In both business and life we often repeat the mantra, “trust your gut.” The flaw of this mantra is that important decisions are most-often made based on some level of research, not simply a gut reaction. For example, most of your clients wouldn’t buy a home without doing some kind of research prior whether it’s online or with a Realtor, right? Sure, when they find “the home” it might seem like a gut reaction, but that decision is based on research and data they’ve gathered throughout the process. Data is an important factor that drives many decisions. That is why it’s important to also use data to inform your business decisions, especially when it presents a potential financial risk, or gain, like advertising.
Advertising Should Not Be A Gamble
We conducted a study amongst our broker customers to see which publisher they ‘thought’ was getting them the most views for their listings. No data was provided to the brokers in advance, just simply a “gut” feeling or their best guess. The result was that 65% of brokers answered incorrectly when compared against the analytics ListHub has gathered from the publisher websites. If you are making decisions about advertising without data you could be wasting a lot of money!
Sure, it’s easy to be influenced by the chatter and constant marketing push for one publisher or another, and assume that because everyone is talking about the website that it must be popular with consumers, and therefore deliver the most traffic. However, our data has shown time and time again, that each market varies. In fact, we have seen markets where the MLS public website ranks among the top 5 publishers for online traffic, even beating many of the well-known publishers you might expect to be at the top. But you won’t see this reported by comScore because their data reflects national trends, not regional. By knowing what is going on in your market, with your listings, you can better navigate the online marketplace and stay ahead of the competition.
The data included in the ListHub Reports can help brokers and agents can be used in a number of ways including:
1) Targeting New Listings
Do you know which listings in your inventory are most popular with online consumers? Imagine if you were able to identify what types of properties buyers in your market are actually looking for online, across all publishers – well you can! ListHub’s aggregate reports provided exactly this kind of business intelligence. With this data you could plan a marketing campaign to potential clients in exactly these type of homes, and know that you will likely get more online traffic for those listings as a result.
2) Reaching Buyers in New Locations
ListHub also has the ability to track the physical location of the online consumers viewing your property. For example, imagine you are a Realtor in West Virginia and you find that most of your online traffic is coming from a neighboring state, like Virginia. If so, you might consider getting your real estate license in that state or consider local advertising in a particular market. By having this business intelligence you can open yourself up to new, or unforeseen markets.
3) Getting Listings Priced to Sell
You already know that if you want a property to sell fast you have to price it right, but sometimes it’s not so easy to convince your clients of that. By using ListHub’s reports you can show clients the data! With the Property Analysis report you can show clients how being in one price category versus another will impact the online traffic. Additionally, the ListHub Seller Report is a great tool to use to initiate price reduction conversations when a property has been on the market a while. It helps to provide supporting evidence and remove emotions from the conversation.
For more information about how ListHub’s Reports can help you make smarter marketing decisions email info@listhub.com or call 877-847-3394 x1 to speak with the ListHub Account Manager in your area.