Avid Ratings Helps Builders Learn From (and Improve on) Customer Experience

There are many best practices and technologies that builders can adopt to attract more buyers to their new construction homes. The Zillow New Construction Advantage Program — an exclusive network of preferred partners and services that our builder customers can leverage at discounted or pre-negotiated rates — is designed to put more of these resources at your fingertips.

We spoke with Avid Ratings about how the customer experience impacts the building industry.

What does Avid Ratings do?

We have the industry’s most comprehensive database of homeowner reviews. Our marketing tools enable builders to compare against their competitors and showcase positive ratings to prospective home buyers. We also provide extensive support, training and consulting to help clients re-engineer their processes and unlock their customer experience potential. Interested? Click HERE for more information.

What’s the biggest problem builders want you to solve?

How to make home buyers happy! It’s a challenge to manage the complexity of the supply chain, workmanship quality, changing consumer desires and marketing conditions to continually delight homeowners. We provide builders with turnkey solutions and expertise so they can measure, improve and promote their customer experience resulting in increased brand awareness and market share.

How does your tech benefit buyers during their home search?

We know that not all ratings systems are equal, so consumers can count on the Avid Verified logo as a symbol of integrity of reviews. Our client reviews are hosted on dozens of major consumer sites, including Google, Facebook, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Build.com and Wayfair.

What are the top three trends or changes you’re seeing in new construction today?

First, a dwindling trade base and, likewise, dwindling quality trades. Unfortunately, this trend isn’t reversing anytime soon. We monitor trades for builders within our core program to help our clients improve the quality that a builder offers.

Also, blind purchasing. Building material purchases happen in a virtual vacuum. Builders still have little transparency into what materials customers like, so what they use to build homes can be a huge source of frustration for both the buyer and builder. At Avid Ratings we can apply reviews to individual building products and advance a builder’s purchasing knowledge so they build with what the customer believes is the very best — not necessarily the cheapest or most expensive.

Finally, customer experience really matters. We are seeing its importance skyrocket, and clients with a high customer experience rating also enjoy tremendous market share and growth. A focus on customer service is more than a nice thing to have — it’s a must-have. 

What advice do you have for builders looking to incorporate your tech into their marketing strategy?

Beware of rating companies that deliver a poor customer experience. At Avid Ratings, we survey our clients every year, follow our own recommendations and use our services to improve business.