I was on the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast recently, and one of the moments that seemed to resonate most was when I walked through how I’d actually use Zillow Preview as a listing agent—the sequencing, the timing, the pitch to a seller. It was a quick example in the middle of a longer conversation, but the response made me want to expand on it. Because I think there’s a real strategic framework here that’s worth spelling out.
When I talk to agents about how they bring a home to market, I often hear some version of the same story: you get the listing, you get the photos, everything you need to create the listing. Then you come up with a listing marketing strategy designed to sell the home for the highest price on your client’s timeline. This includes pricing, timing of the launch and all the tactics you will use to get exposure for that home. Then you put it in the MLS, launch your marketing plan, and hope you get enough momentum and exposure to get the offer you want.
The problem with this is as soon as the listing goes live, the clock starts ticking. The listing starts to get stale, the initial bump from your marketing starts to fade. You get one shot to launch this campaign, and if you time it wrong, price it wrong or just get plain unlucky, you won’t get the best outcome for your client.
What I’ve been thinking about—and what we’ve been building toward at Zillow—is something different. A sequenced marketing strategy that gives sellers more than one moment of maximum exposure.
The trailer before the feature
Think about how a movie studio markets a film. They don’t just open on Friday and hope people show up. They build anticipation. They release a trailer weeks in advance—enough to generate interest, get people talking and fill seats for opening night. The film itself still has to deliver. But the groundwork has been laid.
That’s the mental model I’d encourage agents to bring to their listing conversations.
Zillow Preview is the trailer. It’s a public pre-market window—listings visible on Zillow, Trulia—and this summer, Realtor.com—before they go active on the MLS, clearly labeled, searchable and available to any buyer without a login or a brokerage requirement. During the Preview period, buyers can discover the home in search results, save it, share it, and connect directly with the listing agent. They can even pre-schedule a tour for the moment the listing goes live.
For sellers, this means two things. First, real demand data before the listing is even active. Views, saves, shares, tour requests—all of it flowing in while the home is still in its pre-market phase. This data gives agents and sellers the confidence to go to market knowing there’s already a pool of interested buyers ready to act. Second, Preview creates a moment of real demand and exposure for the home that has momentum.
The main event
Then the listing goes active. And this is where the second act begins.
Zillow Showcase is a premium listing experience built around what buyers say they actually want: high-resolution photography, interactive floor plans, a 3D home tour. Showcase listings receive significantly more impressions and clicks than standard listings—roughly twice as many—because they deliver a richer, more complete picture of the home.
When a listing moves from Preview into a full Showcase presentation, it gets another visibility boost, now with the full media package that makes a home impossible to scroll past. It’s like re-boosting the listing, creating a second round of demand generation.
The pitch to sellers is simple: we go to market twice, and both times we go with momentum.
Why sequencing matters
I want to be clear about something. Zillow Preview is not a test drive. It’s not a way to test the market quietly or hedge against a bad first weekend. Used correctly, it’s the opening chapter of a deliberate marketing strategy—one that builds buyer interest before going live and converts that interest into action the moment the listing becomes active.
This is also why Zillow Preview is structured to work within MLS frameworks, and support brokers and agents in complying with their local rules. Once the listing goes active, it follows the standard MLS distribution process. Broad visibility, full cooperation, no tricks.
What agents should be saying in the room
The listing presentation has always been about convincing a seller that you’re the right person to market their most valuable asset. Zillow Preview and Showcase give agents something concrete to put on the table: a sequenced strategy with a clear narrative, real data at every stage, and access to the largest online audience of buyers in the country.
The conversation I’d encourage agents to have goes something like this: here’s how we build interest before we go live, here’s the data we will use when we do, and here’s how we make sure your listing launches with the best possible presentation and the broadest possible reach.
For 20 years, Zillow has been guided by the belief that real estate works better when information is open and accessible. Zillow Preview is the next step in that—bringing pre-market listings out of the shadows and into a public marketplace where every buyer can find them and every seller gets the exposure they deserve. Paired with Showcase, it gives agents a marketing strategy worthy of the trust sellers place in them.
The best listing agents have always competed on service and expertise. Now they have the tools to match.
