HomeViews recorded its highest traffic levels to date in May, with property buyers and tenants turning to verified resident reviews and other online tools as they adapt to the ‘new normal.’
May saw an increase in organic visitors to the HomeViews site of more than 100% compared with the Q4 2019 average. Average time on page remains high at over 3 minutes, and more than 4 minutes for development pages.
The need for HomeViews
HomeViews user Marsha recently described to us how she had chosen her new rental home solely based on video viewings and HomeViews reviews. She was able to choose her new home in a Fizzy Living build to rent development without having seen the property in person:
“Nowadays we’re a society that loves to read a review before we do anything,” she explained. “So, with a bigger expense such as buying or renting I would say HomeViews really is invaluable. It was so easy for me to make this decision because I was able to hear from real people.”
(Read Marsha’s full story here.)
Site upgrades
Having considered customers’ new requirements post-Covid-19, and following visitor activity analysis on the site, HomeViews has completed a range of site upgrades to improve the user experience.
These include video viewings for listings on selected development pages, as well as virtual tours and brand videos to support online discovery for consumers. Improvements to both the mobile and desktop UX of the site have also been made.
These upgrades have been very successful, with visitors to updated pages spending significantly more time on the site. Bounce rate on the site has also been reduced by 15% since the changes were made.
“We’re delighted to see more and more people benefitting from HomeViews reviews and using them to find new homes,” commented Rory Cramer, CEO and co-founder of HomeViews.
“We’re also excited to see ever-increasing engagement with developers, in particular the build to rent sector, as we seek to help raise standards across the property industry with in-depth reviews and detailed insights for our partners,” he added.
HomeViews provides verified resident reviews of the UK’s housing developments. We’re working with developers, landlords and the Government to recognise high performers and help to improve standards in the built environment.
