How Google duplex voice assistant can work for real estate agents

Article by Silvia Liu Marketing Specialist 12 July 2018

In the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of real estate robots and automation, the explosion of smart home technology and the rapid adoption of voice assistants like Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa and Siri.

In fact, new research shows that access to voice-powered devices has grown to almost 20% of the adult U.S. population.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that Google has upped the ante with the release of Google Duplex, “a new technology for conducting natural conversations”, complete with speech disfluencies such as “hmms” and “uhs”.

Without further ado, let’s dive right into what Google Duplex is and how Google Duplex voice assistant can work for real estate agents.

What is Google Duplex?

Google Duplex is the technology behind a new Google Assistant feature that allows it to “understand complex sentences, fast speech and long remarks” in order to carry out sophisticated conversations and accomplish specific tasks over the phone for you.

For example, in the video above, Anna tells her Google Assistant to book a table for two at El Cocotero on Tuesday at 7. Google Assistant then places a call on Anna’s behalf before adding the reservation to her calendar and letting her know that the reservation has been made.

How Google Duplex Voice Assistant Can Work for Real Estate Agents

While the technology is still in early stages, Google Duplex was opened to public testing last month. The technology is expected to be available “later this summer” for people to schedule hair appointments, make reservations at a restaurant and ask businesses for their operating hours.

This can mean saving anything between 5 to 30 minutes everyday, and that’s only just the beginning. As Google Duplex advances, there are many potential applications of the technology in a phone-reliant industry like real estate.

For example, Google Duplex can help you pre-qualify leads by asking a specific set of questions. That’s hundreds of applications that you no longer have to manually go through. Instead, you’ll be presented with a qualified pool of prospective clients.

Subsequently, Google Duplex can schedule a meeting or follow up call on your behalf with those prospective clients. Just imagine how much time you would be able to save!

In fact, there’s potential for Google Duplex to replace some of the automation currently used for communication in the real estate industry. Think monthly market updates that are sent through email automation and automated text notifications for open for inspections.

But keep in mind that a Google Duplex voice assistant of this sophistication is years away. Nick Baldwin, a Keller Williams team leader in Clarkston, Michigan, told Inman that “setting an appointment for getting a haircut, that’s very different from handling an objection from a buyer or seller”.

For any of the aforementioned functions to even be a possibility, Google Duplex will need to be programmed with complex real estate scripts and undergo real-time supervised training until it reaches the desired quality level.

Hopefully you enjoyed this blog post on How Google Duplex Voice Assistant Can Work For Real Estate Agents. You might also be interested in The Rise of Real Estate Robots and Automation, Bilingual Robot to Help Sell Real Estate in Australia and 10 Incredibly Useful Tech Tools Every Real Estate Agent Needs.

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