As a real estate agent, you should use online reviews for real estate marketing to improve lead generation and increase profits. Real estate reviews on online review sites improve your social proof and influence the consumer decision-making process.
Take a cue from Richard Schulman, a consistent top producer and the No. 2 Keller Williams agent in the country, and develop and implement a strategy to leverage online reviews for real estate success.
Schulman shared how his team has had a tremendous amount of success using client reviews and online review sites in his podcast interview with Pat Hiban. We touch on some of the information in the post below. You can hear much more, including his process and an exact script his team uses to get reviews from clients, in Schulman’s interview.
The importance of social proof and online reviews for real estate businesses
Why is it important that your real estate marketing and sales strategy utilizes reviews from clients on online review sites such as Yelp, Zillow and Google? Take a look a the following information from Socialproof.com’s infographic “Social Proof – The Art of Influence Marketing.”
- 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- 76 percent of Americans look at reviews when determining which local business to use.
- 70 percent of consumers say they trust opinions posted online.
- 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family.
Now, you can see why Real Estate Rockstar Richard Schulman is intelligent to leverage online reviews for real estate from clients to grow his business. Now, let’s take a quick look at some of the tips Schulman shared with Pat Hiban.
Tips for growing your business with real estate reviews from clients
1. Know your local market
When developing your real estate online review strategy, make sure you are focusing your energy and time on the right online review sites. Although consumers in one local market might turn to Zillow for real estate agent reviews, Yelp or Angie’s List might be the go-to site in another market.
2. Test, review and repeat
Successful social proof strategies for real estate marketing and sales will also involve testing. Don’t just look for which online review site delivers the most leads.
You must also determine where the highest-quality leads are coming from, adjust your strategy accordingly and repeat the process while focusing more energy on developing your presence where you receive the highest-quality leads.
3. Train your real estate team
Implementing a real estate lead-generation strategy focusing on online reviews is an ongoing process. Training real estate team members to ask for reviews is part of this process. Using scripts (Schulman shares his exact script in the podcast), you and your team can improve your success rate for getting real estate reviews from clients.
4. Make it as easy as 1, 2, 3
Clients are likely not to leave online reviews for real estate agents (even if they absolutely loved the results you delivered) if they feel like it is a tedious task. Don’t just tell them leaving a review is easy. Instead, make it easy for them by sending an email with simple instructions and links directly to the online review site.
Just remember, don’t write the review for them or promise them something in return for the review as this violates the terms of service for most review sites. This could lead to your account being removed and all your real estate reviews and leads disappearing.
Master these tips, and you will see your success rate for getting online reviews soar.
Are you leveraging online reviews for real estate successfully? We’d love to hear from you. Share your success stories or contribute to the conversation in the comments below.
Listen to Richard Schulman’s podcast interview here.
Pat Hiban is the author of NYT best selling book “6 steps to 7 figures – A Real Estate Professional’s Guide to Building Wealth and Creating Your Destiny” and the host of Pat Hiban Interviews Real Estate Rockstars an Agent to Agent Real Estate Radio Podcast with Hiban Digital in Baltimore, Maryland. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter.