Developing a new pricing Package for TradeMe Property
Background
Trade Me Property dominates New Zealand's digital real estate marketing landscape. Most houses in the country are sold through Trade Me Property, with many real estate agents stating their confidence in it as their sole necessary marketing tool.
Trade Me Property offers four advertising packages: Basic, Bronze, Silver, and Gold, with the value proposition being simple: the more you pay, the more visibility, reach, and features you receive.
However, we identified that agents spend considerably more on other marketing mediums. This led us to inquire whether there is room for a higher-priced package and, if so, what they would expect from it.
Objective
Increase the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) by introducing a higher-priced package offering customers more value.
Discovery
As usual, we began with a rigorous discussion about the overall project. We covered all the known insights and the questions that need to be answered.
Two opposing hypotheses were put forward as the main value promise for this package:
Real estate agents prefer a broad reach and visibility.
Real estate agents prefer targeted advertising.
To gain more insights and answers, we conducted user research. I led the user research phase to ensure our new offering resonates with users and fulfils their needs. The goal was to explore unmet needs, pain points, and opportunities among our core user base. We aimed to discover how we can add value for customers, encouraging them to allocate more of their marketing budget to Trade Me.
User Research
Target Audience for Research: Given our understanding of our users, we zeroed in on the current Gold package subscribers as our prime interview candidates. The rationale was that if they were willing to invest in our highest package, they might see value in something even more premium.
Structure: 1:1 sessions with Real estate agents who regularly buy the Gold package. Each research session spanned an hour. For the first half, our conversations revolved around their experiences with the Gold package, understanding different advertising methods, the context around them, and perspectives on return on investment from different mediums.
Concepts and Feedback: The latter half of our interviews focused on getting feedback on some concepts we had prepared. These artefacts and discussions helped us gauge initial reactions and understand their preferences, which would later shape the design of our Platinum package.
Key Insights
Visibility over targeting: Real estate agents we interviewed prioritise exposure and broad reach over hyper-targeted approaches.
Willingness to upgrade: Gold package subscribers showed clear interest in more premium offerings and shared scenarios where they wished they had something more than Gold.
Low or unknown ROI from print advertising: Many agents spend a lot of money on print advertising, especially for expensive properties, hoping to reach the passive, wealthy audience. However, these ads are often considered ineffective and expensive.
Increase in advertising on social media: All the agents we interviewed mentioned that they have increased their spending on social media but are unhappy with targeting quality and effectiveness.
Customers want wider reach: Customers appreciate the ability to advertise their properties to potential buyers interested in similar properties in neighbouring suburbs. Our buyer team's insight supports this, as they have found that buyers will often compromise on certain attributes if other criteria are met from their dream-home checklist.
Solution
Based on the feedback and insights from user research, we finalized the following solutions:
Trade Me Property Home page slider: Display properties on the platinum package directly on the home page to grab the attention of the in-market audience. These properties are selected based on various signals from the user, including their location and previous activity, to ensure relevance. See it in action
Callout blocks on search results: When users browse through the search results, show them properties on the platinum package that match their search criteria from nearby suburbs. See in action
Preferential treatment in emails: Saved search email is one of property listings' most significant traffic sources. Platinum properties get a higher ranking and bigger size than properties on other packages.
Social advertising powered by Trade Me’s audience data: Promote properties on the platinum package on various social media, targeting ads using Trade Me’s audience data.
Outcome
We set an OKR aiming for at least 5 Platinum package sales in the first month. To our delight, we achieved ten times that number, with 50 sales, and this surged to 120 sales in the following month.
By merging our business objectives with clear customer needs, we were able to design a product that not only added value to our users but also significantly contributed to our bottom line.