By Builders Digital Experience

84 percent of today’s home buyers contact a real estate agent when starting their home search and according to the National Association of Realtors, 63 percent of new home buyers are represented by a Realtor®.  With such a large percentage of homes being purchased with the help of an agent, it is important to have a good relationship with the agents in your area.

BDX recently conducted research that shows that 50 percent of agents prefer to sell new homes! This is a HUGE opportunity. While many of these agents understand the benefits of a new home, they don’t always feel comfortable with the new home process.  Help agents get comfortable with the process of new home sales by providing training materials that not only highlight the features of your home and neighborhood but also set expectations for the sales process so agents are familiar with your procedures.

Keeping your website information current is also extremely important.  This is generally the first impression agents and buyers will have of your company, communities and homes.  Having outdated information may force an agent to overlook you even if your products are great.  Including information specifically for agents such as your commission structure and your registration policy is also helpful.

In addition to maintaining an engaging website, expand your exposure by making sure your homes are listed on New Home Source Professional, where your communities are featured for agents to search and share with their buyers.  This agent facing site is designed to help agents sell new homes and showcase all of your new home advantages.

Another way to keep agents informed of your inventory and consumer promotions is by sending e-blasts.  One thing to keep in mind when creating content for your e-blasts is that 89 percent of  agents think consumer promotions are very important when they are putting together recommendations for a buyer; so be sure to include them.  And remember, especially in large markets, agents can receive hundreds of emails a day from builders promoting their homes so instead of sending blasts daily, try sending weekly or bi-weekly emails that are concise and have a singular focus. If you’d like help with your emails to agents, click here.

Additionally, having agent only events in your communities is a great way of targeting your best prospects.  Exclusive events, like a broker’s open, can drive excitement while making a memorable impression of you and your brand and making it more likely for an agent to refer one of your homes to their clients.

It is important that we as builders give agents the tools they need to sell more new homes.  In order to ensure good referrals and repeat business in the future, we must establish and maintain long term collaborative relationships.  What are you doing to make the real estate agent connection?

 

 

By Jamie Lintner, Advertising Accounts Manager, BDX

In the advertising industry there are two main tiers or “dimensions” that quantify advertising campaign performance. The first is the most basic and simply measures engagement with your content.  With this metric you put all of your eggs into the baskets that presumably provide the best Return On Investment (ROI), but it doesn’t tell the complete story as to how effective those clicks are. Click totals do not provide you with insight on what actions the users actually took once on-site. For example, you could run a campaign that has an incredibly high click thru rate that simultaneously has a high bounce rate, meaning your campaign generated little meaningful actions. The most sophisticated builders also look at actions to determine best performing campaigns.  This can be done by syncing up the click thru URL’s of your ads with your Google Analytics.

Executive Summary 

    

       
Advertiser Impressions* Clicks CTR Report Start Report End
BDX_Banner Ads

3,711,856

7,283

0.20%

12/1/2012 3/31/2013

Google Analytics is a free tool that everyone has in some capacity, but not everyone actually fully utilizes. For advertising purposes, it allows you to see ad performance in a broader, two-dimensional scope. Not only can you see which sites and/or creative generated the most click traffic, but you can also parse out which ones resulted in strong site-activities like direct leads. Conversely it also allows you to see which channels have a high bounce rate. Thankfully this integration is actually quite simple and painless to use. All you need to do is append each click thru URL with a separate code that can be generated on the spot. This can be done at sites like this (http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1033867). Simply type in your domain name that would be used for the click thru, and then attach it with whatever identifiers you’d like to use to differentiate the ads. See the below example of a URL that has been appended. Once this is in place, I can query by source in my analytics for “BDX”, by medium for “banner”, or by campaign and am able to see how long the users that clicked on this particular ad stayed on site, how many pages they viewed, etc., and then compare them to campaigns running against similar channels.

Example of an Appended Link: http://www.testlink.com/?utm_source=BDX&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=CampaignA

 At BDX, we’ve recently unlocked a third dimension to quantify advertising performance for any type of ad placement. Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool when used to gauge performance of users that physically clicked an ad, however that leaves out any sort of reporting on the large percentage of users that DIDN’T physically click the ad. With our new PETRA tool, not only can we calculate how many people clicked on an ad or how many of those clicks resulted in leads and strong back-end activity, but also how many leads were generated by users who didn’t actually click. Traditionally view thru reporting is something that is calculated only for Retargeting campaigns, but PETRA allows us to sync up with all campaigns regardless of where the ads run. Quite literally, the sky is the limit as to how detailed this reporting can get. In the system we can name any event that we’d like to track for any particular site, i.e. Got to the Site, Filled out a Brochure, Converted to a lead, etc., and then track all actions taken by everyone that came into contact with an ad in some capacity. This is truly the definitive way to compare performance because it allows advertisers to measure a true cost per lead for any and all advertising channels.

Conversion Process Name Event Name Uniques Post Imp Post Click Total
Events Events Events
BDX  Conversions Search Result Page Landing 5,722 12,868 1,939 14,807
  Home Detail Page Landing 4,539 13,554 453 14,007
  Thank You Page Form 269 541 26 567

BDX advertising typically provides great value for builders, but there is still opportunity in optimizing these campaigns for the best possible ROI.  Want to get more from everyone advertising dollar you spend?  Talk to us, we can help.  For more information on advertising or integrating your existing ad campaigns with our PETRA reporting, please contact traffic@thebdx.com.

Jamie Lintner is the BDX Advertising Accounts Manager and is responsible for monitoring all campaigns through all BDX Advertising channels.

 

By Builders Digital Experience

The internet has become the first place to stop when starting research for a new purchase, especially when shopping for a new home.  As you may know, 9 out of 10 home buyers will begin the search for their next home online; making a builder’s website as important as their model home.  You wouldn’t want to miss out on a potential lead or client just because they didn’t think your site was engaging enough, right?  With the home building market looking up, the competition is tough and you must stand out in the crowd.  Here are four categories you should consider to ensure your website is attractive to buyers:

Design – Is your site attention grabbing?  Your website is often the first impression a buyer will have with your company, so make sure it properly reflects your brand.  The site should be well organized, free of clutter, appealing to prospective customers and easy to understand.

Layout – Think about how you want your information organized and compare that to how it is currently set up.  Easy navigation is key to a good site.  You don’t want customers getting frustrated because they can’t find your floor plans or photo galleries.  Your company information, products and/or services should be visible and easy to understand.  Be sure to have links on each page to navigate from your home page to other important pages you want visitors to see.

Content – This is one of the most important categories as you should be constantly updating information to make sure it is current and accurate.  Posting new images and information on your homes and communities keeps potential buyers engaged and continues to drive traffic to your site.  Renderings and photos of the home, community and amenities allow buyers to imagine what it would be like to live there.

Website Speed – We live in a fast paced environment where people have little patience for delays and they expect the same for websites.  A potential buyer is not going to wait around for your content to load; more than likely they will get bored and move on to your competitor that may better meet their needs.  More and more people shop and browse the internet from their smartphones; not having a mobile presence could have a negative impact your business.  Consider our  website platform for tablet and mobile devices.

A good website is important to attract, engage and sell homes.  Differentiate yourself from the competition by using video, interactive floor plans and photography to bring your homes to life and create a welcoming visual sense of place for home buyers.  Our experienced team is ready to work with you to showcase your homes and communities.   For more information on the variety of products we offer, visit the BDX website.

To learn more about creating a visual sense of place for home buyers, register for BDX’s free webinar on April 10.

By: Builders Digital Experience

As housing continues to recover, it is important to make sure you are building homes with features potential buyers actually want.  The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) recently surveyed 3,682 home buyers to see “What Home Buyers Really Want” when purchasing a home.  The results were quite interesting, as people’s preferences and priorities have changed quite a bit over the past couple of years. 

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the size of new homes has steadily increased over the past three years to 2,524 sq. ft. in 2012.  Additionally, the number of homes with three or more baths and three car garages has gone up.  And as you might expect, the average sales price of homes has increased for the last three years since bottoming out in 2009; the average price in 2012 was $279,000.

It is no secret that resale homes are still outselling new.  In order to capture this share of the market, a new home must have the functionality and features that a used home cannot offer.  The survey suggests removing rooms people don’t use from your floor plans and add that space into places where they spend the most time, such as a separate media room or into a larger master suite.  A kitchen continues to be one of the most important rooms in a person’s house.  Make your kitchens more interactive – 85 percent of respondents want a table space for eating and 76 percent still want a central island. 

We live in a fast-paced society that is always on the go, so why not add features that are convenient and meet the needs of today’s lifestyles?  Seventy-four percent of respondents said they like an open floor plan where the kitchen flows into the living room.  With more people being environmentally conscious, green features have become very important.  Ninety-four percent of buyers said they want Energy Star appliances in their home and 91 percent want an Energy Star rating for the entire home – an older home can have upgrades that are energy efficient, but it will never be as efficient as a new home.  Community amenities featuring resort-style pools, hike and bike trails, great schools in or near the community with easy accessibility to shopping can also have a serious influence on buyers. 

Below is the complete list of the most wanted – and least wanted – characteristics home buyers want in a new home, followed by the percentage:

The Most Wanted List

  • Energy Star-rated appliances — 94 percent
  • Laundry room — 93 percent
  • Energy Star-rating for the whole home — 91 percent
  • Exhaust fan in bathroom — 90 percent
  • Exterior Lighting — 90 percent
  • Bathroom Linen Closet — 90 percent
  • Energy Star-rated windows — 89 percent
  • Ceiling fans — 88 percent
  • Garage Storage — 86 percent
  • Table space for eating in kitchen — 85 percent
  • Walk-in kitchen pantry — 85 percent

The Unwanted List

  • Elevator — 70 percent
  • Golf course community — 66 percent
  • High-density community — 56 percent
  • Only a shower stall in master bath — 51 percent
  • Gated community — 48 percent
  • Mixed-use community — 44 percent
  • Two-story family room — 43 percent
  • Wine cooler — 42 percent
  • Wet bar — 41 percent
  • Laminate countertop — 40 percent
  • Two-story entry foyer — 38 percent
  • Laundry chute — 32 percent
  • Outdoor kitchen — 31 percent
  • Game room — 31 percent
  • His & Her baths — 31 percent
  • Glass front cabinets — 31 percent
  • Countertop — 30 percent

We all know that a new home provides a care-free lifestyle so that homeowners can enjoy their home, not work on it.  Let us help you sell that message to today’s buyers by showcasing your homes with area photos, videos and renderings.  To learn more about our packages, please click here.

By: Builders Digital Experience, creators of NewHomeSource.com

As you know the widespread adoption of technology and the internet are dramatically changing every aspect of people’s lives including how they shop for new homes.  Research shows that over 90% of all consumers will use or plan to use the Internet to shop for a home in the next two years. This is why it is important to have your homes listed on NewHomeSource.com and across our network of over 300 real estate sites.

But did you know that you can start to build interest in your communities even before they are built? Let us help you list your communities as “Coming Soon.”  This is a great way to build interest in new communities before they are complete and gives buyers a sneak peak of what is coming to their area.  Start building a database of prospects right away rather than waiting until further in the process.  Imagine having all the homes in the community sold even before it is complete!

Additionally, videos, area photos and renderings can bring your communities to life, engage your website visitors and differentiate yourself from the competition.  Our experienced team is ready to work with you to showcase your communities.  To inquire about our special “Coming Soon” listings packages, please click here.