13 mins to read,
February 26th, 2023
- PRODUCT MANAGER, PROPERTY FINDER GROUP
- LEAD PRODUCT MANAGER, PROPERTY FINDER GROUP
In this Webinar, you will learn:
Do I have to pay to run a live viewing?
No, you don’t it’s absolutely free. We’ve worked very hard to use an open-source library so that we can offer this for free for you.
Can Live Viewings be run on commercial properties?
Yes, Live Viewings can be run on any property on propertyfinder.ae in the UAE. It’s up to you to decide which properties you think are going to really work well in Live Viewings.
Do I need Wi-Fi to run a Live Viewing?
If Wi-Fi is available in the property, then we are advising you to use it because this will provide the best experience for both yourselves and your potential clients, however, we have made this not a mandatory requirement and we have tested it and it works on 3G and 4G networks also.
What happens if my phone rings during a Live Viewing?
So this is something that we’ve spent a lot of time making sure it works! If your phone rings and if you choose to answer it, you will end the Live Viewing. Obviously it’s not advisable to answer the phone during the viewing anyway, because you should be paying attention to the property and the potential clients that you’re selling that property to 🙂 If your phone rings and you choose to end the call, the Live Viewing will continue to stream, so our advice in this situation is to press “End call”. Don’t be distracted and focus on the 15 to 20 minutes that you’re running that Live Viewing.
What happens if someone asks me a confidential question about the property during a Live Viewing? What should I do?
We’re encouraging viewers after the Live Viewing to get in touch with you. So I would recommend saying to that viewer on the Live Viewing “Please reach out to me afterwards and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.”
What do I need to do to obtain consent to run a Live Viewing? Is an email or message from the landlord/tenant enough?
Yes, written consent should always be obtained to run a Live Viewing and it should be obtained in written form, an email is enough of us.
Is there a limitation to use Live Viewings on an old phone? What is the version it supports?
At the moment, we’ve worked to support iOS 6 and above and for those familiar with the Android platform, it’s the Lollipop OS version. Advice from us is the later the device, the better the quality experience for you. That’s just because devices these days have improved so much that things like the camera and the sound quality have just got better over time.
Can I use Live Viewing on my iPad? Is this recommended?
Not at the moment. Lead Tracker is only supported on a mobile device so at the moment iPad isn’t part of that scope. But we would love to hear from you guys if you think that’s something that you’re potentially really interested in and then we can look to see how we evolve the product.
Can end-users view Live Viewings on mobile devices?
They certainly can, the consumer experience is once you’ve scheduled a Live Viewing on the listing on the propertyfinder.ae website that information will be available. So if someone clicks through to your listing in Dubai Marina, it will show that there’s a Live Viewing happening on a specific day, and the consumer will be able to add to their calendar a reminder that that viewing is happening.
We’ve not limited this to consumers whether they’re searching on their mobile or whether they’re searching on the desktop, and when the day comes around for the Live Viewing, again, they have the choice to access it from mobile or desktop. There’s one limitation on the mobile experience that if the consumer turns the phone landscape, then they won’t be able to comment, they’ll only be able to view, but they can always turn their phone back to portrait mode and they’ll be able to continue to comment. So yes, we’ve supported customers dependent on their choice of browser behaviour.
What do you think the impact of this will be for my leads?
Some of you will know that we launched our Virtual Tours product about two weeks ago and we saw an amazing engagement with that. We’re seeing users who interact with a Virtual Tour submitting leads at twice the rate of users who don’t and so that makes us believe that the Live Viewings feature really supercharges your listing and helps you access clients and get leads.
Do I get to see a list of those who join my Live Viewing after it is over?
Currently, viewers are able to join the Live Viewing anonymously but we are prompting all viewers to submit their contact details to you after the viewing is over. The reason we’ve made it anonymous to join is that we want to get as many people in that in the top end of that funnel for you so that you have access to the broadest range of customers. And again, we are prompting the users afterwards to submit their details to you as an email lead.
Can clients book a Live Viewing or can they only choose timings advertised by the agent?
That’s a really good question right now. It’s only available at a time that you have selected but if you had a client that was interested in running one at a specific time, there’s no reason that you couldn’t set that up at a time that works for a particular client.
What do agents need to download to have access to this?
Will the Live Viewing be recorded, allowing clients to view if they aren’t able to make the time set or are they required to view it live?
For the best experience, we want them to view live. That’s going to get a volume of people to you in one viewing, which is great from optimising your time and also for you to be able to catch potential clients who might like the property. The viewing will be recorded and we do have a copy of that which we will share directly with the agent. We are just working through some details as well to potentially figure out whether you can host that as one of the Virtual Tours. We are going to share the video with you, and you can choose to share that link with any of their potential clients.
Does a property need to be verified as well for Live Viewing?
Right now the property does not need to be verified, but we’re continuously reviewing this feature and its success so we may change that.
Does a Live Viewing contribute to the Quality Score at any stage of the ranking algorithm?
Adding a Live Viewing into your listing WILL give it a ranking boost.
It will appear higher in the search results. You’ll also be given an additional ranking boost in the one-hour period prior to your Live Viewing.
Can clients see a Live Viewings icon on the main page of propertyfinder.ae where the initial search is done? So not just after clicking a listing but like a Verified green badge on the listing?
Yes, on the search results pages, home-seekers will be able to see all of the listings that have a Live Viewing, they will also be able to see how many hours until that Live Viewing. And as I said before you’ll also get a ranking boost. So your listings will be more visible from that perspective.
From a management point of view, can I be notified when particular agents are running or setting up viewings so that we are informed?
It’s not something that we’ve considered right now, but I will take that feedback and I’ll come back to you.
What are the advantages of a Live Viewing versus a Video Tour?
I’ve been on some of the Live Viewings that we’ve run in testing and I can testify to the fact that the level of detail you can get from a Live Viewing is 10x what you’d get from the Video Tour and just that real feeling of being immersed in viewing, it’s as close as I have seen to be in a physical face-to-face viewing. The other benefit is that viewers can ask questions to the agent in real-time. E.g. is chiller included, how many cheques, all of those types of questions that you can’t do with the Video Tour. So for me, the experience is 10 times better than a video tour, although Video Tours are brilliant and it’s as close as I have seen to add I viewing to a face-to-face viewing sorry and I will certainly be using this feature for my future property searches.
Will the questions during the viewing not hamper the camera position or the experience?
We spent a lot of time optimising that view for the agents and what the benefit you’ve got is because the phone is landscape the picture will still be the whole way across the phone. The comment section is going to appear on the right-hand side and it’s got a level of transparency, that means the picture is easy for you to still see but you can also pay attention at your right eye to the comments coming through. For a consumer, they have a slightly different experience so their video and their comments are separated so they will get a full view of the property when they’re watching the video and the comments will remain separate for them to be able to add to. As you can appreciate mobile phones are quite small devices in terms of screen size so we have to kind of prioritise what’s important for you guys when you’re in the middle of that Live Viewing.
How will Lead Tracker react during a Live Viewing in case of an incoming call or a WhatsApp/SMS? Will the client be able to see the WhatsApp or SMS as well?
If you’ve got your notifications turned on it will appear as a notification at the top of your screen or you need to do is swipe it away and the Live Viewing will continue to happen. If a phone call comes through just press “end” and the Live Viewing will continue to stream and yes, obviously the call will appear as a missed call for you at this moment in time, but then you’ve got the opportunity to obviously go back to the customer and call them back or text them back after the Live Viewing is completed.
When a question is asked during a Live Viewing, do all of the attendees on the viewing see the question?
At the moment, everyone can see each other’s questions. This is some feedback that we’ve had from speaking to some agents in the early phases of this product and it’s certainly something that we’re looking to improve to figure out if we can moderate some of the chat functionality. We’ve put lots of rules in place so rude words etc. will be banned and the comment won’t get posted.
We hope in some cases that will help encourage customers to ask you questions or follow-up questions. If someone says “Hey, show me the view” and then people can comment on the back of that, so we’re hoping that in the majority of the cases it’s beneficial.
Will the Live Viewing remain on the app for about 24 hours similar to Instagram live?
At the moment it does not remain for 24 hours but we’re constantly reviewing the feature, we will have a copy of the video and we will be sending that to you and we can upload it as a Video Tour to your listing.
How will clients be made aware of the Live Viewing? Will it just be an option on the listing on the portal or were there be further active notifications?
If you search a listing and a listing has a Live Viewing, it will have a tag on the search page that there’s a Live Viewing and when it is happening. When you click through to the property, there will be more details about that Live Viewing and that will allow the consumer to add it to their calendar or if it’s at the point of the Live Viewing, they can click “join now” and go into the viewing as an anonymous customer. The other thing that we’re looking to launch is having filters, so at the top of the portal which I guess most of you are familiar with, there’s going to be an option to filter on whether a property has a Live Viewing or not, so if they’ve done a search in Dubai Marina, they can add a filter and see a shortlisted set of properties that have this feature available, which I think is really useful again for helping consumers narrow down their search and this is why we believe this feature is really important because it can help customers figure out okay, I’m going to tackle these three fast because I’m able to see the property.
So it’s an interesting question and lots of lots of work to do in that space, it’s really important for everyone to know that this is our first version, we’ll continue to iterate and I think with a product like this there’s a lot of features that we can add. So we’re going to take this feedback on board.
Should we put our phones on airplane mode during Live Viewing?
A hundred percent. I would recommend this, so you’re not distracted, which I think is really helpful for you as an agent as it really helps you keep focused. So yes, if you’re happy to do that 100% I would recommend it.
But if you need to keep your phone available for whatever reason then this feature will also work Okay.
Are we going to have another webinar for tutorials? Are there going to be more?
Yes, we plan to run more. Stay tuned!
Can I do a Live Viewing at the same time while I have a client with me? What’s the recommendation there?
My recommendation would probably be not to do that. The reason is we want all of your focus to be on your viewers. And if you’re having to answer questions from another client, it might be quite difficult to manage your online viewing.
Maybe you could take a client to see the property and then you could have a Live Viewing scheduled shortly after or shortly before so you’re killing two birds with one stone.
How many Verified Agents can be added and can all of them go with Live Viewings, are there any restrictions?
No restrictions right now. We’re taking the launch slow and steady so that we can make sure we give you all the best experience with this product. But no, as long as you’re a Verified Agent you have listings on propertyfinder.ae and you have Lead Tracker, you can go live.
Do the interested viewers receive a link to access the Live Viewing?
Yes, when you add a reminder to your calendar for the Live Viewing, when you get notified that that viewing is about to start by your calendar, there’ll be a link so that you can join right at the beginning. Also, the above Webinar video shows a screen in Lead Tracker where you can share a link to the Live Viewing with your client. So that’s another way that you can get people to join.
In case that the Live Viewing gets interrupted for any reason or just goes dark, do I need to redo all the steps or schedule a new one?
No, so if you’re in the middle of a Live Viewing and say you’ll phone had a moment, we’ve all seen it! You can go back into Lead Tracker, go back to that property and the go-live state will still be there. And when you click on go live, you’ll get a pop-up which those on IOS and Android will be familiar because it’s native to the device, it will ask you whether you want to resume the Live Viewing or whether you want to end it. So, in that case, click “resume” and then you’ll be able to continue the Live Viewing from the moment you left. From the consumer side, the viewers will get the buffering that you’re probably very familiar with from other video platforms, and as soon as you connect again, the buffering will stop and the Live Viewing will pick up again.
What is the timeline to enable Live Viewings for everybody?
We’re looking at enabling for everyone who’s joined this webinar over the next 10 days. We’re going to be working with you all to make sure that you get set up properly.
There’s no strict timelines about how quickly we can get all of our Verified Agents onto this feature, but we’ve seen Hemnet had done over 600 in three weeks so we know what’s possible.
Will there be someplace on propertyfinder.ae where a consumer can see details of all upcoming Live Viewings?
Yeah, another great question and it’s something we’re looking to build and we will have the filter soon so users will be able to filter to see only properties that have Live Viewings. And again, also we will be giving a ranking boost to properties with Live Viewings so they’ll be super visible to consumers on the search results and one hour before your live viewing you’ll get an additional little boost, so you’ll be right up there.
Would you recommend to do Live Viewings for rental properties or should we just stick to sales?
It’s really relevant across all properties but we recommend picking hot areas. So you have access via Data Finder to areas that are in high demand. I would recommend running Live Viewings on those areas to make sure you get as many viewers as possible also properties that you think, you know, look very attractive or have a very attractive price.
Does the property need to be verified or just the agent?
The property does not need to be verified. It needs to be a live property on propertyfinder.ae. It can be in any Emirate, any property type or listing type.
Can we schedule multiple properties?
Yes, as long as you can do multiple Live Viewings in one day so they don’t clash because you need to be there for the viewing you can schedule them across multiple properties at different times.
How will I be able to answer questions and do a Live Viewing at the same time?
You’ll see the comments coming through from the viewers and what we’re guiding you to do is answer those questions verbally, so as those questions come through, you can see what’s happening, what people are asking and then you can answer that over the camera. The suggestion that Rose made in the video above are the tips and tricks for running a really good Live Viewing is take your time. So two-four minutes in a room will give you the chance to showcase the room on the camera and also give the viewers a chance to answer ask those questions. Take it slow, answer it verbally and just spend time looking back through those comments.
Is there a way of openly advertising this to clients?
So we really encourage you to use your own channels, we know some of you are very strong on social media, so use your own channels to advertise your Live Viewings. If you have current clients that meet the profile for a particular property, you can use the feature and Lead Tracker to share the link to Live Viewings with them and then they can attend, so we’ll do all we can to ensure your Live Viewings is as prominent as possible to consumers because we know they’re real value add for them.
Is it possible to do the Live Viewing with a 360 camera?
It’s not something that we have verified with the product so, at the moment, we’ve tried to focus on the mass of the audience, which is probably people with camera phones. So at the moment, I don’t know the answer to that but what I’ll do is take that as feedback and see if we can do some testing and we can publish an update on this but it works with your standard phone camera.
Published on
Published on
