Research indicated that contrary to general lender perceptions, customers weren't just searching for the lowest home loan rate. Instead, they were after a trusted source of advice to walk them through the home buying process before making the final home loan application. This need for assistance extended beyond the property search itself with 72% of customers using their laptop or mobile phone to access information while on the move.
After shaking up market convention through the creation of the world's first smart lifestyle property search tool (www.domain.com.au/radar), the Commonwealth Bank looked to further extend its suite of consumer focused tools and services through the creation of an innovative mobile property search and home financing experience.
The core strategic direction was to continue the brand's movement away from rate-led advertising towards delivering valuable support and dialogue with property buyers throughout the purchase process. Many factors influence the final property choice, including price, size, market conditions, and location. We wanted to be part of that consumer journey from initial research to the open home, helping cement our home loan proposition of being truly helpful to our audience, regardless of location.
The challenge was three-fold: To create an innovative and market leading mobile application that delivers the Commonwealth Bank helping hand to property buyers on the move, to drive consumer uptake and usage of the mobile application to 100,000 downloads in the first 6 months, and generate a return on marketing investment of a least 50%
The Commonwealth Bank's overall home loans marketing approach is founded on an important consumer insight: Home buying is a life altering decision and to make confident choices, home buyers want easily accessible, relevant and unbiased information at their fingertips, wherever they are.
Thorough market examination confirmed that although there was a rich array of property information available, it was hard to find and in many cases, provided in a very unfriendly manner. Information might be available but it was not aways available when needed.
Mobile property search and advice was identified as a key stage in the home purchase process that could be reinvigorated through an innovative mobile approach. Traditional mobile property search focused on displaying standard magazine style listings around properties that were currently on the market. These listings are accessed in a linear fashion with limited information on the sales history of the property, suburb profile or the market conditions. Home buyers were also only given information which the real estate agent wanted to share.
It was clear that the existing platforms failed to provide a transparent consumer centric experience, which presented an ideal opportunity for the Commonwealth Bank.
The core focus of the communication strategy was to make all relevant information easily accessible to home buyers whilst on the move through one single platform.
The CommBank Property Guide iPhone app uses augmented reality to give home buyers virtual insight into almost every home in Australia - mapping data such as past sales history, current property listings and recent sales onto a real world view. Financial tools including calculators, videos and guides are provided to ensure home buyers are making the right property choice. Click to call functionality and an 'arrange an appointment' contact form allows instant access to the bank once the buyer is ready.
The Commonwealth Banks determination to provide home buyers with a helping hand is demonstrated through the wide variety of data integrated into the app. The Bank leveraged existing partnerships with RP Data to gain access to public government and public listings data, as well as analytical data, with Realestate.com.au to access current live data of properties for sale.
The app provides insights on over 95% of Australian homes, whereas competitors only display on the market and for rent properties, alongside limited recent sales. The recent addition of estimated price guides on over 80% of properties is another Australian-first which is putting the power back into the hands of the buyer.
The launch was supported by an aggressive PR campaign which achieved national media coverage across TV, online and print, and a small mobile display campaign driving users directly to the app store to download the application.
Results
Consumer's response to the Commonwealth Bank Property Guide iPhone application has been extremely positive.
The application generated 120 pieces of national media coverage across TV, online and print (estimated circulation of 44 million instances).
Download and usage figures for the application:
- 117,000+ application downloads in 24 weeks
- More than 455,000 user sessions
- More than 1,200,000 property searches
- Tens of thousands of engagements with calculators, videos and articles
The app generated a return on marketing investment of a least 50%
The application itself currently averages more than 45 calls per week to the Commonwealth Bank home loans number which has translated into a return on marketing investment of 109% to date. (March 2011)
The app was shortlisted for the 2011 Festival of Media Awards in the 'Best Use of Mobile' category.
This app won the 'Best Use of Mobile' category at the 2011 Festival of Media Awards.