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Answers (9)
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Spense is right that the home Q&A "didn't work"; but then neither did the ZMM CIC charge...
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Averaging for 24 hours from the time of thread creation...
179 new threads
141 questions
14 discussions
24 new threads deleted
only one new Home Q&A.
319-179 = 140 decrease per day.
As I covered morning hours twice and averaged for 24 hours, the loss of 162 for 24 hours is more accurate, since that came straight from the thread listings.
179 new threads
141 questions
14 discussions
24 new threads deleted
only one new Home Q&A.
319-179 = 140 decrease per day.
As I covered morning hours twice and averaged for 24 hours, the loss of 162 for 24 hours is more accurate, since that came straight from the thread listings.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
So, I guess the real question is whether the loss of 162 new Home Q&A threads per day is translating into 162 new E-mails to Real Estate Agents per day? If so, the loss of 16 thousand page views per day is probably worth it since Realtor ads with contacts pay much more than random real estate ads based only on page views. Next thing you know Zillow will add a CIC charge to the Realtors for those contacts....; probably at $70 per useless E-mail with a pointless question that has nothing to do with buying nor selling nor anything listed. (Just like they've been doing to the loan officers)
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Actually, the loss of page views was probably twice that (16 thousand per day) as most of the people that looked at the thread probably clicked on the home details page link to find out which property the question was about.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
The week prior to the HDP-3D implementation (April 14th through April 20th); 2214 discussion threads created; 1167 of them were Home Q&A; or 52.7%. That is an average of 316 new discussions per day, of which 167 were Home Q&A. (Approximately 149 new threads that aren't Home Q&A, per day).
For the past 24 hours????
1 new home Q&A; 155 new threads. --> 154 new threads that aren't Home Q&A per day.
THUS, the change is a loss of about 162 new threads per day; not just 50. That is a loss of about 51% of new discussions.
At an average of 5 posts per home Q&A discussion and average of about 10 views per post, that is a loss of about 81 hundred page views per day.
For the past 24 hours????
1 new home Q&A; 155 new threads. --> 154 new threads that aren't Home Q&A per day.
THUS, the change is a loss of about 162 new threads per day; not just 50. That is a loss of about 51% of new discussions.
At an average of 5 posts per home Q&A discussion and average of about 10 views per post, that is a loss of about 81 hundred page views per day.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"...were not just general real estate questions" -
Of course they weren't; they weren't supposed to be; why have an address associated with a question if just any person unfamiliar with the area and the property knew the answer? If it was a general "buying" question, it should be posted in the buying section, not Home Q&A. If it was a general "selling" question, it should be posted in the selling section, not Home Q&A.
184 thousand 230 home Q&A questions, out of a total of 317 thousand 198 discussion threads; or 58% of all threads; and Zillow declares it a "failed experiment".
OK, maybe thread starts won't drop by 50%, and maybe page views will not drop by 50%, but I see no way that discontinuing this feature will not affect page views and advertisement revenue.
And some of the questions were as simple as "when did it sell", and "what did it sell for"?, or "where is the closest coffee shop"? If a Realtor couldn't answer those, they have no business being in Real Estate.
Even hardwood floors or carpet should be easily answered by anyone that has been in the home in question.
Of course they weren't; they weren't supposed to be; why have an address associated with a question if just any person unfamiliar with the area and the property knew the answer? If it was a general "buying" question, it should be posted in the buying section, not Home Q&A. If it was a general "selling" question, it should be posted in the selling section, not Home Q&A.
184 thousand 230 home Q&A questions, out of a total of 317 thousand 198 discussion threads; or 58% of all threads; and Zillow declares it a "failed experiment".
OK, maybe thread starts won't drop by 50%, and maybe page views will not drop by 50%, but I see no way that discontinuing this feature will not affect page views and advertisement revenue.
And some of the questions were as simple as "when did it sell", and "what did it sell for"?, or "where is the closest coffee shop"? If a Realtor couldn't answer those, they have no business being in Real Estate.
Even hardwood floors or carpet should be easily answered by anyone that has been in the home in question.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Well, a lot of them were for the home owner that had no knowledge that their home was on Zillow, so of course those wouldn't have been answered, though a lot more likely to receive answers once they were added to the discussion pages as well, in December 2008.
And a lot of them were questions for Zillow about how the site was laid out, or how to change settings on the home details page, or how to accomplish something else, thus "misdirected" questions for moderators or other Zillow staff.
And then there were the questions that appeared to be ridiculing the home owner, or the property. And then there were all the abusive and uninformed Realtor comments... I got way more than my fair share of those.
But some of that could just be taken care of with options on the question submittal, to send website question issues someplace other than the home pages, possibly converting some to flags, or if about the estimates, to "home ownership - home values".
People are still posting on the Home Q&A; just very few new questions, and no easy way to see all the questions for one property.
And of course the 25 question limit was always a problem with the Home Q&A and never was completely resolved. If you counted all the abusive questions, I think that there were over 75 questions for mine. I must admit, I never really understood the questions about the cats or the fish, nor the question on where the local landfill was in relationship the to the city and the property. Nor did I understand why people wanted to hear the noise of Rose Bowl activities.
And a lot of them were questions for Zillow about how the site was laid out, or how to change settings on the home details page, or how to accomplish something else, thus "misdirected" questions for moderators or other Zillow staff.
And then there were the questions that appeared to be ridiculing the home owner, or the property. And then there were all the abusive and uninformed Realtor comments... I got way more than my fair share of those.
But some of that could just be taken care of with options on the question submittal, to send website question issues someplace other than the home pages, possibly converting some to flags, or if about the estimates, to "home ownership - home values".
People are still posting on the Home Q&A; just very few new questions, and no easy way to see all the questions for one property.
And of course the 25 question limit was always a problem with the Home Q&A and never was completely resolved. If you counted all the abusive questions, I think that there were over 75 questions for mine. I must admit, I never really understood the questions about the cats or the fish, nor the question on where the local landfill was in relationship the to the city and the property. Nor did I understand why people wanted to hear the noise of Rose Bowl activities.
- miamism
- Contributions:174
In addition, a lot of the questions were geared to the listing agent, were not just general real estate questions - good concept, just not executed well IMHO.
- Spencer Rascoff, "spencer"
- Contributions:2093
Home Q&A just wasn't working. As much as I wish it had worked, it didn't.
Impact of removing Home Q&A from Home details pages?
This is down about 50 questions per day from prior to the HDP-3D site revision.
Thus, the assumption is that the Home Q&A from the home details pages was generating about 50 question threads per day, that are no longer being generated.
Sure, Zillow states they weren't getting answered, but now they are not only not getting answered, they are not even getting asked.
Many Realtors had set the E-mail notifications to received E-mail notifications on questions of these kinds in their area, to build up their "local expert" count. Now they are not reaching out to those potential future clients.
Yes, there was substantial abuse of the Home Q&A, and yes, even more misunderstanding of the Home Q&A, but it appears that Zillow threw the baby out with the bath water again on this issue.
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