A website built for an apartment property in Florida was one of three in the world to be awarded as a 2021 Webby Honoree at the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science’s 25th Annual Webby Awards, according to a press release.
VistaBrooklyn.com was conceived and developed by Spherexx.com, a creative marketing and software development company based in Texas, and built as an information and lead-generation hub for the Jacksonville, Florida, Vista Brooklyn Apartments.
It was only website in the United States to be honored in the Best Websites and Mobile Sites: Real Estate category.
The property, built by Bristol Development Group, was under construction when the website launched, so designers focused heavily on driving tenant interest through an immersive virtual experience that showcased unit renderings and rich exterior visuals of the property’s many high-end amenities.
The website’s highlight is a floor-by-floor unit selection tour and search portal that includes dollhouse views of each apartment type, an interactive stacking plan, unit descriptions and lead forms on every page.
The website also gave users the opportunity to view aerial photography from virtual windows and view virtually staged common areas. There is a virtual video of all the common amenity areas that introduces the rooftop pool, beer garden, game room, dog park, latte lounge, high-tech gym and interior unit design, according to the release.
Interested tenants could apply for and complete leases through the website long before construction was finalized. Vista Brooklyn is now open.
“I was onsite with the operations team, and they were talking about how wonderful the website is and that by the time a prospect gets to them, they have selected their favorite floor plan [and] know the pricing,” Lisa Gunderson, vice president of asset management for Bristol Development Group, said.
Online leads were filtered and managed by Spherexx’s staff using its proprietary leasing CRM, ILoveLeasing. Those contacts were then fed to the Vista Brooklyn team once it was hired and workflow was in place.
ILoveLeasing identifies advertising source performance, demand and priority, and it collects contact information and leasing preferences, the release stated. Vista Brooklyn staff continues to facilitate leasing leads using the CRM, leveraging text and email drip campaigns, and a library of digital documents.
The company said that Vista Brooklyn’s website received 205 qualified leads within the first quarter of 2021.
Websites are the center of most successful real estate marketing campaigns, serving as hubs for listing promotion, brokerage branding and lead generation.
Websites linked directly to customer relationship management systems are even more effective, evolving from passive marketing tools to dynamic, critical business assets.
A case study on Vista Brooklyn’s website is available on Spherexx’s website.
