For Eastwood Homes, a self-guided tour often starts with something remarkably simple: a sign in the front yard.
The builder partnered with its signage provider to place UTour QR codes throughout its communities, giving shoppers who are already on site an immediate way to step inside and explore available homes. And shoppers are using them.
We spoke with Tara Whiteley, Digital and Marketing Manager at Eastwood Homes, and Amanda Mohl, Online Sales Manager, about how self-guided touring has become part of Eastwood’s broader sales and marketing strategy. This interview has been edited for space and clarity.
Q: What originally brought Eastwood Homes to UTour?
Whiteley: We had sales managers in our divisions asking to go on UTour. We started with Charlotte and Triad, which is our Greensboro market, and they went all in right from the start. We saw positive outcomes from the very beginning, so then we started bringing on the rest of our divisions. We now have nine out of 10 divisions on UTour, and the tenth will be coming online.
Mohl: Initially, there was interest in catching people after hours and on days when sales offices were closed. It was really about asking what opportunities we might be missing when a model home wasn’t staffed.
Q: What told you UTour was working?
Mohl: This year, we’ve had 448 leads where UTour was their first source and means of contact with us. From those leads, we had 444 kept appointments and 23 sales.
And that is only counting people who first came to us through UTour. We also see customers who are already talking with a new home specialist, self-tour a home and then go under contract. In those cases, UTour is working in the middle of the process rather than as the first source.
Q: How does UTour fit into the broader buyer journey?
Whiteley: I think it’s part of our overall marketing mix. Someone may already be a lead with Amanda’s team, receive our emails or follow us on social media, and then use UTour later in their journey. So the number of people under contract who have used UTour at some point could actually be higher than those first-source sales numbers.
Q: Why do you think buyers are choosing to self-tour?
Whiteley: Especially in this market, people are taking longer and really trying to make sure they’re making the right decision. Having the freedom to tour a home, really look at the quality, maybe bring their father or mother along and ask what they think of the layout, and have that time without a salesperson there gives people an opportunity to feel more comfortable with their decision.
Mohl: We see a lot of UTours happening in communities where the model is open and we do have a community specialist there, but the buyer isn’t interested in going into the model home to speak with someone yet. There are people who aren’t ready to talk to a salesperson until they’ve seen a home and know they like the product. After they walk through the home, they’re more willing to talk to a specialist.
Q: How are shoppers finding the self-tour option?
Whiteley: That signage is our biggest source of UTour traffic.
In a snapshot for this month, 54 of 75 tours, or 72%, originated from QR codes, showing how frequently shoppers were discovering the option once they were already at the community.
Q: Where has UTour been especially valuable operationally?
Mohl: We’re using UTour on homes in communities where we don’t have an agent, where we’re possibly closing out. We have just a couple of homes remaining that would otherwise go unmanned and we wouldn’t have anyone there to catch that traffic. So that’s been really useful and beneficial.
