Home Builder Case Study

Marketing Challenges Facing a Regional Home Builder

Conversion Pipeline helped a large regional homebuilder decrease their Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) by 75%. A revamped digital marketing strategy along with website optimizations and enhanced conversion tracking helped the client achieve their best performing quarter in company history.

A South Eastern U.S. homebuilder was plagued by the seasonality of the home buying market, as well as the rising cost and decreasing effectiveness of print advertising. They were not effectively tracking their print or digital campaigns and could not justify marketing spend, with no CPA information or definitive ROI.

Goals and Strategies for Home Builder Marketing

The first step was to establish baseline metrics and target CPA. We worked with the client to create website and call tracking conversion goals and then implemented those goals as tracked metrics on the website.

We also optimized their website for better user experience, yielding higher conversions with new landing pages optimized for search and advertising campaigns and additional clear calls to action. Conversion Pipeline improved the home builder’s quality assurance practices and developed better market intelligence by adding call tracking to their website and all print materials. This allowed them to evaluate both their offline and online campaigns and establish a more accurate ROI. Since many prospective home buyers prefer to call with their inquiries, this was a huge gain in understanding prospective purchaser needs and questions.

Once tracking was in place, we evaluated website traffic sources and overall conversion data. The data demonstrated that print was a higher cost, lower converting solution than digital advertising.

Return on Investment for Home Builder Marketing

Based on transparent analytics and accurate conversion goal tracking, the decision to shift budget away from print advertising was easy. The budgets were re-allocated to digital marketing strategies including content marketing, behavioral targeting, remarketing, social media lookalike audiences, lead generation forms, Google AdWords, Bing ads, and more.

The client had the best revenue quarter in company history after working with Conversion Pipeline, even in a month that was traditionally slower in business.

Within just a few months of implementing the new digital strategy, Conversion Pipeline decreased the client’s average CPA by 75%. Originally, CPA was upward of $600. Our adjustments decreased CPA around $150 (nonbranded) by using effective targeting methods and ad placements across digital media. By consistently monitoring and optimizing campaign performance, Conversion Pipeline identified high performing keywords, ad placements, and audiences to maximize ROI.