Online reviews play an increasingly important role in the decision-making process of today’s consumers. Reviews are now a vital part of the research process for your leads and prospects. They want first-hand insight from other consumers that have used your services and, if they don’t find reviews of your business online, they may continue their search without you. The numbers tell a similar story. Consumers trust peer recommendations, like online reviews, 6.5 times more than traditional advertising. And that trust is increasing. In 2013, 73% of consumers trusted reviews — that’s a 15% increase over the year before. As a real estate professional, you simply can’t afford not to have reviews online. While there are quite a few tips and tactics you should apply to your review strategy, the best way to get your first online reviews is just to ask. You’d be surprised how willing happy customers are to post a review if they’re asked. We recently had the opportunity to gain early access to the T3 Experts 2014 Agent Reviews and Lead Generation Survey. The findings are astounding — not only do positive reviews help close the immediate deal at hand, but they become a highly effective word-of mouth marketing tool.

1. INSIDER’S GUIDE TO
ONLINE
REVIEWS
FOR REAL ESTATE
How to Use Customer Feedback to Grow Your Local Business
85%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
TEXT OF AXIS
Consumers trust peer
recommendations like
online reviews
6.5 times more than
traditional advertising.
TRADITIONAL
ADVERTISING
14%
PEER RECOMMENDATIONS
90%
0%
DOES NOT READ
ONLINE REVIEWS
READS ONLINE
REVIEWS OCCASIONALLY
READS ONLINE
REVIEWS REGULARLY
2011
2012
2013
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2011
2012
2013
POSITIVE REVIEWS MAKE
ME TRUST A BUSINESS MORE
PACING
TEXT OF STAT
READING REVIEWS DOESN’T
INFLUENCE MY DECISION
I DON’T TAKE NOTICE
OF ONLINE REVIEWS
of consumers use online reviews to
evaluate local businesses.
73%
And that trust is increasing.
In 2013, 73% of consumers trusted
reviews — a 15% increase from 2012.
65% of agents are missing out and
received no leads from online reviews
and recommendations.
COMBINED CHARTS
Most agents who use online reviews for
lead generation earn 5 or fewer leads, but
more than 13% of agents
receive 21 or more leads,
and 6% receive 51 or more
leads per year.
THE TAKEAWAY
Agents who do leverage online
reviews to generate leads are
seeing major results.
35%
Why?
When it comes to real estate, online reviews
provide the kinds of information that
consumers value most.
Agent is honest and
trustworthy | 25%
Reputation of
agent | 21%
Agent is friend or
family member | 16%
Agent’s knowledge of
the neighborhood | 8%
Agent has caring
personality / a good
listener | 8%
Agent is timely with
responses | 6%
Agent seems 100%
accessible because
of technology | 4%
Agent’s association
with a particular
firm | 3%
of agents said that leads from
reviews were either relatively easy
or very easy to convert.
69%
Online reviews haven’t quite
caught on with real estate
consumers yet…
But they’re
about to
take o.
12%
of buyers
used online
recommendations
in 2013.
6%
said online
recommendations
influenced their
choice of agent.
60%
of buyers said
they would
consider using
online
recommendations
next time.
THE MOST POPULAR ONLINE REVIEW SITES
FOR GENERATING REAL ESTATE LEADS
7 TIPS TO MAKE THE MOST OF
YOUR ONLINE REVIEW STRATEGY
Yelp is important because of Apple's iOS
map business directory. It's also the
Number 1 dedicated consumer review site, so
consumers expect to find you there. Only ask
active Yelp users to review you on Yelp,
otherwise the reviews may not show up.
DO GOOGLE+ LOCAL FIRST
Equally important for SEO. Your business
won't show up properly in Google search
without verified Google+ business information.
If you syndicate or advertise, it’s important
to collect reviews. Can be a secondary
strategy even if you don’t syndicate. Trulia
is the easiest place to take existing reviews
and recommendations and manually enter
them, so use it to “double up” when you
get a review elsewhere.
USE LINKEDIN TO BOLSTER
YOUR PERSONAL REPUTATION
This is your online resumé and it's important
to have a few recommendations here.
Important for the agent search and your ability
to extend the value of your LinkedIn reviews.
CHECK FOR COMPETITION
Take a look at each of the review sites in
relationship to competition. If the most
reviewed competitor has less than 20 reviews,
you should be able to overtake them easily and
dominate your specific niche or geography.
SOURCES:
Brightlocal.com Local Consumer Review Survey 2013 —
http://www.brightlocal.com/2013/06/25/local-consume
r-review-survey-2013/
SocialNomics — http://www.socialnomics.net/2012/01/
04/39-social-media-statistics-to- start-2012/v
T3 Experts 2014 Agent Reviews and Lead Generation
Survey — http://t3experts.com/reviews-survey
National Association of REALTORS® 2013 PROFILE OF
HOME BUYERS AND SELLERS — http://www.realtor.org
sites/default/files/Highlights-NAR-HBS-2013.pdf
Most popular
real estate portal
on the web.
Accounts for nearly
14% of all real estate
related web trac.
Second most popular
real estate website.
Easy to add existing
client reviews from
other sites.
Most popular search
site for local
business listings.
Powers Google Maps
on both desktop and
mobile devices.
Most trusted site for
online resumés and
professional references.
Super optimized
for name and
company searches.
Third most popular
real estate website.
Integrates with
LinkedIn for
recommendations.
Oers detailed
performance feedback
and management
tools for brokers and
small teams.
Integrates with
Realtor.com.
Largest consumer
review site on the web.
Powers Apple Maps’
local business data
and reviews.
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6
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5
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GET AT LEAST 1 REVIEW ON YELP
ESTABLISH A PRESENCE
ON ZILLOW TRULIA
REALTOR.COM SOCIALBIOS
RINSE REPEAT
Recent reviews mean something to consumers,
so make this a part of your monthly marketing
workflow. Reviews are not a “set it and forget
it” activity, otherwise you might find a
competitor outranking you online.
Infographic presented by
© 2014. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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