Almost three quarters of estate agents across the UK – 72% – do not display their telephone number clearly enough on their websites, even though a web search often precedes a call, according to new research from Moneypenny.

The outsourced communications provider conducted a study of 50 estate agent websites belonging to multi-office big brands as well as mid-sized agencies and independents during January 2023, as part of a wider study into digital customer experience.

The research sought to assess how easy it is to find agents online, the quality of their first impressions, how easy it is to navigate their websites and find answers, and how contactable and friendly sites are.

While the research showed that agents are strong at displaying their industry accreditations (82%), articulating their offering (56%), using web forms to capture requests (70%) and signposting visitors to other useful information (44%) – it did highlight that firms could do more to improve their friendliness and accessibility. 80% of agents rank average or less for how they contactable they are, and 60% are average or less for customer friendliness.

The finding also revealed that:

• Almost one in three websites (30%) either have too much information or too little.
• Almost half (44%) of agents’ websites don’t make it crystal clear what products and services they’re offering.
• The vast majority (94%) do not feature FAQs to help clients on the customer journey.
• Almost three quarters (70%) of agents do not offer live chat.
• None of the agents offer online appointment booking or call back.
• 10% of websites do not stand out positively from their competition.

Sharon Boyle, head of the property sector at Moneypenny, said: “There are some positive and encouraging statistics in this research – but it’s surprising to see that customer friendliness and contactability could still be improved by the vast majority of agency websites.”

“A few simple changes to agents’ websites now could make them work much harder,” she added. “By being more distinct, comprehensive, concise, and contactable – agents will make their websites more customer friendly and effective at handling enquiries, winning new instructions and selling and letting properties.”