Studies by Redfin show that professional real estate photos help sell homes faster and for more, and even the National Association of Realtors stresses the importance of photography when it comes to selling homes. Agents are always trying new ways to help a property stand out online, but often do not invest the same effort in their own profile photos. Professional photography is just as important for agents as it is for properties, and agents that do not have professional portraits are missing out on valuable leads and are significantly less likely to succeed online.
Multiple studies, such as this study done by Sciencedirect and this study by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, show that a professional’s “look” greatly affects their perceived ability. Home-buyers are more likely to work with agents with great profile photo because it makes the agent look more trustworthy and competent, and buyers are less likely to work with agents that have unprofessional looking profile photos. It’s a costly mistake to use photos that look like a Facebook selfie, dating profile pic, or yearbook photo instead of a professional headshot on your real estate website!
Look at these less than stellar profile pictures from Realtor.com
Or these from Zillow.com
Not having a professional portrait photo is costing these agents, and their brokerages, valuable leads! According to the National Association of Realtors, over 75% of home-buyers only interview one agent in their entire home buying journey. Meaning that first impressions are incredibly important and that if an agent misses an opportunity to speak with a client that first time, they will likely not get another chance.
Real estate companies should help their agents improve the quality of their profile photos. And having professional portraits will not just help the agents perform better but will also help the whole website feel more polished and generate more leads. Helping agents improve their profile photos can also help spread out leads more evenly and prevent a ‘winner takes all’ type scenario, which helps to reduce costly agent churn on real estate marketplaces.
To get the best portraits for their agents, companies should always use professional portrait photographers. And Snappr, an on-demand photography service, can help find local professional photographers to take stunning professional portraits such as these.
With the largest network of local professional photographers and best-in-category tools and API, Snappr can deliver professional-quality photos anywhere, on-demand, and with as little as 2 hours advance notice. In fact, Snappr is the authority on professional portraits and has even built a free tool to help score how good a professional photo looks!
Ready to help your agents get more leads than ever? Contact Snappr’s Enterprise Team to learn why we’re the number one solution for real estate photography.
