CHICAGO, IL - Apartments.com today announced a partnership with Contact At Once!, a leading provider of live chat software and presence-aware networks, making it the first Internet Listing Service to launch live chat for apartment communities advertising on the website. By providing a new and convenient way for renters to contact the apartment community, leasing professionals can instantly answer questions, 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," said 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," said 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.
Apartments.com partnered with Contact At Once! to bring the live chat product to Platinum package advertisers at no additional cost. This new addition of live chat will be rolled out throughout 2010. Professionally managed apartment communities interested in learning more about live chat are encouraged to contact Apartments.com at (888) 658-RENT or sales@apartments.com.
Apartments.com (http://www.apartments.com) is the most visited national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing more than three million rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. With personalized searches, highly visual ads featuring "Walk Through Video," "Apartments.com Anywhere" mobile solutions, 360-degree virtual tours, professional photography, and comprehensive community listings, Apartments.com makes it possible for renters to access apartment rental inventory from across town or across the country. Leads from highly qualified ready-to-rent prospects are delivered to Apartments.com customers, increasing closure rates and decreasing the average cost of leasing an apartment. The website's foundation of solid partnerships with the local newspaper and television station websites of more than 1,000 newspaper affiliate and strategic partners across the country include Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate, Univision, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC. Additionally, Apartments.com owns and operates Apartment Home Living (http://www.apartmenthomeliving.com), a leading social media apartment website distinguished by a "live for fun" community experience, proprietary lifestyle matching and local living guides to help renters find their perfect place to live.
Contact At Once! provides the most widely deployed live chat software and operates the largest presence-aware networks for the automotive, apartment, and real estate industries with over 10,000 active users. Adding ContactAtOnce! live chat software to a website typically improves the conversion of website lookers into conversations and appointments by at least 25%. The presence-aware networks powered by ContactAtOnce! connect businesses to the media websites on which they advertise, increasing the effectiveness of online ads while providing consumers with a better online experience.
Source: Apartments.com