The more expensive is the product that you’re selling, the longer is the path for the customer to convert. With real estate, there is also an added parameter of a physical location that is important to the buyers, unlike, for example, with purchasing a car.

We have already talked about the various types of visitors and potential customers who may be coming to your website. In this article, we’ll talk about the next step for marketers to develop: mapping out the journeys for each of the customer segments.

For large (or luxury) purchases, such as real estate properties, there are three major stages of consideration before the purchase:

1. Engagement
2. Education & nurturing
3. Conversion

The amount of time people spend on each of the stages differs since the decision-making process varies from one person to another. However, they all go through these stages and it’s important to think through each of the points and each of them should be represented on your website.

Let’s start.

Engage your audience

People who come to your website came there for a purpose. Something in your ad or a listing on a real estate portal piqued their interest and they decided to check your offer.

Treat this person as a guest who came to your home for the first time. Show them around, make them feel welcome and want to come back again. Create an immersive experience with the use of technologies such as Augmented Reality or 3D. Another great tool here is to offer a contact form or a newsletter subscription, which will give you the opportunity to remind the customer about your property and share more information about it.

User goals: they came to your website to learn more about the real estate you offer, whether they are interested in purchasing a property or just “looking around.”

User expectations: this is not yet a serious research stage, they need basic information about what’s available for purchase. A landing page here is a very convenient way to present this info because it minimizes the number of clicks the user has to take to learn about the property.

Marketing goal: what you’re interested in at this stage is to capture their attention, so they would come back. One of the good working methods here is to implement remarketing, which shows your information and ads to the people who have visited your site at least once.

Based on the mere-exposure effect or familiarity principle, a psychological phenomenon, people are more likely to prefer things that they know something about. This means that once the visitor comes to your website and has a pleasant experience, seeing your ad somewhere – whether online or offline – will remind him/her of your property.

Educate & nurture your audience

As we mentioned before, real estate purchase is a serious one. Therefore, educate your customers so that they feel more confident and comfortable pursuing the option you offer. Offer them the information they need to feel confident that this is the right property for them: architecture plans, detailed location information, pricing options, etc.

Treat this customer as a friend, who has been at your home several times. Invite them to make themselves at home and feel comfortable about asking more questions, no matter how deep they are.

User goals: learn more about the property’s options: the houses/apartments options, what’s in the neighborhood, transportation, weather & climate, etc.

User expectations: by learning more about the property and its features, to have enough information to make the right decision.

Marketing goal: your primary goal here is to establish a deeper relationship with the potential customer by sharing your in-depth knowledge of the real estate industry with him/her, therefore inviting them into the “inside club” and surround your customer with easy and actionable opportunities to contact you:

• An online chat option on your website can also stimulate user engagement, especially if you offer several question templates (along with the “Other questions” option) that would help the person streamline their thoughts.
• Downloadable brochures or floor plans to learn more
• Contact form
• Other CTAs that offer the opportunity to match the person’s “tell me more” desire

Besides basic information that people have learned at the first stage, the educational phase can include educational webinars with topics like “How to choose a home for a growing family” or “Financing options for the real estate in Switzerland,” etc. Don’t be afraid to tackle serious topics because being honest and helpful would add bonus points to your business as well.

Where else can be done? Offer opportunities to easily schedule a personal meeting. For example, it can be auto-scheduling via Doodle or HubSpot, where the person can choose from the available time slots. It can be in the form of regularly scheduled webinars that a person can join or the open doors event where it’s possible to come and talk about the property.

Convert your clients

The culmination of the selling process is when the customer finally makes the decision to purchase real estate property.

User goal: the goal is quite straightforward here. The customer needs to make sure that the location and the property’s features they have chosen fit their needs and requirements.

User expectations: at this point, the person trusts you and expects honest information about the property. Talk with the customer,

Marketing goal: help the customer materialize your property offer. Meet with them personally (whether online via Zoom or offline at your office or the property’s location) to establish even deeper trust and discuss the final details or preferences. Make yourselves available and make the customers know you’re available in case they have further questions.

Takeaways

The user journey from just a visitor to a loyal client is an important part of the successful marketing process. Here are a few takeaways from this article:

1. Use remarketing to benefit from the psychological phenomenon of the familiarity principle, where people who have been to your website once feel more comfortable about trusting you.
2. Surround your customers with opportunities to contact you via methods that are convenient for them: contact form, phone, chat, or in-person meeting.
3. Meet your customers in person (online or offline, depending on the situation) to “put a name to the face” and make this as personalized as possible. In-person meetings help customers feel important and therefore more comfortable at trusting the business.