Rightmove has said that it has heard from a number of agents that they’re using virtual and video tours to help generate more interest in their current listings, whether through professional tours or tours on a mobile phone that agents created before the lockdown.
The portal has introduced a new feature, now live and communicated to agents on Friday (Friday 3rd April), that lets agents tick a box in Rightmove Plus on each of their listings that include a Virtual Tour or video.
This then adds a call-out ‘Online Viewing’ box both in search results and on property details. A call out box on instant alerts will follow.
Agents who upload their properties through software can use Rightmove Plus to add the call-out box, which will not affect any other changes that are made through the datafeed.
Rightmove’s Agency Director David Anderson says: “At a time when physical viewings are impossible we hope that calling out this feature on listings will help increase engagement and let agents that have this capability show their vendors and landlords that they’re being pro-active. Whilst it’s not going to lead to more transactions during lockdown, it could line up applicants to help kickstart physical viewings as soon as the restrictions are eased.”
If agents have a Virtual Tour or video they want to add to a property listing they can follow this guide on the Rightmove hub:
https://hub.rightmove.co.uk/how-to-share-a-virtual-tour-or-video-on-your-rightmove-listing/
Rightmove is also in the process of rolling out an update to their mobile apps to introduce Virtual Tours and to add further functionality for video.
Previously, videos were only available as embedded YouTube or Vimeo videos on the mobile apps.
Any externally hosted videos or Virtual Tours, provided by an agent’s software supplier or hosted on their own website for example, would have been available on the desktop and tablet version of the Rightmove website.
Over the coming days these will also be available to view on Rightmove mobile apps.
These changes will be rolled out in stages and will require people to update their app if they update apps manually.
The iOS app is available now and the Android version will be rolling out this week.
Comments (22)
@RIGHTMOVE – There is a reason you are losing agents and will continue to do so.
So the best thing Rightmove can do RIGHT NOW is suspend the RIGHTMOVE page until further NOTICE and waive all charges from the LOCKDWON date until it is business as usual.
Agents who have not yet given notice to RIGHTMOVE should do so TODAY!! Email them.
I would also ask those agents who are still advertising on RIGHTMOVE to cancel their direct debits TODAY along with any other standing orders if you want to survive this 3-6 month LOCKDOWN. You can always get into a payment agreement at a later with them.
We handed in our notice and cancelled our direct debit this afternoon! Agents need to stop talking and start taking action by giving their notice today!!! DO NOT DELAY THIS
I do a real hd video tour for every property, i have done for years and they have always been on RM under a tab. Not sure whats different ?
I did that once and Data Quality called me immediately to ask me to remove it. how can you add those?
We’ve been doing this for almost a decade now. RM have never seen any value in movie tours until now. In fact they contacted us to say that our videos we were in breach of their T&C’s because the end title had our contact number in it.
It shouldn’t take a pandemic to action this. Its hardly innovative and if RM were sincere about the quality of their sites content, they would of made a big deal about it 5 years ago.
‘in breach of their T&C’s because the end title had our contact number in it‘
Just read that sentence again. Then again just to make sure you understand exactly the nature of the relationship between agency and the industry’s biggest digital supplier works. You WILL stay in line! No, just leave.
Yip, that 75% reduction is it folks.
Here’s “Rightmove’s ” latest “Feature/Product” that they will be humping you for financially, after C19.
Frankly, it’s Rightmove’s way of maintaining charging Agents 25% as they will claim to be providing a “Service”.
”Lockdown” means LOCKDOWN Rightmove. We are abiding by it. Why can’t You.
Rightmove seems highly skilled now at hammering home why it’s entirely the WRONGMOVE!
It isn’t a product and it is part of the upload process. Vendors are actually taking the videos and sending to Agents.
Keep that in mind when they’re humping their costs up ……and they will!
How on earth are agents uploading video tours of property whilst we are in a lockdown. I am an agent from Northampton and we have been closed for over two weeks. It is a non essential business so why would the largest property portal in the country allow such a feature to be used in these desperate times. Rightmove and any agent that has places a new property to the market should be investigated by the Police. It will show the date of upload so not rocket science. They are simply encouraging people out. Shall we all pop out and start making videos? Both Rightmove and the agents involved shame on you!
Agreed
My sentiment is in regards to how dismissive of innovation they are
I would have them go further an put a stop on new instructions – that would stop valuations – might shut RM too
The video content on Rightmove has been there for a long while (pre lockdown), it’s just they were hidden away. All that’s really happened , all this magnificent, ground breaking, innovation is they have added a tab. A couple of hours work (with testing)
Some agents are getting vendors to provide video content and are uploading that.
This outdated website has been telling me for three years that they weren’t prepared to do this
Shame on them that it takes a national emergency to roll out support of this time saving technology
Do people still use rightmove?
Only all of the home hunting public.
Absolutely correct SW1. While so many agents spend their time moaning about RM the fact is that it is the biggest and the best for the general public. It functions better and is more user friendly than any othe portal. Yes, they rapaciously bleed agents for every penny. Yes, they are rubbish at customer service. Yes, they need taking down a large peg. But be careful what you wish for. The public really likes RM and if we dilute listings into a raft of cheaper, less well promoted portals, we run the risk of reducing exposure/enquiries etc.
Err, no.
That’s not the case, because Rightmove alerts concentrate all of the buyer enquiry onto a notification to all propects, it actually creates more people who miss out than get to buy.
Smart buyers, people who get to complete on a purchase rely on being front of mid to the agents who list the sort of home they want to buy at the price they can afford. Inteligent aplicanting means working out who to call, when to call and knowing how to make sure a lister calls you first, even before they put the property into the CRM.
152m page views for one portal only achives a percentage of 45,000 copmpletions share across 3 main portals so its wrong to promote the myth that all the buyers come from Rightmove
Didn’t I read that more people googled “Rightmove” than “property” last year? I don’t know who the most searched for agent was but I’d love to know the stats against the number of people in a given patch who searched for Rightmove. The point is that I don’t think our clients/the public care about our industry saving money on marketing but they do enjoy and are in an almost unbreakable habit of going to Rightmove. I believe we need to be careful that we aren’t putting clients second behind our will to poke Rightmove in the eye.
I don’t believe the fervour for killing Rightmove will come to much more than a serious re-adjustment of subscriptions and the need for them to innovate (this innovation is them catching up with functionality that others are using to show how behind the curve Rightmove are.
The video, drone, 3d walkthrough, issue was something we were tweeting about last summer.
It doesn’t matter what anyone claims about traffic google this google that, it is viewings and completions that count more than the number of people who idle away their hours on portals.
“calling out this feature on listings” I can’t see any of these callouts. If anyone spots one, can you share a screenshot?
Er, Fine and Country have been doing something similar for a while now and well before this pandemic!