VR ESTATE
Digital Portfolio for Internet Business Applications course
Chris Sethi
Summary
The overall experience of my time in the Internet Business Application course was eventful. I’ve learned several insightful information in regards to building and designing an online business. This course aimed to teach us how to incorporate web services, software, analytics, and more to establish a fully functional business website. In teams, we have to collaborate and brainstorm new ideas for an online business. Our team came up with VR Estate.
Problems
In today’s world, technological advancement has impacted several industries including the residential homes market. With the gradual increase of home sales and the competitiveness in the real estate industry, firms need to take advantage of our resources to capture a share of the new market. Moreover, during these times of the coronavirus pandemic, the real estate industry is shifting towards a more online approach. Based on our research and insights, home buyers’ thought process significantly points toward choosing firms that offer 3D and virtual reality tours. This will the new norm that firms must adapt to elevate their business to the next level.
Our Solutions
At VR Estate, we are an agency that aims to introduce virtual reality to real estate firms and the residential homes market. As the housing market is on the rise, it is time for real estate firms to step up their game to capture their largest possible amount of the share. We plan to help these firms achieve this by offering a platform to attract potential buyers and provide the best virtual reality experience with the expertise and proprietary software from our partner Matterport.
We will do this by scanning houses and placing them in catalogs. Potential buyers will then wear VR headsets and browse the catalog of properties when visiting the real estate firm’s headquarters. If they’re accessing it online from home, they will be viewing the catalogs in 3D space from the firms’ website. This would lower firms’ resource needs as they would no longer need to employ as many agents to show prospective customers their houses. This would also save money and time for both buyers and sellers, making it a possible win-win situation.
Target Users and Audience
1. Primary target: Real estate firms
2. Secondary target: Real estate online marketplace
3. Indirect target: Potential property buyers/renter
Timeline
| Week 1-2: | Introduction and Brainstorming of Online Business |
| Week 3-4: | Ideations on VR Estate |
| Week 5-6: | Website Development |
| Week 7-8: | Conducting User Experience Research |
| Week 9-10: | Digital Marketing Campaign & Strategy |
| Week 11-12: | Incorporating Web Analytics |
Team & Role
Our current VR Estate team:
Chris Sethi, Seema Shaik, Anna Koulaki, Alejandro Hinojosa
My role in this team consists of:
Founding VR EstateComing up with new ideas and contentsDesigning logos, brand colors, websites, etc.Managing social media platformsEstablishing Google Analytics onto our sitesInteracting with our usersAssigning tasks to my teamKeeping everyone on tabs and making sure they meet the deadlineScheduling team meetingsFacilitating everything that goes on in our project
Website Development
Domain name: vrestate.org
Hosting: WordPress powered through Bluehost
Core Features:
Smart Slider HomepageNewsletter Sign-ups in the footerFloating Social media outbound linksVideos and Images to display our serviceInsights Data based on research and UX study
Share ButtonKey SearchFiltering Platform to showcase firms that possess 3D and/or VRPricing packages and scheduling appointmentOur mission and who we areContact us page
User Experience Research
Process of recruiting and conducting UX study
Direct users
Identify which firms would gain a massive benefit from using our service by doing some market research and going through industry reports. First, we would have to build a company profile and email them to the CEO or the management team of several leading real estate firms in the United States. If they are interested, we will get in contact and set up meetings whether in-person or through video chat to educate and eventually finalize any deals.
Indirect Users
Get a sense of how many individuals would like the idea of viewing properties in VR or 3D from the comfort of their homes. To achieve this, we would conduct surveys and questionnaires to specific individuals that are 18+ through social media, online focus groups, etc.
Digital Marketing
Implementation Plan Timeline
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing
Online Ads
Email Campaigning
Web Analytics
Using Google Analytics to monitor users’ interaction on our website vrestate.org
We can look into which devices, locations, and actions of our users. It allows us to track and report web traffic. Moreover, set conversion goals to obtain insights of users performing our desired action. Thus, we could analyze these data and use them to enhance our website's core features as well as future business decisions.
Originally setting 4 conversion goals:
1. Times Users spent on page 1min+
2. Clicks to Service Page from Learn more
3. Visits of Contact Us page
4. Visiting Booking of appointment in Pricing Page
Future goals: Sign-ups of the newsletter, Clicks to social media pages from outbound links, and more.
Outcomes
VR has multiple potential applications in the real estate industry which can change the industry course.
Most people looking for a house visit on average between 5 and 7 homes before settling on one. With virtual reality and 3D space, we can help buyers cover more properties to find their perfect home with an astonishing reduction in time and money.Businesses that offer virtual tours enjoy increased bookings and look-to-book conversion ratios by 16% to 67%.
With your trust in us, we assure you that the investment made by using our service is the best approach to elevate your business to the next level. We plan to promote our platform regularly through all social media platforms and incorporate various online ads throughout the month. Allowing you to gain higher profits than you could have ever forecasted.
Reflection
There were many lessons learned in starting up an online business. It is essential to understand that each internet application in business uses different sets of methods depending on your target audience. Being in the real estate industry, VR Estate must build a website with features that cater to all of our target users. Conducing user experience research helped us obtain an idea of users' needs and wants. Thus, while developing our website we can design plug-ins and core features to increase effectiveness. Moreover, implementing digital marketing campaigns & strategies has helped us create brand awareness, drive traffic to our website, expand reach, and ultimately build a network of interactive space for users. Lastly, connecting Google Analytics to our website to monitor users’ information and interactions. Tracking conversion goals to gain an understanding of our users’ behavior to further enhance our website and improve future business decisions.