Rightmove currently provides the best conversion rates when it comes to estate agency property portal sales leads, a new report has claimed.
Lead generation management provider Agent Response has analysed conversion rates across the three major property portals, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket (OTM).
The study, which looked at June’s numbers – based on around 100,000 leads and 400 branches – to see which platforms deliver the most engaged lead, revealed that Rightmove leads the way on 48%, followed by OTM (37%) and Zoopla (25%).
Finding qualified leads is crucial for closing deals, and so it is interesting to find that Rightmove reigns supreme in June, with a near 50% conversion rate (lead to completed form). This means almost half of all leads from Rightmove took the next step by filling out our pre-qualification forms (lettings) or enquiry forms (sales).
“This [data] suggests Rightmove users are likely further along in their property search and more serious about talking to an agent,” said Michael Nettleton, founder of Agent Response.
He continued: “Agent Response says that OTM shows promise with a solid 37% conversion rate. While trailing Rightmove, it signifies a significant portion of On The Market leads are interested in moving forward. With their recent investment by CoStar, a major industry player, it’ll be fascinating to see how On The Market’s conversion rates evolve and how Zoopla reacts to this growing competitor. Could this be the spark that ignites a price war among portals, with each fighting for agents’ business through lower fees?”
Zoopla comes in at 25%, indicating potential for improvement. This, Agent Response says, could be because Zoopla users are at an earlier stage in their search. However, with Silverlake as their owner, a company with deep pockets similar to CoStar, it is unclear if Zoopla plans to seriously challenge Rightmove’s dominance.
Nettleton added: “While content with second place now, a potential shift to third due to On The Market’s rise might not be tolerated. With these three giants in the game, could we see a price war erupt, with each portal lowering fees to attract agents?”
Here’s hoping….
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Fingers firmly crossed on all fronts, choice of service provider is something that needs to happen to stop the RM runaway train with fees. But then if everyone was brave enough, this would happen a lot sooner.
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OTM currently “buying” market share but this is not a sustainable longer term position – they are spending 1.5 x last published turnover on lead generation and signing up agents.
OTM are undoubtedly making up ground and currently represent good value for agents but they will have to monetise their position going forward which will presumably mean rising charges.
The possibility of merging into or rebranding into the CoStar global brand http://www.homes.com might be another step.
Zoopla currently look to be the most vulnerable of the portals but, like CoStar, their “non public” ownership allows figures to be hidden and the value of software, data sales etc to also be unclear.
Rightmove look to me likely to “tough it out” and not get into any price war – reports like this actually reinforce their position.
After all, its all about value not price. Something many agents don’t seem to grasp. How many can honestly give a ROI for any of their portal (or indeed any other) spend?
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We left RM on lettings and get all of our letting leads from Zoopla and OTM. Landlords don’t care and tenants are already used to ‘not’ looking at RM. Todays tenants are tomorrows vendors, so that is good news.
On sales the OTM leads have already overtaken Zoopla’s and I would say are knocking on the door of RM.
Allegedly, ‘Dexters’ are planning to leave RM, which would shake up London, I am sure most of the small firms would follow suit.
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There are thousands more tenants than buyers. Tenants, who move more frequently, are accustomed to using OTM and Zoopla. Buyers, on the other hand, move less often and will need time to adapt to these platforms. Many agents, set in their ways, don’t promote alternative portals and remain reliant on Rightmove. Smaller and independent agents should consider leaving Rightmove to the larger corporate firms, which are less likely to leave and aren’t as affected by costs, which are often subsidised by the smaller agents. Rightmove is currently dominant in sales, so a combination of all three platforms would benefit most agents. Ultimately, agents have the power to make this change.
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