Everyday we have discussions with builders about online marketing performance. From setting benchmarks to ongoing measurement, our experts can provide unique insight into a builder’s online marketing iniatives. One of the most common questions we receive is — What can I do to improve my performance? We always start the discussion with builder data — what elements are you including with your listings and what can you add to make them even better. We recently performed some analysis on builder data across the BDX network and below are some of our findings. Here are our top five ways to see a lift in your leads and click-thrus.
Builder Success
Hear it straight from the builder’s themselves – who’s having success and why.
How many leads have you missed?
Almost every day I receive a phone call from a potential home buyer looking for information on a new home they found while shopping on Realtor.com.
This morning it was a man looking for a home in Wesley Chapel, FL. Yesterday it was a woman interested in a home outside of Philadelphia. I find this surprising because the only way the consumer can find my phone number is by leaving the listing and selecting the Contact link for corporate information. I know they’d prefer to call the broker but they can’t find the broker’s phone number, email address or website. These potential home buyers are forced to find another solution and I can hear the frustration in their voice when they finally end up talking to me.
Working in an industry that is always trying to maximize site conversion and improve lead performance, I find this surprising. How many customers do you know who will take the extra steps to find an office phone number? Most will simply leave and move on to another home that’s more accessible. Those who continue to search and ultimately call the wrong place are probably the very consumers that the builder/broker really wants to reach. Clearly, they’re motivated and looking for information. It makes me think of all the homes that don’t get sold because we make it hard for the consumer to connect with us.
Realtor.com offers builders and brokers a product to remedy this. Their Company Showcase listing is the easiest way for a builder to enhance their listing and drive more meaningful activity to their onsite sales agents. It’s an essential and affordable solution for anyone listing a home on the MLS.
Listings that are “Showcased” have a number of benefits over standard listings. Most notable is Contact Information above the fold and prominently displayed. With a Showcase listed property, consumers can call, email, visit a builder’s website or complete the lead form.
Other features include the ability to display up to 25 photos per listing– 4X the number of photos displayed on a standard listing. Showcase listings also allow builders to include links to their social media sites and include a Rider Sign on the Search Result Listing Pages.
The Rider Sign allows builders to brand their listings on Search Result pages by prominently featuring a logo and headline on each listing. Since Realtor.com is the largest real estate website in the world and endorsed by the National Association of Realtors this feature alone provides tremendous value. It means your listing and business will be seen by more home shoppers than anywhere else.
I know many builders are always launching new sales promotions and offering discounts to entice buyers. Could the solution really be as simple as including your phone number and email and making it easy for the consumer to call you? After all, they were already on the world’s largest real estate website shopping for homes in your market and price point.
If you have questions about marketing strategies or advertising with BDX contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX Network.
Tracking Advertising Performance
How do you measure the success of an advertising campaign in traditional, offline media? This is something advertisers and media companies have struggled with for years. The question: “What is the value of a billboard or a newspaper ad to this exact customer?“ can be very difficult to answer.
However, in the online space it’s never been easier to map and track the entire buying process. Marketers can see where their consumers are coming from and what actions they take. You can identify trends common to site visitors that convert and optimize your site and marketing strategies accordingly to improve performance.
I find this process of analysis and optimization to be fascinating and insightful. However,, many of the advertisers I work with fail to measure the success of their banner campaigns. I’m often asked to just link to the homepage with no forethought on measuring performance after the click. After all, some ads work better than others right? As a publisher I’m constantly looking for ways to improve my site’s performance. Our entire team works hard to ensure the high quality of the traffic we receive.
MEASURING PERFORMANCE
Appending the click thru URL to your display campaign is an easy way to attribute action to the banner. Google’s URL builder (Link) works with Google Analytics where you can set campaign goals and compare performance.
Why not just track “referring sites”? With online advertising you may not be able to track performance as a “referring site” because most ads are served through ad servers independent of the host website. Banners from NewHomeSource.com, for example, may appear as 247.OASRealMedia or Double Click. For banners on an ad network like our Vertical Ad Network (VAN) it can become even more complex as the ad passes through multiple ad servers. Using an appended URL is the best way to accurately measure performance.
It’s also important to define your campaign goals. This sounds very basic, I know, but if you’re looking for leads, does your ad take the user to a place where they can complete a lead form? If the ad says “Find New Homes in Austin” does it link to the Austin market page? Managing the consumer’s expectation of what they’ll receive when they click is very important to improving your performance on the front and back end.
Finally, recognize that not all consumer actions are equal. You can get cheap, low quality traffic but it may not convert. You’ll likely need to invest more dollars to persuade a consumer to complete a lead form as opposed to printing driving directions, especially if the lead form is lengthy or hard to find.
For advertisers on the BDX, we’ve consistently found that users who click on builder banners on from our site have a lower bounce rate, view more pages, and are a better quality prospect overall for the builder. All of these are stats that can help a marketing manager document their campaign’s success.
If you have questions about marketing strategies or advertising with BDX contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX Network.
Google Pushes Display Ads
If you’ve been following any of the news in online advertising, you’ll see that Google has been making an aggressive push to further its display advertising business. Already recognized as leader in organic and paid search advertising Google’s next frontier is display.
Display ads allow for the pull strategy of Internet marketing but have the same benefits of traditional advertising. i.e. I was exposed to a billboard and now that brand is top of mind for future purchase or action. In online marketing that’s referred to as View Thru, and there is a tremendous amount of evidence to show that it has a positive effect on a consumer’s search and purchasing behavior.
A report we reference often is from ComScore which shows an increase in branded keyword search and direct traffic to websites from advertisers who use display ads even though a consumer may not have clicked on the banner. i.e. I saw an online banner for a builder, didn’t click but later went Google and typed in that specific builder’s name, not just a ‘general’ search term. On, NewHomeSource we’ve also seen a lift in lead conversion from builders who advertiser with banner ads reinforcing ComScore’s findings.
With Google seeing significant value and opportunity in the space, shouldn’t you? Or maybe this whole online thing is still a fad.
For more information about launching your builder Online Advertising campaign contact Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager for the BDX.
Thane Tennison
Ad Operations Manager
“Harnessing the Power of Collaboration”
11900 Ranch Road 620 North
Austin, TX 78750
Direct: 512-651-8903
Cell: 512-787-7083
Email: ttennison@builderhomesite.com <mailto:ttennison@builderhomesite.com>
www.thebdx.com
newhomesource.com
newhomes.move.com
BDX eBlast Tips and Info
You may have noticed that the BDX has begun sending out our Hot Homes E-blast in select markets. We’ve seen requests regarding how to get a placement in our market-specific emails. As a result, I’m writing this as a simple explanation of the process that we take to creating and sending them out, as well as tips to getting your hot homes listed with each release.
Let me preface this by saying that our goal is to do good by both builders and home-shoppers alike, meaning that the BDX will place no favoritism upon any one builder when choosing what offers are best and will give no preferential treatment to any builder for any reason. The end goal is simply to get the maximum amount of homes listed for all interested builders and to get those homes sold to interested customers.
The Hot Homes eblast is a free service for our builders and is distributed monthly in 12 major markets. As the program develops we plan to roll out additional markets. The program is designed to promote those homes that builders have identified as ‘Hot’ and to help advertise Special Offers and Promotions listed on NewHomeSource.com.
In creating these eBlasts, I compile a list of the best Hot Home deals by market directly from the website. Any Hot Home or Promotion that is compelling and I believe will drive consumer action will be considered. With this in mind, any listing that is not completely filled out (i.e. has an empty description or title), or only includes filler such as an address or “schedule an appointment” has little chance of being included. They are less compelling and have shown to have a lower click thru rate. Both the description and title of your Hot Home should be completed to the best drive consumer action. Also, ALL CAPS and using excessive amounts of !!!’s has not shown to improve clicks or performance.
In contrast, I find that the offers that have the strongest performance in terms of click-thru action have strong call to actions in pricing point, home description or evocative imagery. For example, titling your home something as simple as “Own a New Home for as low as $679 a month!” has show strong performance and will drive traffic. In direct comparison, using something generic like “Affordable Monthly Payments” would not receive as strong of performance. Home-shoppers like numbers. Tell them why your pricing points will appeal to them.
In addition to low-cost promotions other offers are also compelling to consumers. This can be achieved by saying something as simple as “Only 2 Lots Remaining” or evoking a strong image of what makes the house stand out above other local homes. Examples such as “Huge Gourmet Kitchen with Granite Countertops” have also seen strong response rates.
For information about adding Hot Homes & Promotions to your listings on NewHomeSource.com contact your Account Manager to take advantage of this free service.
–Jamie Lintner