New home buyers would magically appear in a perfect world, ready to buy one of your beautifully built new homes. Unfortunately, it isn’t that simple. The buyer’s journey begins online well before your first interaction with them.
If you want to attract new home buyers, you need an online presence that stands out from the crowd of home builders. It’s easy to look at simple demographics to identify buyers. Still, our research shows that to attract new home buyers, you must go deeper than how they appear on paper; you must understand how they think and feel about the home buying process.
Understand How Buyers Think
Our research study into the attitudes and behaviors of potential new home buyers found four distinct segments of home buyers. Each segment is defined by what is important to them in their search and their buying preferences and concerns. Let’s narrow it down to one specific piece of information about each segment that you must understand to capture their attention.
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Meet Them Where They Are
Home buyers engage with a variety of resources when looking for information about new homes and the buying process. Knowing which resources they rely on for knowledge and inspiration gives you the right platforms to leverage what you already know about their preferences. The goal is to seamlessly “meet” buyers where they are through digital channels. Think of it as delivering the right message at the right time and place.
What resources do home buyers engage with the most?
- Home Listing Websites - 67% of the respondents in our survey said they used home listing sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia to look for homes in the initial stages of their new home search. Builders often consider home listing sites unnecessary, or too expensive, but our research shows that to attract prospective buyers, builders should take full advantage of these sites.
- Digital Platforms: Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are the top three digital platforms used by buyers,during their research and decision-making process. The largest age group of homebuyers to use these platforms were under 40.
- Online Search: Buyers gather information about the homes, builders, and communities they are interested in by conducting their own online research. This is particularly true for Researchers and Online Preferrers. Up-to-date Google Business Profiles and map listings are important resources for catching the attention of buyers in their search.
Putting it All Together
Now we know the information that is most important to each different segment of home buyers. We also know what resources they use to look for new homes online and to find answers to questions about location, home affordability, builder reputation, and the building process.
Builders can leverage these valuable insights to attract new home buyers by incorporating them into their marketing strategy.
Utilize home listing sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia to educate buyers about your inventory, company, reputation, and the process of buying a home.
- Use profiles on home listing websites to showcase and highlight your inventory of homes to potential buyers, piquing their interest and providing an avenue for additional communication.
- Emphasize how your homes are different and your options meet buyers’ aspirations.
- Highlight information about your reputation with client testimonials and bring attention to your expertise in the areas most important to different buyer segments.
- Provide as much clear, concise information about buying a new home as possible, using the insights gained from our research to address the different buyer motivations.
Use social media platforms to grab buyers’ attention by speaking directly to each segment’s specific thoughts and preferences about the home buying process.
- Highlight to Builder Preferrers that you work with your buyers to build their dream homes with written and video testimonials.
- Create short, simple videos to walk Worriers through your home buying process to demonstrate its simplicity, helping to put them at ease.
- Showcase your homes in detail on social media and YouTube by sharing renderings and virtual tours. Be sure to highlight your seamless online buying options to ensure Online Preferrers stop and take notice.
Gain visibility in online searches to attract prospective buyers who are actively searching for homes online.
- Add move-in-ready homes to your Google Business profiles and be diligent about keeping the inventory updated. This will be particularly beneficial to attract Researchers.
- Work to get your Google Maps and Apple Maps listings to appear in the Top 5 results. This added exposure ensures you appear in search results everywhere the buyer is looking.
Home buyers are all different, and catching their attention requires a strategic approach beyond identifying demographics. Our research insights have shown that understanding how different buyer segments think and feel about the home buying process is crucial for home builders’ success. Using the right digital channels and resources, you can meet buyers where they are and use those insights to create a digital marketing strategy that will attract new home buyers by delivering the right message at the right time.
Check out the research!
