Online, your business and marketing messages need to be present in multiple places and over a long period of time to give you the best chance of engaging with potential customers. Owing to this, it is important to ensure that, where possible, the kind of messaging you communicate to buyers is relevant and differentiated for each stage of the consumer journey. In the rest of this article, we will go through


some of the key findings from the Clickstream study and hopefully we’ll be able to provide you with insights and recommendations to guide your marketing strategy.


important it is to make sure you are providing all the relevant information on your site in an up to date and engaging manner.


graph 2 – aCTIVITY INTENSIFIES BETWEEN 30-60 DaYS


‘Online marketing is at the heart of what we do at Barratt Homes and the


How buyers engage with websites A top priority for any website owner is understanding how visitors are engaging on your site. The Nielsen study looked more closely into what property buyers actually did when they visited a property website, especially in cases where a site visit led to a conversion. ‘Conversion’ is a common term used when measuring website


insights from this research are very


valuable indeed’ SAm mooRe


HeAd of diGiTAl, BARRATT HomeS


It was also interesting to see at what stages during the typical 120-day online journey conversions took place. The data showed that the bulk of conversions occurred during the 30-60 day period. When looking more closely at the sample of users who converted on a property website, we found that after visiting their first property website the next 30 days consist primarily of casual browsing, leading to more focused property research. At this point the online property seeker is likely to have a much clearer idea of the kind of property they are looking for. For example, they have probably established what size house they are looking for,


performance, it refers to when a visitor completes a desired action on the site as set out by the marketers and/or website owners. Successful conversions are interpreted differently by individual marketers, advertisers, and content creators. To online retailers, for example, a successful conversion may


constitute the sale of a product to a consumer, while for content creators, a successful conversion may refer to a membership registration or newsletter subscription. For the purposes of this study, we collaborated with Nielsen and established that a conversion in the property sector would constitute any visit where a desired interaction, relevant to the property sector, took place. These actions include brochure downloads, viewing requests and accessing contact details and contact forms. The research results showed that over 35 per cent of all visitors


to property websites did convert at some point in their online journey. Through further analysis we found that where websites offered more engagement features and functionality, such as floorplans, maps and video, this increased the likelihood of leading a site visitor to a meaningful conversion. This shows how


GRAPH 1


CONVERTERS MORE ACTIVE IN THEIR PROPERTY SEARCH


Activity Levels Total


1 Audience size 2 Journey length


8.6m Converters Difference 3.3m 114 days 124 days ▲ 9%


3 Average sites visited 9.3 sites 13.0 sites ▲ 40% 4 Total site visits 5 Time spent


29.9 times 47.1 sites ▲ 58% 3hrs 1min 5hrs 04min ▲ 68%


Base: Total Sample (Those that visit property sites)


the area they wish to move to and have a better understanding of the finances they have available. Owing to these factors, the next 30 days represent a surge in research activity, leading to conversions. Online activity remains strong between 60 and 90 days and then begins to tail off in the final stages. 80 per cent of conversions take place within the 120 day period.


The role of search Understanding the role that Google search plays in online property research was a key component of Nielsen’s study. Of those who converted, 86 per cent used Google search (compared with 76 per cent of the total sample). For this group, users searched on average 16 times throughout the journey, compared with the Finance sector where consumers search between 4 and 8 times dependent on which sub-category they are in (eg credit cards, mortgages). Such intense search activity highlights the comprehensive levels of research conducted by property seekers online and the importance of search throughout the entire journey. We can see that consumers are looking for multiple information sources online as they decide which property to buy and a lot of the time they’re coming back to Google to help them find what they’re looking for.


GRAPH 2


ACTIVITY INTENSIFIES BETWEEN 30-60 DAYS Distribution of Journey Length


90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%


Journey completion


Accelerating engagement


Focused research


Casual browsing


1 5 10 20


Base: Those that visit property sites and convert


30 60 90 120


PROPERTYdrum DECEMBER 2010 13


% of audience of who have converted 5 times


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