Why Consumers Don’t Take Action When Shopping for a New Home

Image courtesy of sanja gjenero

About a week ago we told you about a survey of more than 6,000 consumers on our new home shopping site, NewHomeSource.com. We lamented that less than 10% of consumers would fill out lead forms. While we were encouraged that 23.5% said they took action, this still left 76.5% not taking action. SO, WHY NOT?!

Of course we asked this question as well. While some consumers really took no action, some merely took no action we could measure from our website. What do you think was the #1 reason consumers told us that took no action? The #1 reason consumers gave us for not taking action was "I might later, but I’m just looking today." Have you heard this one before? That group really took no action ... at least that day.

More interesting was the #2 response. 22.0% said that they would prefer to visit the community in person. The chart below shows the breakdown of why consumers took actions other than those we could measure.

The consumers in this survey were motivated shoppers. After bouncing around NewHomeSource.com (i.e., they are motivated), they then opted into the survey. So, the absolute percentage taking action or giving a reason for not doing so is less meaningful than the ratios.

In my blog entry about the actions consumers take on listing websites on the November 20th, I reported that 23.5% of 4,245 consumers surveyed said they took some form of action on NewHomesource.com. 32.3% of these, or 7.6% of the total, filled out a form asking for information. While 76.5% took an action we could not measure, 22.0% of these or 16.8% overall, said they preferred to visit the community in person. So, for every person filling out a lead form on NewHomesource, 2.2 times as many said they would rather just showing up.

I always thought it was 3-4 times that number showing up as physical traffic relative to leads (early, presumably less scientific research), but I am okay with 2.2 times as many shoppers showing up as physical traffic as those filling out a lead form. Think about this when considering the number of lead request you get from your website. 2X the number may just show up instead. This has huge implications for any internet marketing expenditure.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics:

• 12.9% of new home shoppers in this survey (19.9% of 76.5%) really don’t want to be contacted. That does not mean they will not show up in person, but that they are not ready to talk to you. Does this mean that the other 87.1% are waiting for your call and wondering why you are ignoring them?
• 10.3% of new home shoppers in this survey (13.4% of 76.5%) couldn’t find a community they were interested in. We either have the wrong builders 10% of the time or maybe these consumers don’t know your community well enough. Give them some pictures, video, and tell them why they should want to live there.
• 2.1% of new homes shoppers in this survey (2.7% x 76.5%) aren’t even interested in buying a new home. To heck with that half-full mentality! 97.9% are actively shopping for a new home.

Come on you market research types, tell me how it is. Let me know what you think.

-------------------------------------

-- Blair Kuhnen, Builders Digital Experience, bkuhnen@thebdx.com, 512-289-7370

Just Fill Out the Form!

Isn't that what we want all consumers to do when they get to our websites? Builders like getting internet leads. With a good follow-up program, builders I have worked with tend to convert about 4% of leads into sales. Unfortunately, not all consumers fill out lead forms. This is a gross understatement. In fact, the number of online shoppers requesting information is well under 10%. So, how do you know if your online advertising on NewHomeSource.com, Google, or Yahoo! is working?

If you can't measure leads alone to assess value, what should you measure to see if exposure to the other 90% of online shoppers were of any value to you?

Obviously, you have to measure something else. Let us help you out with some objective benchmarks. We completed a consumer survey of NewHomeSource.com users on October 31, 2009. 6,044 consumers participated in the survey. They were only asked to participate once they had bumped around the site a bit. So, these could be called "engaged home shoppers." We pared this down to 4,245 that answered all our key questions. One of the things we asked is what actions consumers actually take:

23.5% of consumers took at least one of these actions. Keep in mind a consumer can take multiple actions. Here's how they broke down:

So, what does this really mean? Well, if 23.5% took at least one of these actions, then of all the consumers answering the survey 17.6% clicked over to the builder's website, 5.6% printed off the driving directions, 5% called or are planning on calling you, and 7.6% filled out a lead form. How can you track this?

Tracking is always an issue. First, make sure you track through Google Analytics or whatever you are using, users coming to your website. You can even track their path and whether referred traffic converts into leads on your site. Next, you must modify your registration cards on site to capture the real source and ask the question in the right way.

23.5% of engaged shoppers are taking action we can measure on NewHomeSoruce.com. What about the other 76.5%? Come read about it in a week or two. In the meantime, let me know what you think by responding to this post or sending me a note.

---------------------

-- Blair Kuhnen, Builders Digital Experience, bkuhnen@thebdx.com, 512-289-7370

Above the Fold, Below the Fold: Which Ads Perform Better?

Oftentimes, we receive request from builders wanting to advertise "above the fold" for their banner campaign only. The fold is what's visible first when the web page loads before a user scrolls down for more information. The belief is that the banner is the first thing consumers will see and that will increase the likelihood of action. Similar to running an ad on the inside cover or back page of magazine. It's an understandable request and natural that advertisers would want the best position.

However, instead of worrying about placement, consider the actions users take when shopping listings. They're scrolling through potentially hundreds of homes and communities, gathering information. As a result we've found that the content and offer of the ad by far outweighs the placement. Unlike, traditional media which interrupts a consumer's experience with online banners, consumers are actively searching for information about a builder's product. We've found that the banners closely embedded within the content perform best. It's one reason we believe we see so much action with banners supporting a builder's listing. It's also a reason I'm a strong supporter of complementary creative, using each position to advertise a different aspect of the business.

On NewHomeSource banners perform relatively the same for each position in terms of CTR. It's the creative and offer that will set you apart.

For more information on how you can take advantage of Display Advertising, contact Thane Tennison, Ad Operations Manager for NewHomeSource at 866-651-8866 or at ttennison@builderhomesite.com. You can also follow Thane on Twitter at @t_tennison