Are your estate agent marketing efforts focused on gaining traffic to your website? Great — except you also need to focus on converting that traffic into leads.
Once a property seller visits your site, you need a way to contact them and follow up. One way to achieve this is by capturing their contact details before they go. That way, you can engage in follow-up conversations and hopefully, land them as clients.
In this guide, we’ll teach you all there is to know about maximizing the leads you get from website traffic.
Gaining Traffic
Before we talk about converting traffic to leads, you may still be working on gaining traffic for your estate agent website.
This is an entirely different topic that requires a different approach, but in short, high-level traffic generation is achieved in two ways: through organic traffic and paid advertising.
Organic traffic is free but hard to come by. Through hard work and a well-crafted website, you can muscle your way to the top of the Google SERPs.
You’ll also need to pay for advertising and dedicate much of your time to building your website’s credibility. But it can be done — and Rentround is proof of that. This letting agent comparison site managed to rank first for the term “landlord leads” in just six months!
This is a huge accomplishment given their entire business is designed to attract letting agents looking to gain more landlord leads.
The second way to rank well on Google and boost your website traffic is by paying for it. You can pay for Google and social media promotions that bring in additional traffic and help drum up interest for your site.
Leveraging real estate content for social media through targeted ad campaigns is a powerful approach to enhance visibility and attract potential clients. Although, setting up ads isn’t as easy as just cutting a check. You do need some basic knowledge of how Google and social media work.
The good news is, that in this digital age, there are plenty of how-to guides out there that can help estate agents like you take the first steps toward the top of the SERPs.
More on Estate Agent Marketing and Lead Generation
Now that you know how to gain more traffic to your website, it’s time to secure more business.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help.
Keep reading to uncover 10 simple ways to increase lead generation and get the most out of your estate agent marketing efforts.
1. Offer Free Tools
Everyone likes free stuff! When you’re trying to convert leads, why not give visitors a little something for their troubles?
Free tools not only encourage people to trust and invest in your business but they may even help get them to your website in the first place. Once there, it’s your job to get them to provide something even more valuable than money — information.
Obtaining things like their email address, name, and phone number is the first step in converting leads into clients. Once you have this information in hand, you can follow up and convert them with your winning personality.
Unfortunately, not everyone is willing to give up their information so easily. Most people want something for their efforts. Seems fair, right?
That’s where free tools come into play. Offer a free estate agent fee or rent fee calculator on your website. Sellers are more willing to cough up their personal information when they’re getting something in return.
Ask sellers to answer a few questions about themselves and their property to find out how much an estate agent would cost. But here’s the trick. The tool won’t generate the answers until the visitor inputs their personal information.
Before launching your tool just be sure to check the data protection laws. You also have to tell visitors how you plan to store and use their personal info.
2. Consider Speed
One of the most important aspects of any website is speed. Over 50% of users will click off of a page that takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
Even just a one-second delay decreases customer satisfaction by 16% and could lead to a 7% loss in conversions.
Don’t lose those hard-earned leads and traffic because of a slow website. Instead, try a few of these easy fixes for your website’s slow loading speed.
- Make sure your hosting server is in the same geographic location as your business (or as close as possible).
- Avoid overly complicated tools or oversized images that increase loading times.
- Test your website on all the most popular search engines including Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. Check your website’s features and speed on each of these platforms.
- Caching allows certain features of your website to be saved on the visitor’s website, improving load times the next time they visit.
3. Match Your Website with Your Estate Agency Marketing Efforts
Your website’s content is about much more than just words on a page. Keywords are an essential part of your marketing efforts and website design. And now just the keywords you choose but how you use them.
If a prospective client types in the phrase, “cheap estate agent in London” and they click through to your page and see the words, “The cheapest estate agent in London”, they’ll know that your site has exactly what they need.
Matching what people are typing into the search bar with what your website has on display is a key part of converting leads. Google Adwords can help with this and is simple to set up. You can even create groups that target different keywords when using paid ads.
For example, one ad group may be designed to target the keyword “cheap estate agents” while another might focus on “local estate agents”. You can even design different versions of your homepage that align with these different target groups.
After designing these pages, simply let Google know which page you want visitors to land on for each individual ad. This is how you guarantee visitors see the keywords they’re searching for when they reach your page, solidifying their trust in you.
4. Understand the Seller Conversion Process
The main objective of your estate agent marketing efforts is to convert leads — and fast! Property sellers visiting your website don’t want to jump through hoops. And if they do, chances are they’ll jump right to your competitor’s website.
The lead form you create must collect the most important details in the shortest, most concise way. Stick with the most important information like their name, phone number, and email address.
Leave out irrelevant information like the person’s middle name or birthday. Create a path of least resistance for property sellers that helps you increase leads and reduce lost opportunities.
Take a close look at your website’s lead forms and purge any unnecessary information.
5. Boost Your Marketing with a Price Comparison Chart
The last thing you want to do is tell your potential leads about your competition, right? Well, not exactly.
One way to clearly show property sellers that your prices and services are better than your competitors is to use a comparison chart.
While this may seem like an unconventional approach, there are actually several benefits to comparing yourself to your competitor in black and white.
One thing this achieves is keeping visitors on your site. If they’re curious about your competitor, they don’t need to look any further than your comparison chart. If you didn’t have it, they’d likely leave your site to check out the competition and might never return.
But what happens when some of your competitor’s prices are better than yours? It’s your website, remember? You get to pick and choose what’s displayed.
Leave out any information that puts your competitor in a good light. Instead, only compare the prices and services that you afford at cheaper rates.
For example, if your prices are better for property management than your competitor, show this clearly in the comparison chart. If, instead, they beat your prices on tenant referencing, omit this.
For added credibility, be sure to list any accolades or awards your company as early and your record on finding buyers.
6. Give Sellers Plenty of Options
Like free stuff, everyone likes choices. Since every property seller’s needs will be different, you need to offer different package and pricing options.
Be sure to offer various services at different price points. Charging one flat fee is limiting and will exclude countless sellers who only need a few of your services.
For example, some sellers may need help with tenant referencing but plan to conduct the viewing themselves. Sellers like to be in control.
Being flexible with the services and packages you offer lets clients know they have the final say. It also puts them in control of exactly what they’re getting for their money.
More options mean more conversions.
7. Offer Online Support
In the world of instant gratification and the increased desire for immediate results, online support is on the rise.
The days of picking up the phone and listening to elevator music for 30 minutes are long gone. Now, most websites have support or Chatbots available to answer frequently asked questions within seconds.
This not only reduces wait times but also people’s frustrations, helping you convert more leads instead of scaring off impatient property sellers. Most bot programs are easy to install and launch.
When the visitor asks a simple question like, “How much are estate agent fees for selling my property?”, the bot is programmed to scan the database and generate an appropriate response.
In the event that no answer is found, the bot will then ask the property seller for more information. Now you can follow up with them later, PLUS you just scored their personal contact info — a win-win!
While these Chatbots are almost as good as the real thing (a live estate agent), most leads know that they’re bots disguised as humans. The good thing is, most people don’t care. Especially if it means getting answers to their most pressing questions on the spot.
This immediate response improves the customer service experience and increases the chances that they’ll eventually convert.
Another benefit of using Chatbots is that you’ll save money on paying a qualified staff member to sit in front of the computer and monitor the chat lines. Instead, they can focus their talents on more important things, like following up on hot leads and securing more clients.
8. User-Friendly Website Layout and Design
We’ve already established that you only have a few seconds to make a first impression when trying to convert leads. An attractive, professional, and easy-to-navigate website layout could be the difference between a converted lead and a lost opportunity.
For starters, your website should display the most important information upfront in a clear and concise way. Your conversion tools should be front and center alongside the services you offer and fees.
A few simple edits can help your conversion tool stand out. Things like capitalization, bold fonts, and vibrant colors are all great design tactics. As an example, Rentround draws attention to its postcode entry bar using a colorful border. Include professional photos and 360° virtual tours to demonstrate the quality of your marketing.
The call-to-action button is in capital letters and a different font color than the rest of the page’s content.
Choosing bright colors and bold fonts isn’t enough to get your CTA noticed. The specific words you use also play an important part in converting leads.
“Search” is a very generic, unexciting word for many conversion tools. Instead, choose something more specific and eye-catching like Rentround who uses “Compare Agents” on their call-to-action button.
Not only does this stand out but it also lets sellers know exactly what information they’ll receive by clicking on the button. These minor changes boosted Rentround’s conversion rate by almost 7%!
Imagine what these simple changes could do for yours.
9. Establish Yourself as a Credible Agency
If you have a good reputation and it proceeds you, that could work to your benefit. In the same sense, a bad reputation could ruin your estate agent career before you ever get it off the ground.
Property sellers want an estate agent they can trust from a credible company. Building your reputation starts with your website.
Put simply, the more professional your website is, the more conversions you’ll get. There are a few ways to successfully display your credibility without hitting visitors over the head with it or bragging.
Once you launch a well-maintained, fast website, you can add any awards, affiliations, ratings, and positive reviews to your most visited pages. You should also add links to your deposit schemes and Property Ombudsman.
Let visitors know that you’re always compliant with local laws and regulations. If a property seller is visiting your website, they’re probably tech-savvy, which is why you should mention any property portals or news outlets you’ve been featured on.
On the logistic end of things, always make sure your website is maintained and working properly. After all, this is a direct reflection of your professionalism and reliability.
If the property seller thinks you can’t maintain a quality website, they’ll probably have concerns over your capabilities with selling and managing properties.
10. Always Follow Up on Your Leads
An unavoidable caveat of lead generation is receiving fake contact information from potential leads.
Remember how we mentioned using a conversion tool to get visitors to enter their information before getting their results? Everybody wins, right?
Well, not if the visitor inputs false information simply to get the results they way. In their defense, some sellers accidentally input misinformation because it’s outdated or because of a typo.
To avoid this, you can add automatic validation to help boost the quality of your leads. Not only does this tool check the format of the data (does the phone number have enough digits), but it also makes sure it’s a live, working number.
While you can’t prevent false information, these validation techniques ensure that you’re not wasting your energy on dead-end leads.
Estate Agent Lead Generation Done Right
Now you know how to maximize your lead generation marketing efforts.
Make the conversion process simple by only asking for important information. Show visitors that your agency is reputable and credible.
First, you need to attract website visitors — but the work doesn’t end there. Now it’s a matter of getting those leads to convert. That’s where your personality, experience, and marketing techniques come into play.
Remember, most property sellers visiting your site are also shopping around. That means that the first agent to make contact with the lead and the one with the best sales technique will no doubt come out on top. Use these tips to make sure it’s you!
