Builder Success

Hear it straight from the builder’s themselves – who’s having success and why.

By Thane Tennison, BDX Senior Advertising Manager

As a publisher, I work with hundreds of different builders and agencies all trying to gain a competitive edge in the online space. Sometimes that edge is obvious like adjusting creative to improve Click Through Rate (CTR) and drive lower Cost Per Clicks (CPCs).  Sometimes, it’s less revealing like understanding which channel yields better conversions and ultimately a lower $/lead regardless of the upfront spend.

Oftentimes agencies ask, “Why should I buy display advertising from you when I can get it from Google?”  It’s a legitimate question, Google and other Ad Exchanges provide a wealth of sites and a range of products from paid search and “contextually relevant” placement to keyword targeting and a seemingly attractive pricing model for Pay Per Click.

If I were a marketing team looking to drive traffic at the very top of the funnel display, an exchange like Google might make sense. However, for a more targeted media placement I often find that a direct buy has significant advantages.

PREMIUM PLACEMENT:

The main difference between a direct buy and a remnant network exchange is just that – it is remnant inventory. Publishers with direct clients are incentivized to provide the best placements for optimal performance and there are a number of tools at their disposal to help optimize the campaign. Publishers can optimize a buy by booking premium positions, managing ad priorities, frequency capping, day parting etc.

The exchange networks simply look at impressions available as well as the yield opportunity that your ad will get clicked vs. another ad in their network. This means if you’re not constantly managing your bid, keywords and testing new creative you could be at a significant disadvantage. At the BDX we have insights into creative that works and creative that doesn’t. A few times a month we help a builder achieve 4x lift in click thru just by making adjustments to the art.  With exchanges, the art would run as is and you might find that you’re having to pay more for that click since the exchange is going to need to serve more impressions to secure that revenue. A low CTR not only means you may pay more per click but you’re also competing against the yield they can make from every other advertiser competing for that customer.

TARGETING:

Networks have limitations in their targeting abilities by relying on keywords and the contextual relevancy of the website. However in real estate – especially new home construction – these networks alienate about 50% of the home shoppers who are relocating into a market.  If I’m a local builder in Austin advertising on Google targeting real estate websites I’ll reach consumers in Austin but I won’t reach consumers moving from Dallas, Houston, L.A., Chicago or D.C. into the Austin market.

We recently ran an analysis of traffic by market and the results are clear; traffic on a market level works in concentric circles. In Austin, about 50% of the traffic is within market (people moving from one side of town to the other) another 30% of the traffic is from neighboring cities (i.e. Dallas, San Antonio, Houston) and 20% from consumers outside of Texas.  In Texas, these markets are hundreds of miles apart and if I’m a local builder I have zero brand equity with a consumer from Dallas or Houston and much less from someone moving from Atlanta or LA.

What was even more interesting is when we looked at clicks by each of these groups. People living in Austin were the least likely to click the ad.  We saw the greatest click thru from consumers out of market looking for information and shopping home builders in Austin.

PERFORMANCE:

We’ve looked at the Google Analytics of several builders and have a predictable level of performance across each of our advertising channels. This allows us to keep pricing competitive and ensure we’re delivering meaningful value to our clients. With Ad Networks, a builder might receive a low CPC but we typically see much higher bounce rates and fewer meaningful actions. So while you might save on the front end it could cost you more on the backend where it really counts.  Obviously at some point the economics will work but it’s important to differentiate quantity vs. quality.

These factors are some of the reasons many exchanges have reverted to focusing on retargeting which shows significantly stronger conversion vs. blanketing a host of sites with ads.  The metrics simply didn’t warrant continuation and they’ve had to create solutions that provide better value. Even with the impact of Retargeting for the online exchanges we’ve identified a whole set of nuances specific to that medium.

Exchanges do have their place and may make sense for specific campaigns or clients that can afford continued active management. However, I think most builders who try to “save” by taking their advertising in house often lose out in reach and performance.

For information regarding online marketing and a review of your current digital marketing plan please contact us at info@thebdx.com.

Thane Tennison is the Senior Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

By Jamie Lintner, BDX Advertising Manager

 We’ve known for a while about the importance of running a BeBack Retargeting campaign to help convert home shoppers into home buyers. The numbers show time and time again that driving repeat traffic back to a site significantly increases both the on-site usage and the likelihood of a backend conversion. And this makes perfect sense. The more engaged a user becomes with a particular brand, the better understanding they have of the products/services being offered and the more apt they are to take action.

For example, it’s unlikely that a runner would buy the first pair of shoes he sees at Dick’s Sporting Goods. But just because he leaves the store without purchasing the shoes doesn’t mean you should abandon the prospect of a sale. He has showed strong intent to purchase shoes; he simply needs a little guidance and a little push to get him to the checkout counter. The same goes for the online space. Even if a person bounces from your site or shows little engagement, the fact that they arrived in the first place conveys intent to learn about your product.

What kind of a lift can you expect from driving return visits? On NewHomeSource, we see significant gains in both user engagement and conversion. On average, returning users showed a 25% increase in pages viewed, a 13% decrease in bounce rate, and a 60% jump in average visit duration over their “new user” counterparts.

The data shows a new shopper is exactly that, new. They come to the site wide-eyed with little idea on how to navigate the pages to find what they want. Returning visitors know what to expect from the site and have an idea on how to navigate. Because of this, they bounce less often, on average view another page and stay on the site almost twice as long. What’s most important is these users convert 30% more often, so those increased actions are actually translating into increased conversions.

Digging deeper, users who ended up on NewHomeSource.com for the first time through a display banner ad converted 2.6% of the time. Returning users who had shopped NewHomeSource previously and came back by clicking the SAME AD converted 6.5% of the time (a 150% increase). Obviously these metrics will vary from site to site due to the prevalence of the lead form, layout, number of pages to shop, etc. but the same principle applies across the board. And while display advertising is a main cog in driving repeat traffic, returning users can come from multiple sources (Pay Per Click, organic search, Google, social media, etc). Marketers should understand how all of the media channels work together to convert searches into purchases, and the best way to manage that is to consistently drive repeat visits.

Are you looking beyond cost per lead and leveraging various forms of online marketing to generate quality traffic? And secondly, are you fostering your existing traffic in ways that will lead them to return, either by creating a new customer experience or utilizing a retargeting program? Returning users generate much stronger interest and conversions on the backend, making it essential to prioritize getting as many people as possible to return to your site.

If you’d like more information about how builders are improving their web traffic through display advertising and retargeting campaigns contact us at info@thebdx.com.

Homes by WestBay is making waves in the sunshine state as they currently market 10 communities throughout Tampa Bay; with more to come in 2014.

Like most builders, Janice Snow’s biggest challenge as a marketer is converting online leads into model home visits (sound familiar?) and delivering a strong ROI on her marketing plan. As our conversation progressed, it became clear that while BDX products certainly play an important role in her online marketing strategy, it is her “BDX team” that she values most.

“If I was going to give one piece of advice to another builder it would be to know who your key contacts are at BDX and leverage their expertise. I stay in touch with Chris, Crystal or Jamie and know I can count on them when I have a question.”
—Janice Snow, Marketing Manager, Homes by WestBay

“I look to BDX as an extension of my marketing team,” said Janice Snow, Market­ing Manager at Homes by WestBay. “If I was going to give one piece of advice to another builder it would be to know who your key contacts are at BDX and leverage their expertise. I stay in touch with Chris, Crystal or Jamie and know I can count on them when I have a question.”

To help drive interest in their communities and generate leads for their sales team, Homes by WestBay currently lists all of their communities on the BDX network of over 300 real estate sites including NewHomeSource.com, MoveNewHomes.com, and realtor.com®. They also run banner advertising across the BDX network to complement their online listings.

“I recently reached out for some advice on our banner advertising campaign,” Ms. Snow contin­ued. “BDX provided a different perspective on our copy and design and when we updated the creative for the campaign based on their advice, we saw click through rates improve.”

It is this kind of personal service that makes BDX’s solutions so valuable for builders. BDX offers free planning and consulting services for all builders to help educate and empower them about the latest marketing programs. If you’re interested in moving the dial, BDX has the research, marketing solutions and experience to help your business succeed.

“My goal is to have my clients look to me as a trust­ed partner and resource that they can count on,” said Chris McMillen, regional manager for BDX. “I love working with builders like Homes by WestBay who understand the value of digital marketing and are always trying to stay ahead of the curve and build on their success.”

Click to download a printable version of the case study here.

By BDX Guest Blogger, Carol Morgan, mRELEVANCE

Tweet, tweet, tweet! Many home builders, real estate agents and industry suppliers have finally started tweeting their content and creating buzz with their interaction. However, Twitter users and skeptics alike still want to prove that their time and energy is worth it. Luckily, help proving the return on investment on Twitter is finally here! Recently, Twitter released a new analytics platform which provides users with a wealth of useful and insightful account information.

Among the information available when a company or user logs into the analytics portal is a timeline glimpse of your follows, unfollows and mentions over the last 60 days. Below the timeline is a chart displaying recent tweets along with retweets, favorites and replies each specific tweet received. To see which content is among your most actionable, users can sort this data to show your “best” or “good” tweets, including highlighted statistics on which tweets or actions fall within your top 15 percent for the past 30 days. Businesses can make the most of the data from this chart by noting what types of content or tweets are most successful, and applying this information to future tweets.

Switching to the followers view, users can see the growth of their followers since the account was created. A further breakdown of  followers’ location by country, state and city; gender; interests and who else they are following provides interesting insight that can help companies strategically plan tweets to appeal to their audience demographics.

Ready to start tweeting more relevant content for your Twitter followers? Be sure to bookmark this URL, which takes you directly to the Twitter analytics login page: https://analytics.twitter.com/accounts/1edxhg/timeline_activity.

By: Eleanor Bowman, Director of Marketing, BDX

What if you could get inside the minds of today’s home buyers and their real estate agents to better understand what motivates them, what inspires them, and what leads them to take action? Over the past year at BDX, we have conducted extensive home buyer and real estate agent research to help our builders do just that. Here are some of the highlights:

Most buyers start their home search with an interest in new homes. 54% of home buyers start the process with a preference for or interest in new homes but only 8% end up buying new. What a tremendous opportunity to inspire and educate this group about the advantages of new home construction! Our newly launched website, StartFreshBuyNew.com is a good place to go for ideas. The site is currently seeing over 50,000 visitors per week and driving over 10,000 searches for new homes. Also, if you’re a client with BDX, you get access to our “Start Fresh. Buy New.”  toolkit that’s full of useful statistics, videos and graphics about driving the benefits of a new home.

Home shoppers start their search with an open mind. 95% of all shoppers have no specific builder in mind when they start the buying process. Are your homes listed where they will find you? What messages are you sending to capture their mind-share? Make sure that you’re not only making a great first impression but that your marketing programs are keeping your brand top of mind.

One third of all shoppers say they are tired of their current home. When we identified the triggers that started buyers down the home search path, this was at the top of the list. “Favorable home prices” and “low interest rates” were also high ranking answers.

The buying cycle is longer than we thought. Two-thirds of all shoppers will take 9 months or more to purchase a home. What does this mean for your business? Builders who are disqualifying home buyer leads who are not ready to buy immediately may be missing out. This longer sales cycle makes lead nurturing critical so consider a steady stream of communications to your prospects.

Using video in your online marketing inspires buyers to take action. We found that builders who embedded video in their listings on NewHomeSource.com saw leads increase by 28% and click-throughs improve by 36%. So while we have known that video is an engaging marketing tool that can also impact Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it is now more important than ever as a lead conversion accelerant.

It’s important to showcase your communities, not just your homes. Builders who included community images along with their home renderings or photos saw a 28% lift in leads on NewHomeSource.com. So make sure you have the digital images to highlight your amenities and neighborhoods – buyers want to know what life will be like outside of the home’s four walls.

Most buyers will use a real estate agent to help them buy their home. 84% of buyers will engage the services of an agent to help find their next home. What is your agent outreach strategy? Do you have good communications and trainings for agents in your area so they are educated about your homes and buying process?

Consumer promotions are very important to real estate agents. We asked real estate agents, “How important is it to know about builder promotions when you are putting together recommendations for a buyer?” Half responded that consumer promotions were critically important.

These insights are just the tip of the iceberg. We have a full suite of research resources and tools that are available for our clients and are happy to talk with you about how this information can shape your business. For more information, contact BDX at Info@thebdx.com.