The fastest way to get Sift's AI agent talking about your properties is to upload your inventory as a spreadsheet. Sift accepts both Excel (.xlsx) and CSV files, and auto-maps the most common column formats — including exports from Rightmove, Vebra, and most major UK agency software.
This guide covers preparation, upload, and quality optimisation.
What the AI agent does with your listings
When a buyer asks about a specific property — or describes what they're looking for — Sift's AI agent searches your uploaded inventory to find matches and discuss them accurately. Without a property upload, the agent can still qualify buyers, but it can't describe specific properties, quote prices, or confirm availability.
The quality of your upload directly affects the quality of the AI's responses. A listing with price, postcode, bedrooms, and a brief description will generate much richer conversations than one with just an address and a price.
Required and recommended columns
| Column | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| address or full_address | Required | Street address including postcode |
| price or asking_price | Required | Numeric (e.g., 450000) or formatted (e.g., £450,000) |
| bedrooms or beds | Recommended | Integer |
| bathrooms or baths | Optional | Integer |
| property_type or type | Recommended | e.g., "Detached house", "Flat", "Semi-detached" |
| description or summary | Recommended | Plain text. First 500 characters are prioritised by the AI. |
| tenure | Recommended | "Freehold" or "Leasehold". Buyers ask about this. |
| status or availability | Recommended | "For sale", "Under offer", "SSTC", "To let", "Let agreed" |
| url or listing_url | Optional | Link to the full listing on your website or portal |
| epc_rating | Optional | Single letter (A–G) |
Sift auto-maps column headers to these fields, including common variations (e.g., "asking price", "list price", "price (£)"). If your export uses a non-standard header, you can manually map it during the upload review step.
Preparing your file
Exporting from Rightmove / your CRM
Most UK agency software can export listings as CSV or Excel. The export function is typically found under Properties → Export or Reports → Listings Export. The specific menu varies by software, but most Vebra, Alto, and Reapit Web exports produce files that Sift can map automatically.
If your CRM doesn't have a direct CSV export, you can usually pull listings from a portal export. Rightmove's reporting dashboard (under Rightmove Online → Reports) offers an export of your current listings with key fields.
Data hygiene tips
- Remove sold/let agreed properties before uploading, or set their status to "SSTC" / "Let agreed" so the AI knows not to present them as available
- Check postcodes — Sift uses postcode for geographic matching. Truncated or malformed postcodes will reduce match accuracy
- Use consistent property types — "Flat", "Apartment", and "Studio Flat" will be treated as different types unless you standardise
- Keep descriptions factual — the AI reads descriptions and uses them in conversation. Superlatives like "stunning" and "gorgeous" add noise. Square footage, parking, garden, and EPC rating add signal.
Uploading the file
In your Sift dashboard, go to Properties → Upload. Drag and drop your file or click to browse. Sift will:
- Parse the file and detect column headers
- Auto-map recognised headers to Sift fields
- Show you a mapping preview for review
- Flag rows with missing required fields or format issues
- Show a quality score (0–100) based on field completeness
Review the mapping before confirming. If any auto-mapping is wrong, correct it using the dropdown next to each field.
Understanding the quality score
Each listing gets a quality score from 0 to 100. The score reflects how much useful information the AI agent can draw on when a buyer asks about that property. A listing with price, bedrooms, property type, description, and tenure scores around 85. A listing with only address and price scores around 30.
The AI can still discuss low-scoring listings — it just has less to say. If a buyer asks "what's the garden like?" and the listing has no description, the agent will say it doesn't have that detail and offer to have the team follow up. This is honest, but not ideal. Aim for a quality score above 60 across your inventory.
Keeping listings up to date
Sift doesn't automatically sync with your website or portal. When a property status changes — it goes under offer, gets a price reduction, or a new listing goes live — you'll need to re-upload or update via the dashboard.
For agencies with high stock turnover, we recommend a weekly CSV re-upload. For agencies with stable stock, a monthly review is usually sufficient. Listings that have been sold or let agreed for more than 90 days will be flagged in your dashboard as stale.