For well over 6 months now I have been unsuccessfully looking for a property in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The search is proving difficult mainly due to the fact that we are looking for something very unique, but at the end of the day we are not in a hurry and very happy to wait for the right property to come along.
My quest for the perfect property, whilst at times frustrating, has allowed me to look at hundreds and hundreds of properties and I must say it has been incredibly interesting to see how different real estate agencies go about marketing their property listings online.
Purchasing property is an extremely emotive experience and the presentation quality of each listing impacts directly on your initial impression. It surprises me that the amount of effort directed towards marketing can be vastly different from agent to agent. If any agent believes that they can get away with just throwing up a couple of photos taken on their mobile phone obviously hasn’t heard how easy it is to hit the back button.
Properties that present well online have the following traits:
Lots of Professional Photography — As far as I am concerned the more photos that you can place on a property listing the better. As a potential purchaser I want to see each bedroom, the bathroom, kitchen, the backyard, living area etc etc. If a listing has insufficient photos I am automatically thinking there must be something wrong if they are not showing it.
A lot of agents still believe in an old school misconception that by not showing a lot of photos they will be able to encourage a potential purchaser to call them to arrange an inspection.
Another agent misconception is that the more photos that you show the more chance there is that a purchaser will find something they dislike. Surely they don’t think that people are this naive! If there is some aspect of the property that I am going to dislike I would sooner find out from looking at a photo rather than giving up a Saturday morning to do an inspection on a property that was never going to be suitable.
A Well Written Property Description — tell me what is included, highlighting the features and nearby attractions that are going to make my life better if I were to buy this property. Purchasing property is an emotional exercise and the sales copy needs to tap in to these emotions. For example, rather than saying that property has ocean views you could paint a picture of feeling the cool sea breeze on your face as you stand on your balcony overlooking the ocean on a hot summer afternoon.
Clear and Accurate Floorplans — this is where so many agents get it wrong. Spend the money and make sure that a clear floor plan is part of the listing (not a dirty photo copy of a piece of paper).
Location Maps — thank God for Google maps! Fortunately all of the major Australian property portals have Google maps integrated. I am able to use the map to see where the property is located and what amenities and attractions are nearby… How did we get by years ago!
Video of the Property — at this stage there are not too many agents using video. Those who are are doing a pretty good job and in my opinion it is well worth the effort. It is definitely a strong point of difference.
Sales Information — surprisingly many of us really don’t want to speak to a sales agent before looking at property, therefore it is important to include information about the address, open house times, auction dates, price guides, council rates etc.
So what does this have to do with your online store?
Hopefully you can translate my experience looking at property into what your customers are experiencing when looking at your product pages.Whether you are selling a $3 million property or a pair of shoes for $150 at the end of the day you are still selling a product and have a job to do to convince customers that what you have got is exactly what they need.
How much effort are you putting into preparing your product pages?
I have always been a fan of the way Apple put together their product pages and I believe that anybody selling anything online should spend some time studying how they go about online product presentation. They present you with a mix of crystal clear photography, video demonstrations, customer centric product descriptions, technical specifications, customer reviews etc etc. Their sole objective is to provide an answer to everything that a potential customer would want to know and start building on the experience of owning an Apple product.
Do yourself a favour, place yourself in the shoes of your target customers and critically examine your product information. Remember the back button is only one click away to your competition.
No related posts. Image Credit: Joseph Gray
