Agents welcome QR codes amid ‘new normal’

In the property market, real estate agencies have started to learn how to integrate QR codes into their services to ultimately streamline processes and improve their record keeping amid changing times.

With social distancing measures and contact tracing initiatives brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak, QR codes are suddenly everywhere.

On a recent episode of What’s Making Headlines, hosts Phil Tarrant and Tom Panos were joined by AgentBox’s David Bliss, where the trio discussed the emerging use of QR codes to capture data.

From Mr Panos’ perspective, “the good thing about QR codes or any other technology, you simply don’t have to worry about sanitising!”

“What does everyone do now? They go into a café, they go into a restaurant, and you don’t even have to ask them. They just see a QR code and they know that they’ve got to scan in. Even more so than that, everyone just puts in all of their details,” Mr Bliss highlighted.

This trend has inspired his company to bring QR codes to open property auctions and inspections.

Through this new technology, Mr Bliss and his fellow agents aim to be more efficient at open auctions or property inspections and spend more time with buyers.

“At auctions, you’re generally busy racing around, you’re trying to organise the vendor. You’ve got all these people coming in. And no one is capturing all the details there. Whereas, put a QR code on the wall, everyone can scan themselves in, and suddenly, you’re getting all of this data,” he said.

“So, that’s exactly what we’ve done. Agents can print off a QR code, put it at the front door. What that enables them to do is deal more with buyers. Then, other people waiting to come in can grab the agent’s details or the auction details… That just gives the agents more time.”

Further, the contactless process ensures the safety and wellbeing of both the agents and the prospective buyers.

Customer experience

Ultimately, the digital transformation in the property market is all about improving the customer experience and providing the same high-quality service amid changing times without compromising their safety and satisfaction, according to Mr Bliss.

Typically, open inspections in hotspots have at least 10 people queuing up to see the property, which could be overwhelming for agents, especially considering the safety protocols that need to be followed now. Getting their information manually could take time, and if it’s a minute per person, the agent just made the 10th person wait for 10 minutes.

With QR codes, this process is fast-tracked, allowing both agent and prospective buyer to spend more time discussing the property and build a relationship.

“The client experience is absolutely paramount,” Mr Tarrant emphasised.

“You want them reviewing a property in the best mindset as possible. If you’ve waited 20, 30 minutes, even longer, to go and view a property, you’re probably in a bit of a negative mindset when it comes to your attitude towards whether or not you feel as though it’s a good investment or home.” 

Acknowledging that QR codes are an “enabler”, the executive editor of REB said he is merely tolerant of using QR codes: “The reason I use a QR code now is because I want a glass of beer, mate. And I know I have to do that in order to get the beer.

“No. And I think the same applies to real estate.

“If there was nothing in it for me, would I be giving my information readily?” He explained how, oftentimes, he attends open homes and inspections under a guise of anonymity.

So, what is the incentive for real estate agents to get people to give them their information through a QR code when it’s no longer required, by law? 

“There’s got to be something in it for them,” Mr Tarrant said. 

The future

“I think the natural evolution to this would be, you use the QR code because you get that information, and it tells you where you were at a point in time,” Mr Tarrant said.

“And you can actually put some information around what it meant, and how you can use that as a tool.”

Seeing “great value in that moving forward”, Mr Tarrant is of the belief that this is where this will go, commenting how “we’re just using the habit forming that’s happening right now for that to sort of turn into that”.

It’s a perspective Mr Bliss has thought through, stating agents may also put in some additional information for the prospective buyers that they can access online anytime after the inspection.

“Some buyers don’t want to talk and just want to walk through. But there’s a good chance they probably still want some additional information, like a building and pest report, the contract. The agent might be busy, or you just really don’t want to talk, so what the system will do now, after you’ve checked in, you’ll be taken to the website with the property’s information,” Mr Bliss said.

“To download that, you’ll need to input details there as well. So, for the agents, they get the data, and the buyer also gets those value-adds.”

Moving forward, Mr Bliss hopes that the QR code system will also benefit buyers by helping them track the inspections they have been to, compare the properties and do their due diligence before making a purchase.

Want to hear more? Find the full conversation between Mr Tarrant, Mr Panos and Mr Bliss here.