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

He Said/She Said: The Builder/Buyer Relationship Dynamic

The relationship between a builder and the buyer is a lot like the relationship between husband and wife. Sometimes the buyer is telling us exactly what they need in their new home, and we are just not listening. I could take you down the humorous and trite path of male-bashing, such as the tendency of men to leave the toilet seat up. And I could even imbed some branding by highlighting some of our great manufacturer brands, such as Kohler, into it. But this really is not about the inadequacies of the male species! (Though this topic certainly does need to be covered, it's probably not appropriate here.)

Here are some high level analogies that do seem worth considering:

• Buyers are often about "how they feel" whereas builders are often all about schedules and quality tolerances. How often do we say to a hysterical new home homeowner, "But that crack is within tolerance, Maam." Meanwhile, the buyer is replaying scenes from that movie "The Money Pit" in their minds and thinking that their lives are going to end in a complete disaster of bankruptcy and divorce... all due to that crack. And yet it's not even about that specific crack at all.
• Eggshell and Cream are not just shades of white paint for buyers, but rather the single pivotal decision between a beautiful designer home and living in the trailer park of their childhoods. So builders need to give them all of the tools and time (and that does not have to be "our time" ...use Envision for goshsakes!) to make those decisions.
• As is often the case between husbands and wives, buyers love the "experience" of shopping and designing their new homes, whereas builders are often just concerned about how quickly they can get back on schedule, sort of like how husbands are trying to get out of the mall and back to the football game.
• As in many relationships, builders are great in the "dating phase." They are attentive and on time and send special little love notes. But as soon as that contract is signed, they often become lackadaisical and take the relationship for granted. Suddenly their spouse (the buyer) is discontented, and no matter how hard they try, the builder can do nothing right. Hmm...sound familiar?

So, as you go through your day today, treat that buyer as you would the love of your life on your honeymoon, and see if your satisfaction ratings don't go up!

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Melissa Morman, VP & GM, is one of the Founding Executives of Builder Homesite and New Home Technologies

Ask for the Sale

An article in this week’s Nation’s Building News online edition recaps a presentation at the recent International Builder’s Show in Orlando about closing new home sales – a good topic anytime, but especially valuable now.

The piece includes sound advice from industry experts, including that sales offices and communities should highlight visible signs of activity, such as “sold” signs displayed prominently on homesites and updated community maps with sites marked with “sold” icons.

The article also reiterates that, not only is it a good time to buy a home, but from a financial standpoint, it’s also a smart time to buy a home – and sales staff should convey that to potential buyers. Mortgage rates remain at low levels, so showing customers the money they’d potentially pay out even if rates increased by one percentage point could be just what they need to convert them from browsers to buyers.

Other points in the article include negotiation tips and getting referrals from existing customer. For more, check it out online at http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/2008-03-10/Sales+and+Marketing/index.html.

(Photo credit: Woodsy, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)

Google Searches: "New Homes" Search Volume Trends

What goes up, must come down.  After seeing "new home" related searches match their high point in July, we saw a substantial decrease in search volume traffic for the month of August.  A decrease is to be expected, as the selling season cools, and families prepare their children to go back to school.  The cyclical nature of the market along with the national market conditions have made this recent drop more extreme in comparison to other years. 

Below is a snapshot provided by Google Trends highlighting the August dip relative to the rest of the year. (Note:Google does not publish actual search volume quantities performed but they do offer this graph.)

Search Engine Marketing Strategies - PPC vs. SEO - Part 1

Part 1 of our Search Engine Marketing Series will focus on the basics of PPC.

Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote a website by increasing it’s visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) when someone enters a keyword phrase that is relevant to that website or business. There are 2 main types of results on a SERP – Sponsored Listings (PPC) and Organic (Natural) Listings (SEO).

The Sponsored Listings are Pay Per Click Advertisements that are created by an Internet Marketer or firm that wants to present an advertisement to those users searching for specific keyword phrases. These Sponsored Listings will show up at the very top of the Search Results Page or on the right hand sidebar. The Internet Marketer responsible for creating the Pay Per Click Advertising Campaigns will assign a maximum bid to each keyword or group of keywords and establish an overall monthly budget that they are willing to spend on those designated keywords.

With each search performed on Google, the ad will post what is called an impression in the Sponsored Listing section. They will only need to pay for that advertisement if someone clicks on the displayed text ad and the user is then redirected to their website. This is referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. Initiating a PPC Campaign is rather simple to get started (you can see your advertisements posted within minutes of setting them up) but maximizing the amount of clicks you get for your money is a daunting process that deserves continuous attention and improvement by a PPC Expert.

Check back next week to learn about SEO - Search Engine Optimization.  Yes, it is different than PPC...

How to Capture AND Convert More Leads

To paraphrase the cartoon on the left, The greatest technology in the world won't guarantee you better lead conversion. You need to leverage the latest technologies alongside tried and true lead generation techniques to truly maximize conversion. This post is the first in a series that will help you generate and convert more leads. This post comes from Blair Kuhnen, VP of Marketing at BHI.

Simmons Homes is the leading builder in Tulsa. Tulsa, Oklahoma is a small, but good, homebuilding market. Being a smaller market, with limited relocation and easy commutes, lead volume for builders tends to be low. Many home shoppers are reluctant to give up their contact information and prefer to just visit communities without ever becoming a lead. Simmons has no problem generating lots of leads and converting a great many of them into sales. Here's how they do it.

First a little background. Simmons created an OSC program in October of 2005. When Simmons started their OSC program they were generating well under 100 leads per month. Since that time, they have added NewHomeSource.com, Move.com, NewHomeguides.com, and pay-per-click campaigns to drive up their website leads and third party leads. They have improved their monthly lead volume by 491%, plenty for an effective OSC program.

Simmons sees 20-25% of their total sales coming from their Internet leads. I spent some time this month with Mike Lyon, OSC for Simmons Homes, about techniques for converting more of these leads into sales. Mike is a master of online sales. His strength is in setting appointments. You can order his book on the subject here. After reading it, I would consider buying it just for his phone scripts. Continue reading this post. Click on the link to see the rest.

Builder Homesite Powering New Home Listings On Yahoo! Real Estate

The exciting news was officially announed today: Yahoo! Real Estate, one of the Web's leading online real estate resources, has collaborated with NewHomeSource.com, the most complete new home marketplace, to provide consumers the ability to search new construction homes listings from across the country. By joining forces with BHI, Yahoo! Real Estate provides users access to one of the most accurate, up-to-date, and comprehensive new homes data available online.

Michael Yang, vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Real Estate says: " New homes continue to be an attractive option for many home buyers. In teaming with BHI, one of the strongest players in the new home market, we can ensure our users have access to the largest selection of new homes being constructed across the country."

This is great news for all of our Builders. Early indications are that lead generation is seeing a dramatic improvement as a result of this partnership. It's a win-win situation for NewHomeSouce.com and Yahoo! Real Estate. Go to Yahoo Real Estate to try out the New Homes Search.