Should you Require Registration to View Listings on Your Web Site? A Vote from the Google Consumer

I have played both sides of the equation. Found that while yes, got more "leads" with it turned on, I also wasting a lot more time with poor leads. Wasn't worth it to me in the end. That's my personal thought. And to top it off, I have gotten some very good leads that say that they have chosen me simply because I didn't force them to sign on. It was their choice. People like the power of choice... just not too many choices!

Without question...Both approaches work. They each have strengths and weakness. I am the founder of Homequest mentioned above. We have extensive data on the forced registration and now are running beta testing on no registration. Ultimately I believe the no registration will yield more sales. However it will take some measured adjustments to get there.

Their lots of complexities when trying to develop and implement the most effective solution. Part of the problem is establishing a real baseline. We send an average of 150 new unique visitors to our site per day. we try to keep the traffic consistently coming from the same sources then check to make sure we are comparing like traffic as we make changes. One thing we learned very quickly is there is a much larger statistical variation than we thought coming into this project that started over one year ago. I would caution agents from making major strategic changes or drawing conclusions with too few data points. we make sure we send at least 2,000 visitor though our site when we make changes to see the effects and even then we want more data over time to confirm our findings.

our forced registration site captures 12% of all visitors (given our traffic sources) through the registration process. at the 150 new site visitors per day level we plateaued at 275 visitors per day to our interactive property search map. About 10% respond to direct email or phone outreach over time...that 10% are the source of clients and commissions.

We are currently running traffic through a completely open version and collecting the data. again I want to emphasize that you must track the data to test your assumptions. we are very knowledgeable in this area and are often surprised that the data shows something different than we expected. sometimes it is better and sometimes it worse. We use google analytics and visistat for our tracking.

The environment is quickly moving towards open access of data. If that continues forced registration will eventually die out. The winners will be the sites that meet the consumers need for listing info, desire for anonymity, and the agents need to have real estate conversations with motivated buyers and seller within the pool.

Another thing to remember is that the site only gets you to a conversation...from there you have to be a good agent. It is no different than an open house. 10 agents could hold the same open house with the same traffic and have dramatically different results.

I am a big fan of forced registration. It works. I get a lot more leads with registration than without. Real Estate is partly a numbers game, with time and good followup more leads equals more sales.

My brother and I operate our sites to Jay in that we allow them to search first and then prompt for login after they do 7 registrations although after Jay's comment we will be testing the system down at 5 views to see what happens.

We believe in the concept of "Give them value first and then ask them for information in return."

Okay, back on topic.

I use 2 (actually 3) different "IDX" vendors. (I used to have 4.)

One system (HomeQuest) requires registration. This vendor does not have an option not to register because all access to viewing homes is via email so the system has to have the email address.
http://www.arizonarealestatenotebook.com/phoeni...

The second system (Diverse Solutions), the one Jay uses as well, gives me the option of requiring registration or not.
http://www.arizonarealestatenotebook.com/phoeni...

At first I didn't require registration but I couldn't tell anything about who was using the site, where they were searching, what price range, etc. I was flying blind.

I would get inquiries from that system but I felt too many were time wasters, people who only want information, not a Realtor. In fact, many already had a Realtor.

By requiring registration (including phone number) of heavy users I hope to lessen the number of inquiries from people who just want information but not a Realtor.

By registering, visitors are making a very tiny commitment to me which I like to see before I commit my time to answering their questions.

I just checked and I currently have that system set so that visitors have to register after viewing 20 homes or performing 5 searches. That is a pretty heavy user who has used the system enough to know if they like it. I require a phone number to register.

For the first HomeQuest system, so far today, it's 10:00 AM on a Sunday, I've had 57 visitors. Everyone, of course, is registered. When I get an inquiry from a user of this system I know it's a prospect who has at least said "Yes" to me once by registering.

For the second site, I've had 9 registered visitors today and I don't know how many unregistered visitors.

Both systems generate leads and are valuable.

Well, I certainly have enough "brochure" with sites and a newsletter that are super information heavy.

Maybe I lack enough "business card."

Maybe I provide so much information they think providing information is my job.

... Registration here does actually what it does in any business, a lot of dead ends .. once the consumer feels any pressure, they'll look elsewhere, call a friend, look at 50 more sites, etc..

As an example only, take the car business ... one of the main points for the salesman is to get as much information as possible on the potential buyer, most customers feel pushed and give little, or make up a story .. the retention level is less than 9% and usually when the salesperson does finally get's in touch with them, they've already bought something elsewhere...

On the other hand, a brochure and a business card delivers 28% ... it's very easy now for the potential buyer to have a "link" to someone for information - that's all the difference in the world.

-

Interesting discussion about registering for searching IDX data.

Early in the game, when I had my first site, visitors registered without a problem. Then property search became more readily available and registrations deteriorated into Micky at disney dot com.

The truth is that a personal relationship or "friend" in the business will probably always trump a fabulous blog or newsletter unless or until that consumer has a bad experience.

"It is similar to smaller purchases, such as a car or clothing, where you might want to be left alone by a sales person until you are ready to purchase - then you run to them for help."

I used to believe in that idea but now I know there is more to it.

I have provided free home sales data to many thousands of email subscribers since 2001 and it generates surprisingly little business. People LOVE the free service, I'm a hero, but they use another Realtor.

Two weeks ago a Realtor friend said a prospect asked her, out of the blue, if she knew John Wake. Neat. I'm famous. But that prospect/subscriber to my newsletter didn't call me for the listing presentation! The same week I met a new neighbor and he knew my name because he subscribes to my newsletters! That's neat. I like it.

But giving away free information is not enough to generate business. Free information can be an important draw but it is not enough.

I now paste contact forms all over everything and that generates a ton more leads but I still haven't cracked the code.

I would bet that you would have to generate... let's say, 10 times the traffic on an non-registration site to generate the same amount of closed business as on a registration site.

Good point. I just remember that right out of school, someone knocked on my door and when I answered it was a flashy "salesy" kind of guy who said the line "Hi I am Earl. Did you know that for the same amount of money you are spending on rent, you could own your own home with $0 down?"

I knew that this was a line and I wasn't thinking about buying a home at the time. But there was something about someone being confident enough in what they do to ask me for my business that made me talk to him. I bought a home a couple months later.

I guess my point is that I agree that people start an information gathering process early and are not looking to talk to someone. However, once contacted, most non-xenophobic people will talk with you and keep the discussion open as long as you continue to give them information they want. That is business is earned.

John-
Yeah, I do remember Jay writing about this topic but couldn't find the post myself either.

I think the user who was searching for a place to browse listings in peace means they probably had a really bad experience with the agent of one of the sites they registered with. I am not suggesting that you want to speficially target that type of buyer, but am suggesting that buyers' habits are changing. Many (including me when I start looking for a home/condo) are no longer willing to give up their contact details until they are ready to contact/speak with an agent.

Somewhat playing devil's advocate, I can see why an agent might still want to do business with the visitor who searches for "where can I search the mls for homes without being harassed by realtors."

Many people will of course begin their search for a home a year or more before they are ready to actually make a purchase. They may not want assistance until they are reasonably close to their target purchase date at which time they prefer to make contact with their agent. With any luck, that agent will be the site owner.

It is similar to smaller purchases, such as a car or clothing, where you might want to be left alone by a sales person until you are ready to purchase - then you run to them for help.

It is understandably offensive to see it in print as such, but people assume anonymity during a Google search.

John,
I think you are looking at this the same way most agents do. I am a local agent like you and I think the registration wall is kind of a nice screening process to eliminate people who are going to be "shocked and offended" by me calling them to follow up. Those calls end up putting me in a bad mood so I appreciate my registration wall helping me turn off folks like this so I don't have to ruin another morning :).

I think Zillow has a different objective in providing real estate information. Zillow is not looking for a "direct response" like agents do.

The way I see it is that sales is a critical component of my business and anyone in sales will tell you that it comes down to numbers. I may not be the right choice for 19 people but it is that last 1 that makes the process worth it. I don't think most agents see their blog or website as a public service. Like any other business, it is a business generation system.

Drew, let's say the search was, "where can I search the mls for homes without being harrassed by Zillow" would you target those people?

I guess in your case you are just looking for eyeballs. Realtors, however, are looking for people to entrust them to manage the largest financial transaction of their lives.

Jay's blog recently had a discussion about this (but I can't find the post).

Drew, why would I what people on my site who ask, "where can I search the mls for homes without being harrassed by realtors"?

Drew, I'm a Realtor. If those searchers specifically don't want to talk to a Realtor then they are not my target audience.

On my IDX, after 10 searches they need to register to continue using the IDX. I figure that if they've gotten to 10 searches they like the system.

I require name, email and phone. I've never phoned anyone... yet. I use the phone number more to eliminate people who don't want to talk to a Realtor.

If they don't even to give me their phone number, then they are unlikely to want to give me their real estate business.

I get more internet leads than I can handle well. I opt for quality over quantity.

Of course, requiring and not requiring registration are not the only possibilities (as Jay points out indirectly). You can provide things without registration and then offer more if the consumer is willing to register. In fact, after the NAR/DOJ settlement relating to VOWs is fully implemented, I expect many brokers will offer hybrid IDX/VOW sites - consumer can get a bunch of stuff (IDX) without registering, but must register to get the balance of the information (a few active listings, additional fields, other statuses, etc.)

Jay has the right idea - experiment and measure the results.
-Brian

I've been in a constant struggle for three years about registration.

I turned on IDX registration on my sites 28 days ago. Registration kicks in after five searches, and I only require an email address - no phone number required.

My "leads" have increased 1,308% since turning it on (from 3 per week to 39.3/week) so it is difficult to argue against its effectiveness as a lead generation source, at least based on the raw numbers. Whether they turn out to be "better" leads is beyond me.

I think some of my registration data does support people not wanting to be hassled by agents.

I don't require a phone number, and a 67% of those registering do not supply a number. Of the one third that do, 15% provide an obviously fake number. I suspect many that register with a phone number assume it is required.

Of course, I have no idea how many stop by, get to the registration point and move on. That would be great data to have. Overall traffic has not declined since turning on registration.

Despite the large increase in contact info collected, I'm still on the fence about whether or not to leave registration on, or turn it back off.