Know which leads pay
Not every enquiry is worth the same. For a sales and lettings agency, the valuable lead is the owner: someone thinking of selling, or a landlord looking for an agent. Buyer and tenant enquiries matter, but they mostly follow the stock you already have.
For developers, the valuable lead is a qualified buyer or investor for a specific scheme, with a budget and a timescale. Decide which of these you are paying to generate before choosing channels, because each one is found in a different place.
Portals: necessary, but not enough
Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket are where most buyers and tenants search, so listing there is usually essential. The enquiries belong to the listing, though, and every competing agent is on the same page.
Use portals for stock enquiries, and build your own channels for owners and investors.
Local search for valuation leads
Owners searching for an agent type phrases like “estate agents near me”, “letting agents in [town]” or “house valuation [town]”. Those searches show a map pack first, then websites.
- A complete Google Business Profile for each real branch, with the right category, opening hours, photos and steady genuine reviews.
- A page on your website for each area you actually cover, with real local detail: recent sales or lets you handled (with permission), streets and property types, and the branch team.
- A valuation page that answers the question in the search, with a short form and a clear next step.
Paid search and paid social
Google Ads captures owners already looking for a valuation or an agent. Keep campaigns tight to the areas you serve and the services you offer, and send traffic to the matching area or valuation page, not the home page.
Meta and Instagram reach owners before they search. Instant valuation offers, local market updates and “recently sold near you” posts work well as the offer behind a lead form or landing page. Property and housing ads can fall under special rules on each platform, so check the current ad policies for your campaign before it goes live.
Your website as the lead engine
Everything above should land on pages you own, so you keep the data and the relationship.
- An instant or online valuation tool that asks for contact details before the result.
- Area guides and sold-price commentary written by your own team.
- Clear calls to book a valuation, call or send a WhatsApp message.
- Tracking on every form and call, so you know which channel produced each instruction, not just each enquiry.
Follow-up decides the result
Owners often contact more than one agent. A slow reply gives a competing agent the chance to book the valuation first. Reply within minutes in working hours, and have an automated first reply outside them.
Many owners are not ready to sell yet. A simple nurture sequence (market updates, a revaluation offer in a few months) turns those enquiries into instructions later.
Stay within the rules
Under PECR, marketing emails and texts to individuals generally need their consent. The main exception is the soft opt-in: you can market your own similar services to people whose details you collected during a sale or negotiation, as long as you offered an opt-out then and in every message. This matters for agents writing to past vendors and landlords.
Under UK GDPR, keep a record of how and when each person opted in, or which lawful basis you rely on, and make unsubscribing easy.
Property adverts and listings must not mislead. The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team publishes guidance, in Parts A, B and C, on the material information agents should include in listings. Check it for your listings and your ad copy.