• by Seana Mulcahy , June 7, 2004

I've just been in the middle of several real estate transactions. Without getting into it, I stumbled upon something in regard to human behavior. Take a look at this scenario: I put my house on the market, my realtor friend took several digital photos, and he and an assistant scoured the house catching every detail by way of digital camera. A virtual tour was crafted to allow users to view the bulk of the house including the master bedroom/bathroom, kitchen, family room, office, and complete yard, And the listing, including the link to the virtual tour, was placed on the real estate office's website (which, by the way, was great since they're familiar with SEM). The listing/tour was also placed in the multiple listing service (MLS) for other realtors to view. The realtor paid a fee and placed the write-up, six digital photos and the link to the tour on Realtor.com... you get the drift.

I must admit, as a digital marketer who also wears the hat of educated nosy consumer, the online opportunities were endless. As a consumer, I loved looking at the virtual tours and digital pictures. It allowed me to get beyond the marketing fluff of text write-ups. I was able to do most of the heavy lifting, in regard to cutting down time with house showings.

The very thought of someone being able to view the inside of my house, where I sleep and eat, see my dog, etc. unnerved me, though. However, the house got 3 competing full-price offers within 2 weeks. When the realtor asked how they found him and the listing, two out of three said realtor.com (disclaimer-no they are not a client of mine).

The digital marketing opportunities included digital photos and realtor websites, and virtual tours provided the home buyers with further information. When it came to the negotiating, the buyers were fueled with information. Was it too much though?

You see, they compared my house to so many other houses they would have never seen in an offline world. It would have taken ages to read newspaper listings and drive to each house, along with the realtor, to view the properties. The web gave them the ability to see so much in so little time.

The offline world became a different reality with these home buyers, though. The bulk of the 6-week closing process was spent with phone calls, voxmail and email exchanges among them, their realtor and mine. No one really needed to see them face-to-face until the very end. Once my realtor and I did meet them, it was a whole different story. It amazes me how people can seem so pleasant, thorough, and outgoing via email.

Because of this coupled with all the recent hoopla on behavioral targeting, something dawned on me. I saw these people in person and they were social misfits. Think about it, many times email is a cop-out. It is a hell of a lot easier to email someone versus direct a sensitive question to them in person. We are so used to processing so much information - be it imagery or words online. Our world has changed to the quick sound bullet "conversation" laden with abbreviations and acronyms.

We can obtain just about any information we need. Online auction sites and personals have made bidding, negotiating and being forthright the norm. I've noticed it myself as a consumer. I'm so used to being able to pick a price or compare products/models online that I get frustrated offline. Did you ever see something you wanted to buy at a store but you thought the price was too high? With the exception of car dealerships and flea markets in the US, you really can't talk them down.

When you are placed in an environment such as a car dealership, you become the nightmare consumer. You have all your print outs from Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book. You know what dealer holdback means. You know that the dealer has several rebates and incentives coming back to him whether you pay full price or not.

While I think all this is great, I think it's made us better negotiators and nightmares to deal with. Maybe this is a bit too autobiographical today, but my wheels are spinning. How can we, as digital marketers and advertisers, hone into behavioral characteristics, give potential customers/consumers/clients enough information to be educated and fair but civil and realistic. Enlighten me dear readers and Happy Monday.

P.S. And yes I did move; my laptop is literally on my lap while my desk is floating around someplace.