It’s interesting to see how many people weigh in on the debate to force registration on your website’s IDX home search. You hear one side cry out to let the Internet free while the other side argues the importance of capturing more of your hard-earned website traffic as leads. I have my own opinion on this issue and with my 10 years of experience specializing in Lead Generation, Lead Conversion and Lead Management, I like to pretend my opinion matters. More important than my opinion, I have tested both theories in great depth, spending thousands and have a more scientific conclusion to this debate.
Let’s first look at each side of the debate to gain a better understanding of each and the value they bring.
ARGUMENT- Capture Your Hard-Earned Website Traffic As Leads – Force Registration!
The argument makes sense given the fact that most visitors will NEVER register if they are not forced to. If you truly understand the life-cycle of an Internet home buyer then you will understand why they will not register voluntarily… at least not without some significant motivation. Where this argument falls flat is when you step back and look at the percentage of bogus leads that are created and the wasted man-hours determining that they are garbage. The bogus leads are not always as easy to identify as “mickey@mouse.com”. Then there is also the point that visitors who refuse to register will simply never come back reducing your overall website traffic significantly. Still, despite the number of bogus leads, good leads are still generated and you will still close a few deals which is the whole reason we even bother driving traffic to our website.
ARGUMENT- The Internet Must Be Free!
On the opposite side of the debate is the argument that the Internet must be free. Their argument’s strongest point is that if the largest real estate sites online, like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia are free, then why would anyone want to register on a small local site. Or rather, why register for something that you can get free elsewhere? This argument is very hard for many people to accept. If you are only receiving a few hundred people to your website each month and paying dearly for it, how can you be sure they will register when they are ready? That’s a huge risk for anyone to take but don’t worry, I have already taken that risk for you… to the tune of $15,000.
So what’s the answer? Who’s right? Unfortunately the answer is not as simple as A or B but I can give you the formula needed to gain the greatest lead generation from your website IDX efforts. Let me begin by explaining how I tested and achieved my results.
In the beginning, like almost every other real estate professional with a website, I was nervous about leaving my website traffic to fate. However, unlike most agents, I decided to run a test to determine the best scenario. I started out with a 3 month budget of $5,000 per month. My site was brand-spanking new so the only traffic I received was through PPC from search engines like Google, MSN, Yahoo and even Homegain. I ran the following three tests and tracked the micro-conversions.
TEST 1 – Forced Registration
I started my new site by forcing every lead to register for their home search during the first 30 days. The results were very close to what I had expected. I received 3,448 visitors of which, 7% converted into a lead. Of the 241 leads, 62% had a bad phone number but only 47% had a bad email address. That left me with 128 viable leads for my team to work. I waited 9 months to measure the return on investment (which is not really long enough if you are truly managing your leads for the long term) and found that we were able to convert a reasonable number of the viable leads which paid for that first test many, many times over.
The downside to this scenario is that I discovered (as I had expected) only a small handful of the people that bounced/refused to register ever came back.
TEST 2 – Free Home Search
This test was scary for me which is why I started with the forced registration. I wanted to make sure we had some leads to work and some money coming in just in case this second test failed to produce. During the second month we had 3,603 visitors (thanks to a little tweaking to our campaigns) of which less than .05% registered. Yes, you heard me, I had 18 people register. I still had about the same percentage of fake phone numbers since that was a required field but I had only 1 fake email address. Percentage-wise, that was an incredible percentage of real leads however the overall number of leads made me want to throw up. I felt sick for days.
Of the leads that we did capture, most registered to save their search or receive e-alerts of just-listed properties. Only one registered for more information a property and as luck would have it, she was a Realtor that LOVED my map-based home search feature and preferred to use my site over the MLS system.
The real question here is, how many people kept coming back to my site and eventually registered? It’s hard to tell since I was unable to track their IP past 60 days but during that 60 days, I didn’t have as many return visitors as I would have liked. Consider the following, unless they bookmark your site or your site shows up on the first page of their search term ALL the time, it’s easy to forget the domain name. Let’s be honest, how many times have you found a site you loved and forgot to bookmark it just to spend hours looking for it again? Needless to say, a “Free Home Search” was far from “free” for me. Ouch. On a side note, we ended up closing almost the exact percentage of leads as we did in the first test scenario but the actual number of closings was still very small.
TEST 3 – The Hybrid Model
After that dismal second month, I was happy to start testing my “Hybrid Model”. I was originally going to start out with this model but I knew I could never be sure if it worked the best unless I tested all three and at a volume where the results could truly be measured. This model consisted of allowing the visitor to search for a given number of properties or conduct a specific number of searches before asking them to register. I believed that if they saw the true value of my site’s search over Zillow or Realtor.com then more visitors would register, even if they were forced to.
To my satisfaction the results were very good (though I think they could be better). We had 3,821 site visitors (more tweaking of course) of which 13% registered. Of the 496 people that registered, 65% had bad phone numbers but only 8% had a bad email address. That is a HUGE improvement for email addresses over the first test. That gave my team 456 viable leads to work and cut my cost per lead drastically.
TEST 4 – The Hybrid Model, 2nd Edition – Not Ready
I have one more model I would like to test but have yet to request either of our IDX providers to make this custom change to their registration. My idea is to use the Hybrid Model but not actually force registration. Instead, the registration box would pop up after viewing the first four homes but they could close it and continue searching. The box would pop up two more times during their search, each time with a different benefit to registering. In the end, if they chose not to register then … I haven’t gotten that far but would like to.
What do you think? If you tested this fourth model would you force registration at the third pop up or would you simply let the Internet fly free? I would love your thoughts and opinions. Have you tested any of these models and if so, what kind of success have you had?
February 13, 2010 at 1:01 pm
I use #3 and find it fairly effective, but still have the question about which model is best. Thanks.
February 15, 2010 at 9:18 am
I find your test and results extremely interesting. Early on I adopted a voluntary guestbook and I have felt that it has given me an adequate number of leads which have been converted into warm bodies actually purchasing homes. The sign in sheet does pop up when people want to search for homes, but if the visitor takes the time to read it, it will be evident that it is voluntary.
I have not been able to track the numbers so I’m not sure if people just see the sign in sheet and look for another website where they don’t have to sign in. I don’t really know how to do this.
One thing I am wondering is whether you have taken into account the time it takes to deal with the bogus leads you get from the forced sign-in. I am a solo agent and I was spending a lot of time dealing with those, when I could have been doing more dollar-productive things. When I switched to the voluntary, I got very few bogus names.
February 17, 2010 at 8:32 am
Hey Josh, I love the artices. I am using one of the same compnay you spoke of for getting prospects to my site. I am about 11% to 15%. I would like to share the approach I use and see how I can get better.
February 17, 2010 at 1:43 pm
@ John Ehlers – I would love to talk to you about conversion rates. Call me or email me anytime. I found several ways to increase the overall conversion rate, unfortunately, no matter what I try, I have been unable to significantly increase the initial visitor registration.
July 26, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Josh,
Enjoyed speaking with you today.
There is actually a 4th option that I think works the best. The idea behind getting someone to register is to get a lead. It helps if the data is good. Other studies have shown, and from my IBM days, that people will give up their information when they are ready to take action. In the meantime, they like the idea of being able to surf anonymously until then. But when they are ready to take action, the recent California Association of Realtors’ study showed that they will typically use the first agent they make contact with.
So one trick is to create a website that will provide enough information to keep those visitors coming back (return visits). You can do this by providing really good neighborhood and community data. By tying in a good social media strategy that lets the visitor know you are the local expert and you have the information they need or want. For example, one of the things I blog about revolves around buying raw land in Chatham County. Unlike general blog post that deal with general financial articles, I blog about the specific area and things a buyer or seller may not know, but should. Thus my return visitors is fairly high.
When they are ready to make contact, give them every means possible. Not just an e-mail or a form, give them live chat also. After all, it is all free to offer. Make is easy for the visitor to contact you.
The next thing is about registrations. I would give the visitor the ability to do initial searches. But to look at more detailed information about THAT particular property, I would ask them to register. Typically when they want more detailed information, they are a more serious buyer. Not always, but usually.
Another way to solicit registrations and a call to action is to provide something else of value. Here you might find that neighborhood reports, property data, or recent sales could be used. The idea is to think about a potential buyer and what information might be important to them if they were looking to purchase in that area. Then assemble that information in a format that can be used in exchange for their information. Because you are going to e-mail them the information, they have to give you a good e-mail address.
I have seen people use Craigslist and advertise free foreclosure or short sale list in order to get investor/buyers to sign up.
And don’t forget sellers, they need information also. A potential seller may be interested in a sales report for their neighborhood, or some other information.
Enjoyed the conversation.
Barrett
January 3, 2011 at 2:02 am
Good Evening Josh,
John Ehlers mentioned a lead source that he and you both use for lead generation. I have spent tons of money “trying” to find the right lead source. What lead source do you both use? Also, who would suggest using for a drip campaign as well as a prospect management tool…Micro-soft office 2007? I have look at top producer, but as a single agent it is hard to justify the expense. Thanks for your help. Your articles are loaded with valuable information.
April 25, 2011 at 5:22 pm
I have tested 1,2, & 3 and some parts of 4 as you described it. I am currently forcing registration immediately, #1, but only to view property details pages, and the registration uses a pop-up so you can see the details page in the background. I have tried #4 with the pop-up that you can close, but it results in substantially fewer leads. The one thing I haven’t done is to filter out the bad emails when comparing lead volume using the different types, which would be a good idea.