The festive period might be little more than a distant memory for many, but for us at Zoopla, Boxing Day marked the launch of our latest national advertising campaign – which I hope the majority of you will have seen.
The sharper-eyed among you may have noticed that the campaign was targeted at first-time buyers and renters, focusing on the joy of getting on the property ladder, the liberation it brings, and the emotional side of the property journey.
Why did we centre our efforts on this often-neglected part of the market?
To answer that, we must first take a step back.
At Zoopla, our priority in 2020 is the same as it was in 2019 – using data and insight to deliver measurable, tangible impact for our agent customers. Our approach to marketing is no different.
Data from our Research & Insights team shows that first-time buyers were the largest buyer group in 2018, accounting for 36% of all sales; this held true for 2019 and is expected to remain so in 2020.
We also know that 85% of first-time buyers come from the renter market. The two cohorts are inextricably linked – to galvanise one, we must galvanise the other.
This is why the campaign was underpinned by our new brand positioning ‘We know what a home is really worth’.
This recognises that finding your first home isn’t just a financial transaction – it’s a journey. Our creative ideas, some irreverent, some emotional, reflected this. It’s also why our ads were shown during primetime millennial viewing, alongside programmes such as First Dates, and also on YouTube. This is what first-time buyers and renters watch and the logic is to be in these slots.
It’s not enough to advertise blindly and hope that it works. You have to provide added value and insight.
Our Zooploma, which is a digital marketing campaign designed to support buyers and renters at all stages of their property journey, is a good example of this. The inaugural Zooploma targeted first-time buyers and registered 176,000 sign-ups in its first four weeks.
Consisting of a series of 30 easy-to-digest emails, sent over ten weeks, it guides users through the buying process, while recommending suitable properties.
All of this wouldn’t matter if it didn’t make a tangible difference to you – our agent partners. The Boxing Day campaign has generated more traffic to Zoopla and this is translating into more leads for agents, with a 25% increase in applicant leads and a 17% increase in all-important valuation leads.
This increase in leads gets 2020 off to a strong start for Zoopla, but we know there is still plenty of work to do.
It’s very much a marathon, not a sprint, but we are confident that our data-led approach, combined with our focus on innovation and progress, will give agents a real boost during the year ahead.
* Charlie Bryant is CEO of Zoopla
Charlie and Miles?
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Who gets first dibs at the financial services lead for these first time buyers?
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Whoever purchases data off Zoopla and lord knows how many financial services companies will buy it.
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Alternative title: ‘Why breathing is so important to staying alive’ by someone who has never practiced medicine.
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It’s old news, however Zoopla latest pr performance of how they are helping??? agents?
3rd Party companies, portals, building databases of clients using agents stock, and agents pay those portals in particular to advertise their stock, that the portals then make money from
It’s truly astonishing that we p£ss our industry away
A parallel example, of sorts, if the DVLA decide to monetise all that driver data, or HMRC, or the NHS
The genie is out of the bottle, and we pay the genie every month.
We have sold out our industry and we keep paying the beneficiaries monthly because we don’t feel we are paying a big enough penalty? Bonkers, simply BONKERS
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For once we agree on something…. 🙂
This “scheme” can’t benefit agents. It simply gets buyers to commit to Zoopla’s financial services and Conveyancing partners before the agent (or adviser!!!) gets a shot at it. As you’ve said, it’s marketing to clients that agents pay to attract. Not cool Zoopla, not cool.
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It’s not really a parallel example really, as these are all public bodies. Perhaps examples could be if –
* Phone companies sold customer’s geo-location data to enable targeted advertising
* Digital television companies segmented audiences based on viewing preferences and offered bespoke advertising
* Royal Mail learning about home movers via paid mail redirects and offering a marketing service
* [Some] Mobile app / games developers specifically designed downloadable content to collect as much information on the user not actually caring about the experience they are delivering
But none of these commercial bodies, to whom we (collectively at least) pay money would ever do that as a byproduct of the supposedly paid service…
To be honest I dislike all of them – and the Rightmove angle too – but it’s a general trend not a single specific rogue agent.
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