Northern Group : Property Experience
Summary
Time with HiFi - 5 years
By renovating legacy buildings in Manchester, Northern Group have built a high quality property portfolio valued at £150 million, becoming a major force in Manchester property development.
Seeking to bolster their 30-strong Ancoats team, they engaged HiFi to improve their digital presence.
An insurmountable challenge
That’s how it seemed when we first met Northern Group. They were struggling to present constantly changing available properties in multiple developments, all stored on a centralised property management system.
This system is core to all their internal processes and is well managed but the data was difficult to use externally which was holding them back.
With their existing site not generating any leads and frequently failing, it had become an embarrassment to the company.
They needed a way to effectively showcase their available properties with quick turnarounds, without replicating data in a CMS: all data had to be sourced from their property management system.
Design & Build : A single source of truth
Their property management system has an API that was rate-limited and slow making it unsuitable for our needs. We introduced a data proxy that continuously synchronises with the source data, a fast, high availability and searchable database. Property data is combined with limited CMS content and presented through a high fidelity design system.
Always available, always right, always up to date.
World class UX combined
with rock solid systems
Solution : When it all works as a whole
We built a quick, intuitive search for both residential and commercial properties, running seamlessly on both desktop and mobile devices.
Being able to search through Northern Group’s catalogue of properties, using filter and/or the included map allowed users to effortlessly assess and enquire about their potential options, resulting in an influx of new leads.
With the status of properties being constantly updated, thanks to the tight integration with their complex property management system, properties rarely stay vacant for long!
User Experience : Innovative & frictionless
Considering the different needs of residential and commercial customers it was important to create a fluid search experience that adapted to the constantly changing data. Only showing what was relevant and available to them at the time.
With versatile, multi-selecting filtering and extensive use of maps we guide customers to find exactly what they require, in the shortest possible time.
Results : Increased occupancy rates
By liberating their data and creating an easy-to-use and adaptable user interface, we have freed Northern Group - allowing them to reach their data potential.
More leads, fewer vacancies, shorter time to market, greater customer awareness: all without the need to manage any data outside of their property management system.
- 10% Of all leads generated
- 83% Increase in site views
- 0hrs Time adding properties to the site
- 10days Average time a property is on the market
Are you being held back by ldata that is locked away?
Most businesses are mines of data (products, properties etc). They have amazing internal tools that manage their whole businesses but often its not easy to get access to the data and use it extrenally.
We help companies liberate their data and create effective user interfaces, making the most of what they already have.
Let us help you to reach your data potential.
Other work
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The Story So Far
Northern Group : The story so far
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A New Shop Window
Northern Group : A New Shop Window
