Over the past few years we’ve analysed hundreds of thousands of market appraisals, proposals and homeowner interactions across Acaboom.
One thing has become increasingly clear.
Winning more instructions isn’t usually about finding one silver bullet. Instead, it’s about consistently following a handful of behaviours that influence how homeowners engage throughout the valuation journey.
The agencies with the highest conversion rates tend to do the same things over and over again.
Here are the five behaviours our data consistently shows make the biggest difference.
1. Engage Homeowners Before You Even Arrive
Many homeowners begin forming opinions before the valuation appointment takes place.
They’ll visit your website, compare you with competitors and often decide what they expect from the appointment before you’ve even knocked on the door.
Sending a pre-appointment presentation helps shape those expectations.
Our analysis found that homeowners who engaged with pre-appointment content were:
• 16.1% more likely to instruct (21.6% vs 18.6%)
• 33.6% less likely to cancel their appointment (6.08% vs 9.15%)
Those improvements matter.
Fewer cancellations mean valuers spend more time in front of genuine opportunities, while better-informed homeowners arrive at appointments already understanding your service, marketing and proposition.
2. Send Your Proposal Quickly
Momentum is one of the most valuable assets after a valuation.
The homeowner has just met you. Your advice is fresh in their mind and discussions about choosing an agent are often just beginning.
The longer the delay before sending your proposal, the greater the opportunity for that momentum to disappear.
When we analysed more than 10,000 proposals, the relationship was obvious.
Compared with proposals sent after 24 working hours, sending within six working hours resulted in a 72.7% higher likelihood of winning the instruction.
The uplift reduced as more time passed:
• Within 6 working hours: 72.7% uplift
• 6–12 working hours: 34.6% uplift
• 12–24 working hours: 18.2% uplift
The message is simple.
Don’t wait until tomorrow if today’s valuation can become today’s proposal.
3. Encourage Homeowners To Keep Engaging
Sending a proposal is only the beginning.
The agencies that achieve the strongest conversion rates actively encourage homeowners to return to their proposal.
Every revisit demonstrates increasing engagement with your recommendation, pricing, marketing strategy and overall proposition.
Across over 100,000 market appraisals, we found:
• No proposal views: 12.6% instruction rate
• One view: 14.4%
• Two views: 18.3%
• Three or more views: 27.2%
In other words, homeowners who viewed a proposal three or more times were more than twice as likely to instruct as those who never viewed it.
Simple actions can make a significant difference.
Refer homeowners back to their proposal during follow-up calls. Mention specific sections such as marketing strategy or comparable properties. Include proposal links in emails and text messages.
Every additional interaction creates another opportunity to win the instruction.
4. Follow Up Based On Behaviour, Not Guesswork
Traditionally, follow-up has been driven by timing.
Call after two days.
Email after five days.
Call again next week.
But homeowner behaviour tells a far richer story.
Someone who has reopened your proposal three times in one evening is demonstrating very different buying intent from someone who hasn’t looked at it since the valuation.
Our analysis found:
• One proposal view: 14.4% instruction rate
• Multiple views on the same day: 24.3%
• Multiple views across different days: 23.7%
The best-performing agencies don’t simply ask, “Have you made a decision?”
Instead, they use behavioural signals to decide who needs attention first and when to make contact.
Behaviour is often a far better indicator of homeowner intent than the number of days since the valuation.
5. Let AI Continue The Conversation
Many homeowners have questions they never ask during the valuation.
They may wonder why your fees are higher than another agent’s, how your marketing differs or what happens after they instruct.
Increasingly, those questions are being asked online after the appointment.
AI Concierge allows homeowners to ask those questions at any time while receiving answers based on your agency’s own proposition rather than generic AI responses.
This creates two important advantages.
Firstly, homeowners receive immediate answers, helping maintain engagement while they’re making their decision.
Secondly, every interaction provides valuable insight into what the homeowner is actually thinking.
Rather than making a generic follow-up call, agents can understand the questions being asked, the topics homeowners are interested in and the concerns that may need addressing before instruction.
That makes follow-up conversations far more relevant and far more valuable.
Small Improvements Compound Into Better Results
None of these behaviours is revolutionary on its own.
But together they create a stronger homeowner journey from the moment a valuation is booked through to the instruction decision.
The evidence is remarkably consistent.
Agencies that prepare homeowners before the appointment, send proposals quickly, encourage engagement, respond to homeowner behaviour and continue conversations using AI consistently place themselves in a stronger position to win instructions.
Technology alone doesn’t win instructions.
The agencies that use it to engage homeowners at the right time, with the right information, consistently outperform those that don’t.