a CRM but we expect this to rapidly increase throughout 2020 with the need for personalised messaging.

Real Estate Marketing Data Trend 4

Augmented analytics

At the moment, the real estate industries data is being processed by dedicated Data Scientists or Business Analyst. As data on its own means very little, yet when analysed by the right people can mean so much more.

However, Data Scientists are few and far between, therefore, very expensive. This leaves smaller development companies without true insights from their data.

That's where augmented analytics saves the day. Using machine learning to evaluate the data and offer up its findings without being dependent on humans.

This will:

• decrease the chance of human error,
• speed up analyse,
• and save a business money.

For example, when marketing a property the augmented analytics engine will automatically be able to tell its developer that typology 4 isn't getting as many views as the others. It could then compare this with the source of the visitors. Here it seems that typology 2 is having lots of visits from Facebook. Therefore, the augmented analytics platform would be able to inform the user to change their social media campaign to push typology 4 instead.

In that example, the AI has connected multiple pieces of data to understand where the problem lies to offer a practical and enforceable business strategy - with little to no supervision from a human counterpart.

Unfortunately, augmented analytics isn't quite ready to hit the big time.

This technology is not yet matured for the market, however, we predict that more and more investments and excitement will form around this space. Including within Drawbotics! We are developing our own augmented analytics support for Insights©, so watch this space.

Real Estate Marketing Data Trend 5

Ethical Data Collection

Over the last few years, data collection has made it to the headlines. Starting in 2018 when 70% of businesses surveyed around the world failed to meet requests from clients about their personal data.

Then there was the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal, which misused personal data and is still being investigated. And the lawsuits and £3.3billion fine against the almighty Google in 2019.

That's to name a few.

Luckily governments have started to catch on, with laws such as GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California. This means that businesses are being wary of their data activities and will continue to make sure they follow the laws put in place.

Although, companies aren't just doing this to tick boxes for the government. It only takes one easy slip-up for businesses to easily lose clients trust.

How does this fit with real estate?

By making sure that the technology chosen for your property development and real estate marketing is up to par with the current laws - and even taking an extra step above and beyond to prove trust between your business and home buyers.

Check out Drawbotics' Privacy Policy here

There you have it, Drawbotics Top 5 Data Trends in Real Estate Marketing for 2020. Let us know what you think will be trending this year

Data is becoming more and more prominent in the property market. Whether it's for property marketing, selling off-plan, choosing a location, pricing and so much more. These five real estate marketing trends for 2020 are what we believe will be important in the coming year for real estate developers. Make the most of the opportunity and join the data revolution.