The UI/UX of a real estate website is a crucial part of generating leads and turning those leads into customers. Suppose website visitors can easily navigate and interact with the website as a product. In that case, should they ever consider making a real estate investment, they are far more likely to use your services than your competitors.
UI (User Interface) is about the screen, buttons, icons, and visual elements. Essentially, UI is all about how your website looks.
UX (User Experience) is more about the entire interaction users have with your website. What do they leave your website having learned? How does it make them feel?
Why UI/UX of a real estate website is so important
There are several reasons why the UI/UX of a real estate website is so vital, but here are some of the reasons we have found most compelling.
- It creates a loyal pool of customers. If visitors like your website, they are more likely to return to it and go from website visitors to customers.
- It maximizes revenue and increases conversion rates. If a visitor has an easier time on your website, they are more likely to return as a customer as they will remember you as a real estate company that understands their needs. In the long run, they will likely spend more money with you.
- It allows you to optimize your resources. A user focus approach is vital for all websites; however, developing this can take time and be costly. But, with UI/UX, you can create a faster and more user-friendly approach than other methods.
- You can see insight from user engagement. Metrics allow you to see which buttons your visitors are pressing, enabling you to optimize their experience.
- Troubleshooting is improved. No matter how hard you try, errors will always crop up. But, with a well-designed UI/UX, developers can quickly stop these errors by removing unwanted features to improve efficiency.
5 Things to consider while creating UI/UX design for real estate
1. Design thinking about users first.
When designing your real estate website, or any other website, the critical question you always need to ask is, "What do users want?".
It can sometimes be tempting to create a website that shows off how much you know about the real estate market, but remember, this website is for getting new customers, not showing off your old ones.
One of the best ways to do this is to get your development team to collaborate with potential clients and get feedback from them at every stage of the development process. Ask potential clients what they like or don't like about the product or the intended product. Their feedback will help you create a website that more people will enjoy.
You can also collect accurate data from market research, including conducting surveys, interviews, brainstorming sessions, or even reading market research from other companies. All the data you collect must be safe, genuine, and honest.
Yes, customers will want to see pictures of your properties, but they also want essential information about them. Photos can be a great asset, but they can also be overused. Generally, users want the right balance of visuals to information, a situation where neither overpowers the other.
Other common ideas are listed below
- Use an interactive map so visitors can see your properties in their local area.
- Put the most relevant information somewhere visitors are most likely to see it.
- Portray yourself as an expert, but don't be show-off about it.
- Have separate dashboards for buyers and sellers.
- Implement a search engine.
2. Make it mobile-friendly.
Today, there are 6.37 billion smartphone users on the planet, meaning there are more smartphone users than non-smartphone users.
Therefore, when someone opens your website on their smartphone, whether via an app, or a browser, it needs to look clean and not overwhelming. We recommend testing compatibility to determine whether your mobile site meets the same standards as your regular website.
Think about what parts of the website are more important than others, and put that information at the top of the page. For example, most people are more likely to care about the price than the history. So put the price at the top.
In short, when you're focusing on UX design for real estate apps, always make sure to keep it as simple as possible.
3. Intuitive navigation.
Getting from the homepage to the page you want should be so easy that anyone who knows nothing about real estate can do it.
Make sure all the buttons are labeled clearly and use the most straightforward language possible. Do what you can to reduce the chances of making your visitors think, "I wonder what will happen if I click this button." Have a menu and search bar displayed at the top of the website and labeled efficiently.
One popular technique is to have a carousel on the homepage, which displays either the properties you think this user would be interested in (based on previously provided data) or properties with high engagement levels.
Instead of bombarding the user with lots of information, it will be better to provide them with the most basic and essential information, as well as a "find out more" button, which they can press if they want to.
Use the data from your research to find what information or features most customers are after and make those aspects easier to find. Rule of thumb; the more people want it, the easier it needs to be to find.
4. Convenient filters
Most real estate websites allow users to search for a property that suits them, as they can filter their searches by location, property size, location, or other potentially valuable data.
Make sure you understand what people like to filter their searches by; this might be different from other property websites if you have a niche. For example, someone on a historical property site will care more about the age of their property than someone on a student-centered property site.
You may wish to add an "advanced search" button for when a user wishes to be slightly more specific about what they want than an average user.
5. Top-Notch Photos
People want to know what it looks like when you're trying to sell a property. So, get the best possible photos that portray your properties as livable spaces that can also become fantastic investments.
Hiring a professional photographer and a picture editor is probably wise to get the best possible photographs.
Summary
All websites need to have the customer at their center. Because no matter how talented your developers may be, if the website leads to more customers, it is not serving its purpose. A UI/UX approach is best for ensuring all website visitors can easily navigate their way around your website and find the information they want.
Make sure to do plenty of research to determine what people look for in a real estate website, and use UI/UX to implement what you find.
