Customer Lifecycle :
10. Advocacy
In our series on the new build property development customer life cycle, we look at the impact of digital and how technology is changing the customer buying experience. We break down the customer journey and describe each step and how it may be supported using technology whether it is acquired or developed.
Beyond customer care
Developers generally lose touch with owners after the snagging period is complete. For many developers this removes their burden of having to provide support and allows them to focus on their next development.
For the owners, they now have to manage their home and handle maintenance and repairs on their own. Managing a home is complex and generally done in an ad-hoc way. Even the most organised owners will juggle paper filing systems, email folders, spreadsheets, diaries and address books. Other challenges include:
- Finding information when you need it most for example in an emergency like a burst pipe or a fire.
- Sharing information with a partner or spouse.
- Keeping track of important maintenance tasks or dates like home insurance or when warranties expire.
- Having easy access to contacts for emergencies (plumber, electrician, vet, dentist etc).
- Managing a household budget.
“A digital home assistant provides a valuable service beyond the handover and can therefore enhance a developers brand reputation and help to create advocacy.“ — Dharmesh Mistry
Digital home assistants
A digital home assistant is a platform that aims to resolve the challenges of managing a home. It takes the information developers typically provide in handovers, digitises it and provides a number of features that use the data to help the homeowner manage their property. A digital home assistant provides a valuable service beyond the handover and can therefore enhance a developers brand reputation and help to create advocacy throughout the tenure of the owner.
For example the AskHomey platform provides the owner with the following capabilities:
The goal of a digital assistant is to provide proactive support and automation based on data. This should benefits homeowners by:
- Reducing the time and effort it takes to manage the home.
- Reduce the cost of running a home.
- Improve the efficiency and efficacy of running a home.
Put simply, a digital assistant should make a homeowners life easier and better.
Digital assistants can be presented as apps or as conversational interfaces like a chat-bot or voice (e.g. Amazon Alexa or Google speakers).
Referral rewards
Some developers offer incentives for sales referrals and these are a great way to get “warm leads” as generally personal recommendations are not given lightly especially in large purchases like a home.
Customer testimonials are also valuable and need not be presented / captured as pure advocacy. Customer stories with interesting or unusual anecdotes can provide a more effective way of highlighting advocacy rather than a testimonial statement. These could be text articles or better still video.
Next up
In our final post of the series we take you through the solution stack for supporting your entire customer journey.
Originally published at https://askhomey.com on November 15, 2021.
