To Force Home Search Registration or Not?

Few topics spark more debate online in real estate than the age-old, 'Should I force home search registration or not?'

Volumes have been written, testing has been done, and the answer is...

Maybe, maybe not.

First, let's take a look at what home search registration does (or what it should be doing).

More than likely, your real estate website is designed primarily to attract potential home buyers and sellers and have them contact you for help. For most real estate sites, the home search function is what generates the most potential client contacts. And most modern website home searches have the capability for users to 'register.' That is, leave their name, phone and email address in exchange for access to your search and/or for additional search features that aren't available to unregistered users.

Modern search systems allow you to set the search to display a registration form immediately, after a designated number of searches or property views, or never. 'Forcing' registration occurs when you set the registration form to appear and the user can't search further unless they register.

'Forcing' search is a bit of a misnomer. No one is holding a gun to the users' head saying, 'Register or else!' Proponents of forced search argue that no one is forced to register; anyone can leave any site at any time. Proponents also tend to argue that since the agent is paying for the search, and running a business, asking users for basic contact info is a small price to pay for access to a good home search.

Opponents of forcing registration tend to argue that it's invasive, non-friendly and that if people really want to work with you, they will contact you.

Both sides of the debate have good arguments.

Perhaps a better term for 'forced registration' would be 'active vs. passive contact capturing.' Active means you ask people to register, passive means you don't.

Generally speaking, here are the differences between active and passive contact capture. There are positives and negatives for both.

What YOU need to decide is which method is best for YOU. If you've got fundamental problems registering on a website, then it's probably hard for you to ask others to register on your site. So don't.

If you want a lower volume of leads but higher quality, passive contact capture may be for you.

If you want a higher volume of leads that may be less qualified, try active contact capture.

Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the middle? Many IDX home search systems allow you to set a number of searches and/or listings that are viewed before asking for registration. In testing on my real estate brokerage blog, I found that allowing people to view five properties before asking for registration was the optimal setting for maximizing lead volume and quality. Your results may vary!

There is no right or wrong answer to the question of whether you should force search registration or not. Testing is the most definitive way to find out what works best for your site in your market, but testing registration is difficult unless your site generates a significant number of contacts. You decision may well be more of a philosophical one -- is it 'right' to ask people to register for a search or not? Only you can answer that question.