Founded by Austinites Eric Bramlett and Braxton Beyer, Displet (said “display”) was born with the DNA of a web app and the edge of two highly regarded and competitive Realtors that are now in beta with an innovative IDX product that is simple to use, fully customizable down to its CSS, with a focus on conversion.
We recently sat down with the team to dig into the backend of Displet and quickly learned that this product could help independent brokerages compete with the Redfins and Zillows of the world on their own domain. The two have been beta testing on themselves in their own brokerages for years with a laser focus on conversion and we are so pleased that they have developed this tool that is chock full of the secrets their competitors have been dying to know.
Already integrated into numerous CRM products and having already entered 18 markets, Displet is most impressive in that it never seeks to make decisions for agents. If an agent wants to require a phone number before a user can see listing details? That’s up to them. If they never want a user to be required to register, it’s a flip of a switch.
When clients don’t understand how to make a feature work, they run an Wiki and a series of video tutorials so their clients don’t have to pay to have simple changes made, proving their mindset to be far different than many of their competitors’ as they’re from the real estate world and know the pain of being needlessly nickled and dimed.
Some of the innovation that caught our eye include their tracking methods in that they focus on event tracking and looking more at what details pages a user looks at rather than what they actually search for. Brilliant!
Secondly, we were impressed at their “property suggestion tool” which looks to be what we’ve all wished for for years- a Pandora for real estate listings that get users closer to what they’re actually looking for while serving them with options they’re becoming accustomed to on ecommerce and entertainment sites.
We have worked with Bramlett and Beyer on projects in the past and are really pleased with how their product is coming along.
How was the idea of Displet born?
Bramlett said, “Braxton & I started working on a proprietary RETS/IDX system about 2.5 years ago to use on our own sites. We weren’t happy with the RETS/IDX systems available, and wanted to build something better. After we had the Displet system on our sites, other agents noticed and started asking us if they could have it on their sites. It made a lot of sense to let other agents leverage our work, so we incorporated Displet!”
Beyer noted that “Coming from a developer background, I was shocked when I entered the real estate industry. I immediately felt I could build better tools. So I took the opportunity to start building the app for my own site also as an opportunity to learn Rails. At the same time Eric was dissatisfied with the current offerings and also had the SEO experience we needed to make this a successful tool. So we decided to put our heads together and really develop this tool.”
What are Displet’s major advantages?
Bramlett said, “We’re extremely customizable & we care a LOT about leads. Because Braxton & I both use the system to sell houses, we care a ton about how many leads it can bring in. As a result, we keep rolling out new features to increase conversion – killer features like the Property Suggestion Tool, Facebook Login, and Phone Number Nag. When we consider a new feature, the first question we ask ourselves is, “Will this help turn visitors into leads?” As long as it does, we build it.”
“Beyond that,” he continued, “we give agents complete control over the html and stylesheets (css) of their search pages, so you can do pretty much whatever you want to with the system – literally. One of our clients wanted to add “tweet this” to his property detail page and was able to do so in about 2 minutes, rather than paying through the nose, or just being told “no.” Our development goes a little slower than it could because we don’t just develop a new feature, we develop a new feature and then the backend for agents to control that new feature.”
If an agent or broker wants Displet and it is not in their market, what steps should they take?
“Ask us!” they immediately told us. “We can launch in a new market in 2-4 weeks. The only obstacles we ever face are regressive policies from local MLS boards. There are times that MLS boards want exorbitant fees to get the RETS feed. When that happens, we want to work with local agents to come up with a way for us to bring our technology to that market.”
Why is the price so low?
They told us, “Right now, we’re priced at about 50% of where we will eventually land, so you’ll see our pricing go up in the near future. We’re still technically in beta (though a very stable beta) so we get a lot of value from the beta agents who have put enough faith in us to try out a new product early. Because of that, we’ve discounted our pricing during the beta phase. To thank our beta agents, they get this pricing indefinitely.”
For the techie readers out there, this quick video gives you a peek into the back end and how simple it is to customize:
This article published on Monday, July 18th, 2011 at 1:14 am | Contact the editor Tags: Displet, featured, idx, MLS, real estate searchCategory: New Media, Video
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