Valued at a whopping $7.06 billion (in 2022), real estate is one of the largest sectors worldwide. And it’s also one of the most competitive. Over 3 million people in the US have an active real estate license.
If you’re a realtor, how will you stand out?
With QR codes, you can set yourself apart from the crowd by reaching more consumers and providing a better experience.
Here’s an ultimate guide to QR codes for real estate agents.
- The state of real estate in 2023
- QR codes in the real estate sector
- How to use QR codes in real estate
- Benefits of QR codes for real estate companies
- Use cases: Real estate firms using QR codes
- How to create a QR code for real estate marketing?
- Best practices for using QR codes in real estate
- Summing it up
The state of real estate in 2023
After taking a minor setback due to COVID, the real estate sector has been booming rapidly. This results in substantial opportunities for real estate agencies and individual realtors.
Several trends have been reshaping the real estate sector, the most significant of which is digital transformation. Data from Statista shows that 99% of people use the internet in their home searching process (2021).
It’s clear that the Internet is playing a vital role in the real estate sector, and its importance will only increase in years to come.
Realtors and real estate agencies must find a way to connect with buyers online.
Here’s where QR codes come into the picture.
QR codes in the real estate sector
QR codes have several applications for real estate agents and agencies.
At the core, QR codes have one purpose — to carry and share information digitally. When someone scans a QR code, they receive the information linked to it. The data could be a website or landing page URL, social media profile, PDF file, video, image, simple text, and more.
You can print a QR code and share it with your offline consumers. They can scan it to retrieve the information and further engage with your brand.
How to use QR codes in real estate
Now that you know how QR codes work in the real estate sector, let’s delve deeper. Here are some practical applications of QR codes for real estate agencies and professionals.
Add digital capabilities to your advertisements
If you’re advertising a property in a newspaper, billboard, or other traditional channels, you can make your ads more impactful with QR codes.
For example, if you create a newspaper ad for a property for sale, you can include a QR code for its online listing. Interested users can scan the QR code to view the listing online and contact you.
Share virtual property tours
Virtual property tours are the norm in real estate. Research shows that homebuyers aged 18-34 are 130% more likely to book a place after engaging in a virtual tour. And with the pandemic making in-person property visits less prevalent, the importance of virtual tours has increased significantly.
QR codes enable you to share virtual tours with potential property buyers.
For instance, you can use a QR code to share 360-degree videos and interactive images. Buyers can view the entire property on their phones and make buying decisions.
Direct buyers to online listings
The real estate sector is embracing omnichannel. Realtors use traditional advertising like newspaper ads and billboards to promote their properties while also listing them on platforms like Zillow.
QR codes make omnichannel easy.
Let’s understand this with an example.
Suppose you want to sell a property. You can put up a large “For Sale” or “For Rent” board outside the property with a QR code directing to its online listing. Buyers can scan the QR code to view the listing, get detailed property information, and contact you.
Modernizing Property Listings with PDF QR Codes for Real Estate
Share property photos, videos, and other information
A property visit is a time-consuming process. No customer would want to visit a property they end up not liking.
With QR codes, you can share in-depth information about a property, allowing buyers to know everything about it before scheduling a visit.
For instance, you can share property images using an Image Gallery QR code or a PDF flyer using a PDF QR code. This would allow buyers to see the property images and learn about the amenities and pricing before contacting you.
Send users to the property’s exact location
If buyers come across your property ad and want to visit, they’ll want to know its exact location. While mentioning the complete address helps, you can make their life even easier with a Google Maps QR code.
The QR code contains the Google Maps URL. Upon scanning it, buyers will be redirected to the Google Maps app with the property’s location entered. They just need to follow the directions.
Share contact information with a digital business card
Realtors meet with many potential buyers daily and hand out business cards all the time.
But standard business cards have limitations like:
- Saving information from a traditional business card is tedious.
- It has limited space.
- It has high printing and reprinting costs.
Digital business cards are an excellent upgrade to standard business cards. A digital business card is a digital profile containing all your professional information, contact details, images, social media links, and more.
It enables you to share in-depth information instantly, unlike standard business cards that require users to manually enter and save the details.
What’s more, you can print the QR code of the digital business card URL on your standard business card to share your contact information with a single scan.
Include QR codes on flyers and brochures
Flyers and brochures are one of the most common real estate marketing materials. Real estate marketers can hand out flyers directly to people or slip them into newspapers, books, and other places.
QR codes can make your flyers more actionable and engaging. Put a QR code on your flyer to redirect potential buyers to an array of online destinations, like a website, landing page, online listing, video, image gallery, and more.
Promote your social media profiles
Visuals play a vital role in the home buying process, and every potential buyer will check the property images and videos before scheduling a site visit.
Since modern-day social media is increasingly visual-centric, platforms like Instagram and Facebook are instrumental marketing assets for realtors.
But how can you bring potential buyers to your social media?
Well, you guessed it. QR codes!
With QR codes, you can bring an offline audience to social media channels and engage them further. All you need to do is create a QR code for your social media profile and share it with your audience.
Note: QRCodeChimp’s Social Media QR code solution allows you to share all your social media profiles in one place with a single QR code.
Bring buyers to your website and generate leads
With most homebuyers looking for properties online, real estate agencies and agents must bring targeted traffic to their sites.
QR codes are one of the most effective tools to generate website traffic. You can put a QR code for your website on your marketing materials, allowing users to visit your site with a single scan.
Benefits of QR codes for real estate companies
In the previous section, we checked some practical use cases of QR codes in real estate. Now, let’s look at the importance and benefits of QR codes in real estate marketing.
Get more eyeballs on listings
Real estate marketing is all about getting more eyeballs on your property listing. With QR codes, you can bring more traffic to your listing, which will help you generate sales.
Share contact information and grow your network
Networking is critical to the success of realtors. The more people you connect with, the more your business will grow.
A digital business card with a QR code helps you network more effectively and build more connections, which will positively impact your business growth.
Share property information and build trust with buyers
Property images and videos are crucial to building trust. And QR codes allow you to seamlessly share pictures and videos with potential buyers. With a single scan, you can bring buyers to an image gallery, video, or PDF and share all the information about the property.
Promote your website and social media
If you promote properties online, getting traffic to your website and social media is likely your topmost priority. QR codes make it super easy. Customers can scan a QR code to reach your website or social media.
Use cases: Real estate firms using QR codes
Here are some real-world use cases of real estate firms using QR codes.
Profilo Reality
Profilo Reality, a Pune-based real estate brokerage firm, uses QR codes on its brochures to redirect users to a WhatsApp conversation where they can chat with a realtor.
Cali Realty
Cali Realty Group, an Ashland-based real estate brokerage firm, uses QR codes on its ads to share property images and other information.
RE/MAX Encore
RE/MAX Encore, a real estate firm based out of Tennessee used QR codes along with their agent information to share in-depth property details.
Perry & Co.
Perry & Co. uses QR codes on a streetside hoarding to provide property information to potential buyers.
Royal LePage
Royal LePage, a real estate firm operating in East Kootenays, uses QR codes to share agent information.
Century 21
Century 21 put QR codes on signboards to bring buyers to its website and check out the listings.
How to create a QR code for real estate marketing?
Follow these steps to create a QR code for real estate marketing:
1. Visit qrcodechimp.com.
2. Head to the Solutions tab, and select a solution of your choice. Suppose you want to share pictures of a property. In that case, go for the Image Gallery QR Code.
3. Design your Image Gallery page, upload the images, and fill in the Basic Information fields.
4. Head to the Design, Color, and Decorate QR Code section and create a custom QR code.
5. Click on “Save QR Code,” give a name to your QR code campaign, and save the QR code in your dashboard.
Best practices for using QR codes in real estate
Here are some best practices to make your QR code campaigns more impactful.
Identify a clear use case
Avoid using a QR code just for the sake of using it. Make sure to determine a concrete use case and develop your QR code strategy accordingly. For instance, if you invest significantly in offline ads but want to bring users to your online listings as well, you can create a URL QR code for the listing URL.
Create a custom QR code
With so many QR codes out there, your QR code needs to stand out. Create a custom QR code that stands out from the crowd and grabs people’s attention. You can use QR shapes, colors, stickers, and other customization options to make your QR code look spectacular.
Use your logo
Branding is crucial in real estate marketing, especially if you represent a prominent firm. Create a QR code with a logo to align your QR code with your brand and increase brand awareness and recall.
Offer a spectacular post-scan experience
Getting customers to scan your QR code is only half the work done. You need to offer a top-notch post-scan experience so that buyers continue to engage with your brand and take the desired action.
Summing it up
QR codes are now vital in the ever-evolving real estate market. The rapid digitization and increasing use of tech have made QR codes an essential marketing asset for every real estate firm.
If you want to use QR codes in your real estate marketing, the first step is to sign up for a QR code management service. Here’s where QRCodeChimp comes into the picture.
QRCodeChimp allows you to create custom QR codes for various use cases and manage your QR code campaigns.
Get started with QRCodeChimp today.
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