BlueScapesm Platform Helps Fuel ‘Dreaming Phase’ of Home Buying By Offering Consumers More Imaginative Ways to Search for Homes
PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Dec. 3, 2009 – Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC has unveiled its next great online “property” – the wholly redesigned Coldwell Banker Web site available now at beta.coldwellbanker.com.” A key objective of the site relaunch is to help redefine real estate search which, to date, has focused primarily on such functional aspects of home-buying as number of bedrooms or listing price. The beta launch of the new Coldwell Banker Web site offers consumers a unique portfolio of new search options that incorporate elements of such online innovators as music recommendation engines and major e-commerce sites.
One of the new search options is the BlueScapesm platform that allows consumers to give a ‘thumbs up’ or a ‘thumbs down’ to various images that are displayed – similar to how popular music sites learn users’ preferences based on how they rate different songs. After rating various photos, consumers can then submit a query and the BlueScapeSM technology will identify homes that might be a fit. Developed to help consumers actively looking to purchase a home as well as those still in the “dreaming phase,” this visually driven approach to search is new to the real estate category.
“Recognizing both the value of consumers’ time as well as the excess of often unhelpful information about real estate found online, our goal at Coldwell Banker is to provide potential homebuyers and sellers with the most comprehensive, informative and user-friendly experience possible,” said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “The new Coldwell Banker Web site not only provides consumers with up-to-date property listings, home-related tips and industry news, but it allows consumers to search for homes using a variety of methods.”
Features of the new site include:
“Despite its focus on hard numbers like square footage and price, real estate is also a deeply emotional process,” explained Michael Fischer, senior vice president of marketing, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “Home buying is often driven by a gut feeling like the first time you lay eyes on a home or that vision you have in your mind’s eye of the perfect mountain view. We’ve widened the definition of real estate search to give consumers the chance to explore those intangibles.”
“We look very closely at how and why consumers come to our site and what we have found is that search is the most important function for them,” said Helen Galasso, vice president of interactive marketing, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “With this in mind, we’ve implemented even more features like the BlueScapesm search and ‘You May Also Like’ to help them with their decision-making.”
Additional enhancements to the Coldwell Banker Web site include integrated video and social networking capabilities.
Visitors to the Coldwell Banker Web site will also have access to an array of videos powered by Coldwell Banker On Location, the company’s branded YouTube channel offering behind-the-scenes looks at towns and neighborhoods, tips and timely news on real estate topics, and video listings of homes for sale. Coldwell Banker On Location has garnered nearly half a million channel views in just 5 months.
The following is a video demonstration of the new Website:
Development of the new beta.coldwellbanker.com site was a collaborative effort by Coldwell Banker interactive agency partners, FD Kinesis and Bootstrap Software, Inc.
About Coldwell Banker®
Since 1906, the Coldwell Banker® organization has been a premier full-service real estate provider. The Coldwell Banker System has approximately 3,500 residential real estate offices and approximately 100,000 sales associates in 47 countries and territories. The Coldwell Banker System is a leader in the industry in residential and commercial real estate, and in niche markets such as resort, new home and luxury property through its Coldwell Banker Previews International® division. Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC is a subsidiary of Realogy Corporation, a global provider of real estate and relocation services. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Each office is independently owned and operated.
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