Introduction

The Lofty alerts function includes Property Alerts and Market Snapshots. Property Alerts engage leads automatically by emailing them new listings that fit the criteria that have been set up. Market Snapshots send nearby newly-listed and sold properties to buyer/seller leads to inform them about what is going on in their market and encourage them to buy and/or sell. Generally, we can display as far back as 3 years sold listings depending on the MLS. These tools can help you automatically nurture leads that are not currently ready to buy or sell, and allow you to focus on the leads that you are actively interacting with as well.

 

 

Summary

• Steps to Set Up Property Alerts/Market Snapshots
• Saved Searches
• Pausing Alerts
• User Experience

Steps to Set Up Property Alerts/Market Snapshots

The steps are the same for both Property Alerts and Market Snapshots.

Step 1

On the lead’s profile page, you will see the "Engagement" tab at the top of the page. In this section, you can see the current status of the Property Alerts or Market Snapshots that exist for this lead. If there are active property alerts, you can see the total number of alerts in green. If the numbers are grayed out, the property alerts have not been set up yet or are inactive. Each alert shows basic search criteria in blue that can be clicked on to view more in-depth information. You can also see the alert frequency on the right side. 

 

Step 2

To create a new Property Alert, click on + New Alert under the Property Alerts section. You will be directed to the Property Alert Page.

 

Step 3

On the Property Alert Page, you can see the criteria that can be set to filter the property alert, based on the lead’s initial inquiry when they came into the CRM. It's optional, but you can select the ones that you want to apply to this alert by checking the box next to the criteria and then clicking on the "Fill into fields" button at the bottom. 

Click the "Notes" tab to see all the notes in this lead’s timeline.

 

Step 4

You can see all the available filters on the right side of the page. The results will be updated instantly when these fields are changed. You can find the number of results from the applied filter at the top of the page. The more criteria you select, the fewer results you will receive.

 

Step 5

To select a specific area on the map to be used in search criteria, click on the "Draw" icon in the lower right corner of the map. If you need to plot multiple areas, you will need to create a separate alert for each area.

Drag and click to mark the area you want. End on the same dot you started with. If you want to remove this filter, click the "Clear" icon on the upper right corner of the map.

*IMPORTANT:

Please note, that when adding search criteria, the more filters you apply, the fewer results you will receive. However, it is the opposite case when it comes to the Location filters. You can enter multiple locations. The more locations and zip codes you enter, the more results you will receive.

 

Step 6

Click the "____ Results" tab on the upper right corner of the page to see if all the listings on the market meet the criteria.

You can click on these listings to see their details. When you find a listing that the lead might be interested in right away, you can select the listing by checking the box and clicking "Send listings" to send all the selected listings to the lead. Note that this is an optional action that can be taken when creating a property alert. You can only send up to 25 listings at a time.

 

Step 7

Return to the Filters tab, and click Next when you are ready to continue. Keep in mind that you can always come back and edit this later.

 

Step 8

A pop-up window will now appear with additional settings for this property alert. A summary of the filters for this property alert is located on the left side.

Next, you can choose to name this property alert. This is a useful way to keep things organized. This alert and name are not visible to the client though this is planned in future improvements.

Choose from the options (not required):

• Handpick listings: You will be notified by email when new listings that fit the criteria enter the market. Listings will NOT be sent to the lead without your approval.
• Send a copy to myself
  • Note: This will cc you on the alert email and you will receive a copy to your inbox.
• Send alert immediately
• Use listings on the market as a supplement: If no new listings that fit the criteria come to the market, listings on the market will be sent instead.
• Include open house info

Choose to whom the property alert emails will be sent. If there are family members with valid emails on file, you can select them from the list: 

Customize the email subject (not required) to include your alert name as well as any lead or agent variables (merge fields):

 

Decide on the frequency at which you would like to send out the emails. This will depend on how hot the market is, how engaged the lead is, etc. 

When the rest of the settings are set up, click on the blue "Save" button in the bottom-right to save the alert and turn it on:

For new alerts created, you will get this additional prompt to sync search criteria but if you have chosen Handpicked in the previous step, this window will not show up.

NOTE: Updating the search criteria section in the lead profile will not update the set criteria on a property alert. Please see the Lead Profile Page for more info about search criteria.

Step 9

You can keep track of the sent property alert emails in the lead’s timeline, or click any alert you’ve created under the "Property Alert" in the Engagement section of the lead’s profile.

 

Saved Searches

When leads visit Lofty sites and save a search, it will look like this to them on your Lofty site under the "My Searches" section of their profile:

This saved search also sets up a property alert for the lead with their search criteria.

Users can click on the "view" icon for those saved searches under the "Engagement" tab of a lead profile. Doing so will take the Lofty user to the listings search results page on the Lofty site--the same page the lead would be viewing with all current matches.

You can also click on the "trash can" icon to delete the lead's saved search if you would prefer to set up your own.

*IMPORTANT: Please note that any property alerts or market snapshots set up by you as the Lofty user will not display on the lead's profile. In other words, you can delete their saved searches, but you cannot replace or edit them at present.

Mobile version

When you adjust the Location or Filter settings, the [[Save]] button will appear, allowing you to save the changes to the settings you just made. The [[Save]] button will only appear once you have made a change to either the Location or Filter.

Name of Saved Searches

After clicking the [[Save]] button, you will be asked to specify a name for your search. The Name of a search is a required field for you to save.

You should be able to use letters, numbers, special symbols, and such to name your saved search.

The mobile feature should check for duplicates in the Names of searches. If you give a new saved search the same name as a previously saved search, there should be a pop-up that says “This saved search name already exists”, and you won’t be able to save it.

When you click on the small “x” next to the search name, you can remove the entire name and fill in a new one. This allows you to quickly change the name of the search if you choose.

The character limit for a Saved Search name is 30. When the limit is reached, you will not be able to enter more characters in the name, and a pop-up will appear telling them the limit has been reached.

Clear Button

• After you save a search, the “Clear” button will appear.
• Clicking the clear button will reset all the settings for Location, Filter, and Sort.
• The clear button will disappear after you click.
• If you readjust the settings for Location or Filter, the Save button will reappear.
• The “New Matches” banner should disappear since the search filter no longer applies to the listings.
  
  
  
  

Map View Search

• When on the Listings page, the user can click on the Map icon to toggle to Map View.
• When they make a change with either Location, Filters, or Draw, the Save Search button should appear.

Note: When you use the Draw function, the Location will automatically be marked as “Custom Boundary”. Even if you had a Location selected before, once you use the Draw function, the previous Location will be replaced with “Custom Boundary”. Thus, we cannot have Location and Draw be used together at once. Only Location and Filter can be blue at the same time, and Filter and Draw.


When creating a new saved search on Map View, you will also need to give the new saved search a unique name.

Access Saved Searches

• You can access all their previously saved searches by clicking on the top right button. This opens a pop-up with all the saved searches.
• The searches should be ordered such that the searches with the most recently updated listings should be on top, and then the newly created saved searches will be ordered from newest to oldest. You can scroll down continuously to view the saved searches until they reach the end.
  

View Saved Search

• When the user clicks on a saved search, the filters for the search that were saved will apply on the listing page
• New matched listings that fit search criteria go on top, ordered from newest to oldest.
  • New match refers to ones the user hasn’t seen since they last clicked on the listing page.
  • New and old matches are separated with a horizontal line “New Matches Above”.
    • Any listing that was NOT in the saved search results before is a “New Match”
    • If a user adjusts the Sort filter, then the horizontal line dividing new and old matches will disappear. The listings should be sorted according to the Sort conditions. The New Match banner remains on the listing until the user leaves the listing page.
      

Favorites

• You can select favorites, and these will then become visible in the Favorites folder. In the future, we can let you view your favorites on the listing page of the search.
  

Editing + Creating New Search from Location/Filter Settings - LIST VIEW

• You can edit an existing saved search by changing the Location and Filter settings.
• When you tap the “Save” button, a pop-up asks if you want to “Save as New Search” or “Update Existing Search”.
  • Tapping “Save as New Search”: opens a pop-up for you to enter a name for the search.
  • Once you save the new search, it will appear as a new entry in the Saved Search pop-up.
• When you tap “Update Existing Search”, they will be back on the listing page.

If you tap on the saved searches icon, you will see that your search criteria have changed on the entry for that search.

Editing + Creating New Search from Location/Filter Settings - MAP VIEW

• You can save on an existing saved search from Map View by clicking on the [[Save Search]] button after adjusting Location, Filters, or Draw.
• Same process as saving from the listing page view.
  
  

Deleting a Saved Search

• You can delete an already saved search via the Save Search pop-up. Clicking “Edit” allows you to select the searches you want to delete.

Pausing Alerts

Currently, there is no standalone "Pause" option for property alerts. However, if you would like to accomplish this, you can simply turn off the lead's subscription for property alerts (it will stop all of them) and then turn it back on when they are ready to go.

User Experience

To further enhance the user experience, we've implemented an automatic login feature for leads who click on our alert emails. This means that when a lead clicks on a property alert or market snapshot in their email, they will be seamlessly logged into our website without the need to enter their credentials again. This not only saves time but also encourages more frequent interaction with our listings, as leads can access information with greater ease and fewer barriers.

Additionally, it's important to note that if an agent user accesses the alert email through the lead timeline record, the system will not automatically log them in. This is to prevent any confusion regarding lead activities and to maintain a clear distinction between agent access and lead interactions. This ensures that agents can view the alerts as they appear to the lead, without altering the lead's experience or engagement data.

 

FAQs

Q: What is the difference between "Send Immediately" and "Instantly" in the Alert Frequency?

A: "Send alert immediately" is a one-time setting (initial setup), which triggers the alert to run the listings from the last email time. It does take some time to find proper listings on site (property alert sent listings new on-site within 10 days for the first time.) Although the client selected "Send alert immediately" if there is no matched listing at that time, an alert email will not be sent to the lead immediately.

 

For property alerts that are set as INSTANTLY, the alert runs every 2-4 hours to check if there are new listings that meet the criteria. Once there are listings in the result, an alert will be sent to the lead.

 

Q: How do you batch property alerts or mass send property alerts?

A: The ability to mass or batch-send property alerts is not currently supported.

 

Q: When listings are being duplicated in property alerts because the listings are in multiple MLSs. How can this be fixed?

A: Our tech team can perform a deduplication operation, the duplicate listings can be removed, and you can submit a ticket to Support to request this. Please note, that the system does not consider a listing duplicate if there is a difference in how addresses are entered in the MLS i.e. Ave vs Avenue and the like.

 

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by chat with us through your Lofty CRM.

 

Related terms: sold listing, seller alert, buyer alert