Almost 95% of house buyers do online research, and when you couple this stat with the fact that Google’s top 3 search results get more than 50% of clicks, one thing becomes crystal clear: your website is of the utmost importance.
A well-designed and optimised website is more than just an online portfolio; it’s a powerful platform to represent your brand, attract leads, establish credibility, and drive those all-important sales.
Samantha Aitken, Territory Owner at Yopa Glasgow South, says it best: ‘If you were looking for an estate agent and they had an awful website or bad photographs, how could you trust them to present your property for sale well when they can’t even present themselves.’
We couldn’t agree more!
So, with that said, if you want to elevate your estate agency website, here are 5 quick fixes you could implement today:
1. Publish customer reviews
Customer reviews play a pivotal role in influencing buying decisions. In fact, research from Capterra reveals that 62% of consumers consult online reviews before buying, valuing customer reviews even more than the opinions of experts or their friends.
With customer reviews acting as powerful social proof, you should leverage them throughout your estate agency’s website, particularly on pages encouraging prospects to contact you.
By prominently displaying positive feedback and testimonials from satisfied vendors, you establish trust and credibility, reinforcing the value of your offering.
We recommend working with a customer review site specific to the property industry, such as ESTAS. ESTAS is exclusively dedicated to property-related customer reviews from genuine consumers providing feedback at the end of their transactions.
A quick tip: Plenty of platforms are available to help you launch automated email and/or text sequences asking clients to leave a review. Not only does this save you time, but once these workflows are up and running, you should enjoy a steady stream of customer feedback.
2. Loading speed
When it comes to user satisfaction and website performance, your site’s loading speed is vital. A study by Kissmetrics revealed that 47% of web users expect pages to load within 2 seconds, with 40% abandoning sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.
These stats emphasise the importance of optimising your website for fast load times. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that a slow website could be why you’re receiving fewer enquiries than you’d like from your website. After all, when visitors encounter slow-loading pages, they’re more likely to become impatient and leave the site before completing any desired actions, such as submitting an enquiry form.
To assess and enhance your website’s loading speed, we recommend Google’s Page Speed Insights. This tool makes it easy to test your website’s performance and identify areas for improvement. You’ll also obtain actionable and personalised insights to share with your website agency or development team.
3. Mobile-friendliness
As many as 74% of home buyers research properties using their mobile or tablet. With so many using portable devices to fuel their house hunt, it’s imperative your website is mobile-friendly.
This means ensuring your site boasts a responsive design that seamlessly adapts to different screen sizes. This is essential for providing the optimum user experience across all devices.
Suppose you’re using a popular website builder like Wix or Squarespace to fuel your estate agency’s website. In that case, you might find that your website template is already responsive. However, if you need more clarification, we recommend contacting your web developer/the customer service team of your chosen website builder to double-check.
Furthermore, a mobile-friendly website is more likely to rank higher in search engines, which should translate to more eyes on your website! Google recommends mobile optimising your website as part of its broader push to prioritise sites offering a better user experience.
4. Offer a ‘lure’
A lure, also known as a lead magnet, is a valuable incentive you can offer potential customers in exchange for their contact information (or to encourage them to take a specific action).
A lure aims to attract, engage, and nurture leads while positioning yourself as an authority in your industry. All of this goes a long way to increase the likelihood of a conversion.
Offering a downloadable resource is an excellent lead magnet example—for instance, an eBook, guide, or checklist. Whatever downloadable you decide to give away, it should be relevant, informative, and address common pain points or questions sellers have.
For example, you could create a property selling guide outlining the different sales steps, staging tips, and negotiation strategies.
This kind of gated content not only enables you to capture more leads but also helps to establish you as an expert, which is fantastic for building trust and credibility with those interested in selling property.
5. Provide a live call-back service
Offering a live call-back service on your website empowers you to capitalise on the immediate interest of website visitors and increase the likelihood of securing their business. In fact, according to LiveCall, implementing their call-back service can convert 30% to 120% more web visitors into leads.
By promptly responding to call-back requests, you demonstrate to potential vendors that you value their time and are dedicated to addressing their needs. An immediate response sets a positive impression and allows you to engage in positive one-to-one communication.
This personalised interaction permits you to gain a more concrete understanding of their specific requirements and provide tailored advice, including addressing any particular concerns they have. It’s also a chance to build rapport, establish trust, and showcase your expertise, ultimately increasing the likelihood of securing the prospect’s business.
If you want to integrate a live call-back feature into your site, we recommend Convolo or livecall.io. This software makes it easy for prospective clients to request a call-back with your estate agency’s sales team and for your agents to respond promptly.
Now’s the time to elevate your estate agency’s website
With the UK estate agency market expected to grow by over 3% this year, competition is on the up, so distinguishing yourself with a first-rate website has never been so important.
With that said, we hope having read this blog post, you’re now filled with ideas for improving your estate agency’s site.
To recap, here are a few quick and easy website fixes:
Publish customer reviews, optimise load speed, prioritise mobile-friendliness, offer a valuable lead magnet, and provide a live call-back service. By implementing these changes, you take a massive step toward maximising your online presence and, subsequently, growing your agency.
For more ways to upgrade your property marketing game, try PropertyBox for free! We provide AI-fuelled photo enhancements, floor plan re-draws, automated property descriptions, and much more. Alternatively, if you have any questions, you can request a callback from our friendly customer support team (you’ll hear from us in under 55 seconds!) – speak soon!
