REW Blog post - Forced vs. Unforced Registration Websites
Posted by Morgan Carey on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 3:35pm.Matt just kicked off a discussion over at REW Blogs regarding his test and results so far and also invited others to join in.
You can read the full blog post and it's comments here: http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/blogs/mattbarker/8618/show/ or just click this link.
Remember - the more participants we have, the more valid and accurate this test becomes. If you want to submit your stats please leave us a comment - and we'd be happy to post your results as well as attribution to your site.
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Share7 Responses to "REW Blog post - Forced vs. Unforced Registration Websites"
Morgan Carey wrote:
Milan I would love to add www.jmaproperties.com to the list of participating websites for this test - I will create you a blog account here so that you can post updates - email to follow shortly. Also would love to know the details of your test (how you are going to run it, what kind of registration and results you have had previous vs what you are testing against now sort of thing.) thanks for stepping up!
Milan I would love to add www.jmaproperties.com to the list of participating websites for this test - I will create you a blog account here so that you can post updates - email to follow shortly. Also would love to know the details of your test (how you are going to run it, what kind of registration and results you have had previous vs what you are testing against now sort of thing.) thanks for stepping up!
Posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 6:48pm.
Keith Ltuz wrote:
I would like to participate. My problem is kind of in-between. I allow for two free peeks at the details page, before they have to sign in. Actually REW programmed that into my backend, so I have control as to wether I want 0 to infinity. Not sure if my stats would help. Plus I took a google hit, so my rankings are pretty low.
I would like to participate. My problem is kind of in-between. I allow for two free peeks at the details page, before they have to sign in. Actually REW programmed that into my backend, so I have control as to wether I want 0 to infinity. Not sure if my stats would help. Plus I took a google hit, so my rankings are pretty low.
Posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 3:19pm.
Lorri wrote:
My site portlandneighborhood.com does not force registration...I just try to provide as much valuable info about Portland as possible, and if people want, they click through to the real estate page and some convert to sales. It works well..not all site visitors want real estate, but for those who do, they already have a sense of trust established.
My site portlandneighborhood.com does not force registration...I just try to provide as much valuable info about Portland as possible, and if people want, they click through to the real estate page and some convert to sales. It works well..not all site visitors want real estate, but for those who do, they already have a sense of trust established.
Posted on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 4:33pm.
Tim Shepard wrote:
It's hard to have a debate when the other side doesn't show up.
While measuring leads and sign-ups will provide a nice quantitative answer, it doesn't really answer the primary question. That is, "What's more effective for real estate websites...forced or unforced registration?"
I've seen the issue debated on several different forums but have yet to see anyone, with unforced registration, offer anything other than anecdotal and philosophical reasons as to why their method is superior.
I measure the effectiveness of my website by the gross commission that I earn each year from it. With forced registration since 2002, my website has delivered me with more buyers than I can support. In the beginning, 100% of my business was internet driven. Now, I do about 60% new business and 40% referral and repeat. Keep in mind that the referral and repeat origninated from the internet leads generated years ago.
As a result, I've been able to add an assistant and grow my team.
Even with the success that forced registration has brought me, I'm open minded and would love to hear someone passionately debate the other side. Of course, I'd expect to hear how unforced registration turned into sales and not a another philosophical tirade.
I suspect that the reason no one can debate the virtues of unforced registration is because most of those guys are out of business now.
It's hard to have a debate when the other side doesn't show up.
While measuring leads and sign-ups will provide a nice quantitative answer, it doesn't really answer the primary question. That is, "What's more effective for real estate websites...forced or unforced registration?"
I've seen the issue debated on several different forums but have yet to see anyone, with unforced registration, offer anything other than anecdotal and philosophical reasons as to why their method is superior.
I measure the effectiveness of my website by the gross commission that I earn each year from it. With forced registration since 2002, my website has delivered me with more buyers than I can support. In the beginning, 100% of my business was internet driven. Now, I do about 60% new business and 40% referral and repeat. Keep in mind that the referral and repeat origninated from the internet leads generated years ago.
As a result, I've been able to add an assistant and grow my team.
Even with the success that forced registration has brought me, I'm open minded and would love to hear someone passionately debate the other side. Of course, I'd expect to hear how unforced registration turned into sales and not a another philosophical tirade.
I suspect that the reason no one can debate the virtues of unforced registration is because most of those guys are out of business now.
Posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 9:35pm.
Eric Blackwell wrote:
Actually, Tim... I was one of those folks up until about a year ago... with a brokerage site that fed leads to 110 agents and is well ranked. After Morgan chided me for a long time (grin) and I started testing, the answer became clear that I not only needed to force registration, but have a solid system of what to do with them. I have done well with forced reg, but could do much better with lead management (my site is not an REW site) and so I have talked to Morgan about me adding in my stats to the discussion as well...I think it will be helpful for people to see real numbers from all across the spectrum.
I think most folks who are in non forced mode have just had that mind set and find it uncomfortable to change. They don't typically test it, so they do not have data to argue with...thus they do not participate and that is a shame.
best
Eric
Actually, Tim... I was one of those folks up until about a year ago... with a brokerage site that fed leads to 110 agents and is well ranked. After Morgan chided me for a long time (grin) and I started testing, the answer became clear that I not only needed to force registration, but have a solid system of what to do with them. I have done well with forced reg, but could do much better with lead management (my site is not an REW site) and so I have talked to Morgan about me adding in my stats to the discussion as well...I think it will be helpful for people to see real numbers from all across the spectrum.
I think most folks who are in non forced mode have just had that mind set and find it uncomfortable to change. They don't typically test it, so they do not have data to argue with...thus they do not participate and that is a shame.
best
Eric
Posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 6:12am.
Rita Burke wrote:
Even before our REW site we tested with forced vs. non-forced registration and the results were so telling that we do require registration (after 1 peak at details). The drop in numbers was quite significant. Ok, it was a LOT. :)
I'll be following this experiment for sure.
Rita
Even before our REW site we tested with forced vs. non-forced registration and the results were so telling that we do require registration (after 1 peak at details). The drop in numbers was quite significant. Ok, it was a LOT. :)
I'll be following this experiment for sure.
Rita
Posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 2:45pm.
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Posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 at 11:50am.