Leasing Agents Can Now Connect with Renters Through Live Chat

Chicago–Apartments.com is partnering with Contact At Once!, in order to launch live chat for apartment communities advertising on the website. This will allow renters to contact leasing professionals instantly and get their questions answered as well as verify apartment availability and book appointments for community tours directly from their Apartments.com listing.

“We are booking appointments with renters faster through Apartments.com live chat than the phone,” says John Slattery, assistant director of marketing of Weinstein Prosperities. “Prospective renters want instant access to the leasing office during their apartment search and live chat makes this possible. The days of renters submitting online guest cards and waiting for an email response are becoming a thing of the past.”

While many renters are choosing to contact the leasing office through live chat on Apartments.com, this new method of communicating is not replacing the number of phone calls and emails being received by the apartment community. Instead, Chris Brown, vice president of product management at Apartments.com, believes live chat is encouraging a new kind of conversation between the renter and apartment community that otherwise might not have occurred.

“Renters who are talking to the leasing office using live chat want a different experience,” says Brown, who noted a 20 percent increase in leads for Apartments.com communities using chat. “In the past, this renter may have decided against contacting the leasing office because they felt reluctant to pick up the phone or send an email. Faced with this new real-time communication option to get their questions answered in a manner they prefer, we are able to send additional renters to the communities advertising on our site.”

The ContactAtOnce! live chat software tracks all conversations, providing communities with complete transcripts and allowing them to measure the effectiveness of online chat.