UX Strategy
as part of Blufish Design Studio
Responsive Web
2016 - 2018
South Cove is an up-scale residential community comprised of 168 flats, townhomes and twin homes just steps from Doheny State Beach in Dana Point.
The developer of South Cove hired my agency to launch a unique website for the community; one that would promote the brand, raise awareness about the community, highlight the portfolio of residences, and ultimately grow the interest list and identify qualified buyers.
This case explores the redesign of
web pages based on empirical data gathered from teaser campaign to full product launch.
South Cove's marketing efforts began long before construction was complete, including a responsive website, launched almost two years before the community opened.
The initial web design was meant to build interest and have users sign up to receive more information until the community and residences were completed. Additionally, based on previous market research and buyer trends, it was anticipated that a high volume of buyers in this price point would be working directly with real estate brokers. That meant, the users would likely have the brokers vet the community offerings for them and not use the website themselves, as a traditional sales tool. Because of this historical data, the site's content was not overly robust, and most of the calls-to-action led users to contacting South Cove's sales team directly.
South Cove’s 168 units, spread among 34 buildings, included three variations of product type – flats, townhomes and twin homes – within 15 unique floorplans. In an effort to elevate the community’s brand and appeal to an affluent buyer profile, each plan type was assigned a coastal-related name: flats became Aliso, townhomes became Trestles and twin homes became Strands.
The Residences page of the website was initially designed with widgets relevant to each product type. The user could expand each to view more information about that specific product type, view a sample plan and renderings, and read a listing of offerings, or home specs, within that product type.
Web traffic proved higher than expected during the construction phase of the community, and South Cove was able to capitalize on the buzz of being the first new development in the area in over 25 years. During pre-sales and prior to the community grand opening, six homes had already sold. It was anticipated that web traffic would remain high after South Cove opened and these unexpected web users would start converting to buyers.
As we continued to analyze the site's performance once the community was open, the following issues were identified:
Decrease in page visits and conversions – The month after the community opened, there was a significant drop off in web traffic and conversions, specifically on the Residences page and interest list sign-ups, based on our monthly tracking using Google Analytics. There were no additional homes sold during this time.
Confusion among buyers – Over the next two months, several users were interviewed – mostly potential buyers visiting the on-site sales office or those who had called in inquiring about the community. Participants were asked if they had toured the community, visited the website and their impressions of both. Many users reported coming to the community, touring the model homes, then visiting the website again at a later time to refresh their memory but having an unpleasant experience when doing so.
Insights from these interviews revealed:
Updates to the Residences page widgets were soon implemented, based on the insights gathered during the user interviews. Across the three product types, each plan was clearly showcased and users could toggle between viewing renderings and seeing each residence's specific floorplan, including all levels.
While the updated widget designs were answering the needs of the users as interviewed, the results did not reflect increased web traffic or conversions. It was determined that a more involved redesign might be necessary to alleviate confusion and improve the overall user experience of the page.
Working with the updated widget design, as well as an entirely new page design, usability tests were performed in the sales office. With five potential buyers, we A/B tested between the two designs and found that users preferred the new page layout.
The changes featured on the new Residences page included:
Removing the widgets – A card-style layout was implemented to represent every unique floorplan within the community, which ultimately led to fewer clicks, less confusion and more scanability. The cards were simplified and only showed the high-level plan specs instead of every home detail. Additionally, buttons for viewing the floorplan and available homes were included, in which a user could click for more information if they chose to.
Reworking the information – While the product descriptions were kept, they were separated from the plans themselves and placed as more of a quick-guide for buyers at the top of the page. This helped users move through the content more quickly, without getting confused or overwhelmed by too much information. Model homes were also indicated by labeling the specific cards with an orange star.
Faceted search feature – To allow users to quickly sort through or filter out only the homes they wished to see, a sidebar with filters was included.
New page added – A new Available Homes page was added to provide a complete listing of the community’s existing inventory of homes. Because of the community's construction being spread out over 10 phases, this page allowed users to understand if the current phase had any of the plan type they preferred, if they were already sold out, or if there were any more to be released in future phases.
After completing this two-month research and redesign period, a significant improvement to user activity was recorded. From the initial six minutes users were spending on the page prior to the grand opening of South Cove, that average dropped to less than 40 seconds after the community opened. Upon implementing the design changes discussed in this study, the time on page increased to about four and a half minutes and interest-list form completions grew by 22%. Sales also increased, with 13 homes going into contract the month after these changes were implemented.
