As Helmut Maucher, former chairman of Nestle, said in his book Leadership in Action, “It is imperative that the actual situation of a company, its products, and its mode of operating, correspond to the information being disseminated.” This is the most profound learning that continues to guide the business leadership; aligning marketing communication with the brand’s essence and the brand experience. However, something so simple is so rare to find speaking of the real estate industry.

Customer experience refers to the quality of interaction that a customer has with a brand at its various touch points. These touchpoints start with the customer’s awareness of the brand, which could further lead him to consider it as an option and then finally purchase it. This is followed by the post-purchase experience and customer engagement. A great customer experience is the key to customer loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing. Organizations invest in technology to enhance customer experience during the initial stages of the customer journey. To overcome the clutter and forge meaningful connections with their consumers, brands are increasingly turning to experiential marketing.

Artificial intelligence creates immersive experiences at the consideration stage, prompting direct consumer engagement. By engaging the senses, emotions, and intellect of individuals, brands can foster meaningful confluence of brand loyalty and direct conversions. At the purchase stage, the customer receives royal treatment and handholding. Surprisingly the subsequent and final stage of the customer journey, the post-purchase stage is completely ignored in the case of the realty sector. The association with customers is more of a transactional nature. Once the sale closes, the association ceases to exist. For any marketing to drive sales, the product must substantiate the brand promise – which is a rarity in Real Estate. The brand is a promise, a bond, that a company must be willing to service. Simply adopting technologies does not guarantee marketing success.

Also Read: Home Loan Refinance: Best time to refinance your housing loan for a lower interest rate

Why do companies not adopt a holistic marketing approach with end consumers as the focus, is the question that no real estate Guru is willing to address? The time has come to create a whole new level of customer experience by setting new standards. The key is to understand the customer’s preferences, integrate his interest into your company’s vision, be open to learning to evolve with technologies, and drive the business with progressive practices.

Camellia or King’s Court by DLF, stands as a shining example of how they redefined the market and the standard of living while also inspiring other developers to think beyond the ordinary. The focus now shifted from mere square footage to offering a holistic living experience. This demanded revamping the strategies of the real estate players. Hero Earth sold their premium plotted development ‘The Ark’; in just a few hours primarily through first of its kind MetaVerse experience. DLF sold more than 1000 ultra-luxury apartments, worth more than 7 crores in one day. In fact, sales of luxury residential properties each priced Rs 4 crore and above jumped 2.5 times to 4,000 units in January-March this year across 7 cities on strong demand for better amenities. As per the data, sales of luxury flats in Delhi-NCR jumped over threefold to 1,900 units in the March quarter from 600 units a year ago. Sales of premium apartments in Mumbai increased to 1,150 units from 800 units. The big question is, whether sheer luxury is going to be a dominant aspect of real estate marketing?

The outlook is quite different from the traditional business model which has inherent limitations. I envision a business model driven by Multi-Lifetime Lease (Live Till You Live), where a consumer buys into a multi-dimensional experience without having to own it. The experience will be driven by 6 square inches of platinum unfolding a near-limitless world of bespoke living for a lifetime. It will not just constitute customized, on-call, gourmet, upholstery, furniture, electronics & white goods, customized multiformat infotainment, bespoke tailoring, automobiles, saloon, leisure services, and an endless list of perks, but will also have a dwelling that comes as part of the service. The service, backed by standard financial tutelage for loans and mortgages to service asset notion. Imagine a chip that unfolds your housing needs within the parameters of your regular EMI. I am introducing you to what would be called, “Housing As Service”. Assisted Living is going the drive the India of 2050 and beyond, given the demographic transition from being the youngest to the oldest population will commence in the near future.

Let us look at some of the global best practices in real estate marketing, companies create a positive customer experience in novel ways such as creating sustainable communities by integrating housing with infrastructure as in the case of Masdar city in Abu Dhabi. Japanese Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City and Y. Malmö’s sustainable housing project Bo01 are an example of smart and sustainable living respectively. Seoul’s, Yongsan International Business District (YIBD) connects housing, business, and transportation. Amsterdam, the “Bicycle Capital of the World,” has massively invested in bicycle infrastructure, which has greatly impacted its real estate development.

The real estate industry badly needs to look inwards into its business processes. There are ‘statements’ in thin air with little or no distinction between a process & control. To be an industry, real estate needs to build organizations with documented business plans and processes with every soul on the boat in sync. Resource development also has to take the quantum leap with KRA replacing job descriptions and the introduction of reciprocal appraisal to ensure a progressive ecosystem that acts as an enabler to achieve growth vision. Remember, if it is not documented in each heart then it doesn’t exist.

Technological innovations such as blockchain, AI-powered algorithms, predictive analytics, and IoT hold the potential to reshape the way real estate businesses are managed. Experiential marketing is a cutting-edge technology that will bring a major paradigm shift in the way we market reality. Embracing these innovations is the only way to stay ahead in an ever-evolving industry landscape. However, will the old guard allow AI to become a business engine, or will it be rendered a cosmetic creative differentiator? The appetite of the real estate players to embrace new technology for enhanced customer experience at every touch point of the customer journey will determine their future in the industry.

Nevertheless, addressing the elephant in the room, the customer is more aware today and also spoilt for choices. The success mantra in the realty sector is to have a top-down implementation of a unified vision and mission of the organization, which is customer-centric. This must be backed by robust systems and processes and agile marketing which is responsive to ever-changing customer preferences and technological advances. The attitude of treating the customer like a piggy bank for the sales team and evaluating the brand value through the lens of the balance sheet alone must cease. This will pave the path for loyal customers and repeat business.

(By Ashish Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer, Hero Realty. Views are personal)