Corporate Communications Launches a New Resident Website for Home Properties
Home Properties launched a fresh, new website for its 42,000+ residents in November 2013. Today, it has a completely new look on the front-end and state-of-the-art technology supporting the back-end. Research was conducted prior to the redesign and development to better understand and address the needs of both residents and internal users. This research was crucial to the design process to utilize Responsive Web Design (RWD). By incorporating RWD, our team could easily manage a simple website and residents could access information from their smartphones, tablets or computers, all while maintaining a consistent brand identity that can be scaled to any device. This was a massive improvement considering the old website (circa 2007) did not support mobile.
Other improvements included enhancing the imagery throughout the website, an improved navigation that provides residents one-click access to things they do the most (i.e.: pay rent, place service requests), and social media integrations. The result is an extremely useful website that has a fresh, modern look and truly reflects the essence of the Home Properties brand.
- Website
"Home Properties utilized local talent to design and develop this new website. Corporate Communications, an interactive marketing agency located in Rochester, was the agency we collaborated with for the design and construction of the site. We are very proud and pleased with the results of working with this local, talented team to produce what is truly a world-class website."
VP Marketing, Home Properties, Inc.
The Purpose of the Website
This website is a support tool for the 119+ apartment communities that Home Properties owns and manages. The primary audience is residents, however, it also serves a secondary audience - prospective residents. The website was designed in a way that gives this secondary audience the ability to see the lifestyle that is offered in these communities. The content marketing strategy is a key differentiator in this industry, as many competitors use property management software solutions to serve their residential population, which tends to be lackluster and limited in terms of social media marketing.
Template Design with Customization with a Very Simple CMS
The platform is template driven, which enables 119 unique, custom websites from the efficiency of one back-end system. While it is centrally operated and maintained, it is extremely easy-to-use, enabling a population of over 200 internal users to input key local content including news, events, staff bios and local businesses, as well as the community, leasing agents and property managers. Pairing these strengths of both central and local teams, Home Properties has seen an increase in communication between the apartment communities and its residents, a wealth of new email marketing opportunities and a reduction in the website maintenance budget due to the increased capabilities, which allow non-developers to manage key portions of the site.
