Honestly. Does anyone know what Buy Now really means? Is it just showing interest in a home or lot? Is it the ability to close on a home with the click of a button? We’ve covered 5 Things Buy Now Is Not. In this article, we’ll discuss what it actually means.
What Buy Now means to homebuyers
It means less time on webpages. Let me clarify – while session duration on a website is still a critical metric, the experience that homebuyers want is dynamic and the metrics on single webpages are no longer the best way to measure the health of the customer journey.
It means convenience. It means excellent Time to Value (TTV). This is not to be taken lightly. It’s what customers want and demand in every other transaction. They want to be in control of the transaction and choose if and when they contact the vendor directly. If you only take one thing away from this article, it is that homebuyers want the options of buying now. This means that an excellent customer journey must have the capability of taking a customer from discovery to transaction.
Earlier this year Taylor Morrison and Pulte both piloted Buy Now features and the results speak for themselves. Sheryl Palmer, CEO of Taylor Morrison said,
“We’ve only done the to-be-built reservation system for the last six weeks, and in total we’ve seen over 1,500 shopping cart entries, and probably something close to a 60% conversion [to sales]. That’s 10 times what you would normally see.”
While Brandon Jones, President at Pulte, states, “Consumers have gotten significantly more comfortable making big decisions behind screens. They do research behind screens, they want to compare different options behind screens on their own terms on their own timing when they’re home alone,”
Buy Now means ultimate convenience for buyers and the most efficient way to get from start to finish on their own terms. It means that buyers would rather spend less time with better results than more time virtually wandering through builder websites. It means that homebuyer session durations is no longer the most important metric – Time to Value is.
What Buy Now means to Builders
It’s bigger than a single feature and requires a shift in thinking.
Unless you are Pulte or Taylor Morrison one the things that Buy Now means for you is figuring out if and when you are implementing Buy Now. Most builders do not have the resources to develop their own proprietary solution. While website creators and software companies have begun to develop their own solutions it’s very important to understand that for the Buy Now feature to be truly valuable it must capture the entire find and design process. This means that the right solution will enable buyers to create their dream home, capture that home, and then create contracts and payment terms directly tied to that home. In other words, builders everywhere need to begin carefully vetting their options. They need to understand that not all Buy Now features are created equal.
As mentioned above, Buy Now also means that builders need to change the way that they measure the health of the online customer journey. While duration and bounce rate are metrics that will always be important, it’s time to elevate the discussion. With the full transaction now accessible buyers true conversions are easier to track than ever. Builders can now do more than attribute traffic to sources. They can attribute online sales to traffic sources. They can reshape their marketing budgets based on actual homes sold per source not just the number of leads.
It also means a shift in the ways that builders engage with prospects and leads. With buyers wanting to do more on their own it’s important that builders make the most of their engagements. Because the right Buy Now feature will collect shopper data in great detail it should also be able to provide that data to your sales team so that they can add value to the buyer at every stage in the customer journey. Whether it’s steering them towards the right floor plans options or suggesting alterative elevations or floor plans. Ideally the right solution will also use AI to steer buyers towards the selections that speak to their personal needs. Buy Now means that builders are providing buyers with the power and autonomy to go it alone. This also means that builders must have tools to add the most value when a customer does decide to contact them.
Summary of Anewgo’s Buy Now Feature
- Includes entire find and design process through interactive content for floor plans, site plans, elevations, and interiors
- Built for both desktop and mobile
- Pulls data from design process directly into contract
- Builder customizable contracts
- Docusign powered esignatures
- Customizable deposit amounts and refund policies
- Stripe powered transactions
- Email notification for builders and buyers at every milestone
Learn more at our webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_chWCbA5cSDmqyBDwRbcntA
