Decided to look for a new house for sale in a new city?
For the inexperienced, finding a home can be a daunting undertaking. But it doesn’t have to be this way. One resource that can help actual clients close deals on homes is Zillow, inarguably the most comprehensive online platform for real estate agents and listings. The more detailed Zillow reviews are on a property listing, the better it is.
Prospective home buyers and customers look for accurate, authentic listings and detailed reviews. To make this process hassle-free and convenient, they need a platform like Zillow that is trusted, honest and open.
For a real estate agent, it makes perfect sense to advertise listings on the leading real estate agent marketplace, especially one that attracts enormous traffic from direct sources (i.e., from a native app and website).
Your competitors are already there on Zillow. But the good news is – you can do it better. This article will show you how to make the most of Zillow reviews to attract and convert potential clients.
Why Zillow?
There are plenty of reasons why Zillow is the top-rated real estate agent marketplace.
Over the years, Zillow has acquired similar brands such as HotPads, StreetEasy, Trulia, and nine others, enhancing its reach significantly!
Zillow and Trulia are the most extensive online real estate agent marketplaces, boasting over 234 million monthly unique users in 2021 and annual revenue of $8.14 billion.
Over 186 homes are viewed per second on Zillow’s mobile app, with many great reviews.
More than 80 million homes are listed on Zillow, with invaluable insights on users and the larger real estate agent market. They can track user sentiment, behaviors, habits, and buying/selling signals. Zillow knows its customers inside out.
Who uses Zillow
Zillow is a platform that caters to four groups:
- Home sellers
- Renters
- Homeowners
- Potential buyers
Home sellers
They are usually people who are new to the business of selling their place. Sellers are generally educated and married. A life change could prompt them to sell their home, e.g., moving to a new city, new job, marital issues, etc.
Renters
They are people who usually earn less than $50,000 annually. Renters are looking for extra cash by subletting their premises as portions or on a shared basis.
Homeowners
They are folks who basically own their premises and have lived there for the better part of a year or more. Homeowners are typically in the middle of their careers, married and educated.
Home buyers
They are usually young and educated people. According to Zillow, 52% of potential buyers consider renting. Data suggests that the older they get, the more inclined they are towards owning their place.
These four groups may be at variance, but ultimately they all work towards a single goal – buying a home.
No matter which group you belong to, Zillow can help you make the most of the home buying and selling process.
Zillow reviews vs. other online platforms
Zillow has plenty of advantages that other competing real estate agent platforms do not.
- Listings on Zillow are search engine optimized and more visible on Google and Bing.
- Zillow adds significant value to your real estate agent business by leveraging a more comprehensive network of agents, brokers, lenders, builders, and advertisers.
- Users on Zillow tend to stay engaged by contributing to most reviews, reaching out to representatives, and so on.
- The bounce rate on Zillow is better than the other big three competing platforms.
Set goals for yourself on Zillow
Did you know that when buyers contact an agent, they are likely to visit Zillow 27 times and view 77 listing agent pages on average over the next month?
If you’re an agent or a real estate business, it is time to attract traffic to your Zillow page and make it reviewer-friendly. It all starts with creating your profile and getting glowing reviews.
How to Create your Zillow Profile
Let’s get started with creating your dedicated Zillow profile page.
Here’s how you can get yours:
- Sign up for a Zillow Premier Agent account here.
- List your email address and choose a strong password.
- Enter your name, phone number, profession, etc. Make sure you enter the correct information.
- Go through the prompts to finish your profile.
- You will now see a detailed Profile Information form. Provide your personal, business, and contact information here. Include a valid real estate license in this form too.
- Click the “Request Reviews” link to remind clients of an honest review. You will need to send them a URL over email for this part. Click “Send Request” once you’re ready.
To sum it up, you just established your profile, gathered information from past clients (i.e., their email addresses), and can now send Zillow review requests.
How to attract more buyers with good reviews on Zillow
If you’re a home seller looking for the best realtor, good reviews on Zillow can help attract new clients. Here are a few tips:
- Ensure your property is listed on Zillow and in the appropriate local area.
- Encourage your friends and family to write positive reviews about your property on Zillow instead of other agents.
- Share your listing on social media.
- Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative.
- Keep your property updated on Zillow so buyers can see the latest information.
By following these tips, you can help ensure that your property gets noticed by more buyers on Zillow.
Optimize your Zillow Profile
Zillow has helpful video testimonials and tutorials that teach you the SHARP method to optimize your profile:
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the SHARP approach:
Sales
Want to show off your market expertise? List your recent and past sales on Zillow. This way, you share evidence that establishes you as an in-demand agent.
Headshot
Want to draw new clients to you? Get a professional real estate headshot taken. Your picture conveys a lot to prospective clients.
Advertising Markets
For your profile to appear in the relevant agent directories, add all the cities, zip codes, and neighborhoods you cater to. Home buyers will have an easier time getting access to you.
Reviews
Online reviews leave a significant impact. 62% of buyers trust a real estate agent with favorable Real Estate reviews at Zillow. Factors like a stress-free experience, negotiation, brand, and speed are considered less significant than trust. Be wary of fake reviews because they exist on most platforms.
Professional Bio
The ‘About Me section is ideal for listing your expertise, accomplishments, awards, and so on. All these things compel home shoppers to reach out to you instead of the competition. Use a professional bio template for the best results and a positive review.
Bonus Tip
Got a team of agents? You can get yourself a team profile too:
To give you an example, here’s how a leading real estate marketplace profile looks on Zillow:
Greenland Real Estate:
- Has over 1000 real estate agent reviews
- 4.5/5 star rating
- 764 Real Estate reviews
- 200 sales in the last three months
- 50 current listings
- Employs full-time realtors
- Sold $2 million of real estate
To improve it, you can expand their list of the best realtors, each leaving a glowing review.
Small things like these add up and establish trust in your services. It’s easy to respond to good real estate agent reviews. Follow these steps:
- Go to your profile.
- Scroll down to the critical review and click on Respond to review.’
- You can now write a public response to client reviews. It will show up beneath the original review.
For the best results, Zillow recommends you respond to every review individually. This applies to neutral, negative, or positive reviews equally. A measured and calm response to a negative review can help you attract current and past clients.
This is enough to get you started on your journey as a credible real estate agent business on Zillow and get more reviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to give constructive feedback on Zillow?
Including your feedback on Zillow is pretty straightforward. You must sign into your Zillow account and select “Request a Review’ from your profile page. There are two ways to review agents on Zillow with their forms:
- You can send a direct link to your review form for client reviews by sending them a URL to the form. Expect a few great reviews by making the process as seamless as possible.
- You can email a general review form to a maximum of 50 happy clients per day. Each client will get an email with a link to your form.
Why is my Zillow review not appearing?
Zillow usually takes 3-5 business days to moderate a new review. If it’s not published yet, chances are that it is in moderation for the time being. Clients are notified in case of any issues with their review, along with suggestions that can get it published. Happy clients can make the necessary changes and re-submit their reviews.
Can anyone write a review on the Zillow group?
Only buyers and sellers who have communicated on the platform or worked with a Zillow Premier Agent can write a review and submit their agent rating to prevent abuse. Reviewers will need to have a Zillow profile to submit their feedback. The platform usually evaluates these online reviews before it goes online.
Wrap up
Setting up your profile and optimizing it for more reviews can produce a multiplier effect for your real estate agent business. This is a process that requires no money or connections. Since a large target audience uses Zillow, you can attract and acquire high-value actual clients with zero investment. Follow this guide to accomplish your real estate or home buying process.
