Portal wars resume as Zoopla claims big surge in leads and visits

Zoopla is claiming a big surge in leads provided to agents and a new high in the number of visits to its websites.

The claims come in a month which traditionally sees competition becoming more fierce between portals as they trade statistics on visits, leads and marketing spend. 

Zoopla says the volume of valuation leads driven to agents increased 64 per cent in the past 12 months from Q4 2017 to Q4 2018. 

It says this surge in leads is down to several factors including non-property related advertising being removed from listing detail pages since the start of December, resulting in 35 per cent faster page speeds, improved search engine optimisation and a nine per cent uplift in listing page leads to agents.

It says its leads have also benefitted from user search criteria added to Zoopla’s email leads, enabling agents to prioritise enquiries, and the launch of the portal’s new Property Valuation Report.

Meanwhile it says its site visits in 2018 peaked at a new single-month high of 58.3m with visits averaging around 50m a month; downloads of the Zoopla app increased 11.3 per cent over the year to 11.2m. 

The portal says exposure to Zoopla is set to rise in 2019 as it plans to increase marketing spend by 23 per cent in the first three months of this year compared to the same period of 2018. 

“Zoopla has invested more than any other portal in advertising over the past five years according to [industry barometer] Nielsen’s AdDynamix” says a statement from Zoopla. 

As we reported last month, part of this spend is on Zoopla’s latest advertising campaign, featuring hermit crab companions Debs & Jess.

“Providing value for money to our agents, and the most effective service in a challenging market, is our primary aim for 2019. We have dramatically increased the number of valuation leads delivered to our agents over the last year which provides crucial volume for all-important instructions and we’re driving consistently high volumes of consumer traffic to our website” says Zoopla managing director Charlie Bryant.

“Last year was significant for us, particularly our acquisition by Silver Lake, which has paved the way for significant investment in creative solutions to the benefit of our agent clients in the years ahead. This, coupled with increased consumer awareness of the Zoopla brand, means we are in a position to offer agents our most valuable and comprehensive service ever for 2019” he continues. 

“More than 50m customers visit our websites every month, we hit a new high in 2018 in terms of our monthly site traffic volumes, and our app downloads are on a strong upward trajectory. We are the only credible alternative to Rightmove for agents this year.”