51% of home movers pick their conveyancer purely on the basis of their estate agent’s recommendation, with seven out of ten saying they would go with their estate agent’s recommendation if they could.
The second most popular reason was repeat business with 28% of the 5,420 surveyed going back to those they’ve used before, a drop of 4% from 32% last year.
However when it comes to when people recommend conveyancers themselves, those that found their conveyancer through a friend’s recommendation themselves were most likely, with a score of +43 and those repeat customers at +32. Meanwhile those who found their conveyancer through their estate agent were unlikely to do so with a score of -7, whilst those who found a conveyancer online the least likely at -24.
Jon Horton, Account Director at tmgroup said: “Referrals by estate agents account for a much bigger volume of leads but it appears that those clients have greater expectations than others. Whilst friend recommendations only account for around 1 in 10 new clients, they are generally much happier. The trick here is to deliver on all of your clients’ expectations to turn the volume leads from estate agents into repeat business and advocacy.”
When it comes to why clients pick conveyancers, the biggest factor by a significant margin was communication: eight out of ten respondents picked it as the most important factor with just one in four picking price. The research also found most customers preferred to be updated at least once a week by email.
Paul Albone, Managing Director at tmgroup said: “It’s not surprising that home movers have placed a high priority on communication skills: You’re going to work with your clients for at least 8-12 weeks and building a rapport with them has many benefits, such as reducing misunderstandings, preventing conflict and disappointment; in doing so, paving the way for happy customers.”
