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.

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

Comments

[Mike Lyon]

Great report Blair! Good to see hard data from this survey. It goes beyond the lead and to actual traffic and other activity. Leads are a great way to compare sources, but not the only factor. I think it also reinforces the fact that the most qualified leads tend to come from the builders website. Great Job

Mike Lyon
www.doyouconvert.com

[Jim Adams]

Great post Blair. You're doing great things for the building industry and this research is one of those things. In a time when builders are really trying to figure out consumer online shopping behaviors, the empirical data you've collected really hits the nail on the head. The study brings a lot of clarity to our home shopping consumer behaviors.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jim Adams - CEO
New Homes Directory .com

[Blair Kuhnen]

Jim / Mike - Thanks for the comments. More to come. Blair

[Lance Sonka]

Blair, this is great! Thanks for sharing these unique sets of data.