From Click to Key
Creating an online home design and purchase experience.
Context
In the winter of 2020, our team was approached by the largest builder of manufactured and modular homes in the US to help them design a virtual home buying experience that would help users navigate the complexities of the home design-build process. With COVID in full swing, it was imperative for our client to deliver a virtual sales experience that was clear, engaging, and easy to navigate.
Up to this point, the sales process was done almost entirely in person. Creating a virtual sales experience was not just a "nice-to-have", it was imperative to keep business moving forward amidst a threatening pandemic and a booming housing market.
Services
User Insights
Service Design
User Experience Design
Methods
Stakeholder Interviews
Journey Mapping
Service Blueprint
Storyboarding
Insights
At the onset of this project, the client was very focused on improving the employee sales experience, concentrating on quoting, the sales processes, and supporting technology. This "inside-out" point of view is a great starting point, but by expanding the discovery process to also include the customer's "outside-in" point of view, we were able to look beyond codifying the existing sales process for opportunities to innovate. By including the customer as well as other key stakeholders, we identified opportunities that helped us accomplish our ultimate goal, "to create a simplified, innovative sales experience".
Here are some of our key insights from the field:
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The initial customer discovery process is the most time consuming for home consultants. Many customers come to the home center with very little knowledge of the design, financing, and construction processes. Home consultants need a way to quickly get the customer up the learning curve and find if they are a good fit.
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A common occurrence in the sales process is that the home consultants, who are at the center of the sales process, find themselves in the dark. Waiting for information from the customer, updates from loan officers, reports from the construction site, the home consultant may be lacking answers when they need them most.
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Guiding the purchase process is more than just good communication upfront. A lot happens between deciding on a home and actually moving in: acquiring land, managing the construction process, and securing financing. We need a way to seamlessly keep the customer informed and put them at ease so that the home consultant's phone isn't ringing off the hook!
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Many of our client's customers are first time homebuyers and lacked knowledge of the home buying, building, and financing processes. As a result, sales often can be lost not because it's a bad deal, but because of the emotional level of confusion, stress, and embarrassment experienced by the customer. We need a way to empower the home consultants to be educators and counselors as well as sales reps.
Solution
After multiple home center visits, observing the home design and purchase process in person, we identified the most critical gaps in the current home buying experience. We aligned on 3 key solution requirements to drive our design direction: quickly identify a product-customer fit, provide on-demand system guidance, make loan processing more collaborative. With this as our guiding light, here are the key solution features of the digital home buying platform.
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In creating a virtual home design-build experience, we needed to start with building a command center. The Dashboard is the main hub for customers to design their home, plan the install, and communicate with their home consultant every step of the way. Finally, the customer has instant visibility into where they are in the process!
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One of our key design principles was to give customers a sense of ownership and control from the beginning of the sales journey. By creating a guided planning tool, we accomplished this in addition to giving home consultants a jump-start on the process of evaluating customer fit.
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Financing is one of the clearest pain points not only for the customer but also for the home consultant. There are so many options for financing and each route contains multiple steps to get the loan approved. The Loan Hub gives the customer and home consultant clear visibility of the loan process and who is responsible for the next steps in the approval process.
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Home consultants needed a way to quickly configure deals with the many options and moving parts of home selection, site selection, financing, etc. The Deal Configurator gives the consultant access to accurate inventory information, up to date pricing models, and the ability to create options to present to the home buyer to meet their evolving needs.
Impact
After releasing this suite of solutions, both home consultants and customers alike gave rave reviews of the virtual tools available for navigating home buying process.
Our client sustained 20% year over year growth for the following 3 years and continues to hold a clear market leadership position. Investing in deeply understanding the needs of customers and employees on the front lines has paid great dividends to our client, and we hope that trend continues for years to come!
