Building a strong brand for your estate agency goes hand in hand with winning instructions and securing long term success.
While the term ’brand‘ may conjure up thoughts of big corporates in the industry, the reality is that for most smaller estate agencies, brand simply means reputation. And in a business which thrives on recommendations and reviews, reputation is everything.
While many estate agents may focus on building a strong brand presence in the areas they cover through local marketing strategies and being very visible online, this can be seriously let down if the customer experience is lacking. After all, you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
Why worry about brand experience?
The Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust in 2020, conducted May 27-June 5 in 11 countries, found that trust is the second most important factor in the decision to buy, compared to other factors such as:
- A new brand (53 percent)
- Becoming a loyal customer (49 percent)
- Price and affordability (64 percent)
As the estate agency landscape changes, fees are becoming less important as customers seek to find an agency who will look after all of their interests – from getting the best possible price for their vendors, to knowing how to manage tenants for landlords.
Brand experience and mystery shopping
First impressions really count when it comes to estate agencies.
Potential vendors are likely to request several valuations from different agencies, and with multiple listings for many properties, buyers will opt to book viewings through those who offer a great service.
Mystery shopping can be a great way to improve brand experience for your customers.
By using mystery shoppers, your company can gain valuable insights into customer service issues, areas of improvement, and potential problems. Additionally, mystery shopping can help you to train your employees on how to better serve customers and improve the overall customer experience.
How can mystery shopping work build your agency brand
You have no doubt seen online reviews for either your own agency or others which mention a bad first experience. Even if that reviewer was never a ‘real customer’.
This means getting things right at the outset will allow you to improve the perception of your estate agency in the market.
Mystery shoppers are individuals who are hired to act as customers in order to evaluate the quality of service provided by a business. Mystery shoppers will typically visit or call your agency and interact with employees in the same way that a regular customer would.
They may ask questions, or request information. After their visit, mystery shoppers will report back to the business, detailing what they liked and didn't like about their experience.
This helps you to build a better insight into how you are perceived by those who are newly introduced to your agency.
Know Your Market can help you to plan, deliver and feedback mystery shopping.
With full management reporting and a customer feedback dashboard, we help you to protect your brand.
Want to learn more? Book a demo with our team.
