This article is for Housing Associations, Councils, Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Developers. Are you tracking your cost per lead and conversions? It’s an important question.
Are leads for your properties going into a central pot?
We are aware that in some cases all leads, no matter where they are generated, land in the one pot. So it is impossible to say which platform is giving a return on investment. If you aren’t doing this already, you need to as it’s a good discipline to get into. Also it will mean you are spending your marketing budget where you are getting effective leads and conversions for your available properties.
Do you know which marketing tools are working effectively for you? Most property advertising portals will charge a flat monthly rate. This may work for you as it sits within budget. However are you able to actively monitor performance? Here we look at calculating your cost per lead and the importance of staying in sight of your return on investment (ROI).
Are you tracking your cost per lead and conversions effectively?
The issue is with a monthly rate it is easy to become complacent. You advertise your properties as agreed. The leads come in and you pay the monthly rate. Job done.
But wait. What did you actually get back for the cost of the service? Let me break it down for you to consider.
Let’s say you used one property portal and it cost you £500 per month. You may have generated 58 leads in one month. You need to consider whether all 58 leads are ‘good leads’ i.e. whether they are suitable for the properties you are advertising. Now, let’s imagine that 43 out of the 58 of the leads are good. If you eradicate the non-viable leads, you can calculate your actual cost per lead as follows. Simply divide the cost per month by the amount of good leads received. For example, £500 / 43 = £11.62 per lead. Are you happy to pay this?
Secondly, do you know how many of the leads led to a completion of a property sale or let? Taking the time out to consider this can prove whether the money has been well spent. Also, you will need to attribute a value on a property when it is sold or let to work out an accurate ROI.
One final thing to consider; if you are using more than one portal all of your leads may be grouped together. If this is the case you may not know which site generated the most leads for you. This can result in unnecessary overspend.
How can you tell which property portal is working best for you?
If you do use multiple portals to advertise your properties, consider setting up separate admin emails to monitor which leads come from which site. This way you can monitor leads simply and effectively. Alternatively, some sites now offer to monitor your statistics for you.
It is tempting to use a popular brand to deliver a service for you. But don’t forget to try some of the smaller, more specialist services available. In summary, do your research. If you use more than one provider do try and calculate their cost per lead and separate out each service.
In times when every penny counts this could drastically help deliver improved results and cost effectiveness.
