Arboria

THE CLIENT:

Lucron Development a.s. is a subsidiary of two strong Luxembourg-based development companies. It has operated on the Slovak market since 2005, and thanks to its global and financial background it provides values such as stability, responsibility and quality.
 
The client decided to put their trust in our hands for two development projects: Arboria in Trnava and Malé Krasňany in Bratislava. And as part of the Arboria project, we were tasked with showing that besides cutting-edge technological designs, we can also use a website as a concept for successfully increasing apartment sale as well as removing the barriers that are a part of today’s real estate market.

THE CHALLENGE:

Despite the relatively large mortgage boom, many people are not acquainted with the financial issues related to the purchase of an apartment. Low levels of financial literacy are a current social problem in several countries worldwide, including Slovakia. In addition, there is another factor in Slovakia, a confrontation of sorts – purchasing an old apartment versus purchasing an apartment in a new building.
 
Our task was to create the website for a development project that would educate people financially through the entire content and show them that the purchase of a new apartment is a better investment – both in financial terms and in terms of the benefits that new buildings offer.

THE DELIVERY:

We began by dividing the Arboria website into two strategic parts – financial market education and targeted lead generation. Each part provides various information, however both are inter-linked.
 

Financial market education

Purchasing an apartment associated with a mortgage is a complex topic, so we focused on creating a website that offers all the necessary information. We organized all sub-pages and elements clearly and logically so that users could always have the information within reach.
 
We started by communicating property prices within the website by relating them to the amount of monthly payments and monthly expenses, instead of using the total price of the apartment on its own. It’s easier to work with expected monthly costs than with amounts in the tens to hundreds of thousands of Euros, isn’t it?
 
The “Funding” sub-page is key in the field of financial education for the general public. The following were communicated on this sub-page:

• the process of purchasing an apartment, as shown by infographics
• transparent and attractive repayment schedule
• FAQ's

All of these help to remove the uncertainty and fear related to questions about mortgages.

In addition, the website was intended to solve another barrier – the perception that purchasing an apartment in a new building is a more disadvantageous investment compared to purchase of an older apartment. Therefore, we incorporated the separated sub-page “A comparison of an old and a new apartment” where visitors can find the pros and cons, comparison of costs over the long-run, as well as a quantified evaluation of the investment – all in transparent tables.

 
Within the topic of financial education, we were also thinking about the trend coming from the West – the purchase of a high-class apartment as an investment. We used the separated sub-page “Property as an investment” to communicate the benefits, and here visitors can find a specific quantification of investments as well as reasons for investing in a new apartment. The high-class apartment gains value within a few years, or it can be repaid itself if it is rented out.
 
Thanks to these steps, questions from potential buyers regarding the future purchase of an apartment are already answered on the website. And that is exactly what we wanted.

However, if they have other questions, visitors still have more possibilities at hand to contact sellers. These include a form for a survey, which is present on several sub-pages, a floating form or a form for those interested in a mortgage – the basic parameters of which can be entered into a mortgage calculator and sent along with the contact form.
 

ADVANTAGES OF AN APARTMENT IN A NEW BUILDING WITH ARBORIA

To facilitate one of life’s greatest decision, we placed strategic sub-pages and elements on the website that help potential buyers to find all the necessary information that is part of decision-making process when buying an apartment, quickly and easily.
 
The “Standard” sub-page communicates the high quality of housing that the developer offers. Through infographics, we visualize the advantages of apartments in detail, such as two bathrooms, a separate wardrobe, terrace or front garden. On the basis of these advantages, users can filter apartments within the price list. Also, a virtual tour of the model apartment directly in the website’s menu is a part of the housing quality presentation and offers the possibility to take a tour with 3D glasses.

One of the important elements that was a part of our basic design is a classic, advanced filter within the price list of apartments. When developing the website, we were thinking of two types of users who are looking for their dream house.

• People use the standard filter according to building type, number of rooms, prices or status when researching the possibilities for housing while their ideas are still unclear. These users often react to visual impulses. Therefore, they can simply go to the 3D navigator and choose an apartment according to apartment building type, floor plan, orientation, etc.
• More pragmatic users of development websites, who already have clear ideas for their future housing, can use the advanced search. We implemented filters here – for example, by floor, area, and date of final inspection – but also according to the benefits that individual apartments offer.

The developer also plays an important role in the selection of future housing. The real estate market is now crowded with many development projects, but not every developer is reliable and professional. On the “Developer” sub-page, visitors not only learn about our client, but also about the projects they’ve built in Slovakia as well as abroad. Thus, we helped assures visitors about the stability and quality of the developer and removed, for example, their fears of buying an apartment “on paper.”

THE CHERRY ON TOP – ADAPTING THE WEBSITE AS A SALES POINT

In addition, we managed to pass the entire website to the point of sales in Trnava, where people can directly view the ARBORIA website on touch screens. We adjusted the content and visualization of the website (by adapting the size of individual elements) to fit the dimensions of a large touch screen. We also enriched the sales point with a virtual tour of a model apartment with 3D glasses. Just scan the QR code from your glasses in the phone and you’ll feel like you are in the middle of the apartment.

We were pleased to create the website for a development project that pushed the boundaries of development websites further by informing and educating the general public.

But most importantly, our client managed to collect a number of leads and turn them into sold apartments by using our website. That’s the goal of every developer :)

View project.