For Rent Media Solutions™ is diving into 2015 with an impressive 2014 in its wake. Cutting-edge product launches, unique visitor growth, increased mobile leads and more were all part of 2014.
Mobile Is Key
Mobile growth this year was phenomenal, as more and more consumers are using mobile along with social and video to search for their next place to live. Year over year, total mobile videos viewed (through November) increased by 51 percent. ForRent.com® mobile phone guest card leads increased 84 percent, while mobile phone call leads increased 34 percent year over year. Overall, mobile traffic increased 38 percent. Additionally, mobile site download speed improved drastically from more than eight seconds to 1.3 seconds. As for mobile apps, 2014 saw the creation and introduction of Sift Rentals for iOS, an app that allows prospective renters to take advantage of the “swipe left for no, swipe right for yes” design, and ApartmentView for Android, a cutting-edge, augmented reality app where users simply point their phone’s camera at nearby apartments to explore photos, floor plans, prices, amenities and more.
Traffic and Leads Accomplishments
Total traffic to ForRent.com (FRC) increased by more than 10 percent year-over-year, and FRC targeted sites were no different. In terms of year over year digital leads, CorporateHousing.com® increased nearly 53 percent, After55.com™ grew 148 percent, ForRent.com en Espanol increased more than 226 percent, and ForRentUniversity.com™ grew nearly 18 percent.
Cutting-Edge Products
3D Floorplans: As technology evolves, making static 2D images obsolete, so does the way the multifamily industry markets apartments. With that in mind, ForRent.com introduced customers to progressive 3D floor plans in 2014. ForRent.com has upgraded contracted customers to 3D floor plans at no charge, giving apartment communities the opportunity to more strongly engage potential renters.
InsideView is the future of apartment marketing. The InsideView feature from ForRent.com, a panoramic walkthrough of a computer-generated 3D model floor plan, provides a more engaging and convenient experience for apartment shoppers, allowing them to tour the property from their computer or mobile device. View an example of the new InsideView feature and 3D floor plans by visiting http://www.forrent.com/insideViewDemo.html. For more information on the future of apartment marketing from For Rent Media Solutions, email InsideView@ForRent.com.
Video, Video, Video
Full Motion Video: In today’s highly visual world, renters don’t just prefer video — they expect it. With full motion video from ForRent.com, renters are able to see the whole community, not just a single apartment. Among other exciting video aspects, 2014 saw the launch of a new web experience on ForRent.com. Visit bit.ly/FRVideo2014 to learn more about FRVideo.
HERO: When potential renters land on the ForRent.com homepage, the geo-targeted FRVideo will span the entire width of their browsers, enticing them to not only spend more time on the website, but also leave with a positive user experience. Additionally, a prospect is able to view certain amenities and features of the community represented immediately upon arrival to ForRent.com. Prospective renters can also click through to see the detailed overview of the community represented in the video. Those who come to the homepage will now experience their very own customized local visual tour. Other high-profile companies that offer this compelling virtual tour are PayPal, Spotify, and AirBnB.
Profile Page with full-width video: Also introduced in 2014, the ForRent.com homepage video experience (FRVideo), geo-targeted and unique to each local area, provides a richer, more engaging and more memorable experience for apartment shoppers.
Highly Engaged Consumers in 2014
Year over year, ForRent.com blog traffic to the Apartment Living Blog increased by 107 percent as consumers were engaging more and more with the ForRent.com brand and viewing FRC as industry experts. From a quarterly standpoint, traffic to the Apartment Living blog increased by 247 percent from fourth-quarter 2013 to fourth-quarter 2014.
“As more and more consumers are turning to mobile, social and video to search for their next apartment, our road map for 2014 consisted of rich media to better enhance the consumer experience and provide higher quality leads to our customers,” says Terry Slattery, president of For Rent Media Solutions. “Building on an extremely rewarding 2014 full of state-of-the-art product releases and tools to better arm our customers, we are looking forward to an even more successful 2015.”
For more information, visit www.forrent.com.
