If an object does not give up for a long time, it does not always mean that it is low-liquid or the market situation is unprofitable. Sometimes the problem is in bad photos, an incomprehensible description or an erroneous promotion strategy. I will tell you what to check in an ineffective ad and how to correct it so that the tenant is found as soon as possible.
In the article I will talk mainly about renting, but the same tips will be useful when selling commercial real estate.
Photo of the room
The first thing the tenant pays attention to is the photos of the object. Here's what the pictures should be like:
All photos are real. Our research has shown that for 83% of DOOBY users, real pictures of real estate are important. Therefore, do not use renderers and images from the Internet.
Renders look unrealistic. They should be placed only if the building is still under construction and you write about it in the ad. Otherwise, the landlord may decide that the ad is fake. After all, for a fake offer, it's easier to take a render from the Internet, rather than take a photo yourself. The same reaction can cause someone else's picture from the Internet. To avoid this, take photos yourself if possible.
There are at least 20 pictures in the ad. Usually that's how many photos you need to show the way from the entrance to the building to the premises — so the tenant will see the whole picture. If there are a couple of photos in the ad, it will be more difficult for the client to understand whether your offer is suitable for him.
There is a technical plan among the pictures. To show the size of the room and its location in the building, add a technical plan to the photos. So the tenant will be able to determine in advance whether he has enough space for equipment or office furniture.
If you rent out a part of a building or premises, highlight it on the technical plan. Then you will not have to explain to the tenant by phone or in a chat what kind of space is being rented and where it is located.
High-quality photos. Make sure that the images of the room are clear and bright. To take such pictures, take pictures during the day and additionally turn on the light. During the shooting, make sure that the room in the frame does not fall sideways. Remove blurry, dark and illuminated images — the room looks worse on them than in reality.
There are no unnecessary things in the frame. Rent the cleaned room in the form in which you plan to rent it. Do not take photos of the equipment and furniture that the previous tenant will take. This may mislead those who view the ad. Make sure that tools, building materials and garbage do not fall into the photo. Such shots look sloppy and spoil the impression of the room.
Horizontal orientation of the images. Choose horizontal images in 4 format:3. Such a frame more advantageously conveys the breadth of space, covers more details and looks better in the ad.
The room is shown from different angles. Take a photo from the side of the front door and from the opposite wall. If there are windows, take a picture of them. The more angles of the room, the easier it is for the tenant to understand whether it suits him or not.
The proportions and dimensions of the object are not distorted. Do not photograph the building and the room from the bottom up, in the "Panorama" and "Fisheye" modes — so the pictures will turn out unrealistic. If you want to show more space, shoot horizontally and add some photos to the ad.
The entrance from the street is marked. Show the entrance to the room with a colored outline or arrow. This is especially important if the building has many entrances from the street. For example, such a mark will help the store owner to make sure that visitors will easily find his outlet.
Video rooms
Most landlords use only photos, although it is easier to show the advantages of the object in the video: convenient location, busy streets nearby or, conversely, silence outside the window. In my experience, ads with videos attract more targeted responses. Use short videos, no longer than a minute. Do not place ads instead of videos about the object. When the client decides to watch the recording, he waits for a brief overview of the object. Advertising does not meet these expectations, which means it is unlikely to lead to a call.
Text in the ad
The search on DOOBY is arranged in much the same way as in Google or Yandex. The tenant will first see those sentences where the words from the search query occur. That's what should be in the text of the ad so that the room is removed as soon as possible.
The exact name. Check if the room type, area and building name are specified, if any. The detailed name of the ad will interest the target tenants and is more likely to appear in the search results for their queries.
Correct required parameters. Specify truthful information in those lines, without filling in which it is impossible to publish an ad. Due to errors and inaccuracies, some tenants may not see your offer. If the object was used as an office, but is also suitable for other purposes, choose a "Free-use room" rather than an "Office space". Then you can mark the two most suitable categories: "Office" and, for example, "Retail space". So your room will be seen by those customers who choose the "Retail Space" filter.
Optional parameters are filled in. There are lines in the ad card that the landlord fills in at will. I advise you to fill in all the parameters, because tenants can search for a room using the appropriate filters. For example, if you do not specify the building class, all customers who choose this filter will not see your ad:
Description of the object. It should be detailed, structured and competent:
Divide the text into semantic blocks, for example: location, characteristics of the object and for what purposes it is suitable. Separate the semantic blocks with paragraphs to make it easier for the tenant to perceive the text.
For accents, use bold, but not often. If everything is written in bold, accents will be lost.
Tell us about the additional benefits at the beginning of the description. The first 120 characters are visible in the search results — these are 2-3 short sentences that will help to hook the client. For example: "Rental holidays for the first 3 months", "Office with panoramic windows and fresh renovation".
At the end, write a call to action: "We are waiting for your call", "We will be glad to show you", "We are ready to advise 24/7".
Do not abuse capital letters and exclamation marks. "FRESH REPAIR!!!" is read more aggressively than "Fresh repair". An exclamation mark is appropriate only in a call to action: "Call!" The rest of the information should be presented in a neutral tone — put dots at the end of sentences.
Remove hashtags from the description, they distract from the description and do not affect the search.
Check the text for errors and typos.
What to do if the ad is made up well, but there are few calls
It happens that the ad has everything in order with photos and description, but customers do not call. Here's what you should do in this case:
Check the messenger in your profile. It is more convenient to write parts of clients. Perhaps there are no calls, but there are messages.
Compare your rental price with your competitors. If it is overpriced, the tenant will choose another room. You can find similar offers from competitors through the search. Enter the parameters of the object and select the appropriate area of the city. Another way is to open your ad and click on the tab with the type of room.
Try changing the order of the photos. Another main photo may interest more customers.
Connect the promotion services. There is no single strategy: a small office in Moscow and a large retail outlet in Ryazan need different promotion. To choose suitable promotion services, pay attention to two factors:
the liquidity of the premises, that is, the probability of a quick lease;
competition — the number of landlords who rent out similar objects in your city or some part of it.
If the liquidity is high, increase the number of views to 5 and 10 times for 1 day. If it is low, try increasing the number of views up to 2 times, but activate this service for a week.
Check which promotion services are used by competitors. To do this, open the search on DOOBY and configure the necessary filters. To see a competitor's services, hover over the arrow at the bottom of the ad. If there is no arrow, it means that the landlord does not use the promotion.
If competitors actively use the services, your task is to stand out from the rest. This will help to increase the views up to 5 and 10 times for one day in combination with visual services — "Highlighting with color" and "XL-ad". So tenants will see your large and bright ad at least several times more often.
If the competition is low, try the same visual services and increase the viewing to 2 or 5 times for 7 days. Perhaps that will be enough.
How to communicate with tenants
Sometimes a room is not rented for a long time, because landlords miss some of the applications or do not process them quickly enough.
Calls. Check if there are any missed calls and after what time you or your employee call customers back. If the tenant called in the morning and was called back in the evening, he could already rent another room. Most often, landlords make two mistakes in telephone conversations: they try to get consent to the transaction and do not find out the needs of the client. Both errors result in empty impressions. I'll explain why now.
Trying to negotiate a deal during a call is pointless. You will spend time on discussion, and at the viewing the tenant can cancel the contract if he realizes that the object does not suit him. By phone, it is important to sell a renter a meeting with you or a display of a specific object.
The second common mistake is not to find out the needs of the tenant. When you first talk on the phone, ask for what business the tenant is considering the premises for, and answer the questions honestly. If the entrepreneur immediately realizes that the room does not suit him, you will save time.
In the article I will talk mainly about renting, but the same tips will be useful when selling commercial real estate.
Photo of the room
The first thing the tenant pays attention to is the photos of the object. Here's what the pictures should be like:
All photos are real. Our research has shown that for 83% of DOOBY users, real pictures of real estate are important. Therefore, do not use renderers and images from the Internet.
Renders look unrealistic. They should be placed only if the building is still under construction and you write about it in the ad. Otherwise, the landlord may decide that the ad is fake. After all, for a fake offer, it's easier to take a render from the Internet, rather than take a photo yourself. The same reaction can cause someone else's picture from the Internet. To avoid this, take photos yourself if possible.
There are at least 20 pictures in the ad. Usually that's how many photos you need to show the way from the entrance to the building to the premises — so the tenant will see the whole picture. If there are a couple of photos in the ad, it will be more difficult for the client to understand whether your offer is suitable for him.
There is a technical plan among the pictures. To show the size of the room and its location in the building, add a technical plan to the photos. So the tenant will be able to determine in advance whether he has enough space for equipment or office furniture.
If you rent out a part of a building or premises, highlight it on the technical plan. Then you will not have to explain to the tenant by phone or in a chat what kind of space is being rented and where it is located.
High-quality photos. Make sure that the images of the room are clear and bright. To take such pictures, take pictures during the day and additionally turn on the light. During the shooting, make sure that the room in the frame does not fall sideways. Remove blurry, dark and illuminated images — the room looks worse on them than in reality.
There are no unnecessary things in the frame. Rent the cleaned room in the form in which you plan to rent it. Do not take photos of the equipment and furniture that the previous tenant will take. This may mislead those who view the ad. Make sure that tools, building materials and garbage do not fall into the photo. Such shots look sloppy and spoil the impression of the room.
Horizontal orientation of the images. Choose horizontal images in 4 format:3. Such a frame more advantageously conveys the breadth of space, covers more details and looks better in the ad.
The room is shown from different angles. Take a photo from the side of the front door and from the opposite wall. If there are windows, take a picture of them. The more angles of the room, the easier it is for the tenant to understand whether it suits him or not.
The proportions and dimensions of the object are not distorted. Do not photograph the building and the room from the bottom up, in the "Panorama" and "Fisheye" modes — so the pictures will turn out unrealistic. If you want to show more space, shoot horizontally and add some photos to the ad.
The entrance from the street is marked. Show the entrance to the room with a colored outline or arrow. This is especially important if the building has many entrances from the street. For example, such a mark will help the store owner to make sure that visitors will easily find his outlet.
Video rooms
Most landlords use only photos, although it is easier to show the advantages of the object in the video: convenient location, busy streets nearby or, conversely, silence outside the window. In my experience, ads with videos attract more targeted responses. Use short videos, no longer than a minute. Do not place ads instead of videos about the object. When the client decides to watch the recording, he waits for a brief overview of the object. Advertising does not meet these expectations, which means it is unlikely to lead to a call.
Text in the ad
The search on DOOBY is arranged in much the same way as in Google or Yandex. The tenant will first see those sentences where the words from the search query occur. That's what should be in the text of the ad so that the room is removed as soon as possible.
The exact name. Check if the room type, area and building name are specified, if any. The detailed name of the ad will interest the target tenants and is more likely to appear in the search results for their queries.
Correct required parameters. Specify truthful information in those lines, without filling in which it is impossible to publish an ad. Due to errors and inaccuracies, some tenants may not see your offer. If the object was used as an office, but is also suitable for other purposes, choose a "Free-use room" rather than an "Office space". Then you can mark the two most suitable categories: "Office" and, for example, "Retail space". So your room will be seen by those customers who choose the "Retail Space" filter.
Optional parameters are filled in. There are lines in the ad card that the landlord fills in at will. I advise you to fill in all the parameters, because tenants can search for a room using the appropriate filters. For example, if you do not specify the building class, all customers who choose this filter will not see your ad:
Description of the object. It should be detailed, structured and competent:
Divide the text into semantic blocks, for example: location, characteristics of the object and for what purposes it is suitable. Separate the semantic blocks with paragraphs to make it easier for the tenant to perceive the text.
For accents, use bold, but not often. If everything is written in bold, accents will be lost.
Tell us about the additional benefits at the beginning of the description. The first 120 characters are visible in the search results — these are 2-3 short sentences that will help to hook the client. For example: "Rental holidays for the first 3 months", "Office with panoramic windows and fresh renovation".
At the end, write a call to action: "We are waiting for your call", "We will be glad to show you", "We are ready to advise 24/7".
Do not abuse capital letters and exclamation marks. "FRESH REPAIR!!!" is read more aggressively than "Fresh repair". An exclamation mark is appropriate only in a call to action: "Call!" The rest of the information should be presented in a neutral tone — put dots at the end of sentences.
Remove hashtags from the description, they distract from the description and do not affect the search.
Check the text for errors and typos.
What to do if the ad is made up well, but there are few calls
It happens that the ad has everything in order with photos and description, but customers do not call. Here's what you should do in this case:
Check the messenger in your profile. It is more convenient to write parts of clients. Perhaps there are no calls, but there are messages.
Compare your rental price with your competitors. If it is overpriced, the tenant will choose another room. You can find similar offers from competitors through the search. Enter the parameters of the object and select the appropriate area of the city. Another way is to open your ad and click on the tab with the type of room.
Try changing the order of the photos. Another main photo may interest more customers.
Connect the promotion services. There is no single strategy: a small office in Moscow and a large retail outlet in Ryazan need different promotion. To choose suitable promotion services, pay attention to two factors:
the liquidity of the premises, that is, the probability of a quick lease;
competition — the number of landlords who rent out similar objects in your city or some part of it.
If the liquidity is high, increase the number of views to 5 and 10 times for 1 day. If it is low, try increasing the number of views up to 2 times, but activate this service for a week.
Check which promotion services are used by competitors. To do this, open the search on DOOBY and configure the necessary filters. To see a competitor's services, hover over the arrow at the bottom of the ad. If there is no arrow, it means that the landlord does not use the promotion.
If competitors actively use the services, your task is to stand out from the rest. This will help to increase the views up to 5 and 10 times for one day in combination with visual services — "Highlighting with color" and "XL-ad". So tenants will see your large and bright ad at least several times more often.
If the competition is low, try the same visual services and increase the viewing to 2 or 5 times for 7 days. Perhaps that will be enough.
How to communicate with tenants
Sometimes a room is not rented for a long time, because landlords miss some of the applications or do not process them quickly enough.
Calls. Check if there are any missed calls and after what time you or your employee call customers back. If the tenant called in the morning and was called back in the evening, he could already rent another room. Most often, landlords make two mistakes in telephone conversations: they try to get consent to the transaction and do not find out the needs of the client. Both errors result in empty impressions. I'll explain why now.
Trying to negotiate a deal during a call is pointless. You will spend time on discussion, and at the viewing the tenant can cancel the contract if he realizes that the object does not suit him. By phone, it is important to sell a renter a meeting with you or a display of a specific object.
The second common mistake is not to find out the needs of the tenant. When you first talk on the phone, ask for what business the tenant is considering the premises for, and answer the questions honestly. If the entrepreneur immediately realizes that the room does not suit him, you will save time.
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