In an ever-changing housing market, it’s crucial to stay on top of what’s happening and to use the most up-to-date benchmarks within the new-home industry, which is why Do You Convert is excited to unveil our new 2021 Online Sales Benchmarks.

We’re extremely intentional about how we reach these benchmarks and how we assure we’re providing the most accurate information possible. Do You Convert has access to the most comprehensive collection of data in the industry, which includes metrics from 27 states, over 3.3 million average monthly unique website visitors, and over 120 online sales specialists. We’ve used this large collection of data to compare the first quarter of 2021 to the 2020 averages, providing a snapshot of where the numbers stand and how things have changed.

But big data comes with a big responsibility. Data integrity is critical to us. These benchmarks only work if the numbers we use are tracked in the same ways. Not just any metrics can be included in the study. We verify that the way leads, appointments, and conversions are tracked is consistent across the board to assure that we maintain the integrity of the benchmarks. For example, a sale is only counted if the appointment is set by the online sales specialist, not simply a walk-in who had previously been entered into the system. This kind of vetting means you can trust the results.

Here’s a snapshot of what we learned: Leads to Appointment Kept is down from 36 percent in 2020 to 31 percent in the first quarter of 2021. Appointment to Sale is slightly up from 20 percent in 2020 to 22 percent in 2021. Finally, Online Sales Percentage of Total Sales is up 2 percent from 50 percent in 2020 to 52 percent in the first quarter of 2021.

Despite several factors that could have produced a reduction of attention and sales, online sales specialists continued to experience a flurry of activity in early 2021. Leads still flowed in at record amounts, even as advertising had been reduced by 25-65 percent. On average, online sales programs contributed 52 percent of sales across all markets and product types in the first quarter of 2021. This continued on pace from 2020 to 2021, despite the throttling back of advertising spend and sales pace.

Even with the sharp increase in pricing, sales conversion rates that came from a qualified appointment have remained comparable to 2020. This reflects that it’s becoming more challenging to set appointments as sales are capped, slowed or halted completely.

We attribute the five percent drop in conversion from lead to appointment to the lack of communities that are fully open for sale and the reality that many builders had capped or halted sales completely. Even though a customer would be willing to set an appointment, that may not be the right step in the process at this time.

Do You Convert will consistently monitor benchmarks and release more data as it becomes available in a continued effort to provide the most accurate and useful information on market shifts and trends.

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