Highlights
- Millennials now make up the largest group of home buyers
- Millennials are customization and visualization driven
- Millennials prefer smartphones over any other technology
Millennials have arrived. As of late 2018 the group born between 1981 and 1996 has become the largest cohort of home buyers and represents 37% of all home buyers [1] (Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.)
So what makes this generation of buyers different than its predecessors? And what do you need to know about how they shop for homes?
Roughly half of all millennials report that the most influential form of marketing for builders websites are either Organic Search Results or Independent Listing Websites. [2] Additionally, millennials are much more likely to access a builder’s website via their mobile device with over 25% of millennials use a mobile phone as their primary source for content compared with 17% of Gen Xers and 7% of baby boomers. [3]
What your website needs
Photo Galleries still reign supreme. But while over 40% of GenX buyers and just under 40% of Boomers+ identify this as the most important item on a builder’s website, less than 30% of Millennials have echoed this sentiment. [2]
Millennials value customization and visualization. Amongst both GenX and Boomers+, the second largest group of buyers identify their second most important item as Interactive Floorplans. When shopping for new construction homes, Millennials, on the other hand, have identified Interactive Feature Changes as the item most important to the second largest group. [2] This is further demonstrated in a report by The University of Southern California which states that 85% of Millennials are more likely to make a purchase if the experience is personalized. [4]
Additionally, while Videos and Virtual Reality Tours continue to rank at the bottom of the poll, Millennials are much more likely to find those items the most important item on a builder’s website than their counterparts.[2]
Closing Sales with Millennials
Hopefully your website is effective in bringing the prospective client into the sales office. Millennials are accustomed to seamless experiences across every device from smartphones to tablets to computers. Builders need to be prepared to continue their customized experience across multiple devices.
When polled on what they felt was the most influential digital content at a Sales Office their responses were consistent with what they looked for on a builders website. Primarily they are swayed by photos of homes and communities and virtual design centers. [2]
Millennials overwhelmingly prefer to intake content on their smartphones while in the sales office. So while Boomers+ are drawn to kiosks, Millennials are most comfortable when they can intake content on their own devices
My Home App
Our My Home App simultaneously renders the same house in unlimited color schemes, across thousands of devices via your free company-branded web app. Our technology allows buyers to design exteriors, modify floorplans, search communities, and points of interest. Simultaneously, granular shopping data is collected and analyzed to provide buyers with consumer trends and inform their business decisions based on popularity of features, user demographics, and other elements.
Interior Design App
Our Interior Design App puts the buyer in the driver’s seat in shaping and creating their own home feature by feature. From wall color, to backsplash, to cabinets, to counters -our solution uses photoreal renderings to bring visualization to the next level. Designs can be emailed, printed, and shared in brochure format, while builders also receive a copy of the brochure. Paired with our My Home App this creates a comprehensive customization and visualization solution that empowers both the buyer and the builder.
[4]https://appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu/blog/psychology-of-successfully-marketing-to-millennials/
