Product Review: Listings 360°insight Advisor for Brokers

We were excited to get a sneak peek at the new Listings 360°insight Advisor from Onboard Informatics. This innovative product is still in beta, rolling out in several technologically savvy MLSs (including MRED and CTMLS) within the next few months. However, the team at Onboard Informatics offered to let us take a look. As you join us on the tour, please bear in mind that the product is still being fine-tuned and users can expect some minor tweaks in the final version.

Better Data, Better Insight, Better Business Decisions
Onboard Informatics sees their role as partners to the MLS and broker community. With Listings 360°insight Advisor, the goal was to create a platform that would provide unparalleled understanding about online consumer behavior and crystal-clear visibility of listing performance. They wanted this technology to speak to the needs of each of the unique subgroups in our industry – MLSs, brokers, and agents. The solution they crafted has three key characteristics that should be mentioned:

1. The visibility gained from Listings 360°insight Advisor is comprehensive and universal. Professionals see data from participating  “online places” where listings appear, this includes the MLS system, the MLS consumer facing site, third party websites, agent websites, broker websites, and so on. Everywhere listings appear, Onboard is  tracking and sharing standardized results through 360°insight Advisor- providing users with true, comprehensive perspective of what’s happening online
2. Listings 360°insight Advisor is tech-agnostic. It can integrate with whatever technologies are already being used (for syndication, compliance, licensing, and more); making it part of the MLS and brokers’ overall listing distribution solution rather than another standalone destination the real estate professional needs to go to. In addition, Onboard continues to integrate with new kinds of technology – for instance, their new integration with ShowingTime will soon incorporate showing data with other listing data.
3. The data is presented in an easy-to-understand way. Listings 360°insight Advisor relies heavily on graphical representations of data in order to make the information more palatable and less intimidating. The user interface itself is also simple and clean, making navigation and use of the platform easier. If questions arise, the numerous “help” buttons throughout the system offer guidance.

Product Walk-Through
Listings 360°insight Advisor is single sign-on, and can be easily integrated directly into the MLS system for an even more impactful approach. MLSs, brokers and agents have respective permission levels in user hierarchy; MLS executives see all information, brokers see information relative to their offices and agents, and agents see information about their listings individually and related to the whole. Screens can be shared, saved and emailed.

Agent Interface
There are two primary tabs that agents can choose from: “Your Listings” and “Overall Market.” Clearly, this gives agents the ability to gain insights about both their own online performance and the performance of their market as a whole. The date ranges used to evaluate comparative listing performance can be changed. This chart gives the agent a simple way to measure the effectiveness of their online marketing efforts for all of their listings in one simple report.

In the Your Listings tab, agents can view a list of all their active properties (either with photos or without), and dig deeper into each individual listing. Once they’ve selected a listing, they’ll be able to compare its performance to the performance of similar listings.

Agents can also compare the price of the listing to the pricing of similar listings in the same market. This can be a helpful tool for uncomfortable client conversations about dropping the price or extending the listing agreement.

Then, of course, there are the top sites where the listing is being viewed. Clearly, this can be helpful in many ways, from making decisions about syndication to determining where to spend advertising dollars. This chart will include not just third party syndication sites, but the MLS system traffic, MLS Consumer-facing website, broker website, and any other type of online site that the agent is using to promote their business online.

As we mentioned above, agents can also look at the performance of the overall market. Onboard explains that the data in this section is intended to give agents a taste of the big picture without overwhelming them. When looking at the overall market, agents can break it down by examining the top searches, the top sites (where market-wide listings are being viewed) and buy/sell locations (to understand the locations consumers are looking for and where they are searching from).

Broker Interface
As the needs of brokers are quite different from the needs of agents, the Listings 360°insight broker interface provides the  performance information needed to accomplish two things: (1) to understand which sites are driving traffic, thus helping the broker make solid marketing investments and decisions; and (2) to understand how their listings (brokerage, offices and agents) are performing online, providing opportunities for cross training, as well as dialogue with agents and media. This is presented in a  similar format to the agent interface.

From the home screen, they can view their overall performance and then choose to examine the:

• Top Sites (including their own sites, third party sites, MLS sites and others)
• Top Offices
• Top Agents
• Top Listings

Next Steps for Brokers
Listings 360°insight Advisor is licensed by the MLS and provided to members as a free member benefit. Reach out to your MLS or to Onboard Informatics to find out if it will be available to you in the future.

You can also:

• Learn more about Onboard Informatics in our product directory or at OnboardInformatics.com.
• Read articles about listing syndication, IDX and market analytics.
• Discover additional products.
• Check out more product reviews.