Month to month iBuildNew generates anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 leads for its member builders and land developers. While members are paying for more than leads by virtue of the extensive online and offline branding and exposure the platform provides to a targeted audience of over 80,000 home buyers each month, ultimately its the direct sales that clients are most interested in. So how does the lead quality from iBuildNew stack up?
Firstly, it needs to be acknowledged that sales outcomes from leads are a function of two key factors – one is the quality of the lead, but even more importantly, is the quality of the lead management. Lead management is a broad term, but simply this is referring to the systems being used to store and track the lead, the processes established to follow up and engage the lead, the people involved in making first and subsequent contact with the lead, and the processes and technology used to nurture the lead. If all these things are working well, you get results in the form of sales, but if they’re not then you will struggle to get consistent results regardless of the lead source and quality of the initial lead.
So how does iBuildNew know what happens to the leads they generate for their listed builders and land developers? At iBuildNew we take customer service very seriously, so we have a role dedicated to running continuous phone surveys. These calls are to ensure that within 3-4 days the client has heard from the builder or developer they were referred to (hopefully same day), but to also see how they have progressed after a 3-4 month period. On a monthly basis, we consolidate this data and feedback, and where appropriate share this with our members. This is what we have learnt from the last 18 months of surveys:
- 33% of buyers referred go onto commit to a purchase (of land and/or a build) within a 3-4 month period from the referral;
- 12% of buyers referred are still in discussions with builders and developers with intent to commit to a purchase, but still undecided at the 3-4 month mark;
- 16% of buyers referred have cancelled their plans to build altogether due to a change in mind or a change in circumstances during that 3-4 month period;
- 22% of buyers referred have put their build plans on hold for now and unlikely to commit within the next 6 months, but remain open to building after a 12 month period;
- 8% of buyers have bought established after better evaluating the new build option, or they found their perfect home so decided they didn’t need to build;
- 5% couldn’t find anything suitable to match their needs and either remain in the market or are considering other options; and
- 4% of potential buyers were never contacted at all, despite their enquiry and most likely follow up support provided by iBuildNew – which although relatively low still amazes us!
Of the 12% that remain in discussion with builders and developers after a 3-4 month period, a good number of those will go onto purchase a house and land package or land in the subsequent 3-6 months. We therefore believe that around 40% of the leads stemming from iBuildNew go onto buy new property through a builder or land developer, and in fact may be as high as 50% when you factor in a percentage of those that have put their plans on hold for now at the 3-4 month mark but remain likely to build on a 12 month plus time horizon.
SOURCE: Consolidated iBuildNew survey results for the period January to September 2018.
However, this doesn’t mean that iBuildNew leads convert at the rate of 40-50% for all member builders and developers. What it indicates is that if you are managing leads really well with good systems, processes and people, with the right product and price offering, you will get really strong results by being listed with iBuildNew.
Further to the above, it needs to be kept in mind that only 2-3% of the site users that iBuildNew have each month get referred to builders and land developers. Our user testing, site monitoring and focus group research have demonstrated that the majority of buyers use the iBuildNew platform as a research tool to create their short list – and from that often go direct to builders or developers websites, or make contact direct by phone or through a display. While difficult to track, this is where a large part of the value lies being a listed on iBuildNew.com.au, over and above the referrals, you will receive that can be converted at a very high rate as discussed above.
For more information about being listed on iBuildNew visit https://www.ibuildnew.com.au/list-as-member, or if you are interested in learning more about our house and land packaging and publishing platform, Halper, visit https://www.ibuildnew.com.au/halper.
Daniel Peterson
Daniel is CEO of iBuildNew, after building 3 homes himself including dual villas in Bali he has plenty of personal experiences that makes him a strong advocate for the new home building industry.
1800 184 284
