Estate agents are being offered a new service which reports on the size and make-up of the postcodes they operate in.

It can also measure how well they are doing in them, while identifying market segments where there is potential for improvement. The agent is then able to direct their marketing efforts much more effectively at these areas.

The MyAudience reports, being made available after some successful trials, are free with no obligation to buy any further services.

The reports are entirely data-based, and are the result of integrating data from the Land Registry and Mosaic – the latter being part of credit-rating giant Experian, and which is specifically aimed at helping businesses understand their consumer markets.

The integrated data can be then measured against the agent’s own track record of appraisals and instructions.

Each MyAudience report is in two parts.

In the first, it takes the local postcodes where the agent operates and identifies the total number of addresses. The report then breaks down these address into a number of different marketing profiles, not all of which may be represented in that particular area.

For example, in the report we saw, out of 67 possible profiles, 57 were identified. There were plenty of ‘alpha families’ – high achieving married couples who are mostly in their 40s – but no ‘bus-route renters’ or ‘penthouse elite’.

The reports next look at the number of houses sold in the postcodes over a three-year period, and break these down into the same marketing profiles.

For example, in the report we have seen it found that almost all of house movers came from just 20 groups – headed, not surprisingly, by ‘alpha families’.

Finally, the report is able to identify groups with what is described as a ‘propensity to move’ – the groups at whom the agent should be targeting their marketing.

In the second part of the report, the agent’s own performance in terms of market appraisals is measured against Land Registry figures.

Market appraisals are also measured against instructions in the various consumer groups.

The report ends by identifying missed opportunities – ie, the sectors of the market where there is potential for improvement, and those sectors where there is potential because of a particular group’s propensity to move.

While there is no obligation in the free reports, further information with more in-depth Mosaic analysis of agents’ own data and advice on how they refine their marketing messages can be bought for around £500 plus VAT.

EYE readers can order their own free reports at the link below.

www.myaudience.co.uk/eye