A consumer insight report can improve the property’s roadmap in the customer journey, allowing you to market appropriately to the right audience. Understanding your consumers’ needs has become essential to ensure your asset generates leads, holds its resident retention rate, and achieves stabilization as soon as possible.
At Uncomn Projects, we believe in a consumer-first approach. We collect data to give you insights into how to go about designing, branding and marketing your multifamily property to attract your target demographic. Now, let’s break it down even further.
What Is A Consumer Insight Report?
A consumer insight report is a fully comprehensive package that provides developers and investors with an analysis of the key consumer profiles and macro-trends influencing their market. It tells you who the consumer is, what they want, and how to position your building. Knowing your target demographic and their underlying feelings will give you a better understanding of their decision-making process when choosing a new apartment.
Uncomn’s consumer insight report provides valuable information that is important for developers, investors, architects, and designers alike. However, the most crucial segment contains our action points. These actionable recommendations rooted in data will impact every aspect of your property, from the exterior finishes and unit mix to amenity programming and vendor partnerships.
Breaking Down A Consumer Insight Report
We break down the consumer insight report into seven categories: data mining, consumer profiles, observations & consumer trends, market study, color forecast, design trends, and brand direction & action points.
DATA MINING gives an overview of the market and the consumer. By collecting and analyzing large amounts of information from the U.S. Census, housing tract information, city databases, and other analytical sources, we are able to present a snapshot of the market with detailed numerical data on subjects such as average household income, year over year economic growth in the area, the average salary by industry, drive times, and age by housing type.
CONSUMER PROFILES are descriptions of potential residents that include demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics. This data gives the developer the “WHO” and “WHY.” Who their prospective residents are and why they are an essential group to focus their marketing efforts. These consumer profiles can also be used to drive amenity programming, unit mixes, interior and exterior finishes, and more. Understanding the consumer you are building for is critical to a consumer-first approach.
OBSERVATIONS & CONSUMER TRENDS provide empirical data in the consumer study. Our team goes into “the field” and examines the surrounding competitive set, retail offerings, and general atmosphere of the neighborhood. From observing the number of dog walkers to discovering local businesses, we uncover what is essential to residents in the community. This insight helps developers determine which ideas and trends to keep and which ones need improvement to set our building apart from the rest. We also outline relevant consumer trends, which are significant shifts involving large populations occurring within the next three to five years. These shifts can include the aging of a generation, social media trends, consumer sentiment evolving around a particular product category or service, changes in consumer mindset, and technological advancements.
MARKET STUDY is the analysis of competitors in the market based on proximity, class type, average rents, and amenity offerings. Analyzing the competitive set will allow you to differentiate yourself from the surrounding market while revealing valuable insight into consumers’ needs and wants. Being knowledgeable about your competitors can also give you an advantage during lease-up, where you can use this data as talking points on tours and drive concessions.
COLOR FORECASTING is the process of predicting what colors will be most desirable when your development delivers. We provide your team with this insight to help determine what colors will work best for your brand and interiors that simultaneously will be attractive to your target demographic. For instance, in 2018, our research revealed that mint and cantaloupe were two interiors colors to look out for in 2020. During a consumer study for a property in Seattle due in 2020, we presented these colors to the client with the target demographics’ interests and needs in mind. Mint, in particular, was used as a brand color to attract the target demographic who wanted their home to be an oasis from their busy work life.
DESIGN TRENDS are very similar to color forecasting. This insight we collect on design trends helps the interior design team decide what shapes, fabrics, patterns, and design styles to implement inside the building. From textures and materials in the lobby to the model unit furniture, our research becomes a prime source when deciding how to go about creating the property interiors.
BRAND DIRECTION & ACTION POINTS are the conclusions that result from the research and work done in the previous six categories. From these results, we develop recommendations for your brand that include brand personality, brand essence, and brand positioning. The action points can be used to influence many areas of the development and lease-up process. They can be circulated among your architects, interior designers, and vendors to help guide their ideas. Together, the brand direction and action points create an all-encompassing platform on which to build your property’s brand identity and marketing strategy.
Consumer insights not only deliver information about consumers or markets but also provide recommended actions that will help you increase traction to the building. Consumer insights will provide both data and narrative, allowing the development team to make adjustments to your property in order to improve resident satisfaction, retention, and ultimately increase leases.
By focusing on these seven categories, it will allow us to bridge the gap between the developers and what future residents will desire in the building they call home.
Case Study Example
Let’s take a look at an example from one of our clients. Developed by CityView, The Pearl on Wilshire is a 240-unit apartment building in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles. We observed that the majority of the market was selling a lifestyle that focuses on the area’s nightlife scene, ignoring the unique needs of residents.
Our clients decided to implement our findings from the consumer insight report during the development phase, which resulted in a zen-like oasis centered around mental relaxation and the wellness of its residents.
The Importance of Consumer Insight Report for Your Property
Utilizing the data collected in the consumer insight report, The Pearl became the first multifamily building in LA’s Koreatown to sell a lifestyle rooted in wellness and is one of Uncomn’s most successful branding projects. The Pearl was able to achieve a leasing velocity that blew the competition away, delivering up to 50 leases per month and reaching stabilization ahead of schedule.
Utilizing Uncomn Project’s consumer insight report expertise will become your most crucial insight into building your community and at a rapid pace. For more information click here or, email us at [email protected]. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
