OnTheMarket renews onslaught on Rightmove and quality of leads

OnTheMarket has started 2020 as it ended 2019 - with an attack on Rightmove via an agency which urges others to quit the lead portal. 

In a statement issued yesterday OnTheMarket cites Rob Sargent, chief executive of the 35-branch Acorn Group, backing the leads produced by OTM.

"I was delighted when I read our recent statistics on portal leads that our sales leads from OnTheMarket have doubled, our lettings leads have tripled and for the first time our lettings leads are beginning to exceed the leads that are generated by Rightmove" he says.  

The agency, which operates across the south east of England, has been a long-standing supporter of OnTheMarket since it launched in 2015 and lists only with two portals - Rightmove and OTM.  

As part of a video testimonial for OnTheMarket, Sargent says: "The quality of the OnTheMarket leads are certainly of a higher level and there is no question that the buyers and vendors who are coming through that channel are a little bit more motivated.

"We view our relationship with OnTheMarket very much as a partnership, we see it for the long term and we see some mutual respect and understanding of the commercials that exist on our side of the fence. 

"We look forward to not just getting to the end of every year and being asked for more money for what is fundamentally the same service.

"There is no debate that all the agents nationally in the UK should be using OnTheMarket, we as a business would not hesitate to recommend OnTheMarket and for agents who see the bigger picture, and want to secure their own future, it's definitely the place to be." 

OnTheMarket announced just before Christmas that over 3,000 more offices had been signed under new paying contracts to list all their residential properties on the portal.

The portal says this represents “continuing rapid progress from 30 September 2019 when OnTheMarket had 2,346 more offices signed under paying contracts.”

OTM chief executive Ian Springett says: "These excellent lead results demonstrate how OnTheMarket is continuing to make huge strides forward with the value we provide to estate and letting agent customers.

"Our marketing drive has ramped up since Boxing Day and will continue throughout January with TV and radio campaigns as well as outdoor advertising, so we are looking forward to a strong month for traffic to the website. 

"Our continued progress in attracting more agents to support the portal and our early success in attracting house-builders give us encouragement as we focus on achieving our key objectives for the coming year."