For the 368th Mail Right Show episode, Robert Newman and Jonathan Denwood reviewed some of the best real estate lead providers in 2023 that realtors can use to engage customers, make informed decisions, and stay updated with current trends. Robert Newman is the founder and CEO of the inbound marketing agency Inbound REM and has over a decade of experience in the real estate search engine optimization field. On the other hand, Jonathan Denwood is the founder and CEO of Mail Right, a platform combining various digital tools into one convenient, user-friendly package.
Zillow
Zillow, a web technology founded by a Microsoft executive, enables you to explore available homes for sale in specific areas easily. Zillow has become the company they are now and is called the platform, not a system. Zillow gained prominence by popularizing a concept known as listing syndication, although they were other originators. However, they have become challenging to compete in this field. Their expertise in Search Engine Optimization has led them to dominate property-related searches, ensuring maximum exposure for major properties. When you list a property, you compete with your own listing. This is because everyone will inevitably search for it on Zillow, potentially leading them to another sales agent. Interestingly, that agent may be you, working on the opposite side of the transaction, effectively representing your own listing. By publishing your property in one central location, such as the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), you may soon find yourself contacted by Zillow, informing you that they have a buyer-side agent ready to represent the interested buyer. In utilizing Zillow, you must be available 24/7, especially in a competitive area. Zillow does share the leads with a bank of agents to find premier partners that are usually brokerage, and that is probably because their whole platform is based on people searching for a new home, not selling an old one. If you’re in a competitive metropolitan area, the premier relationship has been built, and there is a big chance you will get your money back. They provide another product called Zillow premier agent, where people go into the website to see the property then they will know if you want to get more information about the property. They also claim they can cleanse the lead over somebody from their organization, meet up with the potential lead and ensure they’re active.
Realtor.com
This platform is one of America’s most visited real estate websites. They do a better job of providing value inside the lead service. They’re more account executive oriented, meaning you get more personalized service if you’re a realtor. Zillow keeps trying to put technology in the middle of the relationship, whereas realtor.com is placing the human being in the middle, creating a different experience for the people buying leads from realtor.com.
Realtor.com also gives you a percentage market and buys a lead from a market. Their lead prices are decreasing with the marketplace getting more competitive, but you are sure that realtor.com is profitable. One of the interesting facts about Realtor.com is that agent revenues grew by 55%, and between Realtor.com and Zillow, realtor.com grew their agent revenues more. But one of its cons is they are doing less traffic than Zillow.
SmartZip
This real estate lead provider is worth considering for those farming with direct mail component. SmartZip has its own CRM and utilizes predictive marketing to effectively identify prospective home sellers and reach out to them with personalized mail pieces, encouraging them to contact you. This innovative approach uses technology to enhance your direct mail campaign, specifically targeting listing leads.
Offrs
It is a real estate lead generation software designed to generate listing leads using predictive analytics. They take an average time cycle in the area that you’re in and drop you mail when you’ve been in the house for a particular time. They don’t provide a CRM or a dashboard you log into to show the properties. They offer 10 cents for each lead, 20 cents for each exclusive lead, $400 per month for leads in one ZIP code, and $800 monthly for exclusive leads in one ZIP code.
Market Leader
It is a website solution with CRM for real estate agents and teams. Market Leader is quite behind in every single category inside the real estate marketing space. Their system is simple, and they still use old-fashioned tools and real estate templates, and you will not hear anybody making money with Market Leader for a long time now.
SetSchedule
SetSchedule is a leading service that allows you to effortlessly arrange your listing appointments according to your preferred schedule. It operates within a similar domain as Offrs and SmartZIP while also leveraging the capabilities of AI technology to a certain extent. For pricing, SetSchedule sets a 20% referral fee on converted leads, which differs from Offrs or SmartZIP.
