Track2Realty Survey: In this mismatch of segmentation, actual buyers are neglected in holistic branding of the company. However, it is the consumers who play a huge role in determining the credibility of a brand. It is not just the word of mouth publicity, or the lack of it, that is the reason to keep the promise to the customers; rather it also saves money to do crisis management against the negative campaign.
More than eight out of ten, 84 per cent, of the second time home buyers are not ready to buy the apartment with the same developer. Real estate companies that glorify their word of mouth publicity or the experiential marketing must take cognizance of this if they are really conscious of their brand reputation.
Additionally, this study noted that the trust deficit with the brand is so high in the sector that real estate professionals themselves don’t buy the flats of the developer with whom they work. This includes the sales team of the developer as well. The study among the employees of top 40 real estate companies in the given 20 cities found that nearly seven out of ten, as many as 68 per cent, of the real estate professionals have themselves bought the flats from other developers on referrals.
As far as top-of-the-mind recall value is concerned, home buyers could easily name the real estate companies whom they felt as the brands, but could hardly recall their projects. While 80 per cent of the buyers easily rated the companies in terms of their understanding about them as ‘brand’ based on their perception of ‘brands’, not even half of them could recall more than 4 projects of each developer.
This is as much a reality with the national players as with the local developers. It is a reminder call for the real estate sector, especially since most of the advertising budget is spent on the project branding during the recent slowdown, and very less on the corporate branding.
From where do the home buyers get information about the dream home that they wish to buy? Here again it seems the real estate branding and advertising is directionless as the community character of the Indian buyers has been the primary reason to bring buyer to the developer. Nearly seven out of ten, no less than 66 per cent, prefer to buy through the common contacts’ reference where their own community (social/professional) has already bought it. This trend is as much visible among the first time buyers as with the repeat buyers.
For a developer, a broker or real estate agent may be an important cog in the marketing wheel, but for an average Indian home buyer he is just a medium to get to the desired destination. More than eight out of ten, 82 per cent, home buyers go to a broker only when they have sorted out the locality and the few projects on offer in the given location.
Branding of the broker has no real value with nearly all, as many as 88 per cent, not bothered about his clout per se. What matters to the home buyers, reasons why brokers are not out of the business for the home seekers is the kind of discount and freebies that they can offer, as against dealing directly with the builder. But brokers really lack on the trust quotient of the home buyers as three fourth of the home buyers, 75 per cent, find them misleading for reasons more than one.
Internet stands out as the second most important source of information for the home buyers. Nearly eight out of ten, 78 per cent, go for online search and a real estate agent or broker comes into the picture only when they have already short listed the few properties. For many of the grassroots companies, this is a point of philosophical departure from traditional marketing, which instead encourages real estate professionals to spend their marketing budget towards building their own brand and reputation as far and wide as possible.
However, buyers are smarter than the developers in the use of technology and howsoever the real estate companies may try to control their negative buyers through Online Reputation Management (ORM) or the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of their positive news, buyers’ online search is in-depth not only for information about the location and the project offering but also the reputation of the developers.
Nearly all internet savvy home buyers maintain, as many as 92 per cent, they would avoid a project where the existing customers are harassed by the developers or if there is a legal issue between the two sides.
…to be continued
