Zoopla unveils AI features to boost buyer interest

Zoopla has announced two new artificial intelligence (AI)-backed features to increase the number of high-intent buyers on its site. 

The portal has released Homes for You, its first feature powered by AI and a new personalised homepage.

Homes for You uses AI and a user’s browsing activity on Zoopla.co.uk to power listing recommendations for individual users. 

It uses recent activity on site such as property saves and views to highlight the properties a Zoopla user is likely interested in. This is boosted by ‘smart tags’ which are additional property attributes including balcony, en-suite, period property and garden. These are extracted using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and image detection.

This is complemented by a new personalised homepage that is updated every time a user signs in to Zoopla.

The personalised homepage highlights homes to users which match their preferences as soon as they reach the site, enabling them to find properties that suit their needs faster. As a result, users could be suggested an ideal property just 0.1 miles outside their normal search area, or slightly below their minimum spend. 

There’s been a 13% increase in logged-in Zoopla users sending a lead from the homepage since launching, demonstrating the value of this new feature for both consumers and agents, Zoopla said.

Since roll-out, there’s been a 2.5x uplift in leads to agents and an increase in actions on the Zoopla site e.g. saving a listing or submitting a lead, the property website said.

Rich Hayes, chief operating officer at Zoopla, said: “The macroeconomic environment means there’s still uncertainty in the market for buyers and sellers. At Zoopla I believe we have a crucial role to play when it comes to boosting buyer confidence.

"These new product developments are all about supporting Zoopla users in making the next decision on their property journey, be it finding a suitable property for them, submitting a lead, or having an initial conversation with an agent.”