12 Uses For Automations To Improve Your Workflows
In a fast-paced real estate market, completing—or even remembering to do so when you’re so busy—smaller, more menial tasks can be a barrier to growth. Whether you are manually routing leads, sending follow-up emails, or gathering information about potential clients’ interests, you are losing valuable time.
Automations makes this easy, allowing you to set up Triggers, Conditions, and Actions: Essentially, this means that if an “event” happens on your website (such as a Lead clicking on something) and if a described condition is met (like within a specified timeframe), then an action happens (for example, a push notification being sent to someone’s phone).
And now in Phase 3, Automations is now separated into different Rule Focuses (Lead, Property, and Deal), which means even further customization.
An example of a property-focused automation
This feature can be a little bit overwhelming to set up and work with—but are you using Automations to their full potential? We hope to provide you with some ideas by walking you through 12 different uses for Automations, leaving you with improved workflows and more time on your hands for the important things!
Table of Contents
- Group Leads Who View Certain Property Locations
- Send Messages When New Deals Are Created
- Stay Informed When A Lead Stage Changes
- Reassign Leads To Specific Agents
- Set Up “Do Not Contact” Lead Rules
- Stay On Top Of Lead Re-Engagement
- Nudge Users When A Lead Views 5+ Listings
- Reroute Leads From Specific Sources
- Know Exactly When A Lead Matches With An Agent
- Notifications For Properties Viewed Over A Certain Price
- Tagging Leads For Additional Metrics
- Customize Correspondence With Tags
- Closing Summary
1. Group Leads Who View Certain Property Locations
As mentioned, Phase 3 splits automations into three different Rule Focuses (Lead, Property, and Deal). Our new Property Rule Focus also provides users with a number of different Trigger, Condition, and Action combinations centered around listings/properties on the site. This new phase also introduced MLS integration, which allows you to personalize your Rule even more.
Instead of relying on trending search preferences from Phase 2, you can now set up an Automation to automatically put Leads into a Group when viewing certain information about properties. For example, if you want to focus on a specific city/location, you can sort leads easily with a new Property Rule.
[Select Property Rule Focus]
Trigger → Property Viewed
Condition → City [Has: City Name]
Action → Groups [Select Group]
2. Send Messages When New Deals Are Created
Deal Rule Focus is another part of our latest update of Automations. Like its name suggests, Deal Rules center on creating automation actions for activity regarding Deals.
One of the ways you can save time and keep track of new Deals being created is by setting up an Automation. After selecting “Deal Created” as the Trigger, you specify specific Agents, Offer Dates, Listing Price, and more, and then set up an Action to send you (or someone else) an email reminder.
“Congratulate your Agent on closing a new Deal,” you might write in an email to yourself—and this can also be a great way to track performance!
[Select Deal Rule Focus]
Trigger → Deal Outcome [Won]
Condition → Agents [Select Agent Name] / Or [Leave Blank]
Action → Email [Specify Recipient]
Create a automation to congratulate an agent for closing a deal
As an alternative, you can also set one up for when a Listing Contract is created or when an offer is won.
[Select Deal Rule Focus]
Trigger → Deal Stage Changed [Select Listing Contract] / Or Deal Outcome: Won
Condition → Agents [Select Agent Name] / [Leave Blank]
Action → Email [Specify Recipient]
It’s always a great idea to keep consistent, open communication with your clients. You can also send thank you emails to Deal Parties (Buyers) and Deal Parties (Sellers) automatically by following the same process. Just select either option as the email recipient!
3. Stay Informed When A Lead Stage Changes
It can be quite time-consuming to keep track of and follow up with all Leads, especially if working with many clients simultaneously. One way Automations can help sort out old Leads is by letting you know when a Lead Stage changes.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Stage Change [Select Group]
Condition → [Leave Blank]
Action → Email [Assigned Agent]
You can also add a Note to the Lead details or even put these Leads in a Group.
4. Reassign Leads To Specific Agents
If there is a large team of Agents, each with their own specification or preferred client, you can automatically reassign Leads to certain Agents to speed up your workflows. There are a number of Conditions you can select within the Lead Rule Focus based on your desired criteria, such as City/Listing City, Created Date, Interests, Budget, and more.
One frequently used metric is if a Lead does not have a phone number, or if a phone number is invalid.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Stage Update
Condition → Has Phone Number: Is False
Action → Agents [Select Agent]
5. Set Up “Do Not Contact” Lead Rules
Sometimes a Lead does not want to be contacted—for any reason whatsoever. While the Lead is not able to receive automatic messaging, Agents still (accidentally) make contact, an action that could aggravate the Lead even further.
In cases like these, you can manually send a text message to an Agent letting them know about this situation. Think of this Automation like a safeguard!
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Unsubscribed
Condition → [Leave Blank]
Action → Group [Add to Unsubscribed Group] / Text, Email, And/Or Push Notification [Select Assigned Agent]
An example of an automation for leads who request to be unsubscribed
6. Stay On Top Of Lead Re-Engagement
On a brighter note, there are times when an old Lead comes back to your website. Jumping on this activity as soon as possible can be beneficial. Instead of relying on the autoresponders, you can send a message directly to a Lead (or set up an automatic reminder to yourself!) when they become hot again.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Returns To Website [Select After 2 Months]
Condition → [Leave Blank]
Action → Email [Select Lead] / Push Notification [Assigned Agent]
Additionally, this rule can also be set up as follows:
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Form Submission [Select Form]
Condition → Last Active [More Than X Days]
Action → Email [Agent]
7. Nudge Users When A Lead Views 5+ Listings
Lead activity is tracked within the CRM when a user is logged in. If a Lead views more than 5 listings, it can be a sign that they are a serious buyer/seller, and it could be proactive to message this Lead directly.
[Select Property Rule Focus]
Trigger → Property Viewed
Condition → Number Of Viewed Listings [Select More Than 5]
Action → Email [Assigned Agent]
You may also want to set up this Automation to notify the Agent or the Super Admin (through Custom Recipient), as this could be useful information for them to know!
8. Reroute Leads From Specific Sources
At Real Estate Webmasters, one of our services that we offer is Pay-Per-Click Advertising. You may want to reroute Leads to an Agent based on their Source (where they have come from)—for example, PPC Leads.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Created [Any Lead]
Condition → Sources [Select Google PPC]
Action → Agents [Select Agent To Reassign] / Email [Assigned Agent]
You may also want to set up an Action, see above, that also emails the new Agent when this Lead is reassigned to them.
9. Know Exactly When A Lead Matches With An Agent
When a new Lead is matched to an Agent, you can set up an Action Plan (or even send out an email) to help guide Leads and Agents through the process.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Stage Changed [Matched With An Agent]
Condition → [Leave Blank]
Action → Action Plan [Add To Specified Plan]
If a Lead goes quiet, there is also the option to set a reminder to follow up with a Lead.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Stage Changed [Unable To Contact]
Condition → Agents [Has Assigned Agent]
Action → Email [Assigned Agent]
10. Notifications For Properties Viewed Over A Certain Price
As mentioned, some of the filters have been moved around with the arrival of Phase 3 of Automations. Perhaps most significantly are the shift of listing filters, which were once sorted within Leads and are now more easily found within the Property Rule Focus.
You can set up an Automation to be notified with Leads view an assortment of different listing metrics, such as:
[Select Property Rule Focus]
Trigger → Property Viewed
Condition → Price Range [Is More Than Variable]
Action → Email/Text/Push Notifications to [Assigned Agent]
You can also send messages to Leads or to Custom Recipients. This can be helpful depending on your end goal, such as checking in with a Lead. Or, this Action could let someone else on the real estate team know that this Lead is active, or this could be relevant data for another purpose.
11. Tagging Leads For Additional Metrics
In the case of wanting additional tracking or measuring for Triggers, perhaps to keep track of something that is currently unavailable as an option within Automations, you can set up a Tag for these Leads. Additionally, this can also be a way to keep things organized.
You can simply add or remove existing Action Plans or Groups (or other variations), and add Tags instead.
[Select Lead Rule Focus]
Trigger → Lead Created
Condition → Agents [Select Has Specific Agent] / Or Leave Blank
Action → Group [Remove Selected Group(s)] Or Action Plan [Remove Selected Action Plan(s)] / Lead Tags [Select Tag]
12. Customize Correspondence With Tags
When you send off an email or text as an Action, you are able to customize the message within the dialogue box.
In the bottom right corner, you will see a list of “Available Tags” along with a blue button that says “More Tags.” Clicking on this will open up a window where you can view all of the tags you can use to personalize your message. Some of the available options include adding a Listing Address, a Deal Name, a Lead’s first and/or last name, and more.
Use our Available Tags to personalize your messages
However, these tags change depending on your Rule Focus—which is another reason why it is integral to properly set up your rules.
Closing Summary
With our updated Automations—now separated into dedicated focuses for Leads, Properties, and Deals—you can reclaim your time and ensure no Lead falls through the cracks.
Ready to start? Log into your CRM today and navigate to the Automations tab to start building your first rule!
12 Uses For Automations To Improve Your Workflows FAQs
What are the three "Rule Focuses" for Phase 3 of Automations?
Automations is now divided into Lead, Property, and Deal Rule Focuses. While your old rules will remain active, any new rules will have to follow this new format.
Can I customize the messages sent by Automations?
Yes. When you set up an action to send an email or text, you can use the “Available Tags” feature in the dialogue box to personalize messages with information like client and agent names, listing details, or deal information.
What is the benefit of using the Property Rule Focus?
The Property Rule Focus allows you to set up listing-focused automations with MLS filters.
How do Automations simplify Deal management?
The Deal Rule Focus centers on tracking activity related to your deals, such as tracking deal creation, offers, appointments, and stage changes.