Lettings agents have benefited from a 19% rise in valuation lead quality during the first quarter on Zoopla, the portal claims.

Zoopla has said its valuation lead quality – defined as the number of people submitting a lead marked ‘intending to move in the next three months’ instead of ‘just curious’ – is up 19% annually.

Zoopla said it also remains the preferred portal for consumers looking for a property valuation. A survey of 2,000 nationally representative respondents carried out by YouGov, found that 61% of consumers prefer Zoopla for valuation, versus 54% for Rightmove, and 5% for OnTheMarket. 

It follows Zoopla’s latest marketing campaign, which launched two weeks ago and is focused on valuation messaging to drive more serious sellers for agents. 

Alongside this focus on lead quality, Zoopla is also investing continuously to improve its search experience on-site. Signed-in sessions on the Zoopla website are now at an all-time high, indicating that visitors to the website are taking higher-value actions and, in turn, driving more motivated movers for agents.

Consumers creating alerts for properties both ‘for sale’ (+16%) and ‘for rent’ (+19%) are up significantly, with these users receiving an email and push notification as soon as a property that matches their needs is listed on Zoopla. 

Product improvements in Zoopla’s pipeline for Q2 include giving agents the capability to get additional access to the homeowner audience and enriching MyHome with additional information that will result in even more serious sellers for agents. 

Rich Hayes, chief operating officer at Zoopla, said: “Our number one focus at Zoopla is delivering quality, not just quantity of leads, and it’s fantastic to see the progress we have made against this ambition in the first quarter of the year. Work is underway to ensure we’re translating this value into agents in every part of the country, with much more to come in this space.”