Increasing sales and digitalization of a Real Estate developer in Ukraine
01. Description
About the client
A new company in Ukraine in the field of construction and sale of new buildings. Comfort and business class projects. The advantage is the speed of construction, timely completion of construction, favorable prices, and conditions. The company contacted us in 2017 and at that time there were 4 real estate projects for sale.
Tasks
We were faced with the task of solving 3 global problems:
- Increase the number of leads for all properties at all stages.
- Set up and implement CRM for the sales department.
- Display statistics and results of advertising in an understandable format.
Before cooperating with us, the Client sold through advertising on ad sites, new building portals, and billboards. Potential buyers were led in Excel and “paper technologies” were present. Every month, the head of the marketing department collected information from manual Excel spreadsheets filled in by managers and reports provided by new building portals.
TOTAL
It was necessary to fully organize the process of receiving additional applications from online advertising, and organize a system for high-quality processing of applications and analytics to analyze the effectiveness of all advertising sources.
02. Timeline
In May 2022, an elite real estate agency contacted us. The request is standard – to get contacts of potential clients for the purchase
02. Tools
Defined the problems and tasks of the project
Formed positioning
Developed a strategy
We saw and eliminated the mistakes made by the sales department when processing the client and increased its efficiency. Fixed customer acquisition channels and using the most effective ones.
Thanks to segmentation, the target audience created the demand that best meets the needs.
03. Website conversion optimization
structure
All company websites were developed on CMS WordPress. First of all, we made recommendations on the structure of the site and technical changes:
elements
Adding informative elements to better understand the project.
to Action
Adding call-to-action blocks that can increase conversions.
Creation of several pages for low-frequency queries to get additional clicks from Google Search in the future.
Optimizing the loading speed by removing unnecessary plugins, and optimizing the image size, which in the end also gave an increase in Pagespeed Insights.
These changes were approved and implemented by our developers
05. Design
Due to the lack of a marketing strategy and analysis of launched advertising campaigns, the project had a high cost of attracting customers.
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Reduced the cost of 1 lead by 270%.
06. Website
layout
widget
To implement the choice of layouts, thefloors interactive layout widget was integrated into the site. With its help, visitors could see the availability and prices of apartments, choose by visualization or select the desired apartments according to the parameters.
On the page of the apartment, the user sent a request for a consultation, a request for a quote (if the prices were hidden), or downloaded a PDF presentation with this apartment (all presentations were created automatically, based on a branded template).
As an additional functionality to the current site, we added the ability to order a callback. The client writes his phone number and the system automatically connects the manager with the client within 30 seconds. This helped to further increase the conversion of the site.
To further track the performance of the site, basic goals were set up in Google Analytics. Added Facebook Pixel code to the newly created Google Tag Manager to track quality leads and optimize Facebook ads.
04. ONLINE ADVERTISING
Having defined the target audience, and having analyzed the competitors, it was decided to develop two areas of paid advertising: Google ADS and Facebook ADS.
At the time of setting up and launching Google Ads advertising, the developer had 4 residential complexes in operation.
What types of advertising campaigns were used in Google Ads:
- Search engines
- Youtube
- CDA
- Smart CDA
The basis for the launch of Google was the collection of the semantic core and the determination of the recommended advertising budgets. Considering the advertising budget, hot queries like “Buy an apartment in a new building”, “Buy a one-room apartment in a residential complex” and so on were launched with a minimal budget, since the cost per click was quite high due to the great competition in the face of new building portals. The goal of this advertising campaign was maximum conversions, as it gave the best results during several tests.
The second, and later, as it turned out, the main one was a search advertising campaign with branded queries. The essence of this AC is as follows – to collect all requests related to the property, the interest which was caused by social networks, billboards, YouTube, and word of mouth. For this advertising campaign, there were the cheapest, and most importantly, targeted messages.
Video promotion on Youtube was launched with one goal – to increase brand awareness. The promoted videos were always attended by sales department employees, not actors, which greatly aroused confidence in the developer and the facility as a whole.
Display Network (DN) is used similarly to billboards offline, but with full digitization of indicators. The main purpose of the CCM is to notify the potential audience about current offers and increase interest in real estate. The indirect goal was to receive an application. But given the decision-making cycle (on average 2-3 months), the team and I did not make big bets on this indicator.
We also separately launched a remarketing advertising campaign to “catch up” with site visitors who did not leave an application. As a result, for 2 years of work (January 2020 – February 2022) we received the following results (for one of the projects):
- 49 million impressions
- 250,000 site visits
- 2 508 applications
- The cost of one application is $ 9
On average, 7 people out of 100 who left an application bought real estate from a developer. Given the specifics of the niche and the average bill of $50,000, this is a very good indicator. The cost of attracting 1 paying client was $129
For the correct start of advertising on social networks, the requirements for subsequent entries in the Instagram and Facebook profiles of the company were drawn up and presented. For paid advertising, the budgets were directed towards one goal – lead generation. Since, in our opinion, this type of advertising campaign is closed by 2 goals at once:
- Receiving leads from potential clients
- Increasing brand awareness of residential complexes among the interested target audience
To improve the quality of applications, we added several fields with clarifying questions, since without them there were a lot of “garbage” applications. But over the past 6 months, the quality of requests from the META corporation leaves much to be desired. According to our observations, the quality of calls fell from 60% to 30%. But even despite these indicators, this source pays off and is an important component of the developer’s omnichannel marketing.
The main offers that were used in targeted advertising:
- Installment plan
- Promotional offer (although we do not like to use this in real estate, periodically, for a short period, the developer used similar promotions for certain types of real estate)
- Start of sales
- New section
- Advantages RC
- Layout options
- Aeroflight of the complex
Best of all, in terms of payback, I worked out an offer with installments. Those who looked at the apartment for themselves might not have collected the required amount for the purchase, and the investor, who planned to buy 2 apartments for 100% payment, issued 8 at once.
- Ad impressions — 4 245 959
- Number of leads — 1698
- Lead cost — $4.12
The graph shows that every 4th qualified as a quality lead and every 100th of the total pool of applications eventually bought real estate. The cost of attracting the 1st paying customer was $412.
05. CRM implementation
CRM Bitrix24 was introduced for the work of four sales departments in a single system.
To simplify the work of managers and organize system work for the further possibility of obtaining all the necessary analytical data, the following was done
- Deal card setup.
- Adding custom fields to fill in information about the apartment, and the source of the application, which is filled in automatically.
- Adding the necessary stages in the sales funnel. Adding additional funnels for each project separately.
- Connecting all employees, setting access rights, and navigation menus.
- Adding all documents that managers work with and setting up the automatic filling of data in documents.
- Integration of all feedback forms on the site, Facebook lead forms, thefloors widget, callback on the site, and portals of new buildings into the CRM system so that all requests fall into a single system.
- Synchronization of comments and chats of social networks with sales departments through CRM.
- Integration of thefloors room database into the system. Managers can view available rooms, bookmark bookings, and sync suites and deals. The availability of apartments has always become relevant, and the modern profile program helped get rid of Excel and made the work of managers much more convenient. All data was automatically synchronized with the widget on the site, that is, customers could always see up-to-date information.
After successfully setting up the entire system, instructions for working with CRM and thefloors were transferred to the sales departments, and all training took place online.
06. Telephony
Since the task was to digitize the work of the sales department and receive full analytics and statistics on the work of the sales department and the work of marketing campaigns, it was decided to connect IP-telephony.
Our team spent about a year selecting a good service and a complete understanding of what the developer company needs. The following services were considered:
- Binotel
- Ringostat
- Phonet
- UniTalk
We settled on UniTalk, as they offered the necessary functionality, stable operation, and technical support like Monobank.
What we got after installing IP telephony and how it worked:
- All calls were received by the sales department and distributed according to the specified scenario (simultaneous call, load distribution, queue distribution). If the client had previously communicated with some manager, the call came to him.
- All outgoing and incoming calls were recorded and displayed in CRM. The call automatically got into a deal if it had already been created, or a new lead was created in the system at the first call.
- Static call tracking. For different advertising sources, different phone numbers were purchased, which made it possible to receive information from where the call comes from and transfer this data to Google analytics and CRM. Thus, we received several calls from the portals of new buildings, billboards, and so on.
- Dynamic call tracking. A pool of numbers has been allocated for the site so that different phone numbers are displayed for each visitor at one point in time. This allowed the system to send UTM tags to Google analytics and CRM on an incoming call. That is, if a person called the phone number from the site, we also received data about the advertising source.
- Forwarding to the mobile phone of the sales department occurred if none of the managers picked up the phone or there was no Internet in the office.
07. Power Bi
The main problem of the company was a misunderstanding of the situation in the sales and marketing departments.
The main indicator was sales. It was necessary to bring a large amount of data into a single system that would be well structured, give answers to specific questions and allow real conclusions to be drawn and adjustments to be made to the work of departments.
We collected data in Microsoft Power BI from different systems:
- Facebook ADS
- Advertising in Google ADS
- thefloors (widget for interactive layouts for the site and base of premises for the sales department)
- UniTalk (telephony)
- Bitrix24 (CRM)
The data was updated daily automatically. As a result, we got a dashboard that provided the most useful information in various interactive reports. All data can be filtered, and displayed by different projects and periods.
- Leads. Advertising and physical sources from where leads come to sales departments. Conversion rates and quality leads. Causes of lead failures and their number. Comparison of indicators for the last 3 months.
- Sales. The number of sales, the number of sales, the number of square meters sold. Implementation of the sales plan. Decomposition of sales by types of premises, managers, and advertising sources. Monthly sales chart for the last year.
- Stocks (Remains). The number of premises for sale, in money and square meters. Breakdown of data by projects, statuses, and houses.
- Manager analysis. Project managers’ indicators: conversion to booking, sales, number of bookings. Comparison of key indicators for the last 3 months.
- Project analysis. Similar indicators as in the previous report, but the sales departments are already being compared with each other. Additionally, the contribution of each manager to the total number of sales of each project is displayed.
- At work. The current situation in the CRM system for each of the sales funnels. Displays key metrics for executives to save time looking at CRM. Deals in progress, amounts in the final stages, leads in progress.
- Paid advertising. This report was created for marketers and heads of marketing and sales departments. Graphs for the last 6 months are shown the number of leads, quality leads, and the number of sales for all paid advertising sources: Google ADS, Facebook, ad portals, and offline advertising. For a maximum understanding of the effectiveness, the spent budgets and the cost of leads and sales for all sources are also displayed.
- Facebook ADS. Duplicate information about the schedule of leads and their quality from Facebook ads and a table with advertisements and indicators of these ads. Detailed analysis of Facebook advertising.
- Google ADS. A similar report, only now for Google Ads. Displayed detailed information on the results of advertising campaigns.
08. Results
and what we are doing
- We work as a full-cycle digital team. 5+ specialists are working on the project.
- Launched online marketing from scratch for a developer in Ukraine.
- We set up and run campaigns in Google Ads: search, remarketing, and GDN, we conduct tests with landing pages and audience segmentation.
- We set up campaigns in Facebook Ads: coverage, retargeting, and lead forms. Together with the developer’s marketing department, we come up with new creatives, promotional offers, etc.
- We provide weekly and monthly detailed reports on advertising campaigns on Google and Facebook.
- SEO and site work: we audited landing pages, and together with the SEO team we carry out internal site optimization. Installed thefloors widget and a callback to increase conversion.
- We regularly accompany marketing activities on third-party sites, and advise the Client on possible growth points with the help of Internet marketing.
- Implemented a database of premises for sales departments. Imported all data from Excel and Google Sheets.
- We set up a profile CRM for processing leads and conducting transactions. Connected all sources of receipt of applications in a single system. Organized workflow with dynamic data. Set up a system of robots and automatic alerts.
- We maintain CRM and regularly monitor the work of sales departments. We send monthly and weekly reports on the work of sales managers: what mistakes they make, recommendations for working with deals and leads, and tips on internal business processes.
- Installed IP phones and the entire telephony system for all sales departments. Dynamic and static call tracking. Scenarios of telephony calls, and work schedules of sales departments.
- Fully implemented the functionality of end-to-end analytics and automatic receipt of data on the source of all applications.
- Connected, configured, and maintain connectors for the correct transfer of all data to Power Bi, to obtain complete information about the work of the marketing and sales departments. We analyze statistical data with the client on a monthly basis.
09. Conclusion
This is an awesome example of a case, I think we can adjust the blocks for each
Thank you for your attention!