Craig Rothwell, Business Development Director of Onfigr, explains how housing developers can increase customer satisfaction and house sales through the use of high-quality visualisers/configurators
As the UK’s political parties start to grapple with solving the housing crisis ahead of the next general election, developers and house buyers are facing the sceptre of falling prices and collapsing property chains. In this context, every sale counts, and home buyers need even greater reassurance and security as they weigh up the biggest and most significant purchase – their next home.
It seems to me in the age of bespoke interior design where personalisation is king, developers who can go the extra mile by using the latest software tools to make the end user feel at home right away, will trump the competition. In fact, I believe that using supportive technology like a visualiser as part of your sales and marketing strategy, is now part and parcel of delivering the best customer service to your client and by virtue, offers you a much higher conversion rate at point of sale.
Given the desire for immersive experiences and visual richness in the property space, it is easy to go overboard and provide consumers with 1000s of options. This often results in ‘the paradox of choice’ where the potential buyer feels overwhelmed and confused by all the options, resulting in it taking longer for them to decide. By using a high-quality visualiser, your customers will be able to pick from a comprehensive range of pre-selected choices like furniture, finishes, fixtures and fittings so you can deliver a more personal experience and take their ideas from concept to transaction.
The latest neuroscience shows that endless decision making depletes the brain and decision fatigue sets in, so that shows we need to make the design process as easy and intuitive as possible. As research on Gen Z confirms that buying on intuition is much more common than previously recognised, I think it makes sense to lean into this with a system, which is faster, higher quality and more affordable when compared to market equivalents.
What solutions are available?
Generally, there are two options available: design / planning software and visualisers (or configurators). The former allows you to design your exact space and plan out every conceivable furniture arrangement until you have fully realised an accurate design. This is a time-consuming process that often requires some previous knowledge of the software to use it correctly and so the limitations and added time that planning software presents needs to be factored in at the concept phase and overall project costs.
In fact, given the pace of change across the home interiors industry from retail to commercial, the overview is that complex design tools are increasingly too slow and complicated for a time-poor consumer; especially when trying to use them on a smartphone. The feedback we are getting is that using these tools isn’t immediately obvious to the non-specialist and they are hard to use as an introduction to a product range, when what consumers really want are captivating ideas in an easy-to-use experience.
This is why visualisers are coming to the fore as an up-and-coming solution for a tech-savvy generation of building professionals and consumers because there is usually a very low learning curve for these tools and customers can start trying out ideas immediately in a universally more accessible process. In fact, research from the University of Padua/PricewaterhouseCoopers has shown that the more customers enjoy using these tools with benefits such as flexible navigation, user-friendly product description, easy comparison and benefit-cost comparison, the more they are willing to pay for customisation. This suggests that using a visualiser is a great way to uplevel the buying experience by giving customers greater involvement and satisfaction throughout the Process. At the same time as being self-selecting for you, the house buyer feels they are the one choosing the options while keeping track of the budget. This gives you a clear indication as to how much potential spend is available while providing natural opportunities to upsell your client to alternative or more premium product offers.
High-quality visualisers
A visualiser is an inspiration tool which features a curated product range and almost all product types including the furniture, hardware, surfaces, fixtures and fittings. There is usually a very low learning curve for these tools and customers can start trying out ideas immediately in a universally more accessible process, so they can start their customer journey with you virtually before they’ve even visited your sales office or well-dressed show home.
Naturally, there will be a ‘bedding in’ period with any new system but from our own experiences as consumers, we are all living in the age of the upgrade so don’t sell yourself short against the competition. We can all recall using debit cards, then chip and pin and now contactless payment, and see that saving time and adding ease and efficiency is beneficial once everyone is onboard.
We have found that by offering homebuyers a blank canvas in the form of a virtual show home with all the options provided in an easy-to-use layout, they can quickly play with ideas and get excited about how they can make your property their new home. They are already one step closer to moving in, so an initial enquiry can be transformed into a sale with the added bonus that your team can capture this design for later use.
Read more of this feature in our latest issue here.
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