Top Marketer Goes Over the Top
Dustin’s asking for feedback on Top Producer’s new Top Marketer, a marketing tool that’s based on real-time content generated from the local MLS.
Having just been involved in the design of a similar system for my brokerage, I think there’s clear value for agents to have access to this type of tool, for the simple fact that it helps them cultivate a genuine relationship with their clients by providing them with meaningful data on their local market, rather than spamming them with recycled newsletter content.
That said, Holy God. Top Producer needs to hire a usability designer. Fast. The Market Snapshot report is such a mish-mash of information with no clear logical flow and so many conflicting design elements, I’m going cross-eyed just looking at it.
My overall approach to design is the simpler the better. This report takes that ethos and chucks it straight out the window. The layered elements pull my eyes in all different directions. The color scheme is hard on the eyes and there’s no whitespace to highlight the important elements. More problematically, the data presented is scattered across the page with no clear hierarchy of information.
As I said, I think there’s clear value in this report, but just not in how it’s currently presented.
Also, I’m also not entirely clear how this product is supposed to be delivered.
Top Producer has a landing page site at Home Insight, which serves up an abridged version of the report to consumers through a simplified street address search interface. Consumers can opt to receive the full version of the report which is sent from one of the agents. Agents who sign up to be part of the system pay $25-30 for each of these leads.
This strikes me as slightly kludgey, as it is incumbent on how successful Top Producer is in promoting Home Insight as a destination site. In a market increasingly saturated with competing AVM tools, I’ll be interested in seeing how much traffic they can generate.
Top Producer would be better served licensing this tool to agents or brokers as part of a keep-in-touch campaign to their existing client bases.
But please, please redesign it first.
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Curt Beardlsey | Nov 16, 2006 | Reply
Beauty… is in the eye of the beholder
but I appreciate the feedback and will take your comments to heart. The Top Marketer Market Snapshot, however, is being well received both by consumers and agents.
It directly addresses the cycle of “consumer asks a question – agent doesn’t respond for several days – consumer moves on� that is all to common place. These “early stage prospects� are interested in getting real information – not just recipes and household tips, but the cost in time and resources to respond can be daunting for agents – and the Market Snapshot does this with no additional work on the part of the agent and in the timeline that consumers have come to expect.
Just to clarify: The Market Snapshot is available in two different product offerings. First, as you have described, it is available with exclusive buyer and seller leads that come in through HomeInsight.com. However, for agents that have their own established lead sources and prospecting channels, there is a subscription version (announced at the recent NAR and available shortly) that allows agents to distribute the Market Snapshot to any contact – from any source.
Curt Beardsley
Top Producer Product Management
Barry Hurd | Nov 16, 2006 | Reply
I’m always amazed at how much goes into the development of these systems when the graphic and usability departments are left out. I agree with helping agents to provide meaningful data on their local market… as the what I’ve been seeing lately is recycled information.