HomeSnap Invites
A few weeks ago, I received the the following invite from HomeSnap:
I assume I received the email because I’ve traded emails with Tom in the past (he’s a former client at Virtual Results), and all his contacts were sent the same invite.
It doesn’t matter who initiated the email. From the consumer perspective, this is spam sent to me by HomeSnap. Sure, I know Tom. But Tom’s in Michigan, I’m in Seattle. I’m not moving to Michigan. Why would I want him as my agent?
The email doesn’t tell me what HomeSnap is, or what value I’d get from accepting an agent on their platform.
Are these types of emails HomeSnap’s primary marketing strategy?
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Ron Reed
Posted at 19:13h, 16 NovemberI agree, it’s spammy. As I understand it, Homesnap recently teamed up with a bunch of local MLS’s to offer the Homesnap Pro app to agents for free.
As an incentive to get agents involved, they offer agent-exclusivity as soon as an agent invites someone to join them in Homesnap, as long as another agent hasn’t already invited that person. Then the agent will be the only agent that person sees when they use the app. This has agents racing to invite as many people as possible (hence the spammy email). Homesnap then sends weekly emails to that person with the agents mugshot front and center.
I almost fell for this too until I sent myself a test email and test tweet. They were both spammy with little to no explanation or value.
It’s a shame because I think their app is really good. But, clearly the marketing aspect lacks foresight. 🙁
Jason Mitchell
Posted at 19:54h, 16 NovemberMy MLS
Drew Meyers
Posted at 12:03h, 17 NovemberWhat do you like about the app specifically?
Ron Reed
Posted at 13:12h, 17 NovemberCouple things:
1) It’s fully integrated with my MLS, so it’s easy for agents to schedule showings, contact other agents, view listing & price history, keep updated on neighborhood listing & agent activity, view broker-to-broker comments, etc. It doesn’t fully replace my need to log into MLS (my MLS doesn’t offer a dedicated mobile app, and the mobile web version is clunky at best), but it’s closer than anything else I’ve ever seen in an “agent-only” app.
2) It has a built-in “Rapid CMA” feature that is pretty slick at creating & sharing CMA price reports on the fly similar to RPR. I use these to keep my seller clients & prospects updated on what’s happening in their neighborhood as well as the overall market.
Other aspects such as school data & ratings and price notifications aren’t unique, but they’re included in the app too.
It also has a built-in feature for quickly creating Facebook Ads (for geographic ZIP farming and listing promotion) that I haven’t seen before. The jury is still out on whether those ads are effective or not, but the fact that it’s included with everything else is pretty cool.