Re-building of consumers' trust by Kyivmiskbud

At the end of 2019, the news about the corporation Ukrbud has shaken the real estate market.

Ukrbud used to be one of the largest Ukrainian construction companies, which, due to the corrupt activities of the owner, was unable to fulfill its obligations to investors of several dozen of its constructions.

Customers were afraid to invest in residential property, driven by risk avoidance of lost money due to unfinished construction.

Kyivmiskbud took over 17 objects from Ukrbud in 2020. All of them were required promotion to have a chance to sell apartments that still needed to be sold.

In addition to the traditional challenges of the property market, low price elasticity, and informational market saturation, a new barrier appeared – no trust in the residential objects inherited from Ukrbud.

So we focused on restoring customer trust. 

Or a primary line of communication was that Kyivmiskbud always completes the construction, not only for its own objects.

We use short-term triggers and long-term brand communication to restore customer trust in all real estate markets, especially in Ukrbud inheritance.

The campaign was split into three stages:

Stage 1 – awareness building, trigger to consider

Stage 2 – work with barriers and support in decision making

Stage 3 – the final argument

Every following step was optimized based on the learning about the customer gained from the previous one.

Stage 1. 

We delivered a call message and communication about the property object attributes through display, search, and social media ads.

Stage 2.

Based on the previous stage data, we launch retargeting for potential prospects. While 55% of conversions come through phone calls, that could limit our knowledge of the source of the leads.  So we used dynamic call-tracking by Ad Saver to track the source of the phone calls from various online ads and static call-tracking by Ad Saver to track the call generated by traditional media channels, such as out of the home. The lead data was aggregated by the CRM system Ad Saver LMS and qualified by the sales manager. Further, we use it to build Look-a-like audiences.

We also used property-review portals and secondary communication channels. Telegram messengers provide information about property objects' construction stages. Youtube channel for the video review of the construction process updates. Facebook and Instagram pages deliver company news, property release, object features, and benefits communications.

An additional conversion anchor was the mobile application LiveIn. Like in a popular matching application, the most suitable property object list was for users like or dislike by swapping right or left.

Media coverage by Ukrbud objects transition, construction, and release stages was delivered during the entire campaign.

Stage 3. 

We continue to retarget with creative messages focused on the promo propositions. A unique algorithm for automatic bid placement was used during the entire campaign to optimize the costs.

By August 2021, we had overperformed in our targets. Apartments in 8 residential complexes inherited from Ukrbud were sold out. Three of those objects were still in the process of construction.

That demonstrates that customers are more willing to invest money into inherited objects from Ukrbud.

Now we can say that we have managed to regain customers' trust. 

Watch the video version of this case here.