Property Developer Web Design Case Study

Learn how this property developer achieved success using Bloomtools products.

George owned a successful property development company and had a reputation for quality and professionalism. Unfortunately his very plain website didn't reflect this and wasn't helping him grow his business. He was keen to build a database of these potential customers (investors, first home buyers and families building their dream home).

He was also committed to offering great ongoing service to clients throughout the building process so he wanted to implement some new creative strategies to keep in regular contact with clients, reduce buyers remorse and keep them up to date with their projects - without spending too much money or time. George knew that the key to taking his business to the next level was the Internet, but he needed a reliable Internet partner with the right tools to help him out.

Stage 1 - Website presence

Bloomtools designed an eye catching website for George to match his brand and convey the stylish warm nature of his homes. To capture visitors attention and show off the range of homes, the site has a flash header at the top of every page. Also prominent on every page is an advertisement for their guarantee, one of their strongest points of difference, which links through to a page with more information.

The site smartly displays their most popular house designs so potential customers can easily browse through many options. Each house listing features product information, multiple images, plans and location of show homes. Accompanying the catalogue is a series of case studies and testimonials to showcase the experience of some of George's clients. These were given more credibility with the addition of real images of the customers in front of their homes with their families.

One of George's main priorities was to use the site to interact with existing customers to make them feel informed and comfortable throughout the building process. A really clever feature that Bloomtools created is a client login area where clients can check the progress of their project and also see copies of all the documentation associated with it. They have a secure login for their own individual area and every week a picture of their house is added to keep them up to date with what is going on.

Other features of the site included:

Ebooks for the three different markets George was targeting, where the prospect could download an ebook and their details would be automatically added to the database.
An inquiry form to facilitate sales which is instantly emailed to a sales person who can then contact the prospect.
Searchable articles on a variety of topics related to building a house for clients to use as a resource, with both George's articles and content from his alliances.

Stage 2 - Driving traffic to the website

George really wanted to capitalise on the current trends of Facebook and Twitter, so Bloomtools built a photo sharing facility into the client area. So clients could login to view their weekly picture, then with the click of a button, share it on their Facebook or Twitter with their friends and family. Clients loved this feature and because the photos are linked to George's website, his traffic increased and more people were exposed to his business. George also arranged with all the estates and land developments where he built houses to put a link on their site to his - great for search engine optimisation and also got prospective customers clicking through to his site. He combined these strategies with traditional search engine optimisation for important keywords to drive traffic to his website.

Because his business was linked with so many other industries, George developed a few really close alliances to market with, including land developers, a financial planner, an interior decorator and a landscaper. Each month they each would place an article or an ad in their email newsletters to their own databases with a link back to his website to raise awareness of his business and boost site traffic (he also included their articles in his newsletter and on his site). The alliances were happy to do this because it meant more interesting, relevant content in their newsletters to add value for their readers.

George also wanted to use his other points of contact with prospects to drive traffic to the website, particularly show homes. At every show home, there was a form the prospect could fill out to join the list to receive latest property updates emailed to them. George also came up with an enticing special offer - if they signed up and then made a purchase in the next few months, they would receive a free upgrade of flooring for their house (worth $4000). George was able to quickly grow his database with this strategy.

Stage 3 - Direct people back to the website

George wanted to use email marketing to engage in regular communication with all his contacts to get them to return to the website and to keep his brand top of mind. In order to turn his current clients into raving fans, George used the following strategies:

Welcome emails - a series of emails would go out to the client throughout the building process, reminding them of what was coming up and if they were required to do anything. They were usually given all the information up front, but George found his clients really appreciated being reminded. The emails were automated so George only had to set them up once and they would go out automatically.
Surveys - the process of building a home can be challenging for clients, so in order to uncover any potential problems or concerns before they escalated, George would send out an online survey to the client a month after their project had started. The client could answer honestly about how they were feeling and it gave George a really useful insight into his valued clients. He would also send a survey out around 3 months after the house was built to get some feedback from the client about their experience with his company and to see how they were going.

To keep in touch with his whole database, George would send out a monthly newsletter. By using articles from his alliances, George saved heaps of time on the production of his newsletters and they became a real resource for readers. Also, to increase sales, he would send a monthly email blast to all the prospects in his database to tell them about that month's special offer or upgrade package, and any new land developments. This email blast encouraged many prospects to contact his business again and make a purchase.

Tools used

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