Every once in a while we’ll post a breakdown of a real estate brokerage home page here on the blog. We hope to provide some insight into how to create better online real estate user experiences.
The lens we peer through belongs to the user – the home buyer, home seller or home owner. What they want. How they want it. And how they feel about the brand behind the site.
Our stance is simple: Do right by the end user and everyone wins. The perceived conflict between serving agents and consumers is an artifact from a time that has passed. The battle between your business rules and users’ goals is usually pointless.
The lead gen form
Getting users to take action and engage in some manner is the #1 goal for almost all the companies we talk to. So we pay special attention to the points at which those actions are usually taken: “Contact us” pages, emails, calls to action for finding an agent, getting a mortgage quote and more.
And then of course there is the lead gen form. The point at which an IP address can become a person. A lead. A client. A sale.
How forms read, how they look and how they feel to a user can make or break you.
Take the form below, which is part of a lead management solution used by many brokerages. It presents itself when the user clicks the “Schedule a Showing” button on a listing detail page.
Opportunity graveyard
A great form is one that immediately addresses the user’s desire and puts them at ease.
A bad form, like the one above, unnerves the user with tentacles reaching upward from depths of lead gen hell. Too many questions about too many things that have nothing to do with why the user arrived, or what they want. Users land here, shriek and leave.
All that remains is the ghost of what could have been.
If I owned a brokerage, I’d take a different approach. I wouldn’t use the forms provided by my lead management company. Or my Website vendor. I’d custom design each and every form on my site. They’d carry my brand voice and connect the user to their desired action. Fast.
Here’s an example:
Opportunity heaven
It’s all in the details. Every single, little bitty detail. This not only applies to your forms but to every page on your Website. Every word. Every link. Every image.
This is what it takes to create an experience that will meet your goals. It’s not about technology. It’s about sensitivity to the user – and your own brand.
If you cultivate these capacities, you will increase your conversion rate.
If you don’t, users will continue to run for the exits.
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Great points. My favorite part of your mocked up contact form is the “No Spam. Ever.” part at the bottom of it. We get more people entering their phone numbers than their emails because they’re so afraid of spam.
Bang on. Nuff said.
At local wordcamp we were told by an expert that even asking for a cvs code on a site where consumers can make purchases will decrease the number of sales on that site. Forms have to be simple. I saw a contact form on a Realtors web site that looked like the census form. I am guessing not many people use it.
Teresa,
I’d like to see that form if you can recall where it is.
In a nutshell, forms need to be simple. But they must also distill some brand vibe. Using a template form form a lead gen vendor makes no sense. That’s like leaving a canned recording on your voice mail. Oh wait… think I just came up with my next post topic
They were talking about any form that requires a CVS code when a credit card number is needed to make a purchase. They were not advocating taking the field off the form but doing some testing. I was just backing up your point that the more fields a person has to fill out the less likely they are to use the form or even to make a purchase through a site.
You nailed it. Also there are a couple of former MIT guys that linked up website traffic behavior to CRM for ROI measuring and they identified the same opportunity and even tie increase sales and increased conversion metrics back to it.
Less will get you more. I’ve heard that the likelihood of getting 2 pieces of information is 40% greater than asking for 3.
Dave
Marc, your example rakes a simple concept and keeps it simple. There’s no distractions and nothing that would make people shy away from contacting you.
When you’re inviting someone to contact you-you can’t complicate the goal. “we’d love to show you this home” is simple and to the point.
Another 1000watt great idea
Re: “A bad form, like the one above, unnerves the user with tentacles reaching upward from depths of lead gen hell. Too many questions about too many things that have nothing to do with why the user arrived…”
That first form stresses me out. WAY too many questions, period. My first impulse is to click away and go somewhere else to find what I’m looking for.
I’m in agreement with the fewer the questions, the better. No need to inundate you with all of the other stuff. We can talk about those details once we meet
Rather ran spending time talking about codes, and cvs,(whatever the heck that is) wouldn’t it be better to focusbon why consumers don’t want to talk to us, and start providing them with great content that will get them ton want to call us.
The real key to get people to contact you is to provide valuable content that helps make it easier for them to find their dream home, and shows them that you’re smarter and better at helping then, than other agents who are also trying to sell the same exact products you’re selling.
Sure it’s better to have an easy and less intrusive form, but its the content that’s the draw, not the form. Realtors look for gimmicks in order to avoid what’s really needed. Start embracing the consumer and the phones will start ringing, or continue to provide garbage, and keep looking for the next gimmick, of which there’s no shortage of.
You’re looking for love in all the wrong places.
Steve i agree that a lead form is not the highest priority, but if you are going to spend time on a lead form, why not just design it well…spending 5 minutes reading this post and telling your web designer to use these principals is quick and easy, and if it gains you as little as 1% more or better leads, that is a good ROI
I absolutely agree, and I should have mentioned that. Marc’s form is simple and perfect. He should claim royalties for it:)
Steve,
You’ve touched on a severe issue. I’ve devoted a lot of ink to this topic over the years. Bottom line: Agents have been taught to be salespeople instead of customer service folks with deep market knowledge. Even when an agent is gifted with human sensitivity and local smarts, the prevailing education in this business has been slanted toward salesmanship. Lead capture, drip. Close.
It’s going to be a long time before that ends despite the efforts of many new educators today who are distilling better tactics albeit through blogs, bar camps, boot camps, rain camps, etc. Enlightened agents still need products and there are still so many vendors selling crude and out of date products.
Case in point is lead tracking and lead management that come replete with dumb forms. This is a fact of real estate life. This post as all here are, written for those people really trying to do right and bring something better to the public.
I urge all readers to review every form on your site and consider two thing:
1. Can the form be better, simpler and cooler
2. Can I replace the form entirely and simply provide through a download or a click to the next page the very content the form is pointing too.
The latter Steve is what I believe you are referring too and I completely agree.
Nevertheless, at some point, your sites will require some sort of form. A subscribe to a newsletter. Or alerts of some kind. As LandLister pointed out, if you have a better form and it increases leads by 1%, that’s a great payoff for the 10 minutes it might take you to reconfigure your forms.
Marc
When it comes to a form in my experience getting a name with a email and/or phone number of someone reaching out to you is all you need. Someone has taken that step to say, I am willing to communicate with, even if it is briefly.
More detailed forms are not accurate. It is not like those questions give you a clear understanding of a buyer or seller. Agents know there are always more variables to a potential clients situation then they first communicate. If you trust a long style lead form – you will end up jumping to a conclusion about that lead – is a conclusion that is not accurate.
You are better off with the number and/or email address and a simple opportunity to develop a relationship. That opportunity is better then no opportunity.
Marc – good stuff indeed.
I find the only ones using forms are the spammers, trying to sell you their crappy services.
All my lead registrations come via my IDX registration page.
I’ve had a long-term idea/project for my site to write “must have reports” for each community featured on my site. I really think people will put in a legit name and email to get these if they are really interested in a specific community.
Problem is, I have 75 of these community pages, so where to start!
Rob,
Forms do not necessarily have to be associated with spammers. Legitimate uses include: Signing up for newsletters, becoming a site member, requesting a relocation packet, email alerts or market trends update, etc. A brokerage has every right to offer content to those who subscribe without it feeling like spam (hence the assurance of that within the form). We’ve found that when the content is special and the form is respectful, a brokerage will receive more legitimate contacts (leads) through them.
wow – you took that the wrong way. Or, I wrote it the wrong way.
Sarcasm is hard to detect in written form, I realize. Your response was a tad rudimentary….even for me.
I fully realize and understand all the legit useful uses for forms on websites, believe me.
I said this:
“I find the only ones using forms are the spammers, trying to sell you their crappy services.”
And you took it quite literally, which since it was written, makes sense. LOL.
What I should of said was that on MY sites, I get a large proportion of form spam from crappy vendors and people writing in Russian alphabets.
I also do not get a lot of people filling out even my simple contact form in order to contact me. They will either call, email or register in the IDX.
I must say that I’m the same way if I want to contact someone. For example, if I wanted to send YOU a direct email and I could only find a form on your site, I probably would not fill out the form and hit send. I just want to find your email address somewhere. But that’s just me.
I’m sure if my forms were well designed and somewhat compelling and stood in between the web visitor and some desired information, the spam-to-real ratio would drop.
Re: “A bad form, like the one above, unnerves the user with tentacles reaching upward from depths of lead gen hell. Too many questions about too many things that have nothing to do with why the user arrived…” That first form stresses me out. WAY too many questions, period. My first impulse is to click away and go somewhere else to find what I’m looking for. I’m in agreement with the fewer the questions, the better. No need to inundate you with all of the other stuff. We can talk about those details once we meet
Steve i agree that a lead form is not the highest priority, but if you are going to spend time on a lead form, why not just design it well…spending 5 minutes reading this post and telling your web designer to use these principals is quick and easy, and if it gains you as little as 1% more or better leads, that is a good ROI
Latoya, you just copied and pasted my comment…but i guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
Steve, You’ve touched on a severe issue. I’ve devoted a lot of ink to this topic over the years. Bottom line: Agents have been taught to be salespeople instead of customer service folks with deep market knowledge. Even when an agent is gifted with human sensitivity and local smarts, the prevailing education in this business has been slanted toward salesmanship. Lead capture, drip. Close. It’s going to be a long time before that ends despite the efforts of many new educators today who are distilling better tactics albeit through blogs, bar camps, boot camps, rain camps, etc. Enlightened agents still need products and there are still so many vendors selling crude and out of date products. Case in point is lead tracking and lead management that come replete with dumb forms. This is a fact of real estate life. This post as all here are, written for those people really trying to do right and bring something better to the public. I urge all readers to review every form on your site and consider two thing: 1. Can the form be better, simpler and cooler 2. Can I replace the form entirely and simply provide through a download or a click to the next page the very content the form is pointing too. The latter Steve is what I believe you are referring too and I completely agree. Nevertheless, at some point, your sites will require some sort of form. A subscribe to a newsletter. Or alerts of some kind. As LandLister pointed out, if you have a better form and it increases leads by 1%, that’s a great payoff for the 10 minutes it might take you to reconfigure your forms. Marc
wow – you took that the wrong way. Or, I wrote it the wrong way. Sarcasm is hard to detect in written form, I realize. Your response was a tad rudimentary….even for me. I fully realize and understand all the legit useful uses for forms on websites, believe me. I said this: “I find the only ones using forms are the spammers, trying to sell you their crappy services.” And you took it quite literally, which since it was written, makes sense. LOL. What I should of said was that on MY sites, I get a large proportion of form spam from crappy vendors and people writing in Russian alphabets. I also do not get a lot of people filling out even my simple contact form in order to contact me. They will either call, email or register in the IDX. I must say that I’m the same way if I want to contact someone. For example, if I wanted to send YOU a direct email and I could only find a form on your site, I probably would not fill out the form and hit send. I just want to find your email address somewhere. But that’s just me. I’m sure if my forms were well designed and somewhat compelling and stood in between the web visitor and some desired information, the spam-to-real ratio would drop.
Rather ran spending time talking about codes, and cvs,(whatever the heck that is) wouldn’t it be better to focusbon why consumers don’t want to talk to us, and start providing them with great content that will get them ton want to call us. The real key to get people to contact you is to provide valuable content that helps make it easier for them to find their dream home, and shows them that you’re smarter and better at helping then, than other agents who are also trying to sell the same exact products you’re selling. Sure it’s better to have an easy and less intrusive form, but its the content that’s the draw, not the form. Realtors look for gimmicks in order to avoid what’s really needed. Start embracing the consumer and the phones will start ringing, or continue to provide garbage, and keep looking for the next gimmick, of which there’s no shortage of. You’re looking for love in all the wrong places.
Soooooo many social media consultants, web site sellers, IDX vendors, trainers, and conference speakers with so much to say about what online clients could react to, and little to say about lead capture. Thanks for this focus on final call to action, the filter through which much online customer focus value should be measured.
[...] a contact form that actually works is an art form that the graphically challenged agents can simply hire [...]
My setinments exactly, Rob. We have 900 miles between us, but it sounds like we are reading from the same playbook. Nice quote.
AB comparison testing anyone?