By Jeremy Crawford
Chris Lambrou, Chair of the RESO Internet Tracking Workgroup and CIO at Metro MLS along with a terrific group of volunteers released online tracking standards from the Internet Tracking Workgroup, starting with 49 fields and 69 lookups.
It’s exciting to see the major website and mobile app players like Zillow, Realtor.om, Homes.com, ListTrac and others come to the table and work together to create a common method as the standard for tracking. In the past, these entities had different analytical approaches and results. With the RESO standard, we have a unified method of tracking across all entities and can provide meaningful data to agents and brokers.
Recent additions allow for the ability to track the activity of save searches, open houses, property photos, virtual tours and more across multiple sources in a common manner, adding value to this exciting RESO standard.
In addition, WAV Group just completed the 2018 RESO Internet Tracking Survey, which included 124 responses from RESO members. Key takeaways:
- Two in three respondents are tracking listing activity today
- Only 16% have no plans to track listing activity in the future
- Tracking data is kept in-house, as only 17% are sharing tracking data with other organizations
- The top three benefits: it improves the perceived value of the MLS, it’s a way to improve one’s product and it’s a way to strengthen broker relationships with their agents
- Tracking lead conversions emerged as a key interest
- Brokers (88%) and selling agents (85%) are seen as being the biggest benefactors
- About one-third are using or planning to use the RESO Web API to transport tracking data
- Data security is a big issue, with one in four stating that they are extremely or very concerned, with another 46% stating that they are somewhat concerned; only 21% are not concerned
- People want more information and education around Internet Tracking data; most are unsure of the transport method they will use (59%) or the amount of data storage they will need (77%), and a majority are not clear on how they will implement (58%)
- One-third want to learn more about the new standard
Our members have a very high interest in implementing detailed Internet Tracking, and they see the incredible value that this information offers brokers and their agents. What is also clear is that we have a lot of education to do around the work that the Internet Tracking Workgroup has done to create and deliver these standards.
Getting the Word Out
Some of the things suggested in the last meeting regarding education and outreach included working with the Broker Advisory Workgroup. The group could help with input on lead conversion needs, as well as help educating broker members.
ListTrac currently provides their free tracking solution to 60 major MLSs, which covers 120 domains and 25 million events daily. ListTrac covers all Realogy brands, Zillow, Trulia and more.
The result is a massive amount of required data storage, so that is something that users will have to consider.
Internet Tracking White Paper
An Internet Tracking 101 White Paper provides a technical look at what Internet Tracking is and how it works in a very technical sense, breaking down the components piece by piece.
The Internet Tracking Workgroup meets quarterly and occasionally at RESO conferences.
