Only one month after releasing its MobileIDX® Mobile Websites to real estate professionals nationwide, VoicePad announced the addition of on-demand audio streaming on its mobile sites. This added feature—an industry first, according to the company—provides a better alternative than playing property tour videos on a mobile device, which typically result in long load times and pauses in video play caused by the video buffering process. Now, mobile web visitors can instantly listen to an automated audio presentation of property details in either English or Spanish in conjunction, while simultaneously viewing property photos from a web-enabled mobile phone.
Unlike an online video or virtual tour, VoicePad’s mobile audio functionality runs independent of photos and does not rely on Adobe® Flash® or other video platforms. Home buyers can easily select photos to view from a photo “carousel,” while listening to an audio presentation.
“There is simply not enough available wireless bandwidth to create a consistently positive User experience with virtual tours via a mobile browser,” says Randall Standard, CEO and founder of VoicePad. “Our new audio streaming and image handling capabilities give the mobile consumer a property search experience that keeps them coming back to the mobile site, instead of driving them away in frustration.”
According to Standard, VoicePad developed the audio streaming for its mobile sites not only to enhance the User’s experience, but to provide its brokerage customers with much-needed recruiting and retention tools. “Our customers rely on us for mobile tools that will give them a distinct advantage in the marketplace,” says Standard. “Our mobile sites stand alone in the industry and help differentiate our customers’ brands to home buyers and talented agents alike,” he says.
VoicePad currently creates and updates over 5 million audio property presentations every 120 minutes from approximately 300 licensed MLS provider data feeds by automatically assembling hundreds of thousands of audio files in real time with its PerfectDiction™ audio technology. The audio presentations are available in both English and Spanish and will play on most popular web browsers. A consumer seeking property information on a VoicePad MobileIDX website simply selects the “English” or “Spanish” button to activate the streaming audio presentation (see image provided). Property photos are presented in a “carousel” format and are made available to view independent of the streaming audio.
VoicePad can also deliver its streaming audio property presentations directly to a brokerage’s or MLS provider’s non-mobile website via the simple inclusion of an audio-player widget on each property page. Additionally, audio presentations are available via the telephone. Callers get information on any actively-listed property in a market from any touch-tone-enabled phone, by calling a broker-branded VoicePad telephone number and entering the street number of a property of interest.
For more information about VoicePad, please visit www.voicepad.com.
