Lockdown has pushed most industries to go the digital route when it comes to customer interactions. This trend has trickled into the real estate sector where more companies are encouraging customers to take virtual tours and even complete bookings online. The online trend is one strategy that the market is banking on heavily in order to revive interest in buyers and also to reach a larger market.
New age buyers are doing their first process of choosing, elimination and even decision making based on information available online before getting in touch with the real estate developers. With COVID-19 making site visits and office visits impossible for most, customers are opting for the digital route to search for residential properties and developers have come up with innovative ways to engage them online.
There are drone site photos and videos, Virtual reality tours of the property, webinars, presentations and even 3D walkthrough videos. Apart from these social media is also playing an important role in initial engagement with customers and building the sales funnel. Blog reviews are playing a major role in customer decisions and many are influenced by negative reviews about a particular property.
Online and offline experience are an important part of a real estate sale and with stronger technology coming into place there is more push on builders to provide exact dimensions, multiple views and accurate images of the property instead of just aesthetic visuals.
Today home fests that usually meant large convention halls with hundred of developers and thousands of buyers are now moving online with virtual home fests, offering a range of properties for customers to view, interact and finalize. Loan applications and documentation has been digitalized with many options to submit documents online being offered by financial partners. The COVID crisis has also increased interest in home buyers who want to have the security of owning a home instead of living in rental premises hence there is a revival of interest from customers in certain sectors. The lower interest rates are also a driving factor and with everything going virtual, customers are more than happy to complete their purchase online itself
