As consumers have become increasingly comfortable with easy-to-use digital tools to make purchasing decisions on everything from groceries to automobiles to travel, the new construction and remodeling industry is being challenged to offer the same intuitive services.
A recent report indicates that the majority of homeowners struggle to make all kinds of decisions on home renovation projects, and often end up unsatisfied when they’re finished.
A visualizer changes this equation. For homeowners – and for your organization.
Here’s the situation
According to a report issued by the independent research firm TeamThink for over 70% of homeowners the primary purpose of a renovation project is to improve their home’s appearance.
That’s good news for everyone in your industry.
You know your company’s products will fundamentally increase the level of satisfaction homeowners feel once they’re installed in kitchens and bedrooms, or on the exterior of their homes. You’ve seen how happy homeowners are when the new door they install gives them a renewed sense of pride in where they live. You’re sure that freshly painted walls or new flooring can bring a home back to life in a customer’s eye and raise its market value in advance of a sale.
Homeowner stress and indecision can delay a project or kill it completely.
The truth is this: Your organization’s products regularly help make someone’s single largest life purchase better for themselves and for their families.
But there’s another truth to be concerned about.
Here’s the problem
Customers are confused.
The TeamThink report also found that:
- Over 60% of homeowners had difficulty selecting walls, painting or flooring for their interior remodeling projects.
- In all product categories, except garage doors, 30% – 40% of homeowners had trouble selecting a product and colors for their exterior remodeling projects.
- Almost half of homeowners aren’t certain how to achieve a “wow” design for their homes.
These figures have significant implications for the length of your organization’s sales cycles and a customer’s ability to make a confident decision about their remodeling project. They impact overall customer satisfaction at the end of a project and your organization’s ability to capture repeat business.
Of course, these issues will be second nature to anyone in your organization who has sat with a customer, trying to help them visualize what a product will look like in their home, or watch them struggle to make a choice from seemingly endless siding, trim or accent options. They should resonate with marketing teams who see huge numbers of visitors land on elegantly designed websites, only to see them bounce away, with no idea why the site failed to convert.
The bottom line: Homeowner stress and indecision can delay a project or kill it completely.
Your customers are looking for you to help them.
That’s where a visualizer comes in.
Your opportunity today
Right now you can offer your customers the following:
The ability to see your products on their homes. This functionality offers tremendous power for homeowners. They no longer have to guess at how a product might work in their home, whether a certain color might clash with their furniture, whether they prefer a rich, dark tile floor or something lighter to brighten up the room. From the comfort of their own home, in a simple and intuitive way, they can upload photos of their house and try out your products – all your products if they so choose – before they buy.
This is very much in line with recent consumer trends where shoppers increasingly want to do most of the research for a purchase online before making direct contact with a salesperson.
Embedding a beautiful branded visualizer on your corporate website saves your organization time and provides an easy digital solution to the angst and stress consumers feel when making major (or even minor) changes to their homes. A visualizer also gives you the ability to understand consumer behavior in a much more sophisticated way. Powerful analytics can give marketers all sort of information about what colors and combinations of products homeowners are interested in and generate sales leads (watch for a future post on this topic here on the Trade Secrets blog).
Perhaps more than anything, industry experts know that helping homeowners make faster, more informed decisions is good business. The TeamThink report found that 85% of homeowners found visualizers valuable for their remodeling projects.
With a visualizer, homeowners win.
And you win.