Email and digital marketing proptech, ActivePipe, has launched a new whitepaper that examines the power that staying connected and building trust has in helping agents win new listings.
The Trust Report: What consumers want from real estate agents, examines the factors that influence how people choose a real estate agent and what drives loyalty, from deep dive research with 124 property owners, buyers and sellers.
The research reveals the process people go through when researching the property market, and how they expect a real estate agent to fit into that process. It further identifies the specific actions that agents can take to accelerate the building of trust to convert contacts into loyal clients, and pinpoints the most frequent errors made by agents that make them appear untrustworthy in the eyes of potential clients, losing them business.
The author of The Trust Report, Kylie Davis, said one of the most fascinating insights from the report was the revelation of the ‘permission promise’ that occurs when potential clients provide an agent with their email address.
“Buyers and sellers provide their email address and opt-in to receive updates from agents because they see it as a low-risk way to assess whether the agent will be valuable to them,” Kylie said.
“The permission promise is where agents live up to the expectations of the recipient by providing information that delivers ongoing value. When this permission promise is fulfilled, buyers and sellers will remain on the agent’s email list for long periods and are more likely to give that agent their business because they feel that the agent has earned their trust.”
But emails that are generic, poorly targeted, irrelevant or too frequent can breach the permission promise, eroding trust and resulting in potential clients unsubscribing and refusing to consider the agent when the time comes for them to sell.
“The Trust Report reveals this nexus between establishing trust, remaining in contact and winning listings and steps agents through what to do – and what not to do,” Kylie said.
Staying in contact with past clients proved to be of huge importance for developing client loyalty. 61% of those surveyed prefer to use the same agent again, while 27.3% of those who changed agents did so because they couldn’t remember who their last agent was.
“Over 10% of agents lost repeat business because they simply did not stay in touch with their past clients. That’s a significant amount of business to throw away.” said Ash Farrugia, CEO of ActivePipe.
Ash said The Trust Report is part of ActivePipe’s ongoing commitment to demystifying digital marketing by revealing the expectations of modern real estate consumers and matching that to the behaviours that consistently drive success for real estate agents.
“The marketing landscape for agents has changed dramatically over the past 5 or so years and we know that the new digital options can be overwhelming,” Ash said.
“We’re committed to helping agents understand what they need to do to win more listings and create successful businesses in this new environment and we’re excited that the data is categorically proving that best practice is based around using technology to build strong relationships and amplify human connection.”
Download your copy of The Trust Report: What consumers want from their real estate agent
