RealtyCandy’s IDX.Chat, a chat system totally integrated with IDX Broker
Realty Candy’s newest feature for IDX Broker clients
What is IDX.Chat?
We’ve recently launched a new service called IDX.Chat. When thinking about new products we should launch, we realized a lot of real estate clients had similar issues related to the chat systems available; we can summarize these in 3 points.
- Chat tool prices are generally very high.
- Real estate brokers lose leads because of slow response times.
- There are no chat systems that have an IDX Broker integration.
We designed IDX.Chat as the solution!
This is a chat system designed to integrate completely with IDX Broker.
IDX.chat is available for free to all IDX Broker clients, with some premium features available only for RealtyCandy clients (but you can become one for free!). With it, you can have real-time communication with your leads, making sure they are looked after when they want immediate information. This will help you turn these leads into buyers.
How to login
To start using IDX.Chat follow this link to our page. To login you just need your IDX Broker API key. You can get this from your IDX broker dashboard, you go to the left-hand menu and click on “Home” and on “Access Control”. The key below “Account API” is the one you need.
This is what you’ll see when you login. Here is where all of your chats will be stored, when a new one comes it, it will show up at the top.
IDX.Chat Widget
The IDX.Chat system includes this portal and a widget that can be installed on your home page and IDX pages. To install the widget click on the settings button on the left-hand menu. Then click on “Widget”
Here you will be able to customize the shape, color, and text of the widget (some of these options are only available to RealtyCandy clients). Below that, you’ll see the code snippet we provide to add the widget to your site. If you’re not familiar on how that’s done, we include tutorials for all major website builders: WordPress, WIX, SquareSpace, Showit, and Duda.
This is how the standard chat widget looks (it will depend on the design choices you make):
When a lead clicks on it, the system will ask for their First name, Last name, Email, and Message. Once they fill it in, the chat will start and you’ll get a sound and banner notification on the IDX.Chat portal.
If an lead that has already registered on your site starts a chat with that same email, you’ll be able to see the number of saved properties and searches that they have, their personal information, IDX lead information, viewed listings, recent search results and previous conversations.
You can also save chat conversations and it will be saved as lead notes on IDX Broker.
If this is a new person starting a chat, you can send them to IDX Broker as a lead and they can even start receiving property updates.
What you type in will show up in the lead’s message box like this:
New feature: SMS notifications
We have a new option for notifications. Brokers can activate SMS alerts and add their phone number to receive a text message when a client jumps on their chat widget and the desktop site isn’t open. You’ll also receive an SMS alert after a certain time that the system detects that you aren’t active on the IDX.chat dashboard.
Lite users (IDX Broker clients that aren’t RealtyCandy clients) have 100 SMS non-renewable. We have 100 free monthly SMS available for RealtyCandy clients.
To become a RealtyCandy client, you just need to email IDX Broker (developers@idxbroker.com) saying “I want Realty Candy to become my developer partner”. You will get access to this, our upcoming premium features and access to all of our free apps and templates at idxaddons.com
If you don’t want to become our client but still want to get more SMS, you can purchase one of our packages.
To configure this, click on the settings button, and on “Notifications”.
Upcoming features
We have some exciting upcoming features that’ll be available to Realty Candy clients! These are the following:
1. Working hours: Add your company’s working hours or available hours to the chat box. This way, leads will know when they can contact you and receive a fast response.
2. Widget customizations: Change the shape of the widget. Choose between circle, oval, or text box format. You’ll also be able to disable the icon, upload your own, or just keep the feault one.
3. Agents’ accounts: Allow agents within a same account to login to their own “section” so that they can answer lead messages.
Ideally, the best option to get access to the complete service, is becoming a Realty Candy client. Remember, that it’s free.
We think IDX.Chat is a revolutionary new option for IDX Broker clients. Never miss a potential lead because of lack of communication. Visit the site and start using it, you just need your API key!