OnTheMarket has announced its one millionth unique visitor.
The site, which acknowledged “the PR battle” before launch, also reiterated its claim that 90% of its member offices have chosen to retain Rightmove as their “one other portal”.
The site, which launched on January 26, last night gave a marked nod to media owners with interests in other portals.
OnTheMarket’s new update to members said: “The PR battle in the run-up to launch was difficult as it was possible for our rivals (especially commentators and/or media associated with Zoopla) to make unsubstantiated assertions about your company, e.g. it would fail to attract agents/funding; it was anti-competitive; it would not be a credible portal; it would not launch on time; etc., etc.
“Since the launch of OnTheMarket.com, it has been possible for us to engage more fully, and many journalists have a greater appreciation of what is at stake and the scale and strength of our market entry.
“Our voice is being heard.”
The update also said OTM has now surpassed the 4,700 office mark, with more still to be added as their contracts with other portals expire.
In the update, chief executive Ian Springett said that more than 4,300 of the 4,700 are contracted for five years as Gold or Silver members.
However, Springett also admitted that the launch threw up “considerable operational challenges”.
He said: “A small proportion of members did not get the service they rightly expect, and if yours was one of these firms then please accept my apologies and my commitment to make things right.
“Feedback from members, (unbiased) commentators and the public about your new portal has been universally positive.
“The clean and clear presentation of search options, search results and your property details differentiates OnTheMarket.com from its rivals.
“The benefits of a fully-responsive design which adapts to device screen size is now evident to all. The portal is lightning-fast, delivers search results in precisely the format the user chooses and presents your properties in the best possible light.
“The presentation is geared to encouraging buyers and tenants to contact you about the properties you are marketing in whatever manner suits them best – this is our purpose.
“The portal we launched with has already been improved significantly in response to member feedback.
“We are now delivering continuous improvements, both small and large, to ensure OnTheMarket.com becomes the favourite portal for our member agents and the property-seeking public. One of the benefits of the state-of-the-art platform we have built is that we can react rapidly when change is needed.”
He said of OnTheMarket’s immediate rival: “As a result of the choices made by our members, Zoopla has already lost large amounts of property stock to OnTheMarket.com.
“Zoopla is currently using outdoor/ buses/ taxis and radio, media which we believe are targeted primarily at agents. It has not advertised on TV since October.
“We have plenty of examples of areas where OnTheMarket.com already has stronger available property stock than Zoopla, and some examples where it has more stock than Rightmove in those few areas where members have retained Zoopla.
“The swing to OnTheMarket.com is increasing all the time as we continue to grow membership.”
Springett said that the objectives remain to become the number two portal “as rapidly as possible” and to “build to become a credible alternative to the No. 1 portal”.
He said that the plan is to replace Zoopla as the number two portal by January 2016.
Springett also urged a collaborative movement, asking member agents to advocate OTM wherever possible and to continue co-branding and local promotion.
He also asked member agents to use Earlybird for all new properties.
The update ends: “We will be doing everything we can to support your business as we drive OnTheMarket.com forwards.”
Nice, another step forward in less than a month, another mention from Zoopla in their update……….even though they don’t think its a runner they still keep talking about it though? Just bought a second hand car for Mrs Jonnie, found a website with some nice stuff on it called Pistonheads, I found it because Autotrader had an ad telling me they had more cars than them, good to have Zoopla talking so much about OTM might even be helping with the traffic figures? – Jonnie
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7 mentions of Zoopla in this press release by OTM , what was your point exactly ?
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@danny, don’t do the pretend ‘ I no comprendes’ bit mate, it’s not a good look, you fully understand what my point is……….don’t you? Tell me you are just provoking debate and you’re not really this dim – Jonnie
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Red handed mate ! I would love to hear from one of the agents that decided to stay with Zoopla and OTM what they think of the rhetoric . He talks about the “very small number that stayed with Zoopla” but from the analysts reports on here wasn’t it about 1000? That’s a fifth … It’s quite obvious what he’s trying to do but I’d don’t understand it . If every single member who joins AM chooses Rightmove is Springett secretly working for them . Kill a decent competitor who has eyeballs in return for a weak second placer that cannot grow if it has no more stock than the market leader ? This I truly don’t understand …
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Danny, Cant you see?……If Zoopla are killed off in favour of OTM….then a date is set by members to all come off Rightmove. Then Rightmove are dead overnight, literally. Most pro agents can see that it really is as simple as that now……especially with the added incentive of leaving the likes of Countrywide on “ghost sites”. That’s why the owners of most of the key agents in most towns that haven’t yet signed up to OTM are attending meetings as firstly they realise if they, as the remainder not on otm, switch from Z to OTM now, Zoopla are out of business in that town. As they now realise this is possible they can see that RM will be just as easy to drop if the OTM members do it together. Then RM are finished…..unless you think people will still only search z and rm which will mean countrywide and co will clean up?
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I’m not sure that I want to to remove all points of online differtiation between me and the larger independents I compete against, they have more financial muscle than me and taking away the choices of where I advertise doesn’t sound like a good thing to me . If everyone has 1 website what stops them Just outspending me on their website , papers and other medium. Sounds a bit Trojan horsey to me
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“Sounds a bit Trojan horsey to me”….love the analogy but you seem to make it sound more conspiracy theory than Trojan horse.
We will all have more loads more income when this happens, how people spend it will be up to them……..For me as a small/medium independent I may look at other areas to spend some of it, but I’m not about to spend more than Savills do on stuff, but I may spend a bit more than “mr 1 man band” who operates out of a kiosk at the station…….But that’s no different from what happens now. If everyone was happy with c10% increases every year from z and RM then OTM wouldn’t be heading in this successful direction as quickly as it has. You see ,if you stay with Rm and Z over the next 2 years, not only will you be amongst the 12ish % that countrywide are advertising, but you will be paying 10x the costs of OTM just for the privelage! I would rather have the 1 portal and look around for other innovative ways to service our clients property in the future.
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Wilko, my Zoopla costs are relatively he same of what OtM want …I won’t make any saving at all. But the. Everyone hasn’t come off Rightmove . If I lose say 5 instructions a year I’ll be out of pocket
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Nothing has changed for me. I was talking to a SW London agent a few days ago who was involved in Primelocation – I was quite shocked by the vehemence toward Springett over rate rises imposed by him after the acquisition by daily mail. This guy is profit motivated but running a not for profit organisation. Where does that lead to? In other sectors it has traditionally led to massive pay rises, poor decision making and unchecked supplier agreements.
It is very clear to me what the options are here: replace a current duopoly where the motivations of both businesses are transparent: profit, with a duopoly where one player is motivated by profit and one isn’t. Where does that end? Monopoly, with otm and hoopla slogging it out while RM is free to do whatever it likes. This is a shortsighted and regressive project. Those involved should think very carefully abut where this leads.
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13 likes for this comment? Seriously? So insignificant that nobody (other than me) has bit.
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Its going to take at least 3 years before OTM is any threat to Zoopla, also High street Agents haven’t addressed there fees this will be the major downfall for OTM in the future as more and more people start using online agents this will strengthen Zoopla and Rightmove as they will have more stock.
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ladies and gentleman. I present the comment above from someone who knows nothing about the search habits of buyers or tenants.
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Ooh dear, Eamonn – seems like some people don’t like your comment. Mr Gecko has a fwend. Or has figured that if you log out you can vote twice, more like.
If it’s any consolation, I love your music… ;o)
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Dont they search on Zoopla and Rightmove?
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So explain to me what peoples search habits are? I guess they go on all the local Estate agent websites spending days looking on each site, oh no they go on Zoopla and Rightmove then they might stumble across OTM….well eventually! who the hell has time to search through hundreds of Estate agents sites these days..get a grip
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“…oh no they go on Zoopla and Rightmove then they might stumble across OTM….well eventually!”
Well hopefully for you they go on Z and RM… because if they only go on the former they won’t find any of your properties – will they?
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No boy, they look at RM and Z and OTM…. even then they don’t find some mug with three houses for sale and don’t call him / disturb a jolly good afternoon of Sky Sports and a cheeky bit of ‘me time’ on PornHub for a mug like you, Sit your self down, get something that looks like the smallest smidge of market share in you own town at least then come back and tell us how its done nationally, if you aren’t event the 19th best agent in the town you are in with 40p fees don’t rock up here dribbling on to the rest of us about how to do it and the ‘its all goin’ online innit’ cobblers that puppies like you that never saw the early 90’s keep getting a wet patch in your baby grow about – Jonnie
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“…also High street Agents haven’t addressed there fees…”
Sorry? Talk me through that one please.
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Oh… hang on – isn’t it this guy who usually chucks a lit firework into the room them scurries away giggling like a demented hyena…?
I’ll not expect a response, then.
Pity, really – I was looking forward to the exquisite feel of tooth on ankle…
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Lets look at it logically, over the years the way we conduct business over the internet has changed. We now buy most of our food online, buy our car insurance online and bank online. Are you that blinkered ONLINE IS THE FUTURE OF ALL BUSINESS.
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Blinkered? Not even maybe.
Deluded? Nah – we’ll leave that to you.
Now – you gonna answer my question or not?
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All High street agents keep doing is moaning about how much its costing them in fees to advertise on Zoopla and Rightmove, now you have your own portal couldn’t you reduce your fees?, say 0.5% that seems more reasonable than some agent still charging over 2%. Does anyone listen to the consumer?
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Not sure many agent are charging OVER 2%
I think the average in UK must be 1% and i know we have a ****** tough time getting 1.5%!
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Balgores charge 2.1% in my area, most of the other agents charge 1.25%
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what do they know about market share in Basvegas? – Jonnie
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I say well done to Balgores!
And i think 1.25% is acceptable fee to pay and agent that is good at his/her job
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“does anyone listen to the consumer” – A really good point Gecko. With just 6 properties either sold or for sale, an internet only presence and cheap fees……I think your potential customers are speaking should you wish to listen!
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The problem is Gecko. and for anyone whos interested is this.
You and other online agents actualy dont know how the fully industry works past the online inquiry and advertising your fee.
Its true that 90-95% of people start their property search on line. The problem is that people forget a very important word in that sentence. START.
It would be lovely if RM or Zoopla stated 95% of people start their search online but only 0% finish it online. (big drop off)
Selling goods on line is one thing but estate agents are not selling goods. they are selling a service.
Now just to set the record straight Im not a enemy of online agents, I think there is a good place for them. Namely they deal with the consumers are never happy, view agents a an evil necessatity and end up costing us money.
The problem many agents have with online agents is they like the smell of their on Fxrts.
In truth they do alot of great stuff but they are only robbing themselves.
Lets take the arguement we do the same thing. Well my average fee is 2.1% which means that I only need to sell 1 house to your 4 or 5.
My wife is happier with me Smart sells through an agent that can sell not one that can only advertise their service or product.
Jog on
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Jog on….what are you eleven..I agree with most of what you said, but this sentence makes no sense, It would be lovely if RM or Zoopla stated 95% of people start their search online but only 0% finish it online. (big drop off) ??? explain please. We offer the same service as you do. And your right people hate Estate Agents especially when they take 2.1% for selling their home, thats more than Solicitors charge and they do most of the work. Jog on..brilliant you must be the negotiator at your firm.
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Cannot. Breathe. What a comment there Gecko!
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Why does everyone hide behind a silly name on here? I seem to be the only person gutsy enough to use my own details, I thought you all believed in transparency
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“Why does everyone hide behind a silly name on here?”
Darn good question!
Go on – YOU explain YOUR decision first…
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that’s quite funny…… but seriously PeeBee why you hiding? just post under your own name or company name. Lets start again hi im Barry from Gecko and you are?
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Hi Barry – just to recap – I’m PeeBee. Have been for years. ‘Christened’ such at school and it stuck.
All my friend call me it. Non-friends tend to have a giggle and turn it into ‘PeeWee’ or something just as prattish – but that’s fine by me as it means I’m gnawing at the right ankles.
My views are MY views – no need to involve my company.
I don’t crave publicity.
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Still wont give your name then???
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Here – have two scenarios…
1. My name is Peter Bolton King
2. My name is Peter Brown
Which one makes my opinion any more or less valid?
My name is irrelevant – but I prefer PeeBee. Call me what you want (I’m sure you need no coaxing on that one…).
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Come on PeeBee what’s your real name? who do you work for? are you an Agent, are you just a blogger? or do you just have to much to say?
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Still no reply??????????come on PeeBee your bigger than that..whats your name? #transparency #myarse
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Tut tut – naughty language doesn’t make you a big boy either, Barry.
What’s your point?
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Oh hang on – I forgot you’ve already stated your ‘point’ – that because SOME shoppers buy their beans online so will ALL homebuyers.
Thanks for that. Point noted. I’ll watch out for it happening.
Oh – and I’ll leave a note for future generations of the family to keep watching for it as well…
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HI im Barry Scott. The man from Cillit Bang
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“OTM announces millionth visitor ” with absolutely no reference to the measure used . That’s vastly different to what the other web measuring services are saying . I’m not saying that I don’t believe their internal stats. No wait … Yes, that’s exactly what I saying . He says “uniques” but for the boss of a major website not to tell you whether that’s unique visitors or unique visits is a bitstrange . Perhaps eye can ask for clarity .Also wondering if they wanted to do a press release on my trillionth sale.. Based on internal unsubstantiated figures
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“OTM announces millionth unique visitor ” – you missed it out and then had a go at him for missing it out….. when he didn’t!
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It was early mate…. Still don’t believe it !!!
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No prob, go back to sleep and continue make your own figures up.
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Of course I’m probably wrong about OTM, I think we should consider what some little snot ball outfit with 3 houses for sale on Zoopla and a silly name thinks, ‘it’s all goin’ on line init’ if only one would reach into his pjs, give himself a morning scratch, have a stretch and a blow off then shuffle the three feet from his bed to his desk and tell us how brilliant online is unless it’s OTM, you see it’s only the budget boys that can do online, the rest of us are too ‘outdated / conventional / add catchphrase here’ etc…………….even though we are the only ones to have actually disrupted anything in the market with OTM who say little but keep getting talked about? – Jonnie
P.s Looks like a nice sunny day in Basildon, I’d open my curtains before I start working on a day like this
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Lol, Brilliant, shall we discuss this again in five years?
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Only if you’re still in business by then Gecko.
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Delighted Springett is pleased with launch so far and plans to be no.2 (not for profit you understand….). I wonder how many independent agents he’ll take down with him who’s phones have not been ringing for the last two weeks…?
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According to Comscore figures (from July 14) produced for a recently published Enders Analysis report about online property advertising the quoted monthly unique visitors for Rightmove and Zoopla were:
Rightmove: 11 million unique vistors
Zoopla: 7.3 million unique visitors
At that point Gumtree was the nearest challenger to RM & Z with 1.1 million unique visitors.
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Jan and Febs pre and post launch figures will be interesting. Also comscores data on the number of users who visit the duopoloy and OTM, a combination or one only. If OTM can show a small unique audience early that’s powerful stuff. Unlikely though I think.
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Property Eye will be doing releases on behalf of Springett and Zoopla when things settle down, just to keep the traffic and user generated squabbling at the same levels!
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Can someone at Eye do their job properly, get Springett on the phone and get some actual evidence of their figures so far so that those of us who haven’t gone over yet can make an informed decision. Still not impressed with the massive launch that’s blown the public away.
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I think eye are doing their job properly
Jog on
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Also might be a good time time to raise this here , can eye ask Mr Springett what his plans are to enforce the rules on one other portal and no online agents are once they become market number 2 and therefore effectively they become illegal under competition law ?
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No. it’s not a good time yet but I’m sure you’ll get your answer in due course.
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As a non for profit organisation they wont have this problem.
jog on
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So not for profit organisations aren’t subject to UK law …. Right .
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M Barnard – good to see actual data, I also know that Rightmove had their biggest EVER month of traffic in Jan with 1.5 billion page impressions, no wonder their staying out of the slanging match between Z and OTM
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Thanks Chrispy. Personally I’m not a fan of reporting page impressions as these can be influenced by the amount of searches and ‘click throughs’ that each unique user does.
I can see why RM always use it though as it always paints a really good picture for them.
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Sorry Eamonn I thought journalism was about asking questions and investigating stories not just posting headlines from your biggest advertiser?
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That’s ok, no need to apologise. Keep jogging
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And of course you were posting comments like that Chrispy when the Mail were running articles about the damage OTM does to sellers?!
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Weird when its a story about OTM or Z loads of new names appear with comments.
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See Zoopla/eMoov ‘s anti OTM squad have crawled out from under their duvets early this morning.
You see this is what I don’t get, if you are all agents why do you give a monkeys about what OTM is doing? Why aren’t you rubbing your hands with glee because all your OTM competitors are going to be out business soon and you’ll all be switched on enough to pick up the pieces?
If you aren’t agents, what’s it got to do with you unless you have an ulterior motive? I’m certainly not seeing defenders of the Rightmove faith on here.
And as for BD’s comment about OTM agents being taken down by the phone not ringing, so they weren’t on Rightmove then? The phone wasn’t ringing for us from Zoopla leads either my friend, they were a fraction of those from Rightmove that’s why OTM was a no brainer.
In major towns around here, OTM already has more property stock than Zoopla and I’d suggest buyers and tenants don’t give the proverbial about which portal a property is on if it’s what they want.
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Post of the day for me. All we need now is Digital Expert & Harree’s input and we’ve got the full st this morning.
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Calm down boys, touched a nerve?
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I have just compared the detailed views in the last 7 days of one of my higher priced properties against RM and OTM. RM 93 OTM 179. I can also confirm my client is delighted with OTM, they think it is clearer and the photographs are better. I am more than encouraged that I backed OTM from the start. RM will be on the basic listing from next month and on a one months notice period.
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1 million views.
4600 member agents
Every agent has check 217 times in the last 3 weeks 😉
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Before any OTM rep jumps on me that is tongue in cheek!
But if you do divide 217 checks by 21 days and divide by 3 (average number of staff on a given day) it is only 3.4 views a day……..
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one millionth unique visitor. Not page views and not from the same people. Unique. UNIQUE. These are unique. Unique visitors to the site. Visits that are unique. Any other way you would like that put?
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Calm down Mark!
yes one millionth UNIQUE visitor but would be interesting to see the timescale they set to UNIQUE (As i am sure you are aware can be set to hour, day, week etc)
But it does nicely show how easy it is to manipulate figures!
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as I’ve said before… It doesn’t matter what they set it too. What would be your benchmark, smileplease? What would make you ‘smile’ ?
Yes figures are easy to manipulate. Rightmove and zoopla have done it since they started.
I just find it silly that agents who basically complained about price hikes, profits etc over the years are now so negative towards OTM. It was only launched at the end of January. It’s done well so far and will continue to grow, don’t be afraid – come and support it too 😉
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Yes Z and RM is silly too, 11 million Unique views in a month …… Please!
To be honest i dont know the views that i would like to see, what i would like is an independent body measuring them all the same. (when this was last done OTM said it was false). That way you can gauge how much of the market they have.
I am one that complains about fees to RM, and yes OTM has done well to get where it is.
However i feel once the agents that want to commit before launch (i.e. the ones still in contract to Z) join that will be pretty much the maximum members they will get to UNLESS something else is offered / developed.
I may well jump on board in the future (and hope i do as means its working) but sadly i cant see it in the near future.
But all the luck to all those that have taken the step.
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you could jump on board now and support it with your property stock? It’s a very simple thing to do and dropping zoopla has had zero effect. I genuinely have had two enquiries from OTM site this morning (one sales, one letting) which isn’t bad considering our area is struggling for available stock. Buyers will follow where the property is, fact.
OTM will not get the figures like zoopla and rightmove just yet, because they don’t have the stock level that the other two have but these figures will increase and supporting that by giving it your stock will do you no harm, I promise. But long term you’ll be part of an agent owned portal that we can (eventually) decide to pull from rightmove too. You can’t expect figures that are remotely like the other two just yet, so once again, fence sitters please use your business sense and start thinking longer term.
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Love the passion and commitment Mark! (and wished there were more pro members like you to have a reasoned discussion with)
However my business plan does not fit with the OTM offering at the moment so at this moment i will not join.
You are right traffic was never going to be up there day one or even year one!
Out of interest did you back the agent owned “propertylive” portal? – A dream is good, but you need muscle, backing and A LOT of time and money.
The one thing that is clear from all the pro reports is Z is not missed. It does make me think that if i was to drop Z would i advertise on OTM or just stay with RM?
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Ah for once we have a reasonable discussion going 🙂
I didn’t know too much about property live to be honest. Completely understand you thinking about using just the one main portal though, but my thought process is that RM will continue to increase rates with a completely unjustified profit margin, due to it being a PLC. This is of no benefit to us as business owners. This simply can’t be sustained as I would have to pass this increase onto the customer. Our fees aren’t getting higher, they’re being squeezed.
This is the first credible and financially backed portal that has legs, in my eyes it’s time to embrace and support it, no other portal has the target driven vision and finances to take the big two on.
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C’mon you lot you know this is a poor performance especially as most of these will be agents both members and non members exercising curiosity. In my town we have over 90 agent offices and only 2 offices are with OTM how is this giving their vendors good service?
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So good service is only about putting the property on certain property portals? You demonstrate yet again you know nothing about estate agency.
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what a complete fool. what are you talking about offer a bad service for being on OTM.
Its unbelieveable how people love the smell of countrywides and Zooplas PR ShXt
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Four major towns in our area, scores on the doors for listings, town 1 Zoopla 131 listed for sake/sstc, OTM 337, town 2 Zoopla 110, OTM 340, town 3 Zoopla 93 OTM 140 town 4 Zoopla 213 OTM 187
Not OTM stats, taken from Zoopla and OTM sites 10 mins ago.
So after less than a month OTM has a bigger market share than Zoopla in 3 of the 4 major towns. Forget all your visitors this, comscore that, buyers and tenants follow properties, regardless of the name above the door (or on the bedroom for many online agents).
No wonder Zoopla/this week’s online agent/corporates have turned to rent a troll.
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Ha ha ha ho ho ho what a bunch of clowns as for stato (El Burro) i’d suggest you ask OTM to give some stats on how many agents have signed up since launch? Now lets read some PR ShXt
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Serious question – why are you still here?
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One day soon one of them will open the gate to private listings. If I was in charge at Zoopla I would do it now. Has anyone thought about their strategy for when this finally happens?
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I have and worried about this.
However i dont think they will do it now as they will lose pretty much every agent they have (somewhere between 10 – 15k depending on figures) at circa £300 per branch per month on a regular advertising contract they will not want to lose them.
How much can they charge a house seller? maybe £100 and it is a one off transaction not repeated month after month.
They may well go down this route but they will have to be a lots less agents using Z.
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If you see my post below I think that Zoopla will do this within 3 years. They will successfully put out of business most or all the onlinies if they are lucky, but have little impact on the main high st pro agents as they will hold the vast majority of stock, which will be advertised on OTM…..where onlinies aren’t allowed. A couple of burglaries/attacks will be widely publicised as a pitfall of showing your house to all and sundry which will be another reason the public will want to entrust the valuation,sale and progression to someone who knows what they are doing.
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Spot on smile please…. Private listings will never pay out what the Z or RM shareholders expect…. and more so like you say the first to make that move will kiss good bye to the remaining EA clients they have……. Actually go on Z, allow private listings!
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Great point. Lets not forget that the management of Zoopla also own a venture capital company investing in Emoov. This is envitable and OTM could do more damage in the long run than its member agents think.
OTM are killing Zoopla slowly where as they should be offering every incentive to non member agents to get on their site now and Kill them quick.
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I think you will find it is going to be quick, like I’ve said today; Members are speaking to non members in towns across the uk now and, in the vast majority of cases, pro independent, successful agents are now getting together to sign up with OTM with a view to giving up Zoopla, making their town a “2 portal town” leaving countrywide behind”
Once the tipping point is reached those holding back for reasons often discussed on this forum will see that not only is a self owned portal a possibility, but a reality and have no reason not to join.
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Wilko
I would love to join OTM but they lack so much for me. I just saw their rep today and I was so disapointed. I was ready to join up but she talked me out of it.
I hope they will suceed but they have got their approach wrong. If they do prevail it will be inspite of themselves.
Shame they could have been so much better
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Wilko forgetting the rep (if you can) what would have had you sign up…. what could she have said to talk you out of it?….. Before she walks in, you have seen OTM and finally decided I’m ready….. so what was it?
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Sorry Wilko the above was for Eamonn
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Hahahaha and RightMove is laughing at all of you, while they raise there prices up 10% and then another 10% next year… 😛
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I have to say that in 2 major towns where we operate there are meetings being planned with ALL agents who are/aren’t on OTM at the moment with a simple aim. All agents in said town drop Zoopla and go with on the market. That effectively means no stock for said large towns on Zoopla. 1 or 2 years later, when this is repeated across the country Zoopla won’t have hardly any stock. Once that situation is reached the agents in these towns (some of which I have spoken to) will be more than happy to drop Rightmove along with the other agents so they don’t have any stock as well. 400 offices in Jan and more and more now seeing it is a way forward. If I were a city analyst I would put an urgent “sell” on their stock.
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Good to hear that there is meeting planned, shows they are not just sitting waiting for agents.
What is the hook for these agents though to join if they did not join a month ago?
What are the corporate agents like in your town? hold much stock?
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Good questions. Most agency owners I have spoken to wanted to see a product before committing in any way, so that is why a lot have joined in Jan or are looking to get on board. The real hook now is that they can see that it IS actually possible to just have (1 not for profit) property portal. Most sizeable towns will be 15-20% countrywide/corporate with other interest and 80-85% others. In the 2 towns I mentioned Countrywide etc have 12% of the stock. Of the remaining % 52% came off Zoopla and onto OTM. Companies that deal with 43% (not on OTM yet) can now see that if they drop Zoopla and move to OTM they can save money and essentially Zoopla is finished in that town. Some of the guys who own great high street agents WANT to be involved in the meeting/switch as they can now see an instant gain and massive step towards long term portal savings of, in some cases £100,000s, per annum. Another reason is the c10% annual increases that RM have just dished out. The penny is well and truly dropped with most agents and they now know this is the right and only way to go. Anyone with opposing views at this stage is either short sighted, not a pro agent, or an agent that will be left behind on 2 portals with little or no stock, and that’s a fact.
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Really good post Wilko, very interesting. The biggest concern I see emerging for Zoopla isn’t what OTM is or isn’t doing in terms of traffic of traffic/content etc, it’s the number of agent saying nothing negative happened when they dropped Zoopla (poss some RM cases as well) i.e there is a high level of cross over between RM and Z users. Before OTM get too excited I don’t thing that’s compelling enough to sign up to a long term OTM commitment, but it would give me reason to have a harder look at traffic analytics and see if I could save myself a chunk of duplicated marketing money. Unless OTM get a sizable volume of unique listings this all adds up to hand rubbing for RM whilst the gap between 2 and 3 closes, but extends the lead of 1.
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Some really good points there, but from the conversations I have had – traffic (initially)- is NOT now a motivator for going on OTM. In 2 of the large towns where we operate the OTM and Zoopla stock is almost split 50/50…….The 50% now realise that if they all, at a single meeting decided to drop Zoopla and go onto OTM that Z is finished in that town……..That would take a few hours, that’s all. With Zoopla out of the picture in that town and all agents having an advantage over countrywide (who are left as the only agent on Z with c12% of stock) otm could then be advertised and mentioned throughout the next year or 2 by those agents until traffic is up. It would then take 1 more meeting, in those towns, for everyone to agree to come off rightmove and hey presto, Rightmove only have 12% of the stock. It won’t take long for persons to look on OTM for that towns property………and anyone who says “it’s not in the public interest” can try telling clients why it IS in the public interest to advertise in a town where only c12% of property is advertised on rm and z.
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For or against this is THE topic of interest for everyone involved in our industry and always gets the most comments. However when I solicit views on this from those not involved(friends/family) I am met with blank expressions. And that goes for vendors as well. Part of our valuation sales pitch was always ‘we advertise your property on ALL the leading websites’. It is now impossible for any agent to make this claim! Last week I amended my pitch and honestly explained that we were advertising on RM, Z , PL etc but that there was a ‘new’ portal that we weren’t on called OTM. I was met with more blank stares at every valuation. As I have explained before my patch is in, what I am told by Pro OTM, a currently OTM ‘weak’ spot. My area wasn’t however exempt from the OTM advertising launch. I can appreciate the benefits for those in an OTM ‘HOT’ spot and good luck to them.
As a fence sitter(rather than anti OTM) I am with smileplease. OTM doesnt yet fit my marketing plans. Maybe in another format or as it develops I hope that it will. I will continue to analyse every development with keen interest. I will also try to seperate the wheat from the chaff (and there seems to be plenty of that from both sides).
I can only commend those who jumped in at the start and wish them good luck.
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” I amended my pitch and honestly explained that we were advertising on RM, Z , PL etc but that there was a ‘new’ portal that we weren’t on called OTM. I was met with more blank stares at every valuation”
That is because, on the whole, the public don’t care as much about this as some agents think they do………..That should be even more motivation for those to join OTM with a view to leaving Zoopla 1st and RM in a year or 2.
The new campaign is clearer than ever, drop zoopla, get with the majority in your town to back otm. Stay with Rm until traffic / awareness increases in otm and all drop RM at once. The instant savings would be on average 10’s of £1000s a year up to £100’s of £1,000s a year….It’s hard to continue to use most arguments against this campaign……unless you are online only or countrywide?
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“get with the majority in your town to back otm. Stay with Rm”…Yep. Zoopla have messed up, instead of trying to woo back their customers they’ve only motivated them even more with their weekly press release of made up figures and constant touting campaigns and so on. The leads from OTM will be gradual but will build up and until then Rightmove is more than sufficient for a high street agent to do their job more than effectively. Of course Zooplas main problem is that they are now beginning to realise that they won’t ever get back the agents that have left espcially as agents it’s becoming evident that they never needed both RM and Z in the first place.
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“get with the majority in your town to back otm. Stay with Rm” None of the 12 agents in ‘my’ towns have joined OTM. I will not be the first to break this as I believe it would put me at a disadvantage at this point. And at the risk of covering old ground Zoopla actually works much better for our Lettings than RM. That is why we remain on them both. Sales-RM, Lettings-Z. It works for us. For now.
The problem for me is how do OTM get to the tipping point in my area? I believe more than ever that it will not happen without incentives and they are not at the point of addressing this yet. Maybe when they want nationwide coverage they will feel able to give the necessary incentives? OTM have got to grow to be sustainable long term. I will be willing to listen when they address this.
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I agree that there are a few areas with low otm impact, but in general most areas have otm agents and in many many cases otm is the 2nd biggest portal. I believe it will be those areas that will now grow very rapidly, and then the area next to it where there is some cross over and so on.
How will Zoopla be able to function when only a few areas (such as yours) are Zoopla dominated, they won’t they will have to find other ways to make money?
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Paul H the problem is all parties are going to be loath to publish exact membership/area coverage. I honestly don’t know which of us is niave in our expectations. I can only judge my own and surrounding areas and that doesnt give me confidence to believe OTM is 2nd. Maybe they should use this as a lever and target ‘new’ areas? Can we get Peter Snow to do an Election night style graph, with RM, Z & OTM gains and losses? OTM/Z must know where they are strong and weak. Short term OTM have massively strengthened RM’s position as now probably the only true nationwide coverage portal. What I do know is they have spent a lot of money advertising a product that is not widely available in my area(nod to Wilko) It will be difficult to attract viewers back to the portal once they have been initially disappointed. There is a strong argument to actually not advertise at all in weak areas until they are targeted properly?
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“Can we get Peter Snow to do an Election night style graph, with RM, Z & OTM gains and losses?”…No need for Peter Snow, just pick a town/city, go to all 3 portals and search for properties. Alternatively search for agents. Some areas are already sown up.
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Only two weeks ago (pro Zoopla) analyst Jefferies admitted themselves that they believe that a further 3000 agents will “churn” off Z. Should this happen then there will be some 8000 agents OTM there will be no way back from that for Z.
It is therefore correct for OTM to be targeting Rightmove.
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I believe that the one portal only policy from inception is the reason that OTM aren’t where they should be. In my opinion (and many others) they should have introduced that at a later stage once they had a much larger membership. Once the tipping point was achieved the strategy should then have changed. If they stick with the current policy it makes more sense to target the weaker of its rivals Z. Once they have put Z out of business they should then, and only then, from a much stronger position target RM. One step at a time and its going to be a long road!
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I agree that would have been much better.
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The reason they can’t do it is the same reason they can’t keep it once they grow , they will legally have to drop the rule if they become a player in the marketplace … Simple as that
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On what basis? If it will be illegal then, why isn’t it illegal now? Explain please.
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I asked Mr Springett whether the “One Other Portal” rule was legal at the first meeting we had. Apparently (which means I’m going by what I was told) it is legal to have such a rule while you’re starting up. Conversely, when you’re established and have good market share, then it wouldn’t be legal.
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I still haven’t seen a credible strategy for how OTM hopes to grow its membership from where it is right now.
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I totally Agree. Im beside myself with how they plan to grow and take on RM. Its seems like a fairy story gone wrong
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What is a unique visitor? How does it relate to enquiries and viewings?
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QuPeople that only shop on their portal not others. Therefore it is of significant importance a unique vistor to RM will not be looking on Zoopla or OTM.
OTM have 1m. ( excellent for a portal that has been in business for 3 weeks. But its 7,000,000 less buyers than those (Mary’s) at Zoopla and heaven knows how many less than RM.
This says one thing. the buyers you want are still looking at Zoopla and RM and worse still until they see something on the market that they like a vast majority of them dont want to sell their property.
This is one of the many many reasons we all have a lack of stock at moment. Allowing for other matters such a General election etc.
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“QuPeople that only shop on their portal not others. Therefore it is of significant importance a unique vistor to RM will not be looking on Zoopla or OTM.”
Erm… Sorry but I’m fairly sure that isn’t correct, Eamonn.
The definition is “Unique visitors refers to the number of distinct individuals requesting pages from the website during a given period, regardless of how often they visit.” (credit: Wikipedia)
I also think you will find that things like whether an ISP is static or dynamic may make a difference; not to mention the same people logging onto a site via home PC; tablet; Smartphone and work PC (you know… like the lass on the RM advert trying to find her happy summat-or-other on her employers’ time…) – that would be FOUR “unique visitors” who happen to all be the same person!
Someone who understands this ******** better than me (ain’t hard…) might want to put me right if I’m way off mark – please do – I’m always looking to learn.
“But its 7,000,000 less buyers than…” Again, Eamonn – love your music as I do – I would strongly argue that terminology with you. SEVEN MILLION BUYERS?? Seven million bored/nosy folk, more like – or if MY understanding of ‘unique visitors’ is correct, make that 1,750,000 tops bored/nosy folk.
BIIIIG difference, matey!
Keep the toons coming, though! ;o)
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“How does it relate to enquiries and viewings?”
Helluva question, Robert – I would have to say ten to the power eleven or twelve “unique visitors” to an enquiry – as to viewings that depends on how good the person is on the Agent’s end of the line at converting an enquiry into an appointment, dunnit! ;o)
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Sorry I haven’t understood that, is there a list of *** existing vendors, YYY potential vendors, ZZZ applicants and ??? AM agency staff, ### prospective AM agents, ~~~ Competition portal executives and so on who have looked at OTM?
With some 333,000 AM vendors, about 900,000 applicants, 20,000 MM agency staff, (the list goes on) – 1,000,000 is good but it seems a bit light.
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You would also have to apply that logic to the RMZ figures which brings them down in size by the same proportion. On that basis the differences in numbers would be much less dramatic.
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I already did that Robin, way back in early 2012 when I was able to dig beneath the then 14,000,000 (RM) and 10,000,000 for the newly formed Find,Prime & Zoop corporation, I was pointing out the numbers being quoted were meaningless and bore no relationship to basic agency performance indicators.
The point I am making , not for the first time is that rather than play the same game as Rightmove and Zoopla subscriction jacking up departments, use OTM for genuine self assesment as a single business would to assess and hone its performance.
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Here’s one for anyone who thinks that ‘unique visitors’ are key to the success of their business – today I’ve had at least three people look at my window. That’s a thirtythree percent increase on yesterday.
Should I be taking on more staff to cope?
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Shh! Peebee the local authority will be looking to increase your business rates, more traffic equals more money right?
When you say these 3 unique visitors looked in your window… what do you know about them? House to sell in your area, nosey neighbours, Online agency rep collecting comparable data for their afternoon appointment appraisal? my guess is they looked and moved on. You counted them and can happily tell the bank manage things are picking up. I really doubt you would class them as anything certainly not the basis of a subscription structure or a press release.
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“the local authority will be looking to increase your business rates, more traffic equals more money right?” Absolutely! I’m thinking of actually paying business rates to another couple of local authorities in order to increase the traffic also, Robert.
“these 3 unique visitors looked in your window… what do you know about them?”
Well… one had a hat on; one looked a bit worse for wear (disadvantage of being within 50 yards – sorry – 47 metres – of a pub…) – and the third sort of looked as he ran past – but the copper did actually catch him before he got to the end of the street so at least he didn’t look in the competitors windows…
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Have you thought of setting up your own local authority, paying them roughly the same but doing away with the feeling they have you by the short hairs?
Surely that was 4 unique visitors for you then and two for your competition?
Daftness aside, no agent would count window browsers until they were spoken to and qualified, they almost certainly wouldn’t have made it into a system or hotbox without the minimum of a name and means of contact yet it seems the digital equivalent of a point to or tap on the window now counts as something of value. An applicant driving past your window to the car park, a walk past on the way to the shops, a walk past on the way back and driving past home again doesn’t add up to 4 applicants or window hits. In my book 1 applicant is one applicant and then only if you know their needs and something about them.
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“Have you thought of setting up your own local authority, paying them roughly the same but doing away with the feeling they have you by the short hairs?”
Yes I have, Robert – but the most cunning part of my plan is that I will operate a “One Other Local Authority Rule” – do you think it’ll catch on? ;o)
As to the rest of your post – it is an absolutely perfect 21st Century reworking of the old cherry “when is a buyer actually a buyer?”
My offering for this week’s “No $h!t, Sherlock” Award is that I think differently to the great majority of my fellow Estate Agents. I was brought into the industry differently, from a different discipline – and as a result I ‘look’ at things differently – but with the same aims and goals. My differentiation I believe serves me (and therefore my clients) well as I have a slightly different skill-set. But I had to learn the game – and most of it was learned the hard way – by trial and error.
As the office junior for a developer, working on a New Homes site at weekends was a way to make some extra cash. I thought that unless I told my gaffer I’d been rushed off my feet all weekend I wouldn’t get the overtime the next week. So I reported thirty, fifty visitors every weekend. Pick a number; double it and add yer age. Everyone who passed the Showhome window got counted. Twice. Seemed to keep them happy enough.
It was only when I went to another company I realised this was a BIIIIG mistake. They counted “prospects” – and I soon had to learn that a “prospect” was basically someone who had filled in a Reservation Form, but the ink was not yet dry. My first exposure to the Good Ole’ Numbers Game! Pick a number; HALF it, then deduct your inside leg measurement. Result – if you didn’t sell something to the ONE “prospect” you counted you were grilled as to why!
Numbers … statistics… ******** – all the same. I get a list from RM showing me that 27 Acacia Avenue has had a thousand whatevers doing something in the last seven days. Is it sold? Not even likely. The thousand whatevers distil down to – if I’m REALLY lucky – ONE or TWO calls/emails. Geechuffin’whizz! Ten people staring at my window results in probably half coming in… even if it’s just to get warmed up.
They get warmed up, all right… trust me! ;o)
Oh – as to your thought that I’d actually had FOUR unique visitors I’m afraid that is technically incorrect. Plod was waaaay too busy chasing the guy with the swag bag to stop and look – I wouldn’t even say he had a fleeting glance.
After all – it would bu99er up me conversion rate for the week! ;o)
Anyway – a great post, Robert. I believe what you’re saying is starting to sink in.
Must be – some Herbert has obviously taken time to ‘Dislike’ it… ;o)
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OOPS – didn’t look that long when I was posting it – sorry, folks… (embarrassed smiley)
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I tend to upset folk by being honest, so treat the likes and dislikes as a boardroom nods and winces, invariably someone round the table had an objection to hearing our best efforts weren’t, in my opinion, good enough and that by doing something about it we raised the barrier on our competition. AM has an opportunity, a short window, to own the backsides of both Rightmove and Zoopla and if you think back to when I was metaphorically strapped to the dunking stool last summer have already told you what ought to be implemented to convert digital window points and window taps into meaningful, qualified traffic.
Ros doesn’t delete many posts but deleted one for being too salesey* at the end of June last year when I was getting daily dunkings for my perceived anti AM ways (somewhat ironic if you recall Trafford from EAT September 2012 (yes Peebee another Nom du crusade)) I spelt out how one firm and their technology could help engage with digital traffic and turn hits, pages views and all the rest of the malarkey into real contactable people, akin to wandering out of the office door and saying good morning to the window pointers and tappers.
In the intervening months what was only advice from me on how traditional agency could protect itself from the threats from PIa’s has been forgotten yet the discussion points from back then have turned out once again to be prophetic. The live chat technology is being taken up by the likes of Purplebrick and Emoov and used to good effect to advertised “24 hour estate agency” ( it isn’t but I have said enough about that) 24 hour agency isn’t the beneficial USP of Live chat, engaging with Digital traffic is. When applicants and vendors hang around your website or your portal you really ought to engage with those applicants. AM and OTM have an opportunity to deploy live chat ahead of both RM and Zoopla, cut the ******** (credit Peebee) that surrounds hits and page views and allow AM Agents to be the first to enjoy “qualified and quantified” applicant enquiries from your portal but more beneficially your own digital window displays- your own websites.
*It wasn’t a sales pitch but some thought it was.
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Robert – for the sake of everyone’s retinas I will keep this short as possible.
Neither of us have been popular on AM threads over the past year-or-so. I know that my stance was/is one taken out of fear for the industry I work within and its’ clients – and I am pretty certain, having ‘stalked’ you both here ond ‘over there’ for several years that yours was/is also (feel free to correct me, add or subtract where necessary) the same motivation.
In that respect, we have probably both had bad press for the wrong reasons – but at the end of the day (if Mr Chesterman thinks he can claim my favourite phrase as his then he can chuff right off…) we’re still here – still banging on – but now a great deal of the venom spitting has subsided.
Of course, there is simply a possibility that they’ve just become… immune… to it all?
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You are correct Peebee, I have been a service provider to the industry for 20+ years, it is natural I am loyal to and aim to protect an industry that has schooled my kids and paid my mortgage.
I am not being a smart rrr by recognising and alerting the industry to things that are happening which aren’t in your best interests. I am not being a clever-dick knowing how you all think and it isn’t arrogance to point out when things are headed in a direction experience tells me is paved with problems.
One only has to look how the Zoopla executive have dismantled everything that existed in August 2008 to realise that corporate business thinking simply does not work in Agency. The best of good times are over for both Rightmove and Zoopla and those businesses most reliant on them. AM has to understand what is going wrong for both and make itself both robust and attractive to the remainder of the industry.
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