Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/232803
THE LATEST RESEARCH GIVES A FRESH PERSPECTIVE ON HOW TO MARKET YOUR NEW HOME By: Eleanor Bowman, Director of Marketing, BDX What if you could get inside the minds of today's home buyers to better understand what motivates them, what inspires them, and what leads them to take action? Over the past year, at Builders Digital Experience (BDX), we have conducted extensive home buyer research to help our builders do just that. Here 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 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. The things that are important to home buyers vary across the country. Home buyers in the Carolinas cited low maintenance costs, safer neighborhoods and quality of construction as top considerations when shopping for a home. 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 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. Get more insights on today's home buyer at the 2014 Alabama's Better Living Expo (ABLE), where BDX will present several sessions in partnership with the HBAA's Professional Women in Building. To learn more about ABLE and the sessions being offered, visit the ABLE website, www. ABLEExpoAL.com. Builders Digital Experience (BDX) is a leading provider of digital marketing solutions for builders. In addition to the top new home listing sites -- NewHomeSource.com and MoveNewHomes.com -- BDX offers website development, interactive floor plans, photo realistic renderings, video production, and photography among other products. For more information visit www.thebdx.com or contact local representative Bill Barnes at BBarnes@theBDX.com. 4 2 | A la ba m a Hom e bu i ld e r | W I N T E R 2 0 1 3