Let’s take a look at how Zillow collects, stores, secures, analyzes and interprets the data that it uses to create the information, knowledge, and business intelligence that it uses on its website.
Data collection: The data Zilow collects includes your personal information, your search history, your favorites, your financial information if you use Zillow to pay rent, real estate information such as information about neighborhoods, local real estate markets, home prices, rental prices, public records and other user generated content (Housing Data. Zillow., 2023, April 25).
Data storage/security: Zillows maintains a large array of data storage systems that includes data warehouses, data lakes, and individual databases that store both structured and unstructured data (Daud, F., 2020, January 22).
Data analysis: Zillow uses two types of analysis on its clickstream data. “Clickstream data and clickstream analytics are the processes involved in collecting, analyzing and reporting aggregate data about which pages a website visitor visits — and in what order. The path the visitor takes through a website is called the clickstream (Gillis, A. S., 2022, May 5).” It uses “page views” which is data collected about which pages a user visits and it uses “events” which are pretty much everything else, such as how long a user was on a page or what parts of the page a user looked at (Daud, F., 2020b, November 18).
Data interpretation: One of the ways Zillow interprets the data it collects is to use it in its “Zestimate” algorithm. The Zestimate is the value Zillow thinks your home is worth. “Zestimate incorporates public, MLS and user-submitted data into Zillow’s proprietary formula, also taking into account home facts, location and market trends ( Zillow. (2023b, April 27).“
And now let’s look at some ways that they apply analytics to the vast amount of data that they collect.
Market analysis: Using market analytics Zillow can provide insights into any number of local real estate markets. It can provide potential home buyers and real estate agents with information such as supply and demand and price trends.
Personalization: Zillows collection of personal information from its users allows it to customize the user experience by recommending properties based on a users search history or location.
Investment optimization: Zillow tried to use its vast amount of data to identify promising real estate investment opportunities and assess their potential returns but it didn’t work out the way they expected (Kirshner, A., 2021, November 3).
Website analytics: Zillows analysis of its clickstream data helps it to optimize its website and improve its marketing.
REFERENCES:
Daud, F. (2020, January 22). Building a data streaming platform - how Zillow sends data to its data lake. Zillow. https://www.zillow.com/tech/building-a-data-streaming-platform/
Daud, F. (2020b, November 18). How zillow tests clickstream analytics. Zillow. https://www.zillow.com/tech/how-zillow-tests-clickstream-analytics/
Gillis, A. S. (2022, May 5). What is clickstream data (Clickstream Analytics)?. Customer Experience. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/clickstream-analysis-clickstream-analytics
Housing Data. Zillow. (2023, April 25). https://www.zillow.com/research/data/
Kirshner, A. (2021, November 3). Zillow torched $381 million overpaying for houses. spectacular. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/technology/2021/11/zillow-house-flipping-failure-awesome.html
Zillow. (2023b, April 27). What is a zestimate? Zillow’s zestimate accuracy. https://www.zillow.com/z/zestimate