6 reservations before the showhome opened.
At Cotton Green, the buyer journey didn’t begin when the sales centre opened. Hive Homes launched digitally first, giving buyers the opportunity to explore, understand and engage before arriving onsite.
For most new developments, the showhome is a big moment.
It’s where buyers can finally step inside, experience the space and start picturing themselves living there.
But at Cotton Green, Hive Homes didn’t wait for the showhome to start creating that understanding.
Their buyer journey started online.
Ahead of the physical launch, buyers could already begin exploring Cotton Green digitally.
An Active Siteplan helped them understand the development, individual plots and availability. Virtual Walkarounds gave them a better sense of the streets and surroundings, while Flythrough Animation brought the development to life before it existed in the real world.
Rather than asking buyers to enquire with limited information, the digital launch gave them the opportunity to understand much more before they ever arrived onsite.
The digital experience didn’t stop when buyers arrived onsite.
Hive Homes brought that same experience into the sales centre.
Using tablets, sales advisors could explore the development alongside buyers, revisit plots and housetypes and continue the conversation they’d already started online.
Buyers weren’t starting again when they walked through the door.
Online discovery became an informed sales conversation.
Crucially, buyers didn’t need to wait for the showhome to open before they could start making decisions.
The result was six reservations in the first week, before the showhome had opened its doors.
For sales and marketing teams, there’s an important point here. Your website doesn’t just have to generate an enquiry. Done well, it can help create a better-informed enquiry.
And the digital journey doesn’t end at reservation.
Cotton Green also marked another step in Hive Homes’ digital journey with My Hive, its new customer portal.
Once a customer reserves, My Hive creates clear milestones for the journey ahead, giving buyers one place to follow their purchase and access the information they need as their new home progresses.
Behind the scenes, it also helps automate some of the repetitive admin that can take up a sales advisor’s time.
For the sales team, that means less time spent on repetitive admin and more time supporting customers through their purchase.
What makes Cotton Green interesting isn’t one individual piece of technology. It’s how the experience connects.
One connected buyer journey
For housebuilders looking to sell earlier, generate better-informed leads and support increasingly busy sales teams, perhaps that’s the bigger opportunity.
