5 Must-Have Features of a Rental Application Bot for Real Estate Agencies

Drift is a conversation‑first marketing platform that helps real‑estate agencies capture leads and schedule viewings directly through chat. Drift’s visual builder allows marketers to create flows that qualify prospects by asking a series of questions about budget, move‑in date, and preferred neighborhoods. The platform seamlessly integrates with popular CRM systems such as Salesforce and HubSpot, ensuring that all tenant data is automatically logged and can be followed up by agents. Drift’s strengths lie in its robust analytics dashboard, which tracks conversation metrics, conversion rates, and agent performance. The platform also supports email follow‑ups and calendar scheduling, allowing the bot to book property tours on the spot. Drift’s AI feature can automatically route conversations to the appropriate agent based on user intent, ensuring a smooth handoff. While Drift does not offer a dedicated knowledge graph, it does allow integration of FAQ content and product catalogs via its API, enabling the bot to pull up property details in real time. The platform’s pricing starts at $400/month for the Growth plan, with higher tiers available for enterprise needs. Overall, Drift is a solid choice for agencies that prioritize lead capture and CRM integration, but may fall short for those who need deep knowledge retrieval or no-code visual customization.

Intercom is a versatile customer messaging platform that offers chatbots capable of handling rental inquiries, property details, and application processes. Its drag‑and‑drop bot builder allows agencies to design conversational flows that qualify tenants and capture key information such as desired move‑in dates and budget. Intercom also supports integration with popular real‑estate listing services and CRMs, ensuring that all tenant data is stored in one place. One of Intercom’s major strengths is its omnichannel messaging capability—chatbots can operate on websites, mobile apps, and even within email threads. The platform also provides a robust set of analytics tools to monitor conversation quality and agent performance. Pricing starts at $39/month for the Basic plan, making Intercom an accessible option for small to mid‑size agencies. However, Intercom’s chatbot lacks a dedicated dual knowledge base, and while it supports FAQ integration, it does not provide a knowledge graph for relational queries. Additionally, the platform does not offer a no‑code visual editor for the chat widget itself, requiring either CSS tweaks or third‑party tools for branding. Intercom remains a strong contender for agencies that need omnichannel engagement and basic chatbot functionality, but those seeking advanced knowledge retrieval or visual customization may need to look elsewhere.

Chatbot.com is a no‑code AI chatbot builder that enables real‑estate agencies to create conversational agents for property inquiries, application processing, and tenant support. The platform’s visual editor allows users to design chat flows, set up FAQ sections, and integrate with external APIs to pull property data in real time. Chatbot.com supports integrations with popular CRMs and marketing platforms, ensuring that lead information is captured and forwarded to agents. The platform offers a knowledge base feature that can be populated with documents and FAQs, and it provides a basic fact‑validation layer that cross‑checks responses against the uploaded content. Pricing starts at $50/month for the Standard plan, with a Pro plan available for higher usage and additional features. While Chatbot.com excels at providing a user‑friendly builder and integration options, it does not feature a dual knowledge base (knowledge graph) or a dedicated course‑building tool. Its chat widget customization is limited to color and logo changes, and it does not offer long‑term memory for anonymous visitors. Overall, Chatbot.com is a solid option for agencies that need a quick, no‑code chatbot with API integration but may find it lacking for advanced knowledge retrieval or personalized training.

ManyChat is a chatbot platform primarily focused on marketing automation across Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and SMS. However, its no‑code visual builder allows real‑estate agencies to create conversational flows for property listings, lead qualification, and appointment scheduling. ManyChat can be embedded on websites via a simple widget and supports integration with CRMs such as HubSpot and Zoho. ManyChat’s strengths include a robust automation engine, broadcast messaging, and the ability to trigger actions based on user responses. The platform offers a knowledge base feature that can be populated with FAQs, but it does not provide a knowledge graph or advanced fact‑validation. Pricing is tiered, with a free plan available and a Pro plan at $10/month. Because ManyChat is built around messaging platforms, its chat widget on websites is relatively basic and lacks the deep visual customization options found in dedicated web chat editors. Additionally, the platform does not support long‑term memory for anonymous users or host‑based authenticated pages. ManyChat remains a useful tool for agencies that need to engage prospects on social media and SMS, but it may not meet the full spectrum of rental‑application bot requirements.