Whether they realise it or not, construction companies offer home buyers a customer journey. This journey used to be filled with excels, emails, faxes, phone calls, papers, and notes. Now it can also be a digital one, outperforming any customer experience out there.Today, our customers are taking on this digital journey with support by a single software solution with many features. Our tool guides them through their journey from the first contact to purchase and configuration, all the way to the building and warranty period and even beyond that, long after our last guy has left the site.

Does going digital mean that customer service is dead?

Buying a home is probably one of the biggest decisions of your lifetime on both financial and emotional level. Decisions of this caliber always arouse expectations and emotions, even fear. Manual work means mistakes, and mistakes create uncertainty, whereas digitalization can improve efficiency and help eliminate mistakes. Although software can never replace good customer service, it can help customer service allocate their resources better and allows them to focus on their true mission: serving customers and making sure that their customer journey can reach perfection.Our customer service is working with a digital customer journey solution that helps them serve home buyers better on one of the most challenging of customer journeys. What we used to do manually is now automated and digitalized. The data we save on our devices is shared in real time with all stakeholders, including the customer.Features, applications, websites.. we just didn’t have time for all that. What escapes many is that construction business is not that much about managing multiple small projects, but more about managing a single, massive project: the building process. The key really is to get all parts of the process on the same platform. Now, from the first line drawn by the architect to the last breath of the building, our information remains relevant and connected. When this level of availability is needed, it is crucial not to risk losing important information by splitting it to multiple platforms and applications. One solution for all tasks allows taking control of the information flow, and most of all, improves both efficiency and user experience.Today our sales team uses 3D models, virtual reality, and even mixed reality in everyday sales processes. Our customer service team manages all customer-related operations online. Our construction sites access all information though their mobile devices. Most importantly, our customers access all the important details through one window.

Why now and not before? The digital twin as a game changer

The lack of a common language is often the main reason for mistakes and misunderstandings and believe me, there are no such things as small mistakes in the construction industry. When a customer without knowledge of plans, terms, or the industry, sits down with professionals, some information is always lost in translation. To help both parties talk about the same thing and understand each other, we decided to build the home digitally, first. We created the digital twin of the home. This digital twin has become an eye-opener that can be utilized in various ways, since it contains all the needed information. For example, 3D/VR visualisations form a useful basis for discussions — they are easy to understand. Seeing something with your own eyes leaves less room for misunderstandings.The shared language between us and the home buyers is still forming as I am writing this blog, but from my experience we are on the right course. By digitizing essential parts of the customer journey we are making sure all stakeholders can communicate on even terms and in better understanding.[caption id="attachment_4843" align="alignnone" width="800"]

Digital Customer Journey[/caption]Digital Customer Journey takes homebuyers from sales process to material configuration, onto the building process and warranty period.