Real Estate Virtual Assistant

The old adage is ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ Most of us in the real estate industry believe this to be true and offer the consumer numerous photos of a property to look at with virtual tours, single property websites, video tours and the like. One would think if one picture is worth a thousand words, then 20 pictures must be worth 20 thousand words…but is this really the case?

I must say, I had never given it much thought, either as a licensed Realtor or as a Virtual Assistant, until I read an Inman article, Too much exposure can be a bad thing? The article asks the question, Is it possible that too many pictures online is preventing buyers from looking at your property and therefore a bad thing? There are 2 very different schools of thought on this question.

Point2Agent has released a new study measuring the effect multiple photos have in marketing of listings. The study researched three variables:

1. Detailed views

2. Interest in terms of interaction with the listing on a Web site (i.e. how many times visitors viewed a virtual tour, viewed the listing on a partner site, completed a mortgage calculation for the property, etc.)

3. Leads generated

The study evaluated all Point2 listings entered into their system during the first quarter of 2008. The sample consisted of more than 100,000 listings and included listings from all 50 states, every Canadian province, plus other countries worldwide. All price ranges were represented.

According to Inman, the results of the study are:

1. Listings that lacked photos performed poorly in the study, generating little consumer response and business. Those that had one picture performed better, but not nearly as well as the sites that had 21 to 36 photos. In fact, those listings that had no picture generated 0.02 percent of the number of listing views as compared to those with 21 or more photos.

2. Compared to listings with only one photo, those with 21 or more photos generated more than triple the number of Detailed Views, more than double the amount of interest, and double the number of Leads.

3. Compared to listings with no photos, those with 21 or more photos generated more than 55 times the number of Detailed Views and nearly 27 times the amount of Interest.

4. Comparable results were obtained when plotting these three key variables against varying numbers of photographs per listing.

5. Views, Interest and Leads jumped 20 percent or more as the number of photos increased from 15 to 16.

The study seems to confirm that having additional photos on an agent or broker Web site affects the stickiness of the site, which leads to substantially higher lead conversion.

However, RealEstateShows.com’s Jeff Turner presented research showing how the brain works viewing property online. Our attention span is the issue. The brain can absorb approximately 5 photos in 30 seconds and 9 photos in 60 seconds.  If we are presented with more photos than the brain can absorb, we tend to tune out and move on to the next property. Turner explains there is a reason television commercials are only 30 or 60 seconds…that is all we are programmed to absorb.

The Point2 study clearly indicates that having multiple pictures is a smart idea. Increasing them from 15 to 16 generates 20 percent more leads. On the other hand, we have no way of knowing how many buyers ruled out a specific property because they viewed it online.

What should you do? Watch your numbers. Track the visitors on your websites and virtual tours. Play with the number of photos used. Create tours with a 5-9 photos compared to 18-20 photos and see which gets better response.

Thanks to Point2Agent and Jeff Turner for providing this invaluable information!

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