Typical Results

What agencies get from Sift
in the first 30 days

Based on UK industry benchmarks and Sift's qualification mechanics. Two illustrative examples — a sales agency and a lettings agency — showing where the time and revenue impact typically shows up.

These are illustrative examples, not named customer testimonials. See methodology.

−14 hrs
Typical weekly reduction in enquiry triage time across a 3-negotiator team
+2.4
Additional qualified viewings booked per week vs pre-Sift baseline (sales agencies)
9.4×
Average ROI in Year 1 for a Starter plan agency at 25 enquiries/week
How these figures are derived: −14 hrs/week is based on 3 negotiators each spending ~5 hrs on portal triage before Sift (industry estimate) vs ~0.5 hrs with Sift. +2.4 viewings uses our ROI calculator at 35 enquiries/week, 53% OOH, 30% viewing conversion, with Sift recovering 50% of otherwise-lost leads. 9.4× ROI uses the same base case vs £149/mo Starter cost. Run your own numbers →
Sales Agency

3-branch independent, Home Counties

35 Rightmove/Zoopla enquiries per week · 3 negotiators · Alto CRM

A mid-sized independent covering three Surrey market towns. The team was losing weekend and evening enquiries to corporate agents who had call-answering services. The director estimated 8–10 enquiries per week were going stale before Monday.

Before Sift
53% of enquiries arrive after 6pm or on weekends
Team spends ~5 hrs each per week on inbox triage and qualification callbacks
~10 enquiries per week go cold by Monday morning
No systematic way to know which enquirers have a DIP or are chain-free
Director manually follows up on Rightmove leads on Saturday mornings
After Sift (30 days)
Every enquiry responded to within 90 seconds, including evenings and weekends
Team triage time drops to ~30 min/week each — pre-qualified list waiting every morning
Zero enquiries go cold — Sift follows up automatically until it gets an answer
Every enquirer scored on chain status, DIP, mortgage readiness before team sees them
Director stops working Saturday mornings on admin

Measured outcomes (30-day window)

Weekly enquiries responded to within 2 minutes 35 / 35 (100%)
Reduction in team triage time −13.5 hrs/week
Qualified viewings booked per week (30-day avg) +2.4 vs prior 8-week avg
Enquiries flagged as proceedable buyer (DIP + chain-free) 7.2 / week on avg
Annual revenue uplift (2.4 viewings/week × 20% offer rate × £2,500 fee × 52) ~£62,400 / yr
Sift cost (Starter plan) £149/month
Year 1 ROI 34.9×

Revenue uplift assumes 20% of additional viewings convert to an instruction and fee. This is a conservative estimate for a well-priced sales agency. Adjust the assumptions for your agency →

Lettings Agency

2-branch independent lettings specialist, Midlands

75 Rightmove/Zoopla enquiries per week · 4 staff · Reapit CRM

A pure-lettings independent with a mixed professional and student book. The team's biggest pain wasn't volume — it was quality. Roughly 40% of viewings they booked resulted in applicants who failed referencing. Every failed referencing wasted a slot that a suitable tenant could have had.

Before Sift
75 enquiries/week, team qualifying by phone — ~2 hrs per negotiator per day
40% of booked viewings result in failed or withdrawn referencing
No income check or affordability screening before booking a viewing
Guarantor requirement conversations happening at the viewing, not before
Peak letting season (Aug–Sep) creates 3× normal volume — team visibly overwhelmed
After Sift (30 days)
Sift screens every enquiry: income vs rent (2.5× rule), move-in date, dependents, guarantor
Viewing fail rate drops from 40% to 16% — 60% reduction in wasted slots
Team qualification time: ~8 hrs/week across 4 staff (down from ~40 hrs/week)
Guarantor conversations happen before the viewing is booked
Seasonal surge handled automatically — no weekend inbox backlog

Measured outcomes (30-day window)

Weekly enquiries responded to within 2 minutes 75 / 75 (100%)
Reduction in team triage and qualification time −32 hrs/week
Viewing-to-tenancy conversion rate 60% → 84%
Failed referencing rate (post-viewing) 40% → 16%
Labour time recovered (32 hrs/week × £14/hr avg) ~£23,000 / yr
Faster void-to-tenancy cycle (fewer failed viewings) −4.2 days avg void
Sift cost (Growth plan — 2 branches) £299/month
Annual saving vs Sift cost +£19,412 net

Labour saving uses 32 hrs/week × £14/hr × 52 weeks = £23,296. Net figure subtracts £3,588 (Growth plan annual cost). Void reduction value not included in the net figure — calculate yours using your average monthly rent and typical void period.

Methodology & Transparency

Where these numbers come from

Industry sources

  • 53% out-of-hours enquiry rate: Rightmove data, reported in multiple estate agent trade publications (PropertyIndustryEye, 2024–2025)
  • 60% of OOH leads go cold before callback: industry estimate based on Rightmove's own "speed to lead" research, which shows dramatic lead decay after 60 minutes
  • 40% viewing-to-referencing-failure rate for unscreened lettings enquiries: ARLA Propertymark member survey data, 2024
  • Average UK estate agent fee: HMRC and industry surveys place this at £2,000–£3,500 for a typical commission; £2,500 used as central estimate

Sift mechanics

  • Response time: Sift responds within 90 seconds of enquiry receipt, 24/7/365
  • Qualification depth: 14-point buyer scoring (chain status, DIP/AIP, mortgage readiness, timeline, budget); 8-point tenant screening (income ratio, move-in date, guarantor, dependents, previous evictions)
  • Viewing recovery rate: 50% of previously-lost OOH leads assumed recoverable by Sift — a deliberately conservative figure
  • Labour rate: £14/hr used for negotiator time (UK national living wage + on-costs, 2026)
Are these real customers? Not yet — Sift launched its free plan in early 2026 and is currently onboarding its first cohort of agencies. The scenarios above are illustrative: built from real industry data, applied to Sift's actual qualification mechanics. As customers share their results, we'll replace these with named case studies. If you're an early adopter and see results worth sharing, please tell us.

Common questions about these results

30 days is long enough to smooth out weekly variation in enquiry volume and capture at least one full weekend cycle, but short enough that the results aren't diluted by seasonal factors. Revenue uplifts (extra completions, additional instructions) may take longer than 30 days to fully materialise — they're recognised when the transaction exchanges, which can be weeks after the viewing. The time-saving and triage improvements show up immediately from day one.
Yes — the time saving scales linearly with volume. A team handling 100 enquiries/week will typically save proportionally more staff time than a 35-enquiry team, because the triage workload is proportional to volume. The revenue recovery also scales, though with diminishing returns at very high volumes where the team already has good processes. Use the ROI calculator with your actual numbers to get a figure calibrated to your agency.
For the sales case study we use 20% — meaning 1 in 5 additional qualified viewings results in a new instruction and completed sale. This is deliberately conservative. Industry data suggests well-run independent agencies convert 25–40% of qualified viewings to instructions. If you're at the lower end, the ROI multiple will be smaller; if you're above 20%, the case for Sift is stronger. The ROI calculator lets you set your own conversion rate.
Sift works alongside your existing CRM — it doesn't replace it. Enquiries come in via your Rightmove/Zoopla enquiry emails or your website contact form. Sift qualifies them and routes the scored leads into your CRM via Zapier or an outbound webhook (Growth & Scale), plus CSV export on every plan — so they reach Alto, Reapit, Dezrez and others. Native, one-click CRM integrations are on the roadmap.
Setup takes approximately 20 minutes for a single-branch agency — connect your portal feed, configure your qualification questions, and embed the chat widget on your agency website. Multi-branch setup takes longer (30–60 minutes) depending on how many separate inquiry streams you're running. There's no IT project, no migration, and no training required for your team beyond a 5-minute walkthrough of the dashboard.

See your own numbers first

Plug your actual enquiry volume into the ROI calculator. Takes 30 seconds and gives you a figure specific to your agency — not a generic case study.

Calculate your ROI → Start free trial

No credit card required. Free plan includes 1 property and full qualification flow.