EXCLUSIVE: Data shows which portal’s leads are best at creating viewings
Leading proptech firm says its agency customers' results show where the best quality sales and lettings leads come from.
A lead management platform has claimed that agents’ websites are better at creating quality sales and lettings leads than Zoopla.
Cardiff-based firm Homehere says data gathered from its own customer database shows that 39.4% of leads converted into viewings came from agents’ own websites, 35.9% from Rightmove, 19% from Zoopla and 5.7% from OnTheMarket.
Founder Lou Quinn says it is too early yet to add Boomin into the mix but that his data team will soon be able to see how good the Bruce brothers’ new portal is at generating viewings.
“I think given the ongoing my ‘portal is better than yours’ conversation it’s a great time for agents to question how much value the portals really generate for them,” he says.
“We know from the data that when it comes to valuations they’re all pretty poor so really they are still just glossy online magazines at the moment.
Quinn says the property marketing game is changing because it’s now much easier to track how email leads perform including which ones convert to viewings and ultimately generate sales or lettings.
“We’ve been in conversation with all the portals and I think Zoopla is the most honest because although they are great at generating leads, they admit they and the other portals need to help agents whittle down the tyre kickers from the serious house hunters and that’s why they recent launched the ‘Zooplaverse‘ thing,” he adds.
“And that’s why agents are beginning to realise that while they are now paying for two or maybe three portals, and soon could be paying for Boomin too, these generate lead volume where as their own websites create quality.”
Quinn (pictured) says the main reason for this is likely to be that leads coming in via website are more ‘organic’ and created via social media links from within the local community, while portal leads tend to be more anonymous, brand agnostic and created via Google ‘pay per click’ campaigns.
Though I must declare an interest as they are a client of my company Proptech-PR, the ‘truth’ that data is now providing is a gaurdian torch for all, as it helps all stakeholders to understand the value, or ROI. John Curley and Lou Quinn are genuinely helping all to see that data – can grow businesses, and clever software can remove legacy, badly done manual procedures and replace them with UX outcomes. With 40% of business generated from agents websites – just how functional are they, if you are an agent how ‘Amazon’ friendly is it when you log on?