By Angela McKay, VP Customer Experience, Anewgo
We hear over and over, that we need to improve the online experience for new home shoppers. We need to allow buyers to browse, shop, and find information easily. We need to be more like Amazon and Netflix, or Tesla. But what does that really mean? A new construction home is significantly more complex than groceries, movies, and even cars. Not just in price, but in frequency of purchase, the customizations needed, the uncertainty/unfamiliar to the buyer. So how can you even begin to compete?
Consumers don’t just compare you to other builders, they compare you to the experience they get with other products. We don’t necessarily appreciate the great experience with Netflix, the way it automatically bookmarks shows you’re watching, the way it recommends specifically for each user in your household, but because they have given us a taste of this, we expect this same level of personalization when we go to other sites. Netflix has raised the bar for other industries.
Netflix serves up content based on our preferences. They make it easy to find things you may like. You can search any way you want, or they simply recommend shows that they feel you like based on what you’ve watched and other AI factors. Buying groceries online has never been easier – you can easily reorder favorites, find specials, and search on categories.
Buyers expect an easy experience. It’s when there’s friction that they move on.
Why is this important?
Consumers have options and there is a scarcity of time. If they can’t find what they are looking for, they move on to a site where they can find it. While some may think it feels creepy or intrusive to make suggestions based on preferences, truth be told, we all like it, we want it. We don’t want to sift through unnecessary information to get to what we really want. If we are presented with an easier path, we will take it. That’s what consumers want. They want personalization.
What can you do?
- An easy path. First and foremost, presenting information the way buyers shop. Avoid forcing them to weed through company details when they really want to see where and what you build.
- Provide interactive content. Allow your prospects and buyers to explore and design. It’s a hands-on, engaged experience online.
- Allow shoppers to save their favorite homes and compare. Make it easy for them to return and pick up where they left off. Capturing this information allows you to better engage and provide informed recommendations
- Improve the transition from online to offline. Traditionally, it’s been the goal of builders to get buyers offline. The goal of a website was lead capture and then get them onsite. The last 18 months has changed this. More is now done online. Shoppers want to be further down the funnel doing more on their own. When they do transition offline, make it seamless … allow them to continue where they left off online. Forcing them to start over, causes friction and wastes everyone’s time. And if they want to stay online, let them!
- Consider giving your buyers the option to reserve or buy online. Give them control. Buy online isn’t just about someone browsing online on a Friday night and deciding to buy, it’s about someone who may have sought you out, visited a model, toured the community, and is back online, ready to buy … give them the option. Make it easy.
Finding and buying a new home is changing. The last 18 months accelerated digital transformation. If you are not continuing to improve your customers’ digital experience, you will be at risk. Just like you continue to improve the onsite experience by equipping onsite sales with new tools and information, up-to-date design elements, you must do the same with your digital experience.
What digital experiences are your delivering to your customers? We’d love to help! Anewgo combines both digital content with web app software to help you provide the best possible experience for your prospects and buyers. Integrated with your CRM and ERP, keeping pricing up-to-date on your website and your leads in your CRM, has never been easier. Visit anewgo.com to learn more.
Angela McKay has spent 14 years serving the home building industry with sales and marketing technology solutions. As VP, Customer Experience with Anewgo, she works with builders to help them utilize digital tools to provide a better home buyer experience. Connect with Angela via email at angela@anewgo.com.