Different types of online tools allow you to engage home buyers by supplying them with quality information. Thanks to these tools, the time spent visiting your website increases in addition to the number of information requests regarding your selection of available houses.
Capturing and retaining the attention of these visitors is essential. Did you know that 99% of visitors to a home builder website leave it without so much as signing up to a newsletter, or requesting information and/or a meeting, etc.
Home builders who do not offer an engaging experience on their website generally can’t capitalize on investments made by managing online contacts.
There are many effective marketing tips for home builders, remodelers and interior designers. But before setting up a complete marketing strategy, make sure you’ve validated some basic points of information and communication on your website for your target audience.
What do home buyers want to see when researching on a home builder website?
How can you engage with potential home buyers and drive them toward your sales funnel? We’ve compiled 3 ideas for home builders to improve their website.
1. Add a Gallery of 3D Renderings on Your Website (important to 96% of home buyers)
An image (whether pictures of homes you built, or a 3D rendering) is worth a thousand words. This is a saying that is becoming more and more true, especially when we consider that 81% of internet users only skim the online content they’re exposed to.
On social media, the engagement rate of posts with images is 650% higher than posts containing only text. The use of applications like Pinterest, or Instagram only confirm this trend toward pictures.
Images appeal to emotional aspects of home buyers. It’s the best way to capture their attention. Therefore, it’s in every home builders interest to include pictures in all marketing materials, including galleries on their sites, catalogs of models, home/lot listings, Facebook and/or Instagram posts, and promotional images displayed in sales offices.
92% of buyers state that images displayed in offices influence their choice of a home builder. And for all categories of home buyers, whatever their budget, the home-buying experience, their location or age, at least 90% of them consider images as essential to their decision-making process. In other words, home builders who have an extensive portfolio of professional quality 3D floor plans and renderings enjoy a major competitive advantage, especially in the design phase. These home renderings can, for example, be used to distinguish a list of homes on a website and can become a true entry point for future home buyers.
Having a way to produce a significant stock of quality renderings through the use of a 3D home design software that also enables you to create floor plans, is becoming a strategic weapon.
2. Propose 3D Floor Plans (important for more than 93% of buyers)
Home buyers today are used to visualization tools. The majority of them don’t know how to read a blueprint made for civil engineers or general contractors, and therefore are not able to picture themselves in their future home. Naming a room “kitchen” or “master bedroom” as well as giving its dimensions is insufficient information for visualizing. The 3D floor plan constitutes the best way to help buyers understand a home project. Many of them will need these floor plans to understand how the rooms are connected to each other.
Home design projects definitely sell better when they’re visual. These axonometric plans, which can present a personalized 3D layout are essential to home builders and can be a significant competitive advantage.
A 3D floor plan can be easily and quickly managed using a professional home design software.
3. Leverage Online Videos (important for 78% of buyers)
Cisco estimates that 80% of world’s mobile traffic will be video by 2022. Real estate advertising with videos will receive four times more requests for information than those without it.
Videos allow you to significantly increase engagement, duration of visits, return visits to your site, page sharing and, ultimately, conversion. This format can be used for both visiting model homes and construction sites, and for recording client testimonials.
Are you looking to improve your brand recognition or encourage prospects to schedule a visit to your model home? Use different types of videos according to the objectives you’re looking to achieve.
The video content you create can be reused in various ways beyond your site: on social media, in real estate advertising, or on the screens in your office.
