IDX SIGN IN YES or NO!

[San Diego Real Estate]

Ok guys I have turned off the sign in and I see a lot of my competition that does the same thing! However, I'm not sure what the method is that has been proven best?


PLEASE COMMENT!

[HHI Golf Guy]

Before I had a sign in the MLS was one of the most popular pages on a client's site. I added the sign in and had had only one person sign up in a month.

Without the sign in, this agent gets between 3-10 inquiries on MLS listings each week.

[San Diego Real Estate]

Thanks HHI Golf Guy! I was curious as to what others had experienced! One of the biggest coaches in the Real Estate industry says that you must capture their information within the first 15 seconds! I have tried both and I know that I loose traffic if I make them sign in! How about addresses do you display addresses? :confused:

[frobn]

Thanks HHI Golf Guy! I was curious as to what others had experienced! One of the biggest coaches in the Real Estate industry says that you must capture their information within the first 15 seconds! I have tried both and I know that I loose traffic if I make them sign in! How about addresses do you display addresses? :confused:

One thing that I learned long ago is that experts are not always right. Different forces are at work in different places. In research it is known as nested factors. One way to check what works for your area is an unbiased experiment on your site. You can try something like one week, sign in, next week no sign in. Do it for at least 2 months, 6 would be better. Then check the results. That way you will become the expert for your site and perhaps for SD.

[San Diego Real Estate]

Thanks frobn...that is a great idea! I have tested without tracking it real close... I need to monitor results for perfection! Any suggestions?

[VegasMack]

One thing that I learned long ago is that experts are not always right. Different forces are at work in different places. In research it is known as nested factors. One way to check what works for your area is an unbiased experiment on your site. You can try something like one week, sign in, next week no sign in. Do it for at least 2 months, 6 would be better. Then check the results. That way you will become the expert for your site and perhaps for SD.Good advice frobn.

What works in one region of the country does not necessarily work everywhere.

It takes trial, error and evaluation.

~VegasMack

[sac23]

It seems to me the sign in's I have used on my site get no attention.

[GeorgiaCoastal]

For those of you that don't require sign in, how do you capture the lead?

[KSA]

For those of you that don't require sign in, how do you capture the lead?
Hello from a fellow Georgian. :)

From what I've seen, some people have good luck requiring login before using their home search. For many others, it's more like you have to get the visitor to capture you. If you make your website a great place for visitors to use as their real estate research headquarters, the probability is that they will contact you when they're serious about talking to an agent.

Look at the stats, from the CAR Survey in 2005:

Internet Buyers
Time Spent Researching: About 5 weeks
Time Spent with an Agent Before Purchase: About 2 weeks
Number of homes shown: About 6

Traditional Buyers
Time Spent Researching: Less than 2 weeks
Time Spent with an Agent Before Purchase: About 7 weeks
Number of homes shown: About 14

These stats say 2 things to me: 1) you're better off working with an Internet Buyer because the process moves faster, and 2) you need to give the Internet buyer their 5 weeks of poking around.

Think of it this way. What would you do if you tried on a pair of shoes in a store, then decided to check out a few other stores. But you couldn't leave the first store because the salesperson that brought you the shoes demanded to know your name and email address before you left.

Hmmm....

Kathleen

[543LISTguy]

For those of you that don't require sign in, how do you capture the lead?


If they are serious buyers and find something they like they will call you!

I have also had alot of people tell me that they continued to use my site specifically cause i didnt have a sign in.

[HomeSurfer]

Beneath my thumb on my mouse is a button.
My back button.
That's how easy it is to go back a page.

A qualified prospect is one who is "ready, willing, and able" to make a purchase or sale. LIke someone mentioned above, assuming they are able, on the web there is a cycle people go through before they are "ready and willing." When they are, they pull the trigger much more quickly than the old "traditional" client and take far less time to make decisions.

These people may be on your site before they are ready and willing. They are prospects, yes, but not yet ready to pull the trigger. They don't want barriers, they want information.

Reducing barriers to information, in my opinion, better serves you in the long run, PROVIDING your site gets the potential client to believe in you and that you want to help them.

You want them to come back.

[MileHighAgent.com]

KSA - I love the stats you included from CAR. The internet Buyers I've worked with ARE the best! They know what they want and due to their surfing the internet, they are educated on all the homes they DON'T want to see - saving us a bunch of time. Denver is sporting a Buyers market so there's a lot out there. Internet Buyers ARE the quickest.

Can those of you who capture a lot of Internet leads share with me ways other than just publishing your web address yourself - you are getting traffic to your site and essentially getting leads and closed deals (ie Pay per Click, advertising listings on Herman Homes, etc). What is working best?

[Patrick Mc]

This is a great discussion. I've noticed that in my market most of the top-ranked sites don't require login. I think it's human nature that buyers would avoid sites that require them to submit their e-mail address. Especially when given a choice between sites that don't require it and sites that do.

[JohnHoward]

My idx system allows the user to view properties without signing in. They can receive a summary of the properties including the address. I have over 80 users that have signed in since I started in February. They can also receive additional information if they sign in and receive an e-mail from me of a new listing that fits their search criteria. I’ve had 4 user’s sign in over the weekend. I’ve noticed that the serious Buyer will sign in or call me direct.