Thread: Require Registration or Not

Do you require users to register to see IDX search results?

I would be interested to hear what your experience has been. I recently decided to use Listingware as my IDX provider. They have several options for capturing users information.

No Results Until Registered
No Registration Required, unless saving properties or searches
Progressive, prompts user to register until they've visited 5 times then they have to register.

I currently am using the Progressive setting. I would like to hear what has achieved the best results for you.

I know that personally I hate when a site forces me to register so I figured that this was a good middle ground for pushing the anonymous users to register.

Originally Posted by falgo

Do you require users to register to see IDX search results?

I would be interested to hear what your experience has been. I recently decided to use Listingware as my IDX provider. They have several options for capturing users information.

No Results Until Registered
No Registration Required, unless saving properties or searches
Progressive, prompts user to register until they've visited 5 times then they have to register.

I currently am using the Progressive setting. I would like to hear what has achieved the best results for you.

I know that personally I hate when a site forces me to register so I figured that this was a good middle ground for pushing the anonymous users to register.

Registration is a horse that has been beaten dead over and over again. No one can give you expert advise or a definitive answer one way or another. Choose the approach that makes the most sense to you personally. Your tendancy to use the middle approach is a good indicator of the way you will eventually go.

My broker's website forces people to give some basic info like their name and email before they can look at properties. Believe it or not, I haven't seen anybody balk at this and it helps in generating leads. I say give it a shot and see what happens.

I am new to having my own web site, which has been up and running about three months now. Everybody that has come to me so far, has said that they search until they found a site that would give them information without giving their life story, and email address.
I have been pleased with the still building lead activity of my site, even though I am not ranking very high in organic seaches, and I have been trying to watch my budget for my ad expense.
I'll need to see alot more leads before, I want to chance requiring info before allowing prospects to search for properties.

You hate when you have to register and so does everybody else....i vote NO!

The registration settings on my idx allow the user to view basic info on the properties as much as they want, but to view the address or additional pics it prompts them to register. Of course it is hard to say how many users I am turning off by this, but I will say that I am not having a great shortage of leads coming in.

I appreciate, especially from the user perspective, allowing for free and unlimited use. But you are really relying on the user remembering the url or bookmarking the site so that they return. I think it prudent to ask for, at the minimum, an email address so that you can send them new listing updates, and at the very least follow up with them through email updates.

LJRE

Originally Posted by 543LISTguy

You hate when you have to register and so does everybody else....i vote NO!

That is pretty much the way I decided to look at it. I allow users to search listings and give them all the info they want without registering. If they want to save searches or get updates sent to them they have to register. I've had some modest success with attracting new leads so I guess it is working. I get a lot more anonymous traffic then registered traffic but I figure maybe those anonymous folks will eventually register, if I forced them to register they'd just be trolling anonymously on someone elses website.

I would say no also, but it depends, if you are only asking for an email address, people might wanna give it.

Don't do it! You will scare away the casual looker who maybe will come back one day to buy a home. When surfing the web do you like registering your info? No way.