Mls cloud what consumers want presentation
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WAV Group partner, Marilyn Wilson shares her presentation from the MLS Cloud conference, highlighting consumer property search research and outlining best practices for real estate websites.
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Mls cloud what consumers want presentation
- 1. What Are Consumers Who Use Consumer- Facing Websites Saying?
- 2. Consumer Study with Multiple MLSs
- 3. ¾ prefer MLS consumer site
- 4. Reasons for Preference of MLS Sites
- 5. 2/3 Believe MLS sites are More Accurate “I prefer this this MLS because is it more up-to-date, however, I do like their format much better than this site. You should model your website after Trulia.”
- 6. Take credit for “freshness”, quality
- 8. “I find this site to have very accurate information, but it's not set up to make searching easy for people that are not Realtors, who know how the MLS system works.”
- 10. Add More information, education, insight
- 11. What can be learned from 3rd party sites?
- 12. Popular features on 3rd party sites
- 13. Nearly ½ have Found “dead” listings
- 14. Top 10 Ways to Increase MLS Consumer Website Performance
- 16. Ability to search by specific criteria – style, square footage, specific features, neighborhood/development
- 17. Easy to use Map AND List Search
- 22. #3 - Encourage Consumers to share Listings via social media Add ability to “Like” every listing
- 24. Ability to brand mobile search experience
- 26. Zillow Launches Agent Ratings
- 27. #6 – Add Agent Ratings
- 28. #7 – Easy to Use Market Stats
- 29. #8 – Daily news content Short Sale/REO Education
- 30. #9 – Add Rentals 27 of top 100 sites are Rental Sites
- 32. Think of it as a Lead Generation Engine, not simply a website
- 33. Push outbound monthly reports to agent, office managers, brokers
- 34. Help brokers understand the incremental value of MLS Consumer sites
Editor's Notes
- WAV Group conducted a consumer study on the above MLS consumer websites asking consumers about their feelings about the site they were visiting as well as third party sites. The following slides summarize some of the key findings.
- 3/4 of the consumers who were visiting a MLS consumer website preferred it over third party real estate sites they had visited.
- Consumers preferred MLS consumer sites because there were no “featured” properties being pushed at them and they felt no sales pressure like they do on broker sites. They recognize the data is the most comprehensive and up to date and they felt like it was a great place to conduct research before contacting a REALTOR.
- 2/3 of those that visit MLS consumer sites believe these sites are more accurate and up to date. While this is a strong statistic, it would be great if everyone that visited these sites clearly understood they contained the best data available anywhere. There is an opportunity for every MLS consumer site to more clearly articulate the accuracy and “freshness” of their data.
- Here’s a great example of how an MLS can convey the freshness of their data. The highlight section of the site blinks and shows that the data has been updated within the past 15 minutes.
- Interestingly 2/3 of consumers want feedback about agent performance. This is consistent with other studies that also show the strong consumer interest in this idea. There are studies that show that 90% of consumers believe peer ratings, while only 14% believe traditional advertising. Many other sites are now figuring this out and beginning to offer this to consumers. If the industry does not take control of this, they will lose out to Zillow and others who are now selling back ratings to agents.
- There is a strong opportunity for MLSs to increase the engagement levels on their site by offering a LOT more information to help consumers in the real estate sales process. Information about REO’s, short sales, lending, sold properties and many other areas are key to making a site interesting to consumers. It makes sense to think about producing simple, easy to understand videos for consumers as well.
- The Third party sties get the most credit for really simple searches with great information. MLSs have the best data, yet many searches are derivatives of MLS searches which are not as intuitive to consumers as they should be. It is absolutely critical to build searches made for non real estate professionals.
- It is appalling to see that nearly ½ of consumers in the survey have found a “dead” listing on a third party site. What is that doing for the reputation of the REALTORS with the irrelevant listings on these sites?
- Here are the key ways for MLSs to significantly improve their property search.
- Lifestyle search is becoming more critical, especially for younger consumers who are interested in finding the lifestyle they want first and foremost and then secondarily a home in the neighborhood that fits their lifestyle.
- It’s important to encourage consumers to be able to share any and all of the good information on the site.
- The site can benefit from even more engagement by allowing a consumer to “Like” every listing individually and share it on their own Facebook page to their network encouraging dialog and more viewing of the listing. By adding individual LIKE features it encourages consumers to readily share the listing with friends leading more traffic back to the site.
- Many MLSs think of consumer mobile search as a “nice to have” completely separate from the MLS Consumer website. At the same time, Realtor.com is now receiving 30% of its visits on the weekend from their smartphone and Ipad apps. If a MLS is serious about increasing the traffic of targeted, serious buyers to its site, it is absolutely critical to have a high quality smartphone AND tablet application.
- Advertising is a key issue that believe it or not can increase the perceived quality and credibility of a site as long as the advertising matches its credibility level. There are now ad networks that can provide national and high quality local advertisers to sites generating revenue and increasing the credibility of the site.
- Zillow along with Yelp and many others are now offering consumers agent ratings. None of these sites offered a controlled method for generating legitimate feedback. Like every other lead generation tool, agents now need to buy their way into a top rating or need to game it by getting their friends and family to contribute feedback. If the industry does not get control the reputations agents work so hard to gain will be sold back to them.
- There are now MLSs engaging in offering a controlled method for allowing agents to collect and report consumer feedback on an opt-in basis. Consumers are very appreciative of these efforts.
- Consumers are also extremely interested in localized, easy to understand market stats. It’s important for MLSs to offer a method for sharing this data as well as enabling their agents to share market stats to their consumers.
- One of the main methods third party sites gain traffic is with daily news content.MLSs can aggregate daily news content from a variety of sources and create daily outbound news to attract consumers to the site and increase engagement levels.
- 27 of the top 100 sites are rental sites today. MLSs can add rentals to their site and encourage consumers to get comfortable with the site prior to purchasing a home. A well-populated rentals section may also encourage property managers to join the MLS providing new membership opportunities.