Computers have placed pretty much anything you can imagine at our fingertips. So why is it still so challenging to find the perfect house? While the digital world still hasn’t quite figured out how to make more housing inventory, a well-crafted real estate website does make house hunting easier than it was a few decades ago. But it also gives brokerages the opportunity to make a stirring first impression. And it turns out that the most successful realty websites are employing an artful blend of color theory, UI/UX design, and behavioral psychology to steer prospective buyers and sellers in the right direction.
How Color Theory Factors Into a Real Estate Website
Whether you recognize it or not, colors are likely subtly influencing your emotions and perspectives throughout each day. Perhaps you’ve heard a suggestion that wearing navy blue during a presentation can be helpful for projecting authority. It’s not exactly an old wives’ tale, but it’s also much more complex, factoring in everything from personal association to cultural norms. However, in the context of a purposefully designed real estate website, colors can be used to guide user behavior.
The Meanings Behind Colors Popularly Used in Realty Websites
Let’s look more closely at some of the most commonly executed colors in realty websites:
- White – Speaking in terms of light, white is actually a combination of every color rather than a distinct color of its own. Ironically, this super-saturated color is valued on realty websites for creating the impression of flow and space. On a more direct level, it can make website copy easier to read.
- Red – We love the color red at JohnHart, but even then, we use it somewhat sparingly on our own real estate website. That’s because the sense of urgency it inspires can lead to an anxiety-inducing experience if not meted out responsibly.
- Green – It’s tempting to connect green with abundance and call it a day. But when you see it used on a real estate website, it’s often intended to invoke luxury lifestyles and sustainable eco-consciousness.
- Blue – Because of its ability to promote trust, professionalism, and reliability, blue is the color most popularly utilized in realty websites.
Some of the color theory practices for a website bleed into simple common sense. For example, clickable features and buttons do best when they use contrasting colors to stand out more. Complementary colors have also been shown to increase website clicks.
Using UI/UX Design to Build a Better Website
Though User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two separate beasts, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. UI keeps the focus on the visual elements of a real estate website. Features like fonts, button design, and the general layout of a website all fall under the UI banner. UX accounts for the action-based journey a site visitor takes. Where they click, when they click, how long they stay… all of this is part of UX.
UX is especially crucial to a quality real estate website because intuitive site navigation can serve as the preamble to a top-notch service experience throughout a subsequent transaction. But it’s also the gateway to the modern real estate experience. Filters help narrow searches to exacting client specifications in seconds. With well-executed UX, images load quickly in crisp clarity, menus guide visitors intuitively, and search bars integrate seamlessly for a visually appealing, user-friendly introduction to the essence of a brokerage.
It’s odd to think back to a time when features like prominent search filters and mobile-responsive designs weren’t a given. But realty websites have had to keep pace with the breakneck development of technology. Performance is also a factor that deserves careful consideration when designing a real estate website. After all, the site will need to host a plethora of high-quality photos and possibly even video/VR tours.
How User Behavior Informs Real Estate Website Design
Behind the scenes, UI/UX designers are frequently consulting a myriad of data to help them map out the most efficient real estate website layout. They’re specifically interested in behavioral data, a type of analytics that can help to steer design for the most efficient nexus of performance and customer satisfaction. Data, such as heatmaps, scroll depth, and click paths, reveals an insightful guide to visitor behavior that can inform a design that’s beneficial for clients and brokerages alike. It can also highlight the problems that prevent a perfect guest experience.
Most visitors to a real estate website have clear tasks in mind when they visit. Web designers can tailor a site’s layout to best serve these tasks. Looking for a home in a certain area? A designer may choose to meet this need by integrating map-based browsing. Want to contact an agent? Perhaps a simplified contact form would be helpful. Need to filter a search? Prominent filters are a must. These are just a few of the factors a talented UI/UX web designer needs to consider.
The Less You Notice, the Better
If you don’t have a mind for web design, it can be easy to take these features for granted. And that’s sort of the point. Think of it like a movie where you don’t want anything to take you out of the experience. Your journey through a quality real estate website should be seamlessly immersive and efficient. And the less you notice, the more you can expect that a UI/UX designer took care and consideration of color, behavior, and orchestration to craft that experience.
With a brand that says as much as JohnHart’s, Senior Copywriter Seth Styles never finds himself at a loss for words. Responsible for maintaining the voice of the company, he spends each day drafting marketing materials, blogs, bios, and agent resources that speak from the company’s collective mind and Hart… errr, heart.
Having spent over a decade in creative roles across a variety of industries, Seth brings with him vast experience in SEO practices, digital marketing, and all manner of professional writing with particular strength in blogging, content creation, and brand building. Gratitude, passion, and sincerity remain core tenets of his unwavering work ethic. The landscape of the industry changes daily, paralleling JohnHart’s efforts to {re}define real estate, but Seth works to maintain the company’s consistent message while offering both agents and clients a new echelon of service.
When not preserving the JohnHart essence in stirring copy, Seth puts his efforts into writing and illustrating an ongoing series entitled The Death of Romance. In addition, he adores spending quality time with his girlfriend and Romeo (his long-haired chihuahua mix), watching ‘70s and ‘80s horror movies, and reading (with a particular penchant for Victorian horror novels and authors Yukio Mishima and Bret Easton Ellis). He also occasionally records music as the vocalist and songwriter for his glam rock band, Peppermint Pumpkin.
