Agents encouraged to log leads, says Rightmove survey

Despite the difficult market, nearly a quarter of agents in Rightmove’s latest member survey had not recorded leads into their database in the last three months because the applicant hadn’t requested an appraisal or viewing.

Further analysis found many agents failing to respond to their share of the over  million-plus email and telephone leads Rightmove says it provides a month. 

One independent agent in Yorkshire with a high market share was surveyed. It was found that 6 out of 11 recent email applicants did not hear back from the agent, and only 16% (21) of 129 email applicants over a three-week period were registered by the agent.

Patrick McCutcheon, head of residential at Dacre, Son and Hartley, said: “In a difficult market, agencies need to redouble their efforts, and that means chasing buyers hard. 

“Whilst at Dacres we take pride in our hands-on applicant management, we found the third-party view taken by Rightmove of our internet lead handling invaluable. It helped us ensure that our sales negotiators were fully primed on what to expect from this unique form of leads and were best placed to make the most of these potential sources of business.”

To help members manage leads, Rightmove has redesigned the format of its email leads to highlight key facts and applicants’ comments.

Rightmove has also been testing 16 different combinations of colours and texts in its call to action to consumers on the property details page and found that orange generates 30% more leads than other colours.

Today, the latest Rightmove survey underlines just how difficult the market is with sellers still over-optimistic about house values. The survey found current asking prices are being slashed 2.9% month on month, or 7.1% over the year – not enough to secure a buyer, with agents reporting achieved prices 20% down over the year.

The portal has also recorded just 80,000 new listings for the month – the lowest since 2002 when it launched its monthly survey.