Gomez/PikeNet Technology Survey Report - Part 2

Industry Evolution...  This is the second in a two-part series based on the Gomez Advisors and PikeNet joint online technology survey.  What do professionals think about property listing and transaction management sites?

Listing Sites' Turf War... Survey respondents (66%) were clearly most concerned about the data and information accuracy when considering usage of the listing sites.  The vast majority were NOT concerned with the cost (70%), data security (80%), or listing sites having the potential to lower brokerage commissions (89%).  When asked which is the best online listings location to market property availability, results were spread across the board with no clear winner between the choices: national subscription listing sites (CoStar), national free listings sites (LoopNet), regional/local listing sites, or brokerage firm web sites.  Thus, users are making different decisions about which listings site to use in different markets -- depending upon data quality.  The only exception was when we looked specifically at the investment sales broker sub-segment.  This group (72%) preferred the free national listings site model.  The battleground between the dominant national players versus the local market listings cooperative (such as in Minneapolis or Seattle) is still very much underway.

Transaction Management Sites Need to Mature... Answers to adoption questions regarding transaction sites showed lower levels of penetration and much more wary attitudes than with the listings sector.   Concerns about security and the unproven functionality of these sites was apparent -- with over half of the respondents hesitating to adopt because of these perceived issues.

Room for Improvement... In addition to comparing statistics on site speed and performance, Gomez also "mystery shopped" approximately 35 different property listing and transaction sites to gauge the level of customer support offered by these online real estate businesses.  The results pointed to some real shortcomings as compared to other industries' B2B sites.  Gomez asked a series of really basic questions about what the site offered, how it priced its services, etc.  A shockingly low percentage (15%) of the firms answered e-mails correctly, and 25% of the telephone inquires were met with voicemail -- instead of a live body.  Of the sites where a real person was found, only (42%) of the telephone questions were answered easily.  Furthermore, a majority of the sites (70%) did not offer a 1-800-number for customer support.  Sounds like a number of companies need to take a closer look at building customer confidence if they hope to gain mainstream adoption!

Survey Footnote... We received lots of comments last week about our survey not being a true cross-section of the commercial real estate industry since it was conducted online and involved in its majority the PikeNet Dispatch subscriber list. (Online surveys were also sent to the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women.)  Yes, we acknowledge that the PikeNet readership is a "pre-selected" group that has already shown a predisposition for using technology.  Our budget and time constraints limited us from conducting more exhaustive paper surveys.   However, we were curious to see how far along this "early adopter" group was in its thinking and usage. Thus -- the results should be viewed as a sampling of attitudes from the PikeNet audience, not the entire real estate industry.

Correction... As many readers pointed out, Monday's Dispatch should have correctly stated the amount of telecom debt floated in the last few years as $650 BILLION, not million. Yikes.

-- Eileen Circo