When speaking about our Builder Intelligence Platform, we usually discuss the power of our AI algorithm and machine learning, but this week, we’re shedding some light on another fundamental pillar- geospatial data and technology. Geospatial technology describes the tools used to acquire data that is referenced to the earth, and use it for analysis, modeling, simulations, and visualization. Put simply, this means utilizing location-based data to gain market insights. Historically, this sophisticated tech was once exclusive to highly specialized industries and held under tight lock and key. When we began developing our platform, we recognized the capabilities of geospatial technology and the impact it could have on the home building industry. It was with the support of TECTERRA, a local geospatial technology innovation support center, that we have made this tech available to home builders. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with TECTERRA, to discuss our use of this technology and how it has influenced the future of our platform.
HOW OPENHOUSE.AI LEVERAGES GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY
Geospatial and location-based technology are woven throughout our platform, providing insight for not only home builders but also buyers. As home buyers are shopping online, geospatial technology is used to add geographic context to a community, like outlining school zones that are close by. Also, within our business intelligence dashboard, home builders have access to real-time, market-specific data. By leveraging geospatial technology, our platform offers home builders a customizable heat map that delivers insights into any geographic region of their market. By understanding your home buyers and where they come from, you can develop more insight into their unique preferences, needs, and motivations when purchasing a home. Our technology is right on time for the home building industry, as market needs and home buyers’ preferences are changing at rapid speed.
As we all know, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs of the market changed dramatically in just a matter of months. During this time, many home builders lacked the real-time data required to keep up and adapt quickly to changing market conditions. In combination with home buyers’ needs fluctuating, Google and Facebook also banned geo-targeted advertising in the housing industry. By pulling this means of targeting, advertising for home builders became much more challenging. By using our technology, home builders can now tap into their data sources, allowing them to accurately curate content specific to their unique market through anonymized data. Home builders can now create ‘segments’ for the potential home buyers on their websites and understand the entirety of each home buyer’s path to purchase.
GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE HOME BUYING JOURNEY
When developing our platform, we have identified a ‘dark space’ in the home buying journey. This ‘dark space’ is found between a home buyer first starting their search online and connecting with the home builder’s sales team. Traditionally, builders had to rely on a point of conversion to have any insight into who their home buyers are and where they’re coming from. However, by utilizing behavioral and location-based data, our technology is illuminating this part of the journey. With the help of our technology, our home builder clients are much better equipped to understand who their buyers are on a much greater scale. We all know the timeless quote in real estate- “Location! Location! Location!”, and it still rings true today for home buyers in every market. So, when location-based data is brought into the mix, we have found high levels of accuracy with buying patterns.
The use of geospatial data improves the power of our algorithms, to better understand home buyers, and help them find the right home, faster! By effectively pairing location and behavioral data to offer personalized content on a home builder’s website, we have increased average online conversion rates from 0.85% to 1.24% and decreased the average home buying cycle from 15 to 13 days.
SUMMARY
Although geospatial technology was once exclusive to only the most technical of industries, it is our mission to break down these barriers. By offering the OpenHouse.ai platform as an easy integration, no-code plug-in, we are democratizing this technology and making it accessible for the home building industry. The ultimate combination of behavioral and location-based data provides the market insights that builders have desperately been missing. With the ongoing support of organizations like TECTERRA, we can bring this technology to the hands of builders to ultimately improve the customer experience for each unique home buyer. We want to take this opportunity to thank TECTERRA for recognizing us as a leader in geospatial and machine learning technology, and we are excited for future developments of our technology.
– The OpenHouse.ai Team
