Zoopla.co.uk launches 'pay-for-performance' agent listings

Leading new portal set to shake-up subscription rivals with pay-per-lead model

20th Feb 2009

Zoopla.co.uk, the UK's fastest growing property website, has today launched its new agent listings offering with over 300,000 properties for sale and to rent available already. The site, which was the fifth most-visited property portal in the UK in January, is pioneering its pay-per-lead service as the latest in a series of recent innovations.

Agents marketing on Zoopla.co.uk pay nothing to list their properties and only pay for qualified leads they receive, aligning the interests of the agent and the portal in a true partnership with no fixed fees and no minimum commitment. At only £1 per buyer and £5 per vendor lead, the model delivers a highly cost-efficient marketing opportunity to agents and sets the site apart from other leading portals, which continue to charge subscription fees.

And Zoopla.co.uk is uniquely positioned to provide agents with not just 'buyer' leads but also much sought-after 'vendor' leads via its significant user base of property owners and exclusive AskAnAgent feature. With agents now able to reach a large and growing audience of both property buyers and owners, and with the rapid climb of Zoopla.co.uk up the portal traffic rankings (see table below), the days of fixed fees and subscription-based portals appear now to be numbered.

Alex Chesterman, founder and CEO of Zoopla.co.uk, commented:

"Our model is all about bringing efficiency to the marketplace. By charging only for results, we plan to change the game for agents in terms of the efficiency of their marketing spend and their ability to track performance. During these challenging times, it has never been more important to understand and measure the results of every pound spent and Zoopla.co.uk is leading the charge in enabling agents to slash their marketing spend and pay only for the results they get."

Launched only 12 months ago, Zoopla.co.uk recently bucked both the property market and investment climate trends by announcing a further round of £3.75 million of new investment from leading venture capital firms and by continuing to grow its monthly user audience at a record pace.

As the UK's most active property community with over one million user contributions to the website already, Zoopla.co.uk continues to harness the combination of publicly available data and proprietary user-generated content, making it easily accessible to property consumers and professionals alike.

Agents may list properties for sale and/or to let on Zoopla.co.uk now. All enquiries should be directed to agents@zoopla.co.uk.

UK Property Portal Rankings (Jan 2009):

* Average number of unique visitors per Nielsen & comScore
** Figures include combined audience from multiple websites

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For further information, please contact PR Team on pr@zoopla.co.uk or +44 (0)20 3873 8770.

Notes to Editors

About Zoopla.co.uk

Zoopla.co.uk is a unique property website offering users information and tools to help them make better-informed property decisions. Our aim is to provide the most comprehensive source of residential property market information in the UK to help buyers, sellers, owners and estate agents alike and give them an advantage in the property market.

In 2007, following the success of bringing DVD rental to the web with LOVEFiLM.com, Zoopla founders Alex Chesterman and Simon Kain realised that the UK property market had yet to fully enjoy the benefits of the internet in terms of its ability to deliver transparency and efficiency. They set out with the mission to transform the property market for both professionals and consumers by:

• offering users FREE access to instant value estimates, sold house prices and local information and trends
• enhancing estate agents' marketing efficiency by providing exposure/leads on a pay-for-performance basis
• helping users find local agents and other property professionals to assist them in the transaction process
• letting buyers make offers on ANY UK home and owners test interest in their homes before choosing to sell
• creating an environment where anyone can ask/answer questions and share their knowledge about homes

We have started by providing FREE value estimates, sold prices and local information as well as letting users add content by editing information and uploading photos. We are the UK's fastest growing property website and by far the largest and most active property community in the UK, with over a million user contributions to our website in 2008 alone. We have already launched some unique features, like TemptMe™ and AskMe™, which allow consumers to gain an insight into the market and discover information they won't find anywhere else. Our estate agent directory, FindAnAgent and our unique AskAnAgent feature allow users to contact local professionals directly for their expertise. Very soon we will begin accepting estate agent listing feeds and delivering buyer leads to agents on a no-risk, performance-based model, making Zoopla.co.uk the most cost-effective way for agents to gain exposure and develop their inventory pipeline.

Our value estimates are calculated using a proprietary algorithm (a secret formula) that we have developed by analysing millions of data points relating to property sales and home characteristics throughout the UK. The algorithm works by comparing relationships between home prices, economic trends and property characteristics in given geographic areas. Our estimates are constantly refined, using the most recent data available from public sources combined with our proprietary used-generated data and a variety of statistical methodologies, in order to provide the most current information on any home.

Zoopla Limited is a privately held company with a highly experienced and proven management team, backed by well-respected angel investors and leading venture capital firms Atlas Venture (atlasventure.com) and Octopus Ventures (octopusventures.com).

Zoopla.co.uk Awards

• Winner: 'UK's Most Promising Internet Company 2008' (First Tuesday)
• Winner: 'Best Property Website - Gold Award' (Web User Magazine)
• Winner: 'Best Real Estate website 2008' (Websiteoftheyear.co.uk)

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