Portal Lead Generation Evaluated for Top Brokers

In 2014, recognizing the industry’s need for objective data on lead quality, WAV Group analyzed the online website traffic and performance for 87 of The Realty Alliance and LeadingRE broker websites. We reviewed online lead generation, engagement, and lead quality from various sources. One key point of interest has been the comparison of the top four listing portals: Homes.com, Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow®. Recently, we checked in with our research to see how online lead generation shifted in 2015.

On the basis of lead quality in 2014, the four lead publishers ranked in order as follows: Realtor.com, Trulia, Homes.com, and Zillow. In 2015, Realtor.com® came in first again. However, this time they were followed by Homes.com®, then Trulia, and Zillow.

Realtor.com continues to maintain an edge over other online publishers in lead quality and conversion rates. Their successful “Accuracy Matters” campaign influenced their considerable increase in consumer traffic and highlights their position as the only publisher in the industry with direct access to all the MLS databases. For serious consumers further along in the buying cycle, having fresh listings is an important factor.

Similarly, in 2015, Homes.com had a sizeable increase in traffic to their site despite a much smaller awareness campaign budget. Homes.com has focused on organic search growth and key online partnerships to increase traffic from consumers who will be more likely to transact than the general population. This targeted growth strategy enabled Homes.com to increase their consumer traffic without diluting the quality of their leads and thus move ahead of Trulia on the list.

On the other end of the spectrum, Zillow and Trulia may have hit a saturation point in their traffic. While consumer traffic and lead generation to Zillow.com remains strong, their lead quality decreased significantly in 2015.

As the melding of Trulia into the Zillow Group progresses, it appears that Zillow’s massive size may end up swallowing Trulia. Both traffic and leads from Trulia declined in 2015. Now that they share the same data feeds, consumers may begin to find less and less differentiation between the two sites.