Manipulating Reviews, Another Tunnel & A Very Therapeutic Saturday Night
Last week, I shared a few stories of online reviews and how they are (sometimes unfairly) providing a medium that strongly influence a consumer’s choice of product or service.
Long before online reviews were important, real estate agents would thrive on client testimonials and the advent of online platforms has only strengthened a real estate agent’s desired for a strong online presence.
So should a seller base their choice of agent solely upon online reviews?
In my opinion, it would be unwise to do so.
Quite simply, some agents simply don’t focus on obtaining online reviews and testimonials are simply let their sales results do the talking – I can show you a number of top agents right across Brisbane that have very happy clients who have virtually no online reviews.
One of the issues with many of the platforms that agents use to promote online reviews is that they are open to manipulation.
Let me explain with a few examples….
A few weeks, I was scrolling through ‘Instagram’ and a testimonial of a particular agent came up as a paid advertisement.
The testimonial caught my attention as the client had used the word ‘extremely’ three times in the same few lines… “extremely happy”, “extremely good price” and “extremely quick sale”.
I clicked on this particular agent’s’ page and read more of the agent’s reviews…and rather ironically, every single client had used the word “extremely” in their glowing endorsement of the agent.
When I clicked on the agent’s online profile and description, he described himself using the word “extremely” in two separate sentences.
It’s a reasonably logical assumption to make that the agent has written all of these testimonials himself.
A few years ago, a friend of mine who is a real estate agent showed me some of the online reviews of one of their main competitors and on three separate ‘client’ testimonials, they had spelt the word ‘ecstatic’ wrong…and oddly enough, each client had mis-spelt it the exact same way.
Draw your own conclusions on that one.
Some of the online platforms for real estate reviews are sophisticated enough to recognise the I.P address and reject the review if the I.P address has already been identified on another review.
In saying this, there are obviously still ways to get around it.
Over the past few years, many agents use a website called ‘Rate My Agent’…an online platform where buyers and sellers can provide online reviews and awards are given for those with the most reviews in any calendar year for particular suburbs and regions.
When this site first launched, we certainly participated and encouraged our clients to provide a review and for a number of years, we were awarded ‘Agent Of The Year’ in our core area.
But after winning the ward for a few years running, we were surprised to be told that two of our reviews were ‘rejected’ based solely upon the fact that we had two different elderly clients that were not computer literate who provided a hand-written testimonial and we loaded it online.
Due to the ‘I.P’ address, these reviews were rejected.
In this particular year, we had sold more properties than our competitors and had the most reviews but lost the award based on the mathematical equation that the platform uses…it’s not the most reviews but the highest percentage of sellers that provide an online review compared to the number of sales made.
So the agent that won the award had made less sales but had a higher percentage of their clients provide reviews, they won.
If the two reviews that were rejected were considered, we would have won.
We certainly lost enthusiasm for the platform after this decision.
I get it that this seems petty but when we lose business based upon on this award, it is very frustrating.
And then, there’s the question of the number of ‘stars’ that an agent receives.
It’s incredible to see how many agents receive nothing but ‘5-star’ reviews.
If the agent doesn’t email a review submission link to the client, the client won’t have the option of providing a review.
This means that a client who is unhappy for any reason is not able to participate in this review process unless they know of the platform and seek to provide a review.
Secondly, there are agents that have been ‘busted’ for offering a financial incentive if their sellers provide a ‘5-star’ review.
One of the clients of this agency recently took to the social media and vented their displeasure at being ‘bribed’ to provide a ‘5-star’ review when they were not happy with the result in the first place.
Some agents has taken to obtaining separate reviews from a couple in order to strengthen their number of reviews…in other words, for a couple that sells, the husband leaves a review and the wife also leaves a separate review.
Taking this one step further, I saw a review recently where the adult children of the sellers also left reviews in addition to the couple.
What’s next? Perhaps the family pet might provide an online review.
And then there’s Google…
For anyone that runs a business and has received a bad online review on ‘Google’ (even if proven to be fraudulent), you would know that it’s almost impossible to have this review deleted…and because this is now so well-known around the world, it is a common belief that ‘Google’ has become a place of venting rather than a tool where those who are satisfied provide positive comments.
Another real estate I know was involved in a negotiation and their seller suggested thar to bring a deal together, the agent should absorb the difference and drastically reduce their commission.
When this agent refused, the client threatened to leave a negative review on ‘Google’ as leverage on the agent in order to force them into accepting a commission of less than half of what was originally agreed.
I think one of the best ways to gain insight into an agent is to see how they respond to a genuine negative online review.
On most portals, the agent has the opportunity to provide a written response and whilst it can be a temptation to vent, their response says a lot about the agent in question.
A few years ago, I saw an agent respond with blatant sarcasm and disdain for a client that provided a negative review and eventually, this response provided more harmful that the review itself with many locals in this particular suburb forming a view that the agent was not a nice person.
Since this response, the agent barely listed a single property in this suburb again and has now left the real estate industry.
So the conclusion is that online reviews can be a good source of information, it pays to take some of what you read with the proverbial grain of salt.
Next week…we’ll look into the new rental legislation that’s about to come into effect – this is vital information that every tenant and every landlord needs to know.
Until then and as always…Happy Listing and Happy Selling.
Feature Property Of The Week
Our ‘Feature Property Of The Week’ is 3 Zita Place, Bray Park – Offering a sturdy low-set brick residence, multiple car accommodation and a crystal clear swimming pool, this fabulous residence is the ideal choice for those that demand privacy, serenity and space. Providing multiple living areas, 4 sizable bedrooms, a generous kitchen and an expansive outdoor pergola (all on a a generous 611m2 allotment) and an ultra-handy position that’s within walking distance to Warner shops, trains, buses and schools, this is a property that won’t cost you ‘an arm and a leg’. We have good interest on this one now so be sure to contact us to inspect quickly if you want to see it before it’s snapped up by an astute buyer.
Click Here To View Listing
Insights Article…
The data is in and we’re now seeing property prices decreasing at the fastest rate since the GFC. This is a very in-depth analysis of how the property market in Australia is performing from state to state…
Click Here To Read Article
Did You Know?
Michael made a quick trip to the ‘Ekka’ on Saturday night and tested his skill on one of the games in sideshow alley where the objective is to throw 4 baseballs at a series of moving plates on a moving ‘pendulum’. Michael successfully smashed all 4 plates and won his daughter Lilliana a giant orange unicorn with his first and only attempt. Michael said he felt good as “there’s nothing better than winning your little girl a huge stuffed toy and putting a big smile on her face” but he also mentioned that he was tempted to continue to play…not because he wanted to win more prizes but because he found the smashing sound of ‘baseball on plates’ to be (as he described it) “very therapeutic”. If you’re planning on visiting the Ekka over the coming days, Michael highly recommends giving this one a go to relieve any stress you may have.
Michael is currently negotiating a large ‘off-market’ sale which (once sold) will mean that Michael and his team have sold more than $900 million worth of property over a 22 year real estate sales career.
