ShowingTime-Scheduling on Behalf of Another Agent

Now it’s easy to schedule appointments in the ShowingTime system when the request wasn’t received online. For instance, when a showing agent emails, calls or texts a showing request to the listing agent, the listing agent can quickly enter it in ShowingTime … as if the request was made online. Once entered, the system generates notifications, etc. as it normally does, based on the listing’s instructions. It also equips listing agents to override blocks and instantly confirm requests. ShowingTime has also implemented mobile ShowingCart enhancements; and simplifies the mobile login process for sellers.  Get the Details Here!

Automatic Emails will be "Subscriptions" & More

On September 29, BIG changes are coming to Automatic Emails in Flexmls. These changes are being implemented to minimize the number of emails blocked by spam filters, helping to ensure that automatic notifications of new listings will reach your customers..

Here are the highlights of the changes:

• New Terminology--The term Automatic Emails has been eliminated. They will now be called “Subscriptions”.   Adding the “Subscription” will follow the same process as adding an automatic email.
• Mandatory Opt-In--Users must opt-in for listing updates to begin. There is a one-time confirmation e-mail where the recipient must click to confirm that the message was received at a valid email address and consents to receive listing updates via email moving forward.
• New Expiration Rules--Email notifications still continue indefinitely if they are being actively clicked and viewed, but they will expire after 90 days if no notification email has been clicked on. Because the notifications require an opt-in, there is no longer an option for you to extend the email beyond this time.
• Improved Visual Design--The actual email sent to your contact will look better than ever. Will include the Search name as well as your "signature"/customizable business card.
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When using Subscriptions with your customers, the first time there is a listing that matches the search criteria they will receive an email asking the contact to “Confirm Subscription".

After clicking, they will begin to receive their "Subscriptions" for new listings matching their search criteria. If there were listings that were added between the time they received the confirmation email and the time they clicked to confirm their subscription, the listings will appear in their News Feed.

If your contact does not click to subscribe, you can send an additional Subscription reminder.

Note: You can only send the reminder once, so it would be appropriate to contact the user personally before resending the Confirm Subscription invitation.

Existing contacts in Flexmls who already receive automatic emails will continue receiving notifications. There will be no break in continuity for them. However, they will see a notice at the top of the listing notification email alerting them that by clicking to view the listings, they are opting in to the listing subscription service. If they do not click to view the notification emails 90 days, they will fall into the Expiration category.

In addition, the first tab of the Contact Management screen will show a summary of subscription notifications for that contact.  

• A bell next to the email address indicates that it is set to receive subscription notifications. 
• The 'Last Subscription E-mail Activity' column indicates when the last listing update was sent to the email address. 
• The 'Status' column shows whether that email address has been Opted-in (i.e. Confirmed), Opted-out, or is Inactive due to lack of use. Finally, the 'Action' column allows you to manually send an opt-in request. 

As usual, if yo have any questions prior or after installation of the new email Subscriptions, please contact Tech Support at (904) 394-9494 x 1605.

Flexmls - Get Driving Directions

When viewing listings or search results on the Map tab, you can access Google Maps driving directions between your selected listings or to the current highlighted listing. To create driving directions for a set of listings: 

• Select the listings 
• Click "Selected" (upper left) to view just those listings
• Order the listings using the click & drag technique. The current highlighted listing is always shown as a star on the map. 

• Click on Driving Directions to get Google Maps directions to the listings.

If you have multiple listings selected, you will be on the Selected Listings tab of the Map Driving Directions screen. To map driving directions to the listings in their current order, click View in Google Maps. If you'd like to copy the link to put in an email, you have two options: (1) if flash is enabled on your browser, click the Copy Link button and the link will be copied to your clipboard and can be pasted into your email; (2) if you do not have flash enabled, highlight the link in the center of the screen and copy it using your mouse or keyboard shortcuts. 

When viewing the listings in Google Maps, you can rearrange the driving order by clicking and dragging the listings. You can also add additional addresses if you want to add more locations or your current address to the driving directions. Click the Details link to get a list of printable driving directions.

If you do not have any listings selected in Flexmls, you will default to the Current Listing tab when you click on Driving Directions. You can also manually select the Current Listing tab, even if you do have multiple listings selected.

If you click View in Google Maps for the Current Listing, Google Maps will open in a new tab, the listing will appear as the destination, and you will manually enter the starting point. The same process applies if you copy the link from the Map Driving Directions screen.