The online estate agency Emoov has won the Silver award for ‘Best Online Estate Agent in the UK’ at the prestigious ESTAS Customer Service Awards 2024. The winners were revealed at a grand event in London, attended by over 1,000 of the UK’s top property professionals.
Emoov’s journey has been transformative. Originally founded as a high street agency known as Griffin Residential in the early 2000s, it began to transition online when Director Nick Neale saw an opportunity to deliver Griffin’s renowned service at a more affordable cost.
Establishing a presence in the online estate agency market wasn’t straightforward, especially with larger companies powered by substantial venture capital investment. Rather than chasing market share or branding itself as an ‘industry disruptor,’ Nick concentrated on developing a user-friendly, efficient website that could cater to their loyal customer base, rebranding Griffin as Griffin Property Co.
While many competitors pursued aggressive growth or struggled to survive, Griffin focused on refining its website and customer service, pushing the boundaries for a smaller, independent online agency.
After building a dedicated team sharing a passion for the property industry and a vision for the future, Griffin continued to enhance their service, saving clients significant sums in fees. In August 2024, they rebranded as Emoov, drawing on years of experience and insight.
Today, Emoov continues to provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional estate agents, equipping clients with all they need to sell or let their property. Looking ahead to 2025, Emoov is committed to refining its service and venturing into the commercial property market, continuing to demonstrate what a small, independent online agency can achieve.
Phil Spencer, who has hosted The ESTAS Awards since its inception in 2003, addressed attendees, saying: “The ESTAS is a community of like-minded property professionals all focused on one mission – to deliver the best possible service they can time and time again to their clients. You’ve all been incredibly brave with your businesses and by joining our community you’ve declared your intentions to provide the highest standards of service and you’re prepared to prove it.”
Simon Brown, Founder of The ESTAS, added: “Moving house is one of the most stressful experiences we all have to deal with in life so finding the right agent to guide you through the journey is vital. At The ESTAS we put the spotlight on those firms that really are delivering the best customer service in the property sector. The results are based purely on verified customer reviews so the winners really have been judged by the people that matter!”
Nick Neale of Emoov commented: “It’s truly remarkable that after only such a short period of time operating under the new brand, Emoov has been recognised for their excellent customer service by ESTAS. After almost a decade of persistent hard work, we are absolutely delighted to be acknowledged as one of the best online agents in the UK. It means so much to us as we know it’s our customers who have judged our performance.
“We take our levels of customer service very seriously because we know clients have a choice. We have always been very proud of the personal service and this proves we are delivering what we promise.”
