.png)
What is My Agent 2.0?
Today, every buyer who connects is opted into a My Agent relationship where subsequent contacts on Zillow route to the initial Agent with little or no awareness. More than 50% of buyers do not intend to continue working with the first agent we connect them with, yet we default routing subsequent leads to the first agent. There is an opportunity to provide buyers greater control over who they want to work with and help them connect with a new agent if the initial agent isn’t a good fit. My Agent 2.0 strives to provide buyers with greater control of who they want to work with.
How does this benefit the the agent?
Agents are central to our success, and we want them to receive high intent leads that transact. This updated feature will allow agents to optimize leads through Zillow and maximize working with buyers who actually want to work with them, thus improving the impact of their time.
The My Agent 2.0 experience
We wanted to provide buyers more info on the agent they get connected to the first time they submit on Zillow. This is done through a modal experience that pops up the next time the buyer logs into Zillow. This is where we show all the relevant agent information and provide them with an option of continuing to work with them or find someone else instead.
I tested out the initial designs to gather feedback from 7 participants (all potential buyers) and this is what we found.
Buyers felt confident enough to make a decision about working with the agent or not and felt they have enough information
Majority of participants felt like they could confidently decide if the agent was the right fit or not based on the information they saw. Seeing the reviews (and the amount of them) helped solidify the legitimacy of the agent’s rating. Past sales was viewed to be useful to quickly double check if the agent is knowledgeable of the area they’re looking.
Buyers feel more in control seeing the options to continue or discontinue working with an agent.
All participants easily found the CTAs: ‘continue working with the agent’ and ‘request a different agent’ and understood what they were for. Seeing these options available gave them the feeling of control and confidence that they can opt out at any time they feel like the agent isn’t a fit.
Improvements based on feedback
AGENT OVERVIEW ON A PERSONAL LEVEL
Participants showed interest in understanding the agents connection to a client’s: background, family structure, or race/ethnicity. There was also value in seeing an agent’s social media accounts to understand them on a personal level. It isn’t enough to just know how much an agent has sold or where, but whether they’re socially compatible as well. We decided to add social media links to the agents About me section (This is information they provide on their profile page on Zillow anyways).
NEXT STEPS/CAN THEY CONTACT THEM?
After opting to continue with the agent, a few participants wondered what to expect next. When exactly would the agent follow up with them? We saw this as an opportunity to increase engagement and provide them with an option to message them if they want. From the past data, we know that buyers are more likely to transact with the agent if they communicate more frequently in the first week of being connected.
PRICE POINT COMPARISON
A couple of participants expressed concerns of discrimination based on the price point of past sales. They were not sure what kind of clients these agents worked with previously, or whether it was an indicator of whether the agent would work with them. This helped us in modifying what kind of homes to show in the recent homes sold section. We decided to show homes recently sold in the price bracket within which they submitted, which makes it seem more relatable to them.
Summary
All in all, participants valued how the modal intro incorporated a lot of information about the agent in one place, rather than having to search in different places for this information on their own like in their current experience (e.g. googling information and asking the agent questions), and it would help them in making a decision based on the assessment. We shipped this feature in a rolling manner , starting at 30%, constantly tracking the metrics with the control and test options.
Impact
Connections are up ~30% based on initial data. Transaction increase target of XXk/mo == $XXM in annualized revenue. We continue to dial this experience up over the next few months.
“...Both our clients and salespeople find this feature to be one of, if not the most, compelling piece of the Premier Agent platform!”
- Senior sales representative, Premier Agent