Surveys And Other Seemingly Worthy Ideas.
"Find out what our industry thinks. Find out what home movers, landlords and tenants think.
Results will inform best practices in marketing and prop-tech use, contribute to understanding the UK property market and inform strategic decisions of estate agents."
No they won't!
First off, "best practice" isn't a template for success. It produces commodity thinking and commodity work. It discourages those with ambition from thinking for themselves.
"Best practice in Marketing" is similarly esoteric. Best, as in what?
Most leads generated? Best return on investment? Brand awareness? Brand engagement? Social Media Reach? All of that?
"Inform strategic decisions of estate agents" - I don't know whether to laugh, or cry.
Doing what others have done, thinking what others are thinking, basing your decisions on how others operate a business? There's a hash-tag for that.
#metoo
Where's the creative spark? Where's the crystal-clear vision and message? Where's the unique identity?
Sacrificed on the altar of doing what works for others.
Surveys are perhaps the most worthless use of time. Whether partaking in the charade, or considering the myths they generate.
The feedback from a tiny section of the industry can then be manipulated into a reality.
The survey said... is becoming so commonplace that it's often taken as gospel.
Political polls and surveys perpetrate the impression and persuade the "lamb" to follow the "flock".
500 estate agents surveyed from nearly 25,000 isn't a comprehensive selection.
2% of agents think this - really, how interesting!
Not only that but who are those 2%? Is their opinion worthy of consideration?
Enough that it will inform "best marketing practices" and "strategic decisions?"
It's easy enough to achieve brand awareness with pockets full of other people's money, even with puerile purple marketing messages - much harder, though, to have consumers engage enough to create brand loyalty. There is no "best marketing practice."
Further, the time between completing the innocuous survey and its publication, have the respondents changed their opinion?
Then the not insignificant matter of the questions.
Bear in mind that these "will inform best marketing practices"
In 2023, did the number of vendors you work with increase, stay the same or decline?
In 2024, do you expect that number to increase, stay the same or decline?
In 2024, do you expect the property values in your area to increase, stay the same, or decline?
Where else do you believe your vendors are getting advice from?
What is the average value of the properties you list?
What is your typical sole agent fee?
Roughly how many hours per week do you spend on viewings, speaking to landlords, maintenance, tenancy progression, chasing references?
What is your biggest challenge as a letting agent?
Do you use specific software for tenancy progression?
What factors are most important when choosing a tenant referencing partner?
What referencing suppliers come to mind?
Which areas are of most concern in operating your agency?
How many competitors in your region?
Do you see vendors/landlords turning more or less to high street, online, self-employed agents, free options, DIY solutions?
What % of income is spent on marketing excluding portals?
Compared to 2022, did your marketing budget increase, or decrease? Will it increase in 2023?
Excluding portals, which methods do you use to generate new vendors? Magazine, TV, word of mouth, door knocking, social media, canvassing, press ads, mobile ads, online newsletters, PR, email, billboards, direct mail, cinema, merchandise, radio in-house magazine?
Which portals do you use? Get Agent, OTM, Zoopla, View Agents, All Agents, Prime Location, Best Agents Guide,
Which is most effective at driving leads?
How do you best describe your work to reinforce any word-of-mouth? Testimonials, reviews sites, Net Promoter Scores.
Which social media platforms do you use personally?
What is your biggest frustration with marketing in your business?
Is your marketing run internally or externally?
Which portal is most effective in driving leads?
What do you imagine is most important to vendors? Deep Market Knowledge, track record, time to sell, comparable experience, presentation etc.
Would clients benefit from home staging, digital property brochure, professional photos, guidance on preparation, epc, trends/data, video, virtual tours, mortgage introductions, brochure, social proof, floorplans?
How many agencies do you think the average person recalls off the top of their head?
Which of these prop-tech companies have you heard of, or use? Good Lord, Homesearch, Address Intelligence, BricksandLogic, PropertyData, Spectre, Street, Dataloft, Brief Your Market, Sprift, Property Deals, EA2030, Kerfuffle, TwentyEA
Do you use AI?
Do you believe all agents should have formal qualifications?
Will the economy improve in next 12 months?
Then a whole heap of questions irrelevant to the survey title. Such as political persuasion, gender/race discrimination, mental health.
Surely asking tough questions, relevant to the topic instead of simply collecting data, would be more beneficial to the industry?
Ask yourself, not how will this tiny sample of opinion benefit the industry, but what's the point of each question? And ultimately, who will benefit the most from the answers?
The answer to which is often NOT the industry.
Surveys are fraught with potholes - including survey fatigue, response bias, incomplete data, lack of depth, inflexibility and sample size.
Estate agents are inherently subjective with their opinion.
One question asks: "How many competitors in your region?"
Without defining what constitutes competition.
Is it the total number of agencies geographically? Is it the top performers based on market share?
There can be differences in how agents understand the survey questions and this can lead to flawed assumptions.
One big disadvantage is that online surveys struggle to convey emotions with the achievable results. It does not do a good job of capturing a person's emotional response to the questions. Facial expressions, tone-of-voice and other forms of body language add another, deeper layer to the results.
Of course surveys provide data to the perpetrators of this exercise. Data that can be used to sell services to other parts of the industry.
They should not, however, be dressed up as some evangelical, significant benefit to an industry already in chaos.
Not even with the easy promise of a few thousand pounds worth of free marketing "advice" thrown in.
Surveys not only produce inaccurate and often misleading results, it is the time spent on completing the survey.
Time that is better spent on almost anything else.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mob: (44) 07369251435
The Survey Said...
Chris.
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