Overall Rating
4.1
Who Should Use Sierra Interactive?
In my opinion, you should consider Sierra Interactive if…
- ROI is especially important to you when investing in a new real estate website
- You have 3-15 years experience as a real estate agent/broker
- You have a medium to a high level of technical and SEO experience
If you fit those criteria, then Sierra Interactive is one of the best (Top 3) companies for buying a leased real estate website. (Companies like InboundREM allow you to own your website instead).
Who Shouldn’t Use Sierra Interactive?
If branding or appearance is more important than ROI, then look at Agent Image, Luxury Presence, InboundREM, or Real Estate Webmasters.
You can find these companies reviewed side-by-side on this article comparing the Top 10 Real Estate Website Companies.
I also explain that different companies make websites with different focuses. For example, Sierra Interactive is a search-based lead generation website. If you have more faith in the power of real estate SEO, you might consider InboundREM.
How I Made This Sierra Interactive Review
My comparison started with an end-user license that allowed me to test the tools and services like an actual client, but with an expert eye.
This is a technical review written for agents and brokers. The objective is to provide an expert-level overview of Sierra Interactive and its closest competitors.
If I do my job right, I should save you 25-50% of the time required to make an educated decision based on an ever-increasing field of options and differences between real estate websites.
I spent about 40 hours going through and using Sierra Interactive features. I followed the technical documentation Sierra Interactive includes as part of the website package.
What You Can Learn
This Sierra Interactive review includes a feature-by-feature analysis, including some comparisons to Sierra Interactive’s four closest competitors. Those competitors are Kunversion/KvCore, BoomTown, and InboundREM.
If I added a fourth competitor, it would be Real Estate Webmasters.
I’m using the term “competitors” loosely and based more on what people are searching for than actual side-by-side similarities between websites. I hope to clarify some of the confusion and explain where Sierra Interactive is similar and different from the companies mentioned above.
Sierra Interactive Video Review
The video below is the full, super-comprehensive Sierra Interactive review. If you’re seriously considering hiring SI, you should seriously consider watching the video. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, honest review online.
Sierra Interactive VS. Boomtown VS. Kunversion|KvCore VS. InboundREM
Features perform quite differently from website to website. For example, the way you make and log calls from the different CRMs can vary quite a bit.
Even though most of these systems offer that feature, some require additional add-ons and carry additional expense. Some also allow for “marketing” numbers. That means callbacks get tracked and routed to various “source” buckets. It helps you understand where your best leads come from.
Sierra Interactive Pricing
Sierra Interactive joins a long list of real estate website providers attempting to create a suite of backend tools. They can be effective enough to justify the high monthly subscription and lack of true ownership or control of the website.
Once subscribed, even moderate success will usually keep the client “locked” in place and any desire to expand or change strategies will require a new or different website provider.
The difference between Sierra Interactive and most of its competitors is they actually DO make an excellent set of tools. If you have the money and time to invest, you can probably get a decent ROI in a number of different ways.
Sierra Interactive Features
For this Sierra Interactive review, I used a Pro site license. In the video, I review each feature as I used them. It’s the longest piece of video content I’ve made to date. The video review is much more comprehensive than this written review.
There is a Table of Contents in the video description. That way you don’t have to sit through an hour’s worth of stuff you don’t care about. Plus, the video review includes two bonus comparisons: Follow Up Boss and Commissions INC.
General Features – Pros
1. PRICING
Sierra Interactive is more expensive than Real Geeks, which I’ve reviewed. It’s also better.
On the low end, Sierra Interactive is the same price as Kunversion|KvCore, which I’ve also reviewed. SI gives you a significantly better website that can deliver a much higher ROI.
Their services are less expensive than BoomTown, and Commissions Inc, which I’ve again reviewed. While both alternatives have better team management features, they charge 60-80% more per month.
Sierra Interactive is slightly more expensive than InboundREM for similar features. For custom work, Sierra Interactive is right in the middle of all real estate website providers.
2. LEADERSHIP
Ben Peskoe is the owner and founder. Here is his LinkedIn profile. He is a very experienced developer with skill sets that have helped deliver one of the fastest, cleanest website experiences around.
The first real estate website contract I could trace back to him was in 2009, before he started Sierra Interactive. He’s got great Glass Door ratings as the CEO and great personal ratings from clients before he established his agency.
My only comment would be that I’m surprised he hasn’t sold Sierra Interactive. If he hasn’t gotten offers, he will soon. A change in leadership can disrupt the effectiveness of a service, but of course not necessarily.
3. KNOWLEDGE BASE
Once you sign up, you get access to a knowledge base. The resource center has text documents that are brief and pretty straightforward.
There are also videos. You do have to hunt around a bit, but what they have is a head and shoulders above most of their competitors.
4. Global Settings
This is where you control access to the information contained on both the front and back-end of the website. This includes lenders and agents. The system allows for a lot of options. It also allows for a lot of “on-off” lead generation settings.
General Features – Cons
1. LEAD SOURCES
While they have a way to identify lead sources, it’s a manual process. The system is not nearly as good as others like Follow Up Boss, which I’ve reviewed.
2. REVENUE BY LEAD SOURCE
Also a manual process. Very good that they have the option. But not at the top of the list of real estate CRMS in terms of this particular piece of functionality.
Integrations – Pros
I’ll make this easy. Besides InboundREM, Sierra Interactive has the best integrations I have seen. Bar none.
1. Manage Auto Responders
One of the easiest to use and intuitive features of its kind that I have seen. One dashboard with buttons you turn on or off with tons of options.
2. 301 Redirects and Other Technical Non-content SEO Features
For technical SEO features Sierra Interactive is as good as you will find for a lease to never own real estate website.
3. New Features
While I was in the process of doing the review Sierra Interactive, they added a feature that is a clickable button for “Virtual Tour”.
The review was filmed in mid-April, just after the start of COVID. It takes a lot more time and effort than people realize to add new features to “website stacks”.
They must have immediately decided this would be important, kicked other projects to the side and rushed this feature. That indicates a well-built stack that can adapt quickly.
Integrations – Cons
1. Agent Accountability
It’s pretty basic and might be effective for a few users. At higher levels or bigger teams, I think you would want more features and there are real estate CRMs like Commissions Inc, Follow Up Boss, and BoomTown that provide more. A lot more.
2. Custom Email Templates / Campaigns
The feature once you figure it out is ok. Something that is there to say that you have it. Email providers have gotten SO advanced in terms of AI and ready to use templates the only reason I can think of that ANYONE would use ANY of these real estate CRMS for email delivery would be a lack of time. And this email system is hard to learn. I think it is a main driver of their $200 a month coaching fee.
Lead Management Features – Pros
- Filters
- Last Activity
- Date Registered
- How Many Properties Saved
- E-Alerts (How many emails are sent)
- How many market reports sent
- Lead Routing
- Lead Ponds
- Market Updates
- Assigned Tasks Activities
- How Many Phone Calls – (With a hidden cost)
- How Many Texts – (With a hidden cost)
These two images show the entirety of the lead management dashboard with all of its features.
Lead Management Features – Cons
- Action Plans – Con
- Lead tags – Con
- Drip Campaigns – Con
Lead Management Features – Summary
I review each one of these features in the video at the top of this blog post. They all fall under the “lead management” category. As you can see, there are a lot of features that do different things.
The reason I take the time to get access to an actual and user license is that even though real estate website companies SAY they have the same features when you see how they operate you discover they are NOT the same.
If you’re seriously considering using this company, then you should watch the last 20 minutes of the video review. Make sure you understand what these features are and if they matter to YOU.
Final Recommendations
Sierra Interactive is the perfect website for those looking for more than Real Geeks or less than Boomtown.
Commissions Inc and BoomTown are somwhat better for teams.
InboundREM (the company I founded) also stands up against Sierra Interactive in a number of categories.
Closing Thoughts
There’s a reason these real estate websites and CRM combos have gotten so diverse. The real estate agents that use them have diverse needs. No one size fits all. So it’s super important for you to understand your exact needs before choosing a service.
If my blog didn’t address all of your questions and neither did my video you can roll over to my SEO CONSULTING page. You may qualify for a free call with me personally.
We can go through your exact requirements and goals. I can recommend the company that I think would fit your specific needs and price range.
If you’re not ready to do a call, I DO have some other articles you might find helpful.
4 Comments
Hi there,
We would be interested in showing you a current demo of Sierra Interactive to ensure your blog is up to date with our most current pricing and features.
Just seeing this Jessica. I probably emailed you the same commentary but what makes my reviews different/valuable is I do END USER accounts in order to evaluate. Not demo accounts. If you would like to gain access and provide a demo on a live client site I will happily attend.
Not all heroes wear capes! Thanks for these valuable reviews!
Meagn,
You’re too kind! Thank you for showing you love love for the Sierra Interactive review.