The quality of writing an ad is crucial for a good communication strategy and even allows you to sell more expensive.
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“Favorite!”, “To be grabbed immediately!”, “Rare for sale!”. What real estate agent did not use these arguments in the ads? And rightly so! Luchtenberg and his fellow researchers have indeed shown that positive words have a stronger impact on visit intention than a beautiful photo. Recently, researchers Shen and Ross have even noticed that when advertisements contain qualitative rhetorical elements (“soft” information) going beyond the classic characteristics of the good (what are “hard” information: number of pieces, etc. ), the goods could sell for up to 15% more. A strategy thus paying off in several ways.
Yet the rhetoric used by real estate agents has often been a source of mockery in France and abroad. For example, the BBC had created a dictionary to decrypt the content of advertisements. Here are a few examples: “For the benefit of …”: states the obvious, as “has the advantage of having a roof, a floor, walls”; “Studio”: you can do the dishes, watch TV and open the front door without getting up from the toilet ; “See the interior absolutely”: hideous exterior ; “Refreshment to be provided”: demolition to be expected, etc. This type of rhetoric has contributed to the bad reputation of real estate agents across the Channel. They’re even the subject of recurring jokes like, “When do you know a real estate agent is lying?” »Answer:« when he speaks ».
“The advertisement aims to inform the reader about the good, but also to project it into a more beautiful world.” , Fabrice Larceneux CNRS Dauphine Researcher in Management.
A sales vocabulary
More seriously, the vocabulary used by professionals in advertisements raises the question of its effectiveness. From understatement to superlative to hyperbole, these literary forms serve to capture a subtle relationship between supply and demand, causing a dialogue to emerge between the aspirations of buyers and the promises of sellers, which forms the basis of their meeting.
The sometimes forced aspect of expressions in advertisements can actually be very useful: the emphasis allows the potential buyer to enter an idealized world, it gives them an idea of the lifestyle that real estate allows. Thus, the advertisement aims not only to inform the reader about the good, but also to make them dream, to project it into a more beautiful, more desirable world. “Bathed in light” rather than “south orientation” facilitates the buyer’s mental imagery and projection into the property. Potential buyers are obviously not fooled by commercial rhetoric. They accept it and even wait for it, especially since they have the means to decode them. In fact, the real estate discourse is much more subtle and complex than a first reading might suggest. It serves as a storytelling and stages the good to re-enchant it. We go beyond the functional criterion to promote positive emotions and projection.
It should be noted that despite the apparent standardization of commercial discourse on Internet portals, the content of the advertisements varies depending on the location, the season or the market tensions. For a similar good, the content of an advertisement thus changes in time and in space because the marketing speeches reflect economic forces, geographic contexts and market dynamics. The higher the market, the more emotional content the ads display.
“We go beyond the functional criterion to subtly promote positive emotions and projection.” , Fabrice Larceneux CNRS Dauphine Researcher in Management.
Is automatic writing a good idea?
Today, the use of emotions in ads is challenged by the arrival of artificial intelligence. With suitable software, all you have to do is download the photos of the property, fill in its characteristics and press a button for an automatic text to be generated. If that does not suit, we press again. The software understands that the proposal is irrelevant and seeks to improve it. What’s more, the robot can write personalized letters to contacts in an address book. Used in the United States, these automated letters actually raise privacy concerns. They use a lot of personal and sensitive information to qualify the lifestyle of customers. Besides legal issues, if the recipient realizes it, the effect can be devastating for the real estate agent.
When an ad goes viral
Oddly enough, negative emotions can also be helpful in standing out and creating a buzz: an American real estate agent has listed a house for $ 590,000 in an area where similar properties are in the neighborhood of $ 800,000. What may seem like a real deal is actually explained very well: the interior of the house had been totally ransacked, tagged and disused for many years. A putrid smell emanated from it from the abandoned food and dead animals. A rational professional educated in home-staging would have liked to redo everything, at least in appearance, to facilitate the purchase. But the exact opposite has been done. The agent himself wrote the following ad: “This house is every owner’s nightmare. If you dream of a filthy slum to turn into a jewel, then this is for you! Come visit and test your limits! Do not go to the garden and do not especially open the freezer ”.
Result: this announcement created a buzz on the Redfin portal. It has been seen over half a million times. The agent quickly received a firm offer at a distance of $ 625,000 from a Denver resident. His response was clear: no offer would be accepted without a prior visit to realize the smell. A strategy that robots will have difficulty imitating …
Sources : Luchtenberg K., M. Seiler & H.Sun (2019) Listing Agent Signals : Does a Picture Paint a Thousand Words ?, The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 59(4), 617-648, Shen L and Ross, Stephen, (2021), Information value of property description : A Machine learning approach, Journal of Urban Economics, 121
Pryce G. & S. Oates (2008) Rhetoric in the Language of Real Estate Marketing, Housing Studies, 23:2, 319-348.
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