In the words of one of the estate agents who came to us for help – “our website seems to be actually sabotaging our lead generation”. A few common mistakes become apparent every time we audit poor performing estate agent websites.
Let’s take a look at what’s being done wrong, why it matters, and how to fix it.
Mistake 1: Poor Visuals and Photography
When it comes to selling or letting property, first impressions count. Property listings with low-resolution images, poor lighting, or untidy rooms can turn off buyers before they even consider booking a viewing. A listing without compelling visuals is like a shop window without any display—easy to overlook.
The obvious fix is to invest in professional property photography services, that utilise wide-angle lenses and natural lighting to showcase spaces. Stage properties carefully before a photo session to highlight their good points and potential, and ensure images are optimised for the web.
Quality images not only impress and encourage potential buyers to book a viewing, they also reflects the fact that your agency operates on a professional level.
Mistake 2: Lack of Virtual Tours and Interactive Content
Today’s property buyers are time-conscious and research-driven. They want to narrow down their shortlist before committing to viewings, especially when considering properties outside their immediate area. Virtual tours allow them to get a genuine feel for the property’s layout, room sizes, and overall atmosphere from the comfort of their current home.
There are three main ways to introduce interactive content to allow website visitors to explore properties online:
- 360 degree virtual tours: An amazing way to give buyers an immersive experience online, allowing them to navigate their way through properties at their own pace, examining details they might miss in static photographs.
- Interactive floor plans: Clickable floor plans that link to room-specific photos help buyers understand spatial relationships and visualise how their furniture might fit in to the space.
- Video walkthroughs: Professional video tours, especially those feature a commentary provided by the estate agent, build trust and demonstrate expertise while providing buyers with a comprehensive property overview.
The technology for creating these interactive experiences has become increasingly available, with options ranging from smartphone apps to professional 360-degree cameras.
Mistake 3: Slow Loading Times and Poor Mobile Experience
Google research has shown that 53% of mobile users abandon websites that take longer than three seconds to load. In a fast-paced property market if your website pages are exceeding – or indeed even meeting that threshold – you’re losing potential buyers.
There’s also the fact that today’s anxious property buyers browse listings at every opportunity – while they’re commuting, during their lunch breaks, while walking the dog. They are scrolling through multiple listings, comparing options and making quick decisions about what takes their fancy for further investigation. If your website doesn’t deliver instant, seamless experiences they won’t wait around.
Another vital factor is that most of those property browsing hopefuls will be doing their shopping around on a mobile device, so if your website isn’t mobile-friendly (responsive) they won’t be seeing the proper picture.
Speed and responsiveness aren’t just necessary to please your website users – they are also a crucial Google SEO ranking factor, so if not optimised will be costing you your place in the property search results.
You can optimise your website performance in these respects by:
- Compressing images without compromising on quality.
- Ensuring your site has responsive design to automatically adapt to any screen size, keeping things like navigation, property details and contact forms perfectly functional whatever device they are viewed on.
- Simplify navigation with streamlined menus and search functionality.
- Invest in quality hosting with content delivery networks to ensure your website loads quickly regardless of the user’s location.
Mistake 4: Ineffective Property Search and Filtering
Effective property search isn’t just about finding listings – it’s about assisting buyers to discover their perfect home. Your website search feature is a critical conversion point, but it’s surprising how many estate agent’s websites have search tools that are either overly complex, insufficiently detailed, outdated or frustratingly limited. It’s one of the tings that can drive potential clients away to competitor sites with superior search functionality.
Search for a property website needs to be intuitive and comprehensive so that users can find and view listings appropriate to their needs, and are thus more likely to follow through and make contact.
Here’s some tips about how to optimise your website search interface to increase to make property discovery effortless and enjoyable for your website visitors:
- Use intelligent filtering options: Perhaps you cover the basics like location, price, and number of bedrooms with your search tool, but there’s plenty more options available. Consider any more specifics like commute times, school catchment areas, garden size, and parking availability – all the things that matter to today’s buyers. The more specific the filtering, the more qualified your sales leads will become.
- Integrate interactive map-based search to allow buyers to explore neighbourhoods, understand the property’s proximity to local amenities and build a picture of the potential new life awaiting them.
- Facilitate saved searches and alerts. To encourage users to return allow them to save their search criteria, and set up automatic notifications when properties that suit their requirements become available. This sort of engagement will doubtless eventually turn casual browsers into real buyers.
Mistake 5: Missing or Weak Calls to Action (CTAs)
Property buyers and sellers who come to your website are there primarily to make emotional, high-stakes decisions. Your website’s role is to give them the confidence and smooth the path towards contacting you. What may well put them off of converting their interest into actually contacting you is often weak, unclear, or absent calls to action (CTAs). There’s no room for uncertainty when it comes to making it clear to potential clients what they should do next.
Vague CTA buttons urging visitors to “Get in Touch” just don’t cut it when it comes to driving someone to make a property-related decision. CTAs need to be more specifically action-oriented to motivate browsers to take the next step. For example:
- Book a Viewing
- Request a Valuation
- Download the Property Brochure
- Speak to an Agent
- Sign up for Property Alerts
CTA placement is also very important. Don’t overwhelm each page with them, but do ensure that they are prominent and placed so as to feel natural and relevant.
Having compelling CTAs doesn’t mean you don’t need other toold like contact forms and chatbots. In fact the more communication methods your site offers the better to accommodate different user preferences.
End Your Agency’s Digital Mediocrity!
If you fear that your website is costing you clients because of these five mistakes, it’s time to put things right. In our experience at Dentons Digital agencies that have come to us for help with addressing these issues typically see an appreciable increase in website enquiries within a month or two, and the number of leads continue to grow.
None of the mistakes mentioned cost a fortune to put right, but the positive impact when they are corrected is measurable and mighty.
We’re offering a free website audit or consultation for estate agents to provide you with insights into how you could boost your business through our website – let it become your most powerful lead-generating tool.
