Zurple Research Reveals Average Real Estate Lead Response Time

With so much information available online, buyers and sellers spend more time researching homes on their own. Leads can conduct the initial stages of their home buying or selling journey without having to communicate with an agent. However, certain email and text messages will encourage leads to reach out to agents. Zurple research has revealed the average time it takes for leads to respond after registering on a real estate agent's website. Additional research revealed five types of messages that speed up reply time. Statistics and message types listed below are taken from Zurple client back offices.¹

Average Real Estate Lead Response Time Broken Down 

33% Respond within One Day^*

About one-third of all online real estate leads will respond to agents within one business day.^* So what types of messages encourage leads to respond within one business day? Messages that prompt leads to respond within one business day include registration confirmation messages, past favorited properties, property inquiry messages and CMA requests.

• Registration Confirmation Messages

  Agents that enable their websites with lead capture forms and automate follow-up will see leads respond to their confirmation messages. Any time a lead registers on an agent's site, that lead should receive a confirmation message within 5 minutes. These confirmation messages should always contain open-ended questions such as “Do you live locally?” or “Are you thinking of moving here?” The key to encouraging leads to respond to confirmation messages is including an open dialogue. 

• Favorited Property No Longer On the Market

  When leads favorite a property, agents should follow up with updates regarding that specific property. Zurple research has found that messages stating a favorited property is no longer available, entice leads to respond promptly.* 

• Property Inquiry Messages

  Of that 33% many buyer leads responded to emails and text messages regarding their past property inquiry. When agents enable their IDX site to accept specific property inquiries, they should automate follow-up messages. Agents should use lead’s eagerness to learn about a specific property as an opportunity to open communication.

• Comparative Market Requests

  Another way to speed up lead response time is to enable your real estate website with CMA requests. When a seller requests a CMA report, agents should automate a follow-up message. This assures sellers the agent will follow-up with insightful information soon and gets the conversation going.

38% Respond within One Week^*

On average 38% of leads will get back to an agent's email and or text message within one week. A majority of leads fall into this time frame, meaning while not necessarily as hot as those requesting a CMA report or more information regarding a specific property, they are still interested. While these leads may take up to seven business days to respond via text or email, they are still actively looking at properties and require constant nurturing to convert.

29% Wait Up to 85 Days to Respond^*

Online real estate leads are never “cold” or “dead.” Some home buyers and sellers need more time to continue their online home search before they are ready to speak with an agent. These leads are still in the “awareness” or “discovery” stages of the home buying or selling journey. They are collecting data online about the home buying process before they decide which real estate agents to reach out to. 

Note: Agents that nurture leads during their learning stages will capture the mature lead. Agents must be diligently working and reaching out to leads through email, text messages, and phone calls.

85 Days is a Long Time...

Online leads are difficult to read, some may respond to messages right away, others can respond months later, and some never at all. Agents need an intuitive marketing platform that can analyze and follow-up with leads for them. Otherwise they'll never leave the office!

Zurple’s lead intelligence software pairs lead tracking with proprietary big data analytics to craft personalized messages for every single lead generated. Simply put, after Zurple has captured a lead, it will begin tracking or “anazlying” a lead’s online home search history and online behaviors. Zurple then compares this lead’s search data to millions of other real estate leads to create custom tailored messages. Zurple’s algorithms compare each lead’s home search history to calculate what stage of the home buying or selling lifecycle is in and which corresponding messages to send. To see how Zurple intelligently converts and closes online real estate leads, request one of our Account Executives provide a product demo through the link below –

1. Statistics analyzed via Zurple*