Craigslist Preferences Poll: HTML or Text?

This poll is for anyone that has ever used Craigslist. If you've viewed an ad or placed one, please vote!

When viewing Craigslist listings, which type of ad format do you prefer? HTML or Text? Click here to vote: twtpoll.com/faw5oi

When voting, please remember this is about what YOU prefer to see, not what we perceive as effective or preferred by Craigslist employees or 'help' forum advisors.

It takes 2 seconds, I promise!

Thanks,
Charity

Hey Charity,

Great poll, i was surprised by the results.

I personally prefer text only with lots of photos pasted right in to the ad.

having a link to a flickr account is good too, though i don't click on that until the apartment qualifies in the rent and location criteria which is the first "scan."

Text. Craigs List is how my 25 year old son found his Asheville, NC apartment home and how my 74 year old dad looked for a new putting wedge. (I don't know how old the putting wedge is)

@Matt - I was surprised as well, and the results lead me to believe that the the majority of people do not care if the ad is HTML. The issues,appear to be with the individuals that volunteer their time to monitor craigslist. They monitor the help forums and patrol the site, looking for ads that aren't "in the spirit of" craigslist.

@Tamela - Isn't it amazing how people of various ages are using craigslist? My grandparents use it! I think it's amazing to watch people of all ages (and demographics) come together.

Hi Charity,

I personally like just the text with pictures. Sometimes when I use things like postlets or vflyers, I feel people think it's a scam of some sort.

Of course I like using the postlets and vflyer for something different, but I always put regular pics at the bottom of the ad so when people see my posting it shows "img"...which for some reason is very important to CL readers!

Thanks for posting the topic; this was my first discussion on multifamily insiders

Hi Tanya! I am so glad you are joining us here on MFI, thank you for commenting!

I agree that renters search by images available, so it is important to include photos in the ads. Interior photos are preferred.

I use vFlyer on a regular basis, and I have found that with my custom templates (and custom CL layouts) I can create ads that are branded AND look authentic. I think some people get carried away with the tools. When it comes to posting tools, less is more.

Another new poster here. I've been using CL for my listings for 4.5 years now and post about 20-30 ads a day. I have found that the popularity of postlets & vflyer has dulled some of the scammy effect. However, it means that those ads no longer appear fresh - they just appear cookie cutter.

I hand code about 15 different templates for my ads so that they don't all appear to be coming from one agent. All of them are HTML, but some of them appear less glossy than others, depending on the target market for each community.

I am surprised by the poll results as well. Our data indicates we get significantly more traction from simple text or even combo HTML and text postings than straight HTML postings. If we are being honest, plain text postings work better, but we still prefer a little more polish that reflects some minor elements of our brand.

We do a lot of craigslist posts and so we did A/B testing so we'd have some metrics behind what we were doing (using CallSource numbers, carefully tracking emails) and hands-down, the text ads pulled better.

Fine print: all ads were in the Philadelphia metro - your market may be different. My theory why: people are looking on CL for the independent landlords. They can find the larger communities on my site and others. When you do text ads, you blend in...

@Kay - Thank you for responding. I'm just curious: are your 20-30 posts per day for a single property or for multiple properties?

@Jared - Thanks for commenting! I think most companies agree with you regarding what works vs. branding.

I hope you're doing well, long time no see!

@Kay

How do you post 30 CL ads a day? I tried posting 4 today and it's been hard!