Placester, a well-funded real estate software provider, has unveiled a mobile app that lets agents manage leads on the go.
The app is available to anyone, but it’s mostly useful to agents who pay for Placester-powered websites, which can cost as little as $60 a year.
What does the app do?
A free version lets agents view and contact leads generated by their Placester websites, create leads and tasks, and take notes.
Dashboard for paid version of Placester mobile app
Agents who pay a monthly fee of $20 get additional features, including the ability to:
- Get notifications when new leads are captured by a Placester website
- View enhanced information on leads, such as their search activity on a Placester website
- Add reminders to tasks
“Let’s say someone comes to your [Placester] site; they fill out a form. Not only does [Placester’s mobile app] give you a notification, so you can respond immediately, but it also gives you the information about what they might have searched for,” said Seth Price, vice president of industry relations at Placester.
Placester, which has raised $50 million in funding, offers basic listing search websites for as little as $60 a year for Realtors (thanks to an agreement with the National Association of Realtors).
Pricing scale and functionality
Many technology firms offer basic versions of their software as an entree to more sophisticated, and more expensive, versions.
Placester exemplifies this strategy: Its second-cheapest product for agents, called “Essential,” costs 30 times as much as its basic product (on an annual basis).
Priced at $150 a month, “Essential” includes a lead-management system, email marketing tool and enhanced website features.
If agents pay for “Essential” or a more expensive Placester product, the paid version of the new app can automatically pull in leads from a range of sources, including Zillow Group websites, realtor.com and Homes.com.
Placester doesn’t manage paid online marketing, such as Facebook or search-engine ads, on behalf of clients at the moment. It stopped offering the service after finding that many agents tend to underinvest in their lead-conversion infrastructure, Price said.
But after refining its current offerings, Placester may consider reintroducing an advertising-management service in the future, he said.
Deals and acquisitions
Lead profile page for paid version of Placester mobile app
Drawing on deep pockets, Placester has made two acquisitions in the last year and inked deals with some major real estate franchisors, including Keller Williams.
In April, Placester acquired RealSatisfied, which offers customer survey software that Placester wants to integrate into some of its products. And in March, it bought HomeFinder, a real estate search platform that powers search tools for news websites.
Placester has integrated with hundreds of multiple listing services, allowing it to offer property search websites covering most of the country.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct that only agents with Placester’s ‘Essential’ website product can use Placester’s paid mobile app to pull in leads from third-party sources.
