Actionable Strategies: How to Attract the Revolutionised Consumer

Buying a home is a high-value, high-risk purchase. For most estate agency customers, their decision to buy or sell will be one of the most emotional and stressful that they will make in their lifetimes, and they will likely be very selective about which agency they choose to look after their best interests.

This blog looks at some of the strategies you can employ to attract the revolutionised consumer with more insights available in Reapit Agentbox's newly released report on the Consumer (R)evolution: how to attract, engage and retain the 2021 consumer.‍

1. Optimise your website for availability, credibility, and experience

‍A good website is no longer optional for real estate agents, as no single aspect of marketing to new customers is more important than a current, beautiful, and easy to navigate website.

Quite often it will be the first port of call for any potential customer as they start their house buying journey and your website should be able to provide valuable information to help guide buyers or sellers throughout the buying or selling process. Considering that 53% of all consumers do their own research before they approach you for a purchase, having the best website you can afford should be a given.

A great website will paint a clear picture about your brand and its values, including customer testimonials and community involvement, as the revolutionised consumer will be particularly keen to discover why they should choose you over another agency. Make sure your website is well designed and functional, easy to use, optimised for mobile and optimised for search and social media.

Finally, have multiple forms of contact so that prospective customers have many doors with which to contact you.

‍2. Use segmented data to deliver highly personalised experiences

‍Estate agencies have a wide target audience, and whether it’s a young first-time buyer or an older generation looking to invest, each customer has different needs or desires to be met. A segmented marketing strategy is key to targeting each customer with the right communication, and getting your data organised is the crucial step to attracting customers to your agency.

There are four basic forms of market segmentation to consider: Demographic, Psychographic, Geographic, and Behavioural. Your data should be able to tell you who your customers are, why they are looking to buy or sell, where they are located (and where they are looking) and how they interact with your agency. Once you understand your customer, you can focus your marketing to bring them to the table.

‍3. Build brand awareness through digital marketing

‍The revolutionised consumer has grown far more digitally savvy over the past decade and within the highly competitive world of online real estate, the agency that can most effectively leverage their digital marketing tools to attract more leads will win the hearts and minds of buyers and sellers over to their business.A successful digital marketing strategy for estate agency will do two things for your brand:

• Keep it top of mind so that when your future client is ready to transact, your agency is the name they first recall – the use of video on social media channels has proven particularly effective for this purpose.
• Make it easy to be found, through optimised SEO (ensuring a high organic Google ranking) and Google Search Ads that will raise awareness of your business and drive traffic to your website. Considering that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine and 75% of internet users never scroll past the first page of search results, this should be a key marketing tactic for any business.

4. Have an active social media presence

‍Every demographic generation now uses social media platforms to some degree or another, and the usage of social media has only gone up during COVID-19, with the global digital insights firm DataReportal finding that social media user numbers increased by more than 13% over 2020.

The revolutionised consumer is increasingly likely to experience their first touchpoint with your brand via social media, and this is particularly true of Gen Z and Millennial consumers, who respectively spend an average of 4.5 and 3.8 hours a day on social media.

DataReportal research also found that the number of social media users in Australia was equivalent to 79.9% of the total population in January 2021. The key message here: don’t be anti-social.

A strong social media presence will help you to increase brand awareness, build trust, demonstrate your expertise, drive traffic to your website, keep you top of mind with potential customers, and can help generate more leads. Social media platforms tend to attract different age groups, so figure out who you want to reach and adapt your strategies accordingly. Then decide what you want to post, bearing in mind that it doesn’t have to be just property listings; sharing your content and testimonials, telling stories about your staff and your community, and boosting posts locally are all effective for building and nurturing your social following.

‍5. Showcase your credibility with reviews and testimonials

‍Building a credible profile, both on and offline, is essential for attracting the revolutionised consumer. Buying and selling a home are big decisions and potential customers will care very deeply that the agency they go with will care for them. That means that before engagement even starts, consumers will be keen to find out whether they can trust your agency with their transaction. All of the tips we’ve shared above will help your agency to build awareness and trust in your brand, both of which are important, as according to a report from Sprout Social, 53% of consumers are likely to consider brands that are transparent.But there are other ways to build trust and attract consumers, and to really emphasise the value of your service to potential customers, positive testimonials on your website and on other key mediums such as Google Reviews and Trustpilot, will help your agency be top of mind for customers.

One final tip – ask for testimonials from your happy customers and share these on your website and social channels. Social proof is a powerful driver of buying decisions, and if you can demonstrate that clients are satisfied with your services, then others are more likely to trust your business.

‍Interested in more insights on how consumers have changed?

Download your free copy of Reapit Agentbox’s report on the Consumer (R)evolution: how to attract, engage and retain the 2021 consumer.

Access the report