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The largest survey of home movers has returned, with more than 5400 respondents giving feedback on their experiences with their conveyancers. Conducted by the Property Academy in association with tmgroup, the comprehensive annual survey seeks to shed light on the opinions of those who have moved house over the previous 12 months, including how they found, selected and rated their conveyancers. Along with the results of the survey, we provide insight and interpretation of the findings as well as practical advice for conveyancers to implement to take their firms further.

This report is vital for law firms who want to understand what their clients want, what they are already doing well and what could be done to improve. Amongst the findings, conveyancers will discover…

Why homeowners want the human touch:

This year’s survey revealed that 8 out of 10 home movers are looking for their conveyancers to be good communicators. Around two thirds of respondents also told us that they are looking for evidence that you can be pro-active not reactive.

“Most home movers were very complimentary about their conveyancers, focusing on the human elements of customer service such as communication and approachability. But even when things do go wrong, you can ensure that you’ve provided the best possible customer care by pro-actively communicating with your client that you’re doing everything you can to resolve the issue, don’t wait for them to chase you."

- Jon Horton, Account Director - tmgroup

Why low fees alone won’t sway them:

In 2015, just 11% of home movers chose the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees. A reduction from 13% in 2014 and 18% the year before that. Surprisingly, it was also found that no-one in their twenties chose the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees or considered price to be important when choosing a property solicitor.

“Whilst it can be tempting to cut prices to be more competitive, for the past three years home movers have repeatedly told us that they are not choosing the conveyancer that quoted the cheapest fees. Know your value and explain what the client can expect for their money, rather than simply cutting prices to win more business.”

- Ben Harris, Sales & Marketing Director - tmgroup

Why estate agents could be your route to higher revenue:

In 2015, 51% of home movers chose their estate agent’s recommended conveyancer, compared to just 38% the previous year - an increase of more than a third.

“With estate agents now accounting for more than half of consumers’ choice of conveyancer, you can’t afford to be complacent when it comes to building strategic relationships with the right agents. Also, with a significant proportion of home movers returning to a conveyancer they’ve used previously, you should also focus your energy on ensuring that your existing client’s experience is a positive one which will, in turn, encourage them to use you again when they move in the future and recommend you to friends and family.”

- Ben Harris, Sales & Marketing Director - tmgroup

Download Home Moving Trends 2015

The Law Society has published a new practice note urging conveyancers to adhere to Consumer Protection Regulations. The news means that conveyancers will have to maintain ‘consumer-friendly’ trading practices.

The ‘Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading regulations’ (CPRs) actually came into force in 2008 but recent regulatory changes have now made them potentially relevant to property transactions.

As a result the new practice note, published on February 25th 2016, outlines conveyancers’ obligations to consumers in a property transaction which focus on maintaining commercial practices that are fair.

Many of the obligations placed on solicitors under the CPRs are already covered by the obligations contained in the SRA Code and, provided that consumers are treated fairly, solicitors are unlikely to be in breach.

A recent survey of 5400 consumers, conducted by leading property data and service provider tmgroup in partnership with the Property Academy, the Home Moving Trends identified that 8 out of 10 home movers were looking for their conveyancers to be good communicators and part of ensuring that your firm’s commercial practices are transparent and fair is to offer good communication with clients.

Furthermore, consistency in quoting fees for your services to potential clients is vital, with the Quote Conversion Tool from tmgroup being a simple but effective service for conveyancers to help achieve this.

Completely free to use, the tool helps firms provide consistent, professional quotes easily to prospective clients and then convert the quote and order searches at the touch of a button.

Ben Harris, Sales & Marketing Director at leading property service and data provider tmgroup, said:

“This new practice note recognises the need for the conveyancing industry to become more consumer friendly. The recent consumer research we conducted with the Property Academy, Home Moving Trends, revealed that home movers wanted their conveyancers to be good communicators above all else and expectations are higher than ever. Our Quote Conversion Tool has already helped hundreds of customers to provide consistent, effective quotes for clients and, in doing so, adhere to regulations on fair trading practices.”

Learn more about Quote Conversion Tool

The largest survey of home movers returns next week with more than 5400 respondents giving feedback on their experiences with their conveyancers. Conducted by the Property Academy in association with tmgroup, the comprehensive annual survey seeks to shed light on the opinions of those who have moved house over the previous 12 months, including what they really think about their property solicitors.

Ahead of the Home Moving Trends' report publication next week, we sat down with the Property Academy’s Managing Director Nicky Stevenson (image right) to find out what has been revealed in this year’s study...

Q1. How did HMT come about and for how many years has it been published?

The first Home Moving Trends survey was carried out in September 2007 but the survey has included questions about conveyancers since 2013. We wanted to help our clients make better decisions by understanding consumer behaviour as much as possible, thus enabling them to shape and direct their business activities as effectively as possible.

Q2. What do you think are the major findings for conveyancers from this year's survey?

What stands out for me is that 51% of home movers chose their conveyancer based on their estate agent’s recommendation. This is over half of all customers and a massive increase from the same question 12 months prior where it was 38%. Consumer behaviour has changed and it appears they trust their estate agent! It shows that, for conveyancers, relationships with estate agents are extremely important and highlights a need for marketing activities to be reviewed.

Q3. And for estate agents?

Just 18% chose the cheapest estate agent. It is not all about the fee and, at a time where different models of estate agency are evolving, the cheapest is not necessarily going to win. Consumers are looking for more.

Q4. In recent years, the survey has revealed that home movers would rather their conveyancers contacted them via email rather than phone or post. Do you see this shifting towards online and smartphone notifications in the coming years?

There is definitely a change in consumer behaviour and we know that property searches are now carried out on mobile devices over 50% of the time, and 60% said in the Home Moving Trends survey that they would rather receive updates from their conveyancer via email or online. My view is ‘embrace not replace’ when it comes to technology. It should definitely be embraced and we all need to evolve our businesses to keep up with consumer expectations, but it should not replace all human interaction. There is still a need for a personal touch ensuring that the customer feels important.

Q5. Online estate agent Purple Bricks floated on the stock market in mid-December with a valuation in the region of £240m. Did the survey reveal anything about whether the market is ready for online-only estate agents?

We asked if sellers considered using an online-only agent and 22% said yes, so not an insignificant amount. There is no doubt that times are changing but then change is constant and if you are not evolving you are effectively going backwards, allowing innovative competitors to come in. Which is what has happened. In any sector, customers have freedom of choice and now they have a variety of different options when it comes to selling their property. The survey did show that 70% of sellers visited their estate agent office at some point during the transaction so the high street obviously still has its place.

Q6. What goes into producing the report?
It takes a lot of time and effort to get the survey prepared, generate responses and then create the final report. Also to those agents that generate a good response we provide them with their own personal data vs the national average.

Q7. The report is provided free of charge to estate agents and conveyancers and, as you say, takes a lot of time and effort: why do you keep doing it?

It is extremely important that we keep doing it for the benefit of the whole industry. Amongst many others, we are keen to see standards raised across the whole of the sector. Understanding our customer’s expectations and behaviours offers valuable insights into how to achieve this and continually improve our offerings.

Q8. How would you reply to people who say that the feedback doesn’t match their personal experience or that it’s not reliable?

We have had some people over the years believe that the data just does not apply to them or ‘their area is different’ but each year the survey incorporates responses from across all of England, as well a small percentage from Wales and Scotland. In the past, we have broken the data down by region and there are minimal differences in the results.

Q9. How can firms use the information and do you have any examples of firms that have directly benefitted from applying the insights to their businesses?

Conveyancers and estate agents are using the data to make more informed decisions when allocating marketing budgets and sales training by using the survey to understand how customers choose them and how they rated the experience. One estate agent, Thomas Morris in Cambridgeshire, has told us that it is a crucial part of their strategy each year and they use the findings to inform their training, advertising and PR.

Q10. Consumer behaviour is changing rapidly and expectation rising – what do you think is the next big challenge on the horizon for the property industry?

I think the biggest challenge will be staying relevant. We are not just in the business of property transactions but delivering on hopes and dreams – helping people move into their ideal homes. Customers have access to choice when choosing their estate agent and conveyancer. Those that are relevant and have the attention of customers will win.

The full Home Moving Trends 2015 report will be published next week.

The Property Academy provides; Information, Insight, Ideas and Inspiration to those in the property sector, helping them fulfil their potential. They run live events, mastermind groups, have a membership programme and provide a free newsletter. You can find out more about them at www.propertyacademy.co.uk

How good is your firm at handling new business enquiries? We sought to find out.

In August 2015, we conducted a ‘mystery shopper’-style study of 100 conveyancing firms to determine how effective they are when quoting & closing prospective new clients.

We then wrote a report detailing 11 steps that conveyancers should take to improve their customer service to enable them to convert more new business enquiries into paying clients.

Download your copy of the report.

The report focuses on three main areas:

Online Presence

The study revealed that many conveyancing firms have room for improvement when it comes to optimising their online presence.

Whilst it is good news that 75% of conveyancing firms already have a Google Business Page, there are several areas in which conveyancers can improve their online presence, including advertising customer reviews on search results pages, ensuring their website is mobile friendly and displaying contact details prominently on their homepage.

Building Rapport

Researchers documented that, whilst on the whole calls were handled satisfactorily, there is a significant opportunity for forward-thinking firms to differentiate themselves with superior customer service.

The majority of conveyancers are not attempting to engage their potential clients but simple steps such as introducing themselves or explaining the process that lies ahead would go a long way to building rapport.

Converting more enquiries

Finally, conveyancers could convert more enquiries if they treated each call with a more focused approach and professional follow-up.

The study revealed that 31% of conveyancers offered no quotation for their services at all whilst a further 24% gave a quote over the phone but failed to follow it up with a professional, branded email.

Download the report

TM Group's 'Home Moving Trends Survey' report set the tone for 2015, showing how solicitors need to react to the ever-increasing demands that consumers place upon them. Continuing on this theme, Lexis Nexis have recently released their annual Bellwether report, ‘The Age of the Client’ which explores how independent law firms and sole practitioners are responding to a new breed of client.

With TM Group's research featuring the opinions of more than 4500 home movers and Lexis Nexis' report being comprised of lawyers' opinions & private clients, we wanted to see if there was a disconnect between the legal perspective of the market to that of the consumer.

The race to the bottom

In this year’s Bellwether report, Lexis Nexis found that one of the chief concerns occupying lawyers’ thoughts is the idea that they need to compete with their cheaper competitors. In the chapter, 'The Challenges keep on coming', Lexis Nexis identify one of the trends that was teased out from the interviews with solicitors:

“The economy may be recovering, but the recession has produced a more demanding and value-conscious client. As low-cost competitors enter the market, retaining clients is seen as a challenge by almost six out of ten lawyers.”

However, TM Group’s recent survey of consumers showed that there is probably little to worry about.

It was revealed in the Home Moving Trends Survey 2014 that just 1 in 10 consumers chose the cheapest conveyancer and that, actually, most people were motivated by the solicitor’s ability to demonstrate professionalism, expertise and trustworthiness.

In fact, no matter which way you cut it – by age group, region, house price – nearly everyone agreed that you get what you pay for.

This will be heart-warming news for anxious lawyers.

Having spoken with senior partners at various law firms, it seems that many already understand this; they are adamant that they’re not going to be caught in a race to the bottom.

Setting out to market your firm on service rather than price can be a daunting approach and sometimes goes against what might seem to be intuitive commerciality.

But Lexis Nexis do offer an alternative approach for conveyancers drowning in a sea of cheap fees:

“More firms are going to have to become more specialised,  because there are all these competitors who can do the bog-standard work. That’s how you differentiate yourself – by being able to do the more complex work that they can’t do.”

Repeat business

Another finding from the Lexis Nexis Bellwether report was that 6 out of 10 lawyers saw ‘retaining clients’ as a challenge.

Historically, one of the main sources of revenue for a law firm was from returning customers and it can be much more effective to cross-sell other services from around the firm to existing clients than to try and win new ones.

The Home Moving Trends survey this year indicated that this is still the case with around a third of home movers returning to their previous conveyancer but clearly the other two-thirds of clients must come from other areas – with recommendations from third parties and friends & family found to be key drivers.

So how do you increase repeat business?

An unexciting answer but ‘Customer Service’ – capital letters intended.

A flawless customer experience should be your main priority and, if anything should go wrong, it’s how you deal with the problems that can set you apart from your competitors.

Being responsive

Gone are the days when solicitors can simply take down a client’s information in a ledger in a face-to-face meeting to get started and then give them a call only when something interesting happens.

In the modern day and age, clients may not even get the opportunity to meet with you face-to-face so it’s important to explain at the outset of the transaction exactly how and how often you will be contacting them.

Indeed, in this year’s Home Moving Trends Survey, it was revealed that three quarters of respondents (72%) want to be updated at least once a week, if not more, even if there is not necessarily anything to report. A quote from one solicitor in the Bellwether report concurs:

“My expectation is what my clients expect of me. In this digital era, I respond back even if I don’t have the answer as yet, so they know it’s being sorted out."

Furthermore, as we are all well aware, moving can be a stressful time with home movers often having to juggle the typical demands of everyday life. It is therefore no surprise to see that email (57%) is favoured over the immediacy of the telephone (38%), allowing clients the time to absorb information and formulate a response or reply outside of working hours.

For further insights from more than 4500 consumers, download the full report.

A new year means new opportunities — and, of course, new challenges — especially for business. So what does 2015 have in store? Ben Harris, TM Group Sales & Marketing Director, explores the top 5 challenges that conveyancers face this year.

From adapting to advances in technology and economic changes, to retaining customers and recruiting top talent, conveyancers will have a lot of issues to handle. How business leaders face these challenges might just make or break their businesses. So, in no particular order...

Finding and recruiting top talent
As the economy continues to grow and the unemployment rate continues to fall, the already small pool of applicants with the right skills to work in your business will be further diminished. Many of the largest conveyancing firms have resorted to opening their own training academies in order to develop their own talent, but firms without the deep pockets to embark on such a solution should at least have a clear strategy in place.

Risk management
To many this is a dry and repetitive subject but, with 163 SRA fraud alerts between January and November 2014 and 90% of identity thefts reported to them being rated 'red' or 'amber', risk management is a growing issue that shows no sign of disappearing. 70% of PI claims relate to conveyancing so it is crucial for conveyancers to take this seriously in 2015 and have the systems and process in place to protect themselves and their businesses.

Meeting customer expectations
This year's Home Moving Trends Report showed that consumers value professionalism, proactivity and communication skills and are prepared to pay for it. A combined six out of every ten respondents to the survey also said they were influenced in their decision of conveyancer by a third party, so if you can meet their expectations you will be well on your way to meeting the next challenge facing conveyancers this year...

Attracting new business
Most of a conveyancing firm's growth is largely dictated by the market and, with most commentators predicting a flat 2015, the only ways firms are going to increase the size of their business is by acquisition of other law firms or by attracting more customers. Winning business on your local high street was top of the agenda in our August 2014 survey with most firms telling us that building relationships with third party introducers, such as estate agents and mortgage brokers, is their biggest priority.

Managing your online reputation
Law firms can no longer ignore the online conversations that are taking place about your brand, because they will continue to happen whether you like it or not. Firms that take the time to identify and respond to negative online feedback about their brand can turn these negative experiences into positives. So far the conveyancing world has escaped the impact that a TripAdvisor-style review site has had on many other professions, but now is the time to get smart about your online reputation before it’s too late.

Home Moving Trends Survey

Conveyancers do not need to slash prices to win business, results from the latest Home Moving Trends Survey reveal.

Less than 1 in 5 of those surveyed in the annual report, which was carried out by the Property Academy in association with TM Group, answered that they chose their conveyancer based on price, whilst almost half of respondents answered that they simply chose the conveyancer that their estate agent recommended.