How We Unified Three Real‑Estate Apps with an Integrated IM System

Background

Agents are the most important role in an online real‑estate platform, closely linked with the two service roles of the Duoduo platform: project managers and merchant services. Traditionally, connections between project managers, merchant services and users were either offline (on‑site visits, offline visits) or online via phone or other tools, which were fragmented and untimely, causing delays in information exchange and reducing agents' experience and service efficiency.

Cause

Agents could not instantly chat with responsible project managers or merchant services when they had questions or interest in a property, leading to low communication efficiency. Project managers and merchant services also could not answer agents' inquiries in real time, and multi‑party coordination was slow because the existing tools did not support rapid linkage.

Solution

Duoduo Selling (Agent) App IM

Initiate one‑on‑one chats with merchant services or project managers, or start group chats.

Quickly retrieve viewing coupons, recommended properties, property data, and videos within the chat window.

Submit reports or send report inquiries directly from the chat.

Duoduo New House (Project Manager) App IM

Proactively start chats with agents to improve active operation.

Receive new inquiry notifications when agents consult about a property, enabling timely answers.

Send viewing coupons, property videos, project materials, and recommended listings via quick options.

Send work orders to merchant services and invite them into project groups to resolve commission issues.

Duoduo Merchant Services App IM

Proactively chat with agents to boost active operation.

Receive IM notifications when agents raise questions, allowing immediate responses.

Through project manager work orders and agent chat windows, create project groups to link all three sides and solve merchant problems.

Unified Visual Design

Although each of the three apps has its own design style, we unified most UI components and interactions, keeping only the unique top title bar and specific features per app, to avoid inconsistent visual experiences.

Outcome

All three apps now support their own IM functions and enable bilateral one‑to‑one linkage as well as aggregated three‑way linkage, connecting users more efficiently than offline meetings or phone calls, and keeping the communication loop within the apps.

Data Tracking

We will add backend telemetry to record chat window counts, number of agents connected, response speed and reply rate of merchant services and project managers, reflecting usage frequency and service quality.

Conclusion

Duoduo Selling, Duoduo New House, and Duoduo Merchant Services aim to provide agents with richer features and an excellent experience. The IM integration is not the end; we will continue to deliver improvements that boost user work efficiency.