How Zoopla transformed real estate experiences with data-driven personalization

TL;DR

Zoopla modernized its customer data stack by switching to customer data infrastructure (RudderStack) and centralizing events in its own data cloud. The change cut substantial CDP costs, improved governance with tracking plans and monitoring, and enabled real-time activation (email segmentation, on-site personalization, and predictive intent). Analysts can now ship new use cases without engineering tickets thanks to code-first transformations and flexible routing. Net: lower costs, stronger data quality, faster personalization, and clearer ownership of the customer data lifecycle

In the competitive UK real estate market, creating exceptional customer experiences isn't merely nice to have. It's essential for success. Zoopla, one of the UK's leading property platforms, connects millions of home seekers with estate agents, letting agents, and property developers through their marketplace.

But behind their polished interface lay a common challenge: a fragmented data ecosystem that left valuable customer insights untapped and prevented them from delivering the personalized experiences modern consumers expect.

The data fragmentation challenge

Despite being a data-rich company with millions of site visitors generating valuable signals, Zoopla struggled to leverage this information effectively. Their customer data was scattered across multiple systems—website tracking tools, app analytics, form submissions, and rudimentary data models—creating a disconnected view of their users.

Steven Collings, Sr. Data Consultant at Zoopla, describes their situation: "We had a lot of people coming to our site, generating significant amounts of data, but we weren't doing anything with it. It was fragmented, unstructured, and underutilized."

While Zoopla had implemented Segment as their customer data platform, they encountered several limitations:

• High costs: The traditional CDP model was expensive and duplicated functionality
• Limited visibility: Critical processes like identity resolution were operating in a black box
• Governance issues: Tracking data lacked consistent structure and standards
• Activation barriers: Data models were scattered and difficult to reuse

"Our data was proprietary, and we knew we needed to start using it—not just to deepen relationships with our users, but also to refine and activate audiences for our estate agent partners," explains Collings. "Untapped potential was clearly waiting to be unlocked."

Building a solid data foundation

Zoopla chose RudderStack to regain control of their data infrastructure and streamline their processes. By centralizing their consumer data in their own warehouse, Zoopla gained unparalleled visibility, control, and flexibility.

"RudderStack is like air traffic control for our data," says Collings. "It shepherds traffic, sending the right information to the right places in exactly the right format. The platform simplified how we pipeline data, ensuring better governance, accuracy, and flexibility."

The migration from their previous platform to RudderStack was seamless, thanks to a clear project plan and strong ownership across teams. During implementation, Zoopla took the opportunity to significantly improve key areas, including:

• Aligning tracking standards across web and mobile apps
• Using RudderStack Transformations to fine-tune and enrich customer event data
• Establishing robust data governance with tracking plans and monitoring tools

Real results: Cost savings, better governance, and real-time personalization

Substantial cost reduction

By transitioning to RudderStack, Zoopla achieved remarkable financial benefits. "We saved hundreds of thousands by switching to RudderStack without losing any functionality—and actually gained more control and transparency in the process," reports Collings.

Their previous customer data solution was incurring unnecessary costs by duplicating functionality that Zoopla's existing infrastructure could already handle. With RudderStack's more efficient approach, they eliminated this redundancy.

Enhanced data governance and quality

Using RudderStack's Data Quality Toolkit, Zoopla established a robust framework to ensure all data collected, processed, and activated adhered to consistent standards. This included:

• Defining and enforcing tracking rules across their entire data ecosystem
• Implementing automated monitoring and alerting systems
• Fostering a culture of decentralized data ownership

"We've moved from a place where data issues were brushed under the carpet to one where we proactively address them," Collings explains. "The combination of robust tracking plans and decentralized ownership has completely transformed how we manage data quality."

Powerful data activation and personalization

It's been established that customers now expect personalized experiences. As McKinsey reports, "71 percent of consumers expected companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76 percent got frustrated when it didn’t happen."

Zoopla had been struggling with delivering a personalized experience for their customers, but RudderStack helped solve this: With a standardized, single customer view in place, Zoopla could finally deliver consistent, personalized experiences that significantly enhanced engagement.

This included:

• Refined email campaigns: By utilizing detailed audience segmentation and enriched profile data, Zoopla targeted customers with highly relevant content, boosting effectiveness
• Real-time experience customization: Processing behavioral data in real-time allowed them to adapt user experiences dynamically based on preferences (such as property features like balconies or gardens)
• Advanced analytics: Integrated data models enabled actionable insights into user behavior, including predictive models that categorized users by intent (first-time buyers, investors, etc.)

Flexibility and innovation

One of RudderStack's standout benefits for Zoopla has been the platform's flexibility, particularly through transformations that allow them to modify event data on the fly:

• Tailoring event data for specific downstream tools like Iterable and Redis
• Enabling analysts to implement new use cases without engineering resources
• Supporting unexpected use cases, such as using RudderStack as a reverse ETL tool to update Salesforce

"RudderStack has given us the flexibility to process data the way we want, when we want," says Collings. "Analysts can now own the process end-to-end, which has eliminated delays and allowed us to move at the speed of the business."

From data platform to business enabler

For Zoopla, RudderStack has evolved from a simple data solution into a strategic business enabler. By providing control over data flows, ensuring quality through governance, and enabling real-time activation, RudderStack has become a foundational element of their customer experience strategy.

"RudderStack is the arteries feeding data and powering all of our user experiences," concludes Collings. "It's given us the control, visibility, and flexibility we needed while saving us money and simplifying our operations. It's hard to imagine operating without it."

This transformation illustrates how the right approach to customer data can deliver both immediate cost savings and long-term strategic advantages. By owning their data infrastructure and leveraging RudderStack's capabilities, Zoopla has positioned themselves to continue innovating in the competitive real estate market.

Want to learn more about Zoopla’s journey? Read the full case study

FAQs

How did Zoopla reduce costs without losing capability?

They eliminated duplicated CDP functionality and routed events directly into their data cloud with a code-first pipeline. This preserved flexibility while removing “black box” fees and constraints, and it improved visibility for governance and debugging.

What changed about data quality and governance?

Zoopla enforced tracking plans and schema checks at ingestion, monitored drift, and classified PII. This moved the org from reactive clean-up to proactive prevention, raising trust in downstream analytics and activation.

How does this enable real-time personalization?

With standardized events and identity stitched in the warehouse, audiences and traits flow to tools in near-real time. That supports timely, property-feature-level personalization (e.g., “balcony,” “garden”) and targeted email journeys, which aligns with industry evidence that personalization drives repeat engagement and loyalty.

Why prioritize “customer data infrastructure” over a traditional CDP?

A cloud-first, developer-friendly approach gives teams control (versioned configs, transformations-as-code) and avoids opaque services (for example, black-box identity resolution common in some CDPs). Transparent, tunable identity and warehouse-centric models are widely recommended for flexibility and accuracy.

How does this approach help with UK privacy expectations?

Owning consent and event governance in your stack makes it easier to honor UK GDPR/PECR requirements around cookies/tracking and profiling. ICO guidance stresses clear consent for non-essential cookies and special care with profiling and automated decisions.

Where does Zoopla’s business context fit in the market?

Zoopla is one of the UK’s leading property marketplaces with very large consumer reach, which raises the stakes for data quality and personalization at scale. Public data and brand stats underscore that reach.