The Google Analytics stats below demonstrate what every seasoned village marketer already knows, that early January is peak prospecting season. It reveals the Christmas village search patterns across Australia with a 60% drop off around December 25 and then a rapid rebound as families discuss and search accommodation solutions for the year ahead. By January 14 we had 1,860 people a day searching for a retirement village solution. Note that the first two weeks’ inquiry was relatively steady each day compared to the normal year round behavior of peak inquiry on a Monday and then diminishing through to Saturday.
This weekly cycle simply reflects the Christmas behavior when people have time to talk on weekends and decide to search on Mondays. [We expect a steady climb back to 2,500 searches on Mondays at villages.com.au by early February].
This week, talking to operators like Lend Lease in NSW, Tall Trees in QLD and even Horizons out at Dubbo, all commented on strong inquiry levels.
These results however have to be compared to the average daily sales sector of just 33 ILUs, reflecting our failure as a sector to effectively communicate the village accommodation proposition – with 93% resident satisfaction as recorded in our McCrindle Baynes village census of 10,600 actual village residents [2011], why so few sales?