As technology and digital capability grow in our current digital landscape, so do users’ expectations of how a website should look, act, and function. And real estate websites, it seems, are no exception.
As many real estate agencies begin to adopt new technologies to track leads and manage data, they face new challenges associated with poorly executed UX practices. Customer Relationship Management systems, personal agent websites, and showing/open house softwares were among the technologies that agents were most dissatisfied with, according to a 2021 survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors about real estate technology.
One reason for this: the failure to incorporate better user experience design into such modalities. So what is UX design, and how can this benefit the real estate industry, specifically those looking to build a website?
What is UX Design?
UX, or user experience, design informs a user’s experience interacting with a digital product. UX seeks to provide a positive experience for a user, meaning they can accomplish their end goal with the least amount of frustration possible—be it finding a product, putting that item in their cart, and checking out or navigating from the home page to a contact form to get more information.
Why is it so important? We’re glad you asked.
Why is UX Design Important for Real Estate Websites?
Let’s take a look at some of the top benefits UX promises to provide for real estate businesses.
1. A Good User Experience Enhances Credibility
UX design is a relatively new field that seeks to enhance navigating digital spaces by creating intuitive, easy-to-understand user interactions. In other words, it’s similar to graphic design but emphasizes utility over purely aesthetic elements. Good UX design makes a website simple to navigate and provides a frustration-free experience for the user.
In real estate, many smaller agencies still prefer to use pre-existing, basic website templates to create their websites. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, if it’s done without considering UX principles, it can diminish a client’s perception of their website’s authority.
Ultimately, the better the experience of navigating your website for a user, the more likely they will view your site as credible and trustworthy.
2. UX Helps Retain Higher Conversion Rates
This brings us to our next point: if the quality and consistency of your site’s visuals, navigation, and site architecture don’t live up to a customer’s perceived expectations, then the more likely they are to navigate away from your site and onto someone else’s that has a better UX design.
Simply put, a good website design and an investment in UX lead to higher lead retention. Your website should carefully craft, test, and implement features such as newsletter sign-up buttons, chatbots, interest forms, and contact information to maximize lead generations and turn them into customer conversions.
3. Good User Experience Increases SEO Visibility
While increased navigability and well-designed page elements can expand your visitors’ length of stay on your website, SEO visibility is the key factor to ensuring they land on your page in the first place. By focusing on increasing your search engine rankings, UX design works to organically grow your reach through various elements such as keyword ranking, site infrastructure design, metatags, and user engagement statistics.
4. Looks Ahead into the Future of UX Design in Real Estate
Property technology remains an essential factor in the real estate industry, whether for buyers, agents, architects, or sellers.
As augmented reality and virtual reality continue to disrupt the technological landscape, many real estate agents have begun to see the value in utilizing these tools to stage empty houses with virtual furniture and give users virtual home tours. Expect UX design to seek seamless ways to integrate VR/AR into real estate websites in the coming years.
Final Thoughts
While many real estate agents believe that the quality of their services should come before design, for prospective clients, good design directly equates to the quality of an agent’s services. Your website is your brand, your image, and a platform for connecting with the leads that matter most—and turning them into high-quality conversions. UX design aims to translate your company’s founding pillars into a language internet users can understand.
Are you ready to see what great UX design can do for your real estate business? Let’s chat—we’d love to elevate your website to its true potential.
