Estate Agents have time for website maintenance?

Running a business isn’t easy. If it was we’d all be doing it! There’s so much to do both dealing with your clients and the day-to-day tasks that keep everything running smoothly. With so much on the cards, it can be a wonder that there’s enough hours in the day!

With so much being crammed into your schedule, sometimes it can be hard to squeeze keeping on top of your website maintenance. We’ve seen many an agency website go out of date and the reason is always the same, “I don’t have time”. With all that in mind, I can almost picture the look in your eye when I tell you that you should have a live chat feature on your website.

In terms of lead generation a live chat feature is one of your strongest tools. Every person who comes across your website didn’t happen upon in by accident, they have a need that you can service and they’re looking into why you are the business to use. However, as people’s attention spans become increasingly brief, the content on your website may just not be enough.

On average, a user will look at roughly 20% of a website, and of the 20% they read, only another 20% will be retained. That leaves just 4% of your website content stuck in their mind!

As much as your website is an important tool and needs to be as strong as possible, to an average user who’s just browsing it can be hard to convey the information you need. It’s here that live chat comes in.

A live chat feature on your website allows your visitors to quickly and efficiently get the specific information they require in an engaging manner. They don’t have to scroll through pages and pages of text looking for an answer, they have a helpful human there to guide them. In addition to helping your visitors get the information they need, by talking to a person they are far more likely to leave you their contact information making a conversion far easier.

Let’s face it; you agencies have your work cut out. It’s a crowded market with stock becoming harder and harder to come by. With traditional agents being undercut by online agents, and online agencies (allegedly) not being able to provide the same service as the traditional, competition is fierce. Anything you can do that provides that added value is well worth doing and live chat certainly fits that bill.

I know what you’re thinking though “I don’t have time to be sitting around waiting for someone to chat through my site”, and you’re right, not many people do. The great thing about some of these services is that you don’t have to run them yourself. With providers like Yomdel and various others, they will man your chat service for you, capture your users’ data, and provide answers to any queries your users can throw at them based on information you’ve supplied.

We began live chat back at Estate Apps as a trial a few months back now and I have to say the response has been great. We’ve got more incoming leads than before and in general our users experience has been improved. Having a human to guide our clients through the process has had such a positive effect for us and I’m sure it will do for you too!

 

Alex Evans

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

City house prices soar

The latest research from Property DriveBuy reveals that house prices in UK cities are significantly outperforming both coastal and countryside locations, rising by an average of 3.4% over the past year, well ahead of the wider UK market which has seen growth of 2.5%. And while countryside homes have also seen a price increase, the…
Read More
Breaking News

Buyers return to housing market

2026 starts in line with 2024 with buyer demand 9% down on last year’s strong start Buyers are returning to the housing market at the start of 2026 as confidence improves and mortgage rates fall, but a growing number of homes for sale is giving buyers more choice and reshaping market conditions, according to Zoopla’s…
Read More
Breaking News

How will tenants be affected by the incoming Renters’ Rights Act?

On 28th October 2025, the Renters’ Rights Bill was passed into law, and it is now the Renters’ Rights Act. Changes to legislation resulting from this new Act will take effect from May 2026. This will affect landlords and how they let out their property, and it is worthwhile being aware of how it affects…
Read More
Seaside Properties UK
Overseas Property

Gibraltar property values rise faster than UK

Gibraltar house prices rise faster than UK and London, despite market activity dropping 46% The latest market analysis by Enness Global has revealed that Gibraltar’s property market has seen stronger annual house price growth than both the UK and London, even as the number of transactions completing across the market has fallen sharply, creating a…
Read More
Breaking News

Homes with fewer photos priced £80,000 lower

The latest research by London lettings and estate agent, Benham and Reeves, has revealed a stark disparity in asking prices depending on how extensively a property is marketed, with homes listed using four photos or fewer priced almost £80,000 lower on average than those benefiting from five or more images. Benham and Reeves analysed current…
Read More
Breaking News

January market momentum builds

Analysis of the latest market data by eXp UK has revealed that the UK property market has picked up pace in January, with both new instruction volumes and the price of these new listings increasing when compared to the same period in previous years. eXp UK analysed the latest market data*, looking at both new…
Read More