Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

The Real DailyThe Real Daily

Move Inc.

Realtor.com tests new advertising concept seeking to push leads to listing broker’s agents

Imagine a world where your listing features your face, and faces of agents under your same broker, instead of random competitors. In a concept test, realtor.com may be paving the way toward this being the new normal.

Right now as you read this, realtor.com is in private meetings with specific brokers’ agents, discussing a new ad concept that they tell us is in such an early stage that it can’t even be identified as a product.

The concept features agents from the same brokerage as the listing agent, right on the property’s lead form, instead of competitive agents in the same area.

The concept is being tested by partnering with seven brokers, beginning on July 22nd. The company says they will not be promoting the test with any marketing, rather gathering data on how consumers react to and interact with the feature they find organically as they search.

As shown in the image above, the lead form offers four agents, and each name is a clickable link to each agent’s realtor.com profile. Consumers can explore the four agents and select which of the four they are willing to be contacted by – the lead then goes to all four within the same brokerage.

Why consider altering the current offering?

There are two reasons for realtor.com to test out this method, one being altruistic, the other capitalistic.

Because they’re so early on in the process, no pricing structure has been set, but the most obvious reason for the concept is that the lead form is prime real estate (no pun intended), so brokers will likely be willing to pay more to feature their agents instead of a lead going to competitors on the figurative backs of their listings.

Russ Cofano, Senior VP of Industry Relations at Move, Inc. (which operates realtor.com), said that one driving force for this test concept is “the industry’s need to protect broker brands.”

Real estate listing sites featuring competitive agents on an agent’s listing has long been a contentious issue – could this shift appease the naysayers?

The less obvious, and more altruistic reason for testing this concept is that studies continue to show that many leads on real estate sites, be they portal or broker sites, go unanswered, and many of the responses to consumers come days after they’ve lost interest. The process is flawed and realtor.com is testing out a simple feature that could chip into this massive amount of lost opportunity for the industry.

Interesting requirement realtor.com placed on agents

Confano explained to us one stringent requirement they placed on the brokers testing the concept. “We gave brokers cart blanche to pick who the other agents are, but we did require that the other three agents must have had a recent transaction completed in the zip code [of the listing].”

Why such a relentless position? Cofano said the goal is to “create a scenario where listing agents and other agents can speak intelligently to consumers” about the neighborhood.

This attitude goes toward the altruistic side of this concept.

What’s next for this concept?

The test will go on for roughly three months, the company says, but asserts that there is no hard set date, as the goal is to acquire data and determine whether or not they’ll legitimize the feature as a purchasable product.

This serves as a reminder for real estate professionals to complete and customize their profiles in preparation for this feature to potentially become a reality.

Agent Profile


Lead Form Screen Shot B


Lead form Screen Shot A

#LeadFormConcept

Lani is the COO and News Director at The American Genius, has co-authored a book, co-founded BASHH, Austin Digital Jobs, Remote Digital Jobs, and is a seasoned business writer and editorialist with a penchant for the irreverent.

Advertisement

The Daily Intel
in your inbox

Subscribe and get news and EXCLUSIVE content to your email inbox.

Advertisement

KEEP READING!

Professionalism

Meeting weekly is rarely something a team looks forward to, but there are ways for brokers to improve attendance easily.

Op/Ed

Pre-MLS listings are used for a variety of reasons, but as they become more popular for their advantages, let us look at the disadvantages.

Op/Ed

When a doctor's hands get shaky, they can kill a patient. But when a Realtor's mind gets shaky, a client can lose thousands of...

Real Estate Big Data

(REAL ESTATE NEWS) A new joint report from NAR and realtor.com reveal that affordability conditions are eroding and there are very few cures to...

Advertisement

The Real Daily is honest, up to the minute real estate industry news crafted for industry practitioners - we cut through the pay-to-play news fluff to bring you what's happening behind closed doors, what's meaningful to your practice, and what to expect in the future. We're your competitive advantage. The American Genius, LLC Copyright © 2005-2023