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Zillow Launches A Free Online Agent Endorsement System

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Services for Real Estate Pros with Zillow

Zillow Launches A Free Online Agent Endorsement System

Today, Zillow launched Zillow Ratings and Reviews - or basically an endorsement system on the site for real estate professionals.  It is a way for consumers to review real estate agents they've worked with in the past to assist other consumers in the agent selection process.  But want to know the other big winner here?  Great agents!  They are the ones that will flourish and rise to the top. 

Zillow agnet ratings reviews and endorsements

How can I easily collect reviews from past clients?

  1. Email individual clients and ask them to fill out a review form on Zillow.  To streamline this process, you can pre-populate the form with the address of the home you helped them buy or sell, and fill in the service you provided (buyer's agent, seller's agent, etc).
  2. Email up to 50 clients a day with a standard form asking them to review you on Zillow.
  3. If a past client is viewing your Zillow profile, they can click the ‘write a review' button and will be directed to the ratings and reviews form.

Who can review me?

  1. Any client, past or present, can review you regardless of when the transaction closed.
  2. The reviewer must have an active profile on Zillow.
  3. Agents cannot review other agents.

How are reviews moderated?

Zillow's customer service team personally looks at every single review before it is published, to ensure that it adheres to Zillow's Good Neighbor Policy and is respectful and appropriate. If we feel a review does not comply with our Guidelines and Policies, or is generally inappropriate or off-topic, we won't post it.

Can I respond to reviews?

Yes. Agents will be notified when a review has been written about them and have the opportunity to publically respond to all reviews. Additionally, agents can flag reviews they feel are inaccurate or unjust for further review by Zillow's moderators.

What I really want to highlight is that Zillow understands the power of reviews for both consumers and agents, and has a dedicated customer service team in place that will personally look at EVERY SINGLE REVIEW before it is published.

 As I said in the beginning, this new endorsement system is going to be an excellent opportunity for great agents--similar to how great restaurants thrive on Yelp.  In the NAR 2010 Home Buyer and Seller survey that just came out, it said that 87% of consumers would recommend or use their agent again in the future.  Now these past clients can tell your future clients why! 

 

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Comments (133)

Edward Perez
Sothbey's International Realty - Hoboken, NJ

Ratings websites for real estate agents have been around for a couple of years however it didn't seem like most of them were being used much by agents or consumers.  With the popularity of Zillow, this might change!

I'll be sending out a request to my client database via Top Producer and using the create a hyperlink function within their email program.  It'll same something like "rate Eddie Perez on Zillow.com"

A quick FYI to those that use Top Producer, when I paste the direct link provided at zillow, an extra http// is added so I have to remove that first otherwise it will not work.

Thanks for the post!

Dec 04, 2010 06:08 AM
Kimo Jarrett
Cyber Properties - Huntington Beach, CA
Pro Lifestyle Solutions

So it's another marketing campaign for Zillow to get more viewers to their sights in order to increase or maintain their advertising revenue using content from RE agents' clients. Shouldn't Zilllow pay the RE agents a recurring monthly fee to attract viewers to their site?

Posting reviews or testimonials on the Internet is so unreliable and incredible as to the veracity of the post, therefore very suspect to say the least. I don't read testimonials on company's, products or services regardless if it's on the Internet, flyer's, or any publication because it's non verifiable, yet if it gets your phone to ring because of a review posted on Zillow, more power to you, just my opinion.

Dec 04, 2010 05:56 PM
Jay Thompson
Zillow - Seattle, WA

Mark - Is there something wrong with a company making a profit? "New next best thing"??? Agent review sites have been around for years. ANd they certainly aren't going away.

The solution is pretty simple. If you don't want to be reviewed on Zillow, don't create a profile. If you don't want Zilow to make a profit, don't buy ad space.

I simply don't get this aversion to agent review sites so many seem to have. Seems like people must have something to hide. I wrote an article about it: Real Estate Agent Review Sites. On Zillow, Gaming and Whining

We're giving away our profession because Zillow rolls out an agent review system. Really?

Dec 05, 2010 07:21 AM
Joy Carter & Jeff Booker Brother and Sister Team
Keller Williams Parkland/Coral Springs Realty-GreatFloridaHomes Team - Coral Springs, FL
Trust Your Family's Move To Our Expertise!

I saw the email from Zillow and then while I was out showing property they called me to encourage me to sue the system.

I was working with clients, so I asked them to write a review.  At that moment I did not realize the review had to be tied to a property.  I have to get that one closed so I can get a review!

Thanks for the suggestion to email my past clients.  It's another opportunity to touch them.  Joy

Dec 05, 2010 12:09 PM
Fran Gatti
RE/MAX Integrity - Medford, OR
Managing Principal Broker - RE/MAX Integrity

Sara,

I hope this works out for all involved.  I am not going to solicit my clients for ratings, but if they find their way to Zillow and decide to rate me that would sure be nice. 

Dec 05, 2010 05:54 PM
DAdrea Davie
Keller Williams Realty - Stockton, CA
Stanislaus & San Joaquin Short Sale Agent

I registered for Zillow about a month ago because they are offering more benefits for the agents. I think it is a good benefit to enhance the agents profile and gain possible leads from it. I will add it to my current "follow-up" system. Like anything it will have its pros and cons...not sure how much possible leads pay attention to the testimonials, but I figure it doesn't hurt to have it there.

 

Thank you for sharing! 

Dec 06, 2010 09:59 AM
Catherine Marrone
Integrity Residential Brokerage LLC - West Newbury, MA
West Newbury MA real estate, Essex County

Good to know.  I have been contacted by potential clients who state they called me because they read my  client reviews online. It does increase the odds that you'll be contacted.

Dec 06, 2010 10:04 AM
Robert Lei
Century 21 (SUNNYVALE, CA) - (408) 893-2410 - Sunnyvale, CA
Sunnyvale Cupertino Santa Clara, Palo Alto Mountain View Saratoga Campbell

Thanks for the info.  I'll check out zillow.

Dec 06, 2010 11:11 AM
Robert Adams
Keller Williams Realty, South Tampa - Tampa, FL

Wow, this sounds great...I'll check out zillow and see how I can utilize it!

Dec 14, 2010 12:48 AM
Brad Andersohn
Retired Executive Director of Education at eXp - Boulder Creek, CA
ActiveBrad - 707.646.1876

Hey Robert - let us know if you need any assistance.  I'm also doing a class today on the "10 top Zillow tools" I've discovered over the past couple months.  You're welcome to join us for that as well if you like. 

Just go to zillowacademy.com and register, it's free.  Happy Holidays~  :-)

Dec 14, 2010 02:22 AM
Dennis Neal
RE/MAX, Big Bear - Big Bear Lake, CA
Your Home Sold in 21 Days or We Sell It For Free

This looks like a useful expantion of Zillow.

Dec 17, 2010 06:27 PM
Bill Carroll
Corcoran Real Estate - Westhampton, NY
IN REAL ESTATE, REPRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING

sarah- thanks for posting this. I should have known- I looked on Zillow for a half a day for a tutorial- when all I had to do was search in activerain. I am grateful that I can show consumers that I stand out from the crowd, but can't help but feel a little resentful that we spend our lives making sites like zillow try to out compete eachother on the backs of agents toiling through all theses profile updates. Maybe zillow can offer discounts on premium services to agents who have complete profile pages??

Jan 11, 2011 05:40 AM
Sara Bonert
Zillow - Atlanta, GA
Real Estate Internet Marketing

Hey Bill - (#137) Regardless of if you are a premier advertiser or not - I can definitely tell you that agents that have at least created a free profile on the site get far more consumer contacts on the site than those that haven't!

Jan 11, 2011 01:27 PM
Dana Scanlon
Keller Williams Capital Properties - Bethesda, MD
Bethesda MD- Award-Winning Bethesda Realtor

Its great and easy to use. I always mail a form to my clients after a closing for ratings and testimonials, but some never get around to filling it out. Now, I can send them the zillow link and most have responded with (rave) reviews.Thanks!

Jan 20, 2011 07:10 AM
Sara Bonert
Zillow - Atlanta, GA
Real Estate Internet Marketing

Quick update here on the endorsement system - Consumers can now see which agents have reviews, all over the site.  When launched you had to go directly to the agent's profiles to see if they had reviews.  Now we are surfacing those agents with more good reviews on the site more prominently.  Brad wrote a blog post about it here - http://activerain.com/blogsview/2076682/agent-ratings-and-reviews-go-public-on-zillow  or if you just go to Zillow, you'll see what I mean.

Jan 20, 2011 10:30 AM
Tim Peterson
Wisconsin Realtor Safety and Concealed Carry Classes - Madison, WI
Realtor Safety Training Classes

Hi Sara-sounds like a great program-consumers certainly use Zillow a lot and this can help us

Mar 25, 2011 05:38 PM
Matt Robinson
Professional Investors Guild - Pensacola, FL
www.professionalinvestorsguild.com

Don't you wish you could in fact review other Realtors on the site?   Now, that would be fun!  However, it probably wouldn't look good to consumers to have us beating up on each other all over the internet...which is what makes "Members Only" designation so important on ActiveRain.

Aug 03, 2011 05:22 AM
Vianey Ojeda
The Hanover Group | kw® - Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Making a Complex Market Simple - TESTSELLYOURHOME.

how is this working for all of you?  so far, for me not bad but i find it's hard to get a good online review. most clients still prefer to write a testimonial letter.

Dec 05, 2011 09:58 AM
Maria Morton
Platinum Realty - Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Real Estate 816-560-3758

Vlaney, I have asked a few clients to give reviews on Zillow. Since I already have a survey sent out to clients after each transaction, it's a bit much to expect them to take time to review me on Zillow, Trulia and all the other aggregators.

Zilllow is now allowing anyone to review an agent on Zillow. This is an alarmingly irresponsible action on their part and I hope that Zillow rethnks their position on this. Please refer to Leslie's post for details.

Most of the 'leads' I receive from Zillow are of very low quality; one could hardly call them leads at all. I understand that that is the nature of unverified internet inquiries and am okay with that part of it. But to allow one of these casual inquiries to write a review of an agent is outrageous.

Only clients should be allowed to review an agent and the agent should have the right, as we were promised, to approve the review before it is posted. Posting agent reviews written by casual web surfers is irresponsible, unprofessional, and possibly libelous.

If Zillow feels that a particular agent is not performing the way Zillow wants, Zillow should refund the agent and brokers' money paid to Zillow, cancel their listings from showing on the site, and stop sending that agent leads. If they want to keep taking the agent and brokers' money and using their listings, Zillow needs to treat the agents and brokers with respect.

 

Dec 14, 2011 08:54 AM
Anonymous
Quality lifestyle

Zillow is very good selling propertu and buying property
thansk to zillow villas in whitefield

Mar 27, 2018 04:00 AM
#144