The OTM Presentation at Tortoise Property – Our property portal presentation

Let’s take a look at our ‘On The Market Presentation’ approach from our Phased Marketing Model.

The final layer in the phased marketing model is aggregator marketing, which involves listing your home on major property platforms like OnTheMarket.

A clear presentation of your home that meets the criteria of trading standards ‘Material Information’ cements a buyers confidence in pursuing and purchasing a particular home.

This is a destination point for the phased marketing model without the use of the aggregators search tool.  The decision point of whether a viewing is booked by a potential buyer.

Also, these platforms collect new active property buyers through their self-service search mechanisms that can compliment and draw more potential buyers into your the phased marketing model and your marketing plan.

What is the OnTheMarket Presentation to us?

So, what is it? Well, effectively it’s just a blank page. It’s a place for us as estate agents to create a professional and compelling showcase of your home. We use OnTheMarket as our main showcase; all of our content (videos, pictures, virtual tours), information (summaries, descriptions, spotlights) and extras are available on this platform. We take the basics offered by OnTheMarket (a blank space to put our photos, videos, virtual tours, descriptions etc) and expand on it so that we’re able to present your home in the best way possible.  

The Active Market

Because the portals are hubs for property information and property availability, this attracts people who are looking to move. This refers to the active market, which we discussed in last week’s blog, with 2.3 billion website visits in 2022. The platform is excellent for those who know exactly where they want to move, the type of property they want and how much they’d like to pay for it. If you’re unsure about any of these factors then you won’t get very far as there were 710,126 homes available to buy in August 2024! 

What’s on our Presentation and Why? 

Due to sheer amount of available houses on the platform (up to 1534 in our local market and 710,126 across the U.K –Rightmove, accurate as of  Aug/Sept 2024) we want to make sure your home is seen and stands out against these huge numbers. This is why we don’t just stop at the basic features that OnTheMarket offer but go above and beyond to make the main showcase of your property spectacular. So what do we do? 

-Ensure your home is both a premium and spotlight listing. A spotlight listing pushes your home to the top of the page and as well as showing it again when you scroll down, so you will see it twice. A premium listing increases the size of the available advertising space at OnTheMarket, again giving buyers a higher chance of seeing your home. (Screenshots are included so you can see the difference!)

Spotlight Property

 

-Add in videos! We create a property advertisement video of your home as well as a walkthrough video to give buyers a clear idea of what is being offered. We also complete a virtual tour so that people are able to walk around your home from the comfort of their own sofa.  We offer these different presentations as we are aware that buyers spend different amounts of their spare time researching a new home and require different media types to suit their lifestyle.

-Complete a professional and detailed floor plan with full measurements so buyers have an excellent idea of sizes and can visualise how big or small various rooms are. 

-Include a ’Spotlight’ on the location of the house. This gives the buyer information about the area including the history, what there is to do and insights into the current population as well as data of the local property market.

-Include a buyer quiz! Who doesn’t love a quiz? We provide a buyer quiz to determine how suitable the house is for them, with the result being to either book a viewing or look or not! 

As you can see we maximise the potential of the online space offered to us by OnTheMarket to ensure buyers have all the information they need to know whether to say YES and book a viewing of your home. 

The Importance of a Good Presentation: 

So why do we do this? Why put so much effort in? Let’s split this into two sections for the buyers and sellers. 

Buyers:

Engaging Non-Social Media Users

While social media platforms are effective for reaching a wide audience, not all potential buyers are active on these platforms. Property portals fill this gap by providing a dedicated space for real estate listings, attracting buyers who prefer traditional online searches over social media engagement. By listing properties on these portals, estate agents can ensure that they are visible to a complete audience, including those few who might otherwise be missed.

From the buyer’s perspective, we want to give you the opportunity to say no; that this isn’t the right home for you. I know this sounds strange, to say no?  However, saying yes to viewing properties without possessing enough information about them is bonkers! A waste of time, money and effort.

We want you to be able to make good quality decisions on the purchase of your next home from the comfort of your sofa. We want to make sure that when you book a property viewing through us, you have clear expectations of what you’re going to experience when you arrive. We understand that viewing a property costs you time and money; we’re not here to waste either of these. If you’d like to find out more information about online viewings, then here’s a link to a blog written by my colleague: A Tech Wizard’s Tips! 

Sellers:

Assessing Buyer Perception and Interest

One of the significant benefits of using property portals is the ability to assess buyer interest and perceptions of value. When a potential buyer views a property on a portal, they often interact with various features, such as virtual tours. Virtual tours are particularly valuable as they serve as a collection point for buyer feedback. Buyers who agree with the estate agent’s or owner’s valuation are more likely to engage with the virtual tour and other detailed information. Conversely, those who do not find the value proposition appealing will move on to other listings.

This interaction provides crucial data for the seller and the estate agent, indicating whether the asking price aligns with market expectations. By analysing this data, sellers can understand the size of their “buyer pool” – the group of potential buyers who are genuinely interested in the property and agree with the perceived value. Nearly always, a buyer who books a viewing and makes an offer will have engaged with the virtual tour from the main presentation. This “buyer pool” is a critical indicator of how well the property is positioned in the market and whether the pricing strategy is effective.

We want to ensure we create ‘Confirmation Viewings’. These are viewings that match the real life experience to the online experience. We want to create viewings where buyers are arriving at your home with it already on their shortlist. The viewing for the buyer should be a confirmation of their already existing expectations and emotions that has been created whilst exploring the online presentation. They should have a positive outlook on your home before they arrive at it! It’s far better for the buyer to process these feelings before the viewing takes place in person rather than them trying to do this during it.  We want the viewing to be comfortable for them, to confirm these emotions and decision that they made prior to walking through your front door!

To Conclude…

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog!

Looking for some next steps? These links could be useful:

If you have any questions or topics you would like to see discussed in the future, then please do get in touch.  You can connect with Sam Gott on LinkedIn here or Mike Matthews here.

Thanks again, and we look forward to connecting.