Times Online is reporting that “more than 75 per cent of UK estate agents are threatening to remove properties” from Rightmove. Estate Agency Today ran a poll that found most agents claiming Rightmove to be too expensive. I’m not too surprised at those results, what agent wouldn’t want a better deal? But when the crunch time comes, are agents really going to jump ship?
Times says: “Should the planned defection go ahead, it would leave Rightmove, which boasts around 20,000 agents and developers, a less reliable source of information for homebuyers wanting to compare properties on the market.”
The reality is however that Rightmove dominates the lead generation business with over 50% market share. To jump ship is considered by many as “marketing suicide”. In the 7 years of operation, Rightmove spent over 100 million on marketing and now has 40 million monthly visitors.
Are all the free portals combined capable of delivering as many leads as Rightmove? Let us know in your comments.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Robert Smith // Nov 5, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I think sites like DotHomes and Globrix combines can easily delivery as many leads as Rightmove. The problem is that agent’s don’t yet know how to measure leads generated from free traffic with web analytics.
2 Mark Williams // Nov 6, 2008 at 1:58 am
I would seriously challenge the figures quoted. Firstly, is that 40 million unique visitors, which would represent 2 out of every 3 people in the country (including babies, children and the elderly) or page views? Secondly, are they really spending around £14,000,000 every year on marketing? If so it must be really poor because I don’t see it.
Perhaps they receive £14,000,000 worth of free advertising from the nations estate agents, who seem possessed with adding ‘we advertise on Rightmove’ on every advertisement they pay for. No wonder the public seek out agents ‘who advertise on Rightmove’. No wonder Rightmove regularly thrust huge price rises on beleagured estate agents.
I can’t quote the references but I have seen a number of articles showing that the Rightmove cost-per-lead is greater than many other portals and at the end of the day it’s not about who’s cheapest or who has the most visitors …..
It’s about who is the most cost effective.
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