“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”
When management guru Peter Drucker made this comment decades ago, proper Customer Relationship Management (CRM) was in its relative infancy. The 1980s, however, brought about a revolution in the sales and marketing wings of organizations around the world, and today, CRM is the most critical function in the vertical.
CRM is defined as the process of acquiring, retaining, and managing customers by employing innovative strategies, techniques, and technologies. As CRMs evolve, their proliferation in various industries (from textile to technology) continues to grow. Companies operating in the real estate industry are some to benefit immensely from sound CRM systems dedicated to the sector, considering their immense reliance on good consumer relations and word-of-mouth marketing.
This Blog aims to help real estate businesses understand the importance of choosing between the top 8 Free and Open Source Real Estate CRM Software.
What is Real Estate Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
Selling real estate is no easy task. The effort put into real estate marketing and sales by agents, companies, and intermediaries alike is second to none. The process of acquiring customers itself is so complicated. Thus, it is ideal to invest in tools that can amplify the business, benefiting both the companies and the customers.
Real Estate CRM helps companies in the industry initiate, grow, and maintain relations with their prospective and current consumer base. Once deployed, the system allows companies to generate leads and follow through with sales using incredible data analytics. It also maintains business relations with customers through prompt communication while ensuring appropriate measures are in place to keep past buyers and loyalists in tow with company products and progress.
The design of this CRM also helps automate several tasks sapping employee performance. The systems perform a variety of other tasks - customer analytics, AI-based tasks, and document storage - all of which are critical milestones in a real estate company’s effort to maintain its consumer base.
Why is Real Estate CRM so important?
At the heart of its functioning, Real Estate CRM is similar to other forms of CRM in many ways. It helps analyze lead generation, customer management, data security, etc. Yet, in an industry as taciturn as real estate, where customers form opinions in the blink of an eye, there are a couple of reasons why real estate CRM systems are essential:
- Lead Scoring and Management: They help track lead effectiveness with analytics on how leads are lost, where they are winning customers, which channel is most effective in lead promotion, etc., so that companies may improve lead nurturing processes.
- Analytics: Real Estate CRM software offers the chance to improve the entire selling process by using data from every point in the sales and customer pipeline.
- Customer Segmentation: To deliver path-breaking property solutions to buyers, it’s crucial to generate buyer profiles for more natural pitches and consumer-centric product marketing.
- Financial Management: It’s essential to understand how much you invest in attaining and retaining customers. Access the information through a well-scripted real estate CRM tool.
- Workflow Automation and Tracking: It is essential to know that your staff across multiple property teams are not wasting time chasing the same lead. Automated workflows define which team is assigned a client based on criteria, which agent or team member follows up on the case, and where the customer is placed in the pipeline by an agent.
- Automated Notifications: Getting informed the moment a prospect drops onto your website or landing page through marketing campaigns is essential. It helps quicken the sales process and leads to nurturing.
- Lead-to-Sale Ratio: Many prospects become qualified leads, but only a fraction become sales acquisitions. Real estate marketing systems efficiently shorten the lead-to-sales time and increase the corresponding ratio.
Why do real estate agents and property developers need Real Estate CRM?
Real estate agents often turn out to be the focal point between developers and prospective home buyers. Those bypassing real estate agents need to negotiate directly with the real estate company, and this is no easy task for either party.
Is the company aware of the customer’s preferences? Is the agent in the right place to negotiate a deal for the customer who trusts him? What are the pitfalls of limited or excessive communication between all the parties involved in a real estate deal? These are critical considerations that need addressing.
Thankfully, real estate CRM software is a boon in such circumstances, especially for both parties facing a consumer. Some of the reasons real estate professionals need real estate CRM software are as follows -
- One-to-one customer connections and relationships
- Easy Customer segmentation for personalized service
- Agents who are always on the move and need to access consumer data remotely
- Automation Benefits on led nurturing and follow-ups save real estate personnel time and effort, enforcing better productivity.
- Better response management to consumer queries and feedback
- Competitive advantage with detailed reporting and analytics giving clear insights
- Quicker decision-making on follow-up leads
- Third-party integrations help extract better performance.
- Manage operations 24/7 from anywhere and from any device
- AI-based insights
What is Real Estate CRM Software?
CRM activities enable real estate companies to serve existing customers more effectively while creating a pipeline for prospects to interact with the brand(s). Without software to aid them in such activities, the tasks’ scale and scope would be too burdened on industry resources. Thus, Real Estate CRM software arose.
Real estate CRM software is a digital suite of tools, each with distinct functionalities and purpose, but designed with the same ambition - to help the companies in this sector carry out real estate-based operations/CRM activities efficiently. The activities include generating leads, automation of several marketing activities, active channel management throughout the sales process, business partners management, and so on. However, as we will discuss below, the functionalities of CRM are not just limited to these three parameters but also a wide range of tasks and activities.
The purpose of AI-driven best real estate CRM software is to help companies maintain exceptional relationships with their existing and would-be customer base, communicating effectively and being on top of them during and after the sales process - based on the insights derived with the help of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Real Estate Market is likely to touch US $ 1803.45 Bn by 2030, says a report. Real Estate CRM software powered by artificial intelligence also creates a pool of data on customers - engagement, behavior through interactions, and much more - which helps companies fine-tune their sales and marketing campaigns.
Features of Real Estate CRM (customer relationship management) Software
Every real estate CRM software requires a suite of features that need to be diverse from the competition while offering a traditional competitive advantage to incumbents. Here’s a list of features real estate companies need to consider before purchasing the appropriate CRM software:
- Reporting and Analytics Dashboard
- Lead Management
- Channel-wise Lead segmentation and targeting
- Customer Insight
- Data and Security Maintenance
- Task Management and Workflow Automation
- Customer record management
- Data Encryption and Security management
- Calendar, reminder management systems
- Sales process management
- Invoice and Bill management
- Documentation settings
- Cloud Integration
- Email Marketing and Management
- Mobile application support
- Real-time Lead tracking
- User Authentication
- Platform independence
- AI-driven
Advantages of Real Estate CRM Software
With so much on the line in terms of inventory Sales and Revenue for agents and real estate companies alike, it only makes sense to use real estate CRM software to mitigate potential profit pitfalls.
Comparison table of Top Free and Open Real Estate CRM Software
Top Free and Open Real Estate CRM Software
EspoCRM:
If you are looking for a web-based real estate CRM platform, EspoCRM is a perfect choice. The free and open-source software helps companies analyze customers and their preferences and create a buying pathway for them. This feature offers realtors a chance to weigh up opportunities and surviving projects. EspoCRM is currently used by 50,000+ users from 163 countries.
This free real estate CRM software leverages enhanced data analytics capabilities to meet customer and market needs is a viability thanks to this real estate CRM tool. The online real estate CRM software also has cloud functionality that is deployable on your own or a third-party server.
(Source: EspoCRM)
Features of EspoCRM:
- Lead Management (Sales optimization, Account Management)
- Calendar Management (Google and Outlook Calendar Sync)
- Email Marketing and Management (Includes Signature, Filters)
- Social media activity modes
- Customer Support
- Documentation Control
- Reporting and Analytics tools
- Workflow Management
- Marketing Automation
- Administration and security
- Maps and Location management
- Data type conversion (Excel to PDF, etc.)
- Inventory Management
- VoIP, Voice Telephony
The key modules of the EspoCRM real estate tool are;
Sales Automation: Noted features under this module include leads, opportunities, accounts, purchase orders, and contacts. The module seamlessly integrates with Calendars, Emails, and Social media platforms.
Marketing Automation: Noted features under this module include; campaign, mass email marketing, mass mail merge, target list, web-to-lead with Mailchimp integration, and report generation for the advanced plan.
Other notable benefits of EspoCRM include customer support, analytics, workflow automation, business process management, custom layouts, and data import.
Have you ever tried EspoCRM? If yes, share your experience with us.
PHP CRM
Geared explicitly toward lead management, PHP CRM is a free and open-source real estate CRM software that helps companies of all sizes, including startups and small, medium, and large enterprises, curate their sales management processes. The real estate CRM tool manages everything from appointment setting to customer management. It promises a minimalist perspective to lead conversion, monitoring the process in real-time while ensuring the best possible productivity of the teams in the marketing and sales department. The software can be customized as per the business requirements.
Another function fulfilled by the online real estate CRM system is qualifying a potential lead into a sales prospect.
(Source: PHP CRM)
Features of PHP CRM:
- Lead Management
- Customer Management
- Invoice and Billing Management
- Expenses and Financial recording
- Message Management
- Analytics and Reporting Dashboard
- Appointment Management
- Tax management
- Documentation Control
- Product Catalog Management
- Activity records of employees
- Employee and staff productivity workflows
- Seamless integration
- Enhanced security
Bitrix24 Real Estate CRM Software
As a free and open-source real estate CRM solution, Bitrix24 offers realtors and companies the opportunity to manage leads, conduct marketing and communication campaigns, qualify sales prospects, and much more on one platform. Furthermore, it comes out-of-the-box with an integrated CMS and the chance to customize the dashboard metrics. Furthermore, a variety of real estate customer management functionalities can be integrated into the system, making it a complete solution for the average realtor.
(Source: Bitrix24)
Features of Bitrix24 CRM:
- Lead Management
- Integrated Telephony (VoIP, Voice)
- Email Marketing
- Quotes, Invoices management
- Cloud-based documentation control
- Project Management and workflow control
- Calendars and reminders management
- Channel-wise reporting and drip campaign assessment
- Reporting and Analytics dashboard
- Mobile portability (iOS & Android)
- API, CMS, Marketplace functionality
RealOffice360
RealOffice360 promises to be a one-stop solution for realtors and agencies. It is a free and open-source Real estate CRM Software with an intuitive dashboard and interface. Companies can sign up for about $19/month to use some exceptional premium functionalities.
(Source: RealOffice360)
Features of RealOffice360 :
- Lead Management and tracking
- Channel-wise lead assortment, analysis, and management
- Contact management and grouping
- Import data (Google, Excel, Outlook, etc.)
- Project workflows
- Drag-and-Drop interface
- Checklist and reminder management
- Calendar management
- Event Management (Birthdays, Showings, etc.)
- Follow-up toolkit
- Predictive analytics
- Commission, tax, and sales target tracking
- Property catalog management
- Documentation control
- Client management
- Automate workflows
- AI assistant
SuiteCRM
As an Open Source Real Estate CRM software, Suite CRM boasts over 4.5 million users. It has capabilities that include better relationship management for realtors and more significant engagement improvements. A base model of the software is available free of charge, but further specialized CRM improvements need the user to sign up for a paid version. The software suite also has an active developer community that looks to make necessary additions and modifications to the CRM software to improve its functionality.
(Source: SuiteCRM)
Features of SuiteCRM tool:
- Personalize Customer Interactions
- Reporting and Analytics
- Contacts Management
- Control and Document control
- Task Curation among team members
- Workflow automation and control
- Notes and Reminders management
- Knowledge Base - Module hosting readymade responses, processes
- Email Marketing and Automation
- Bug Maintenance and reporting
- Call Record management (Inbound, Outbound)
- Lead Account Management
- Quote and Invoice Tracking
- Opportunities Management
Flowlu
If you’re looking for free real estate CRM software, Flowlu is an obvious choice. This secure, easy-to-use, comprehensive customer relationship management software for the real estate industry comes with an entire suite of functionality, ranging from online lead management, sales process automation, email integration, and customer management to sales and social platform management, customized report generation, and more. Besides the above, Flowlu is a multi-software implementation company, which means that some of the best-in-class solutions in agile project management, finance management, and invoice management are all easily integrated into the real estate CRM platform.
(Source: Flowlu)
Features of Flowlu:
- Task Management
- Leads Kanban Board
- Lead Contact Management
- Calendar, reminder, and events management
- Detailed reporting and analytics dashboard
- Invoice management (Send Invoices directly)
- Web form generation and tracking for lead qualification
- Contact Relationship management
- Email-to-lead management tool
- Sales Pipeline tracking
Zipper Agent
This free trial-based real estate CRM solution enables agents, brokers, and teams within companies to auto-pilot their CRM activities. Zipper Agent boasts of solutions such as IDX websites, Predictive CRM tools, and MLS management. The ultimate aim of the real estate CRM software firm is to streamline lead management, automate follow-ups, and combine sales, marketing, and transaction management onto one platform. The mobile app makes sure the application tools are accessible at all times.
(Source: Zipper Agent)
Zipper agent combines a host of solutions into one kit, making it indispensable for any real estate entity.
Features of Zipper Agent:
- Channel-wise Lead Management (IDX Websites, Landing Pages, social media)
- Automated Workflows
- Data Analytics and Reporting Platform
- Push and text notification management
- Lead Tracking
- Transaction management
- Encrypted Data and Documentation Management
- Personalized Branding
- Agent Recruitment
- Automated Engagement and Follow-up
LeadSquared
This online real estate CRM solution is one of the most trusted software that enables users to manage real estate leads efficiently. The software is equipped with strict security protocols and data encryption, while third-party tool integrations are available to increase functionality. Developer tools such as APIs and LAPPS are also freely attainable.
(Source: LeadSquared)
Features of Leadsquared:
- Channel-wise Lead Management
- Customized landing pages toolkit
- Automated task and workflow management
- Automated response management
- Intelligent lead segmentation (based on quality, criteria for buying, budgets, etc.)
- Interaction management (Email, phone)
- Lead tracking and status update management
- Custom engagement campaigns (Drip management)
- Prospect filters
- Reporting and Analytics dashboard
- Automated sales recommendations engine
- A dedicated agent application to increase feet-on-street sales
The market is replete with real estate software that offers dedicated functionality. One such software that stands out amongst the plethora of options is Zoho Real Estate CRM.
Zoho Real Estate CRM
India-based company Zoho’s CRM offering focuses on helping realtors manage and extract the best-performing leads for their properties. The company’s research indicates that 82% of new property referrals are from existing consumers, and hence, maintaining the interactions and inventory accounts is of utmost importance.
(Source: Zoho Real Estate CRM)
Features of Zoho Real Estate CRM:
- Channel-wise lead segmentation and management
- Invoice and bill management
- Automated Workflow and task management
- Third-party integrations
- Contact Management
- Analytics and Reporting Dashboard
- Quotes and finance tools
- Partner Management
- Gamified interface
- Predictive analytics and forecasting
- Customizable layouts, components, views
- AI-integrated Voice assistant.
- Google Ads management
- Customer Analytics and segmentation
- Lead nurturing toolkit
- Team messaging portal
- Data Security and user authentication management
Conclusion
As Real estate demands continue to skyrocket, it is critical that agents and developers stay on top of their game with the best real estate CRM software to attract clients and retain them by creating exceptional relationships. The right real estate CRMs also increase overall company performance.
Given their added functionalities, it will be no surprise to see the demand for this software reaching greater heights in the years ahead.
Have some specific feedback on the real estate CRM solutions listed above or on GoodFirms’s website? Leave your ratings and reviews here.
In addition to free and opensource real estate CRM software, GoodFirms prides itself on providing detailed information and reviewing various options for online real estate customer management.
Don’t forget to visit GoodFirms’ Software Directory page - we have information on every possible software solution you may be on the hunt for, keeping in mind the needs of your business.
