In the time it takes you to read this sentence, an online user has already formed an impression of a listing. The data shows that online users take less than two-tenths of a second to form a first impression1.
“The real estate industry was already a digital world, but the pandemic accelerated a sea-change where online appeal is the new curb appeal,” said Nir Betan, Chief Strategy Officer at Studeo. “And it happens faster than you can imagine.”
Whether you’re talking about attracting buyers to your listings or sellers to your landing pages, what agents show prospects in those first precious few seconds of their experience online solidifies their expectations and immediately establishes your value.
“But looking at what most brokers and agents put out online, what do we actually see?” asks Betan. “Endless identical virtual tours, single property websites, videos, 3D tours, social media posts and listing data clutters what most agents show their audiences. Isn’t real estate supposed to be all about lifestyle, the emotional aspects of a home, and its community experience?”
The disintegration of media is what inspired Studeo’s interactive storytelling platform. It takes all the different kinds of media already being captured—like photography, video, 3D tours, google streetview and more—and weaves them together into a single, integrated editorial-style story.
Tap into an instant and emotional response
Betan and the Studeo team envision a whole new way of sharing listing, neighborhood and community information: wrapping it all together in a digital storybook. “What if you could actually help a buyer feel the features of a home? Unlike the more conventional way of quickly glossing over the features of a home online, they can interact emotionally with it, experiencing the full picture of the lifestyle it has to offer… to see, hear and feel the full story of living in it in a way that reflects their deeper values while exploring the surrounding community. It changes the communication from focusing on descriptions to the actual meaning behind living somewhere.”
Research shows that a consumer’s emotional response to an ad has a greater influence on their decision to buy than the content. As a Realtor, creating this kind of experience acts as an undeniable differentiator. In only a few seconds, it establishes an immediate emotional connection that engineers preference with your online audience. Instead of bouncing right off, you now have their attention.
Bring the ‘story’ of your listing to life
Studeo’s Interactive Storytelling Platform For Top Agents & Brokers
Different types of media, from video to 3D tours to photography, are already widely used in real estate. What interactive storytelling does is re-package that content differently, with text and visuals that work together as a linear narrative, so that the meaning behind it, the story, emerges and is understood at a deeper level. Simply designing it this way lends to even further creativity with other types of media, like cinemagraphs (moving moments in time), sound, and other types of interactivity.
The beauty of this strategy is its equity, working just as well in a lower-priced housing category as it does in the luxury space. It even applies to neighborhoods and listing presentations as much as to individual properties. That’s because while markets may change, the fundamental needs of our customers don’t.
“All of our leads and prospects are human beings, and storytelling is a universally proven strategy that works on just about everyone— regardless of background, which is why it’s poised to become the marketing strategy of the future,” said Betan
Learn more about interactive storytelling with Studeo today.
1Source: Eye-tracking studies: first impressions form quickly on the web, Missouri University of Science and Technology