Prospective renters really have something to tweet about these days. UDR has launched a new bundle of augmented reality applications featuring built-in Twitter functionality, enabling users to comment on apartments seconds after seeing them.
Released Feb. 25, the apartment REIT’s application arrives on the heels of its original bundle, which was designed by the Dutch company Layar and launched September 2009. Since then, the company has built its own augmented reality application. Available for Android and iPhone devices, the latest apartment search application features direct access to social media.
According to Steve Taraborelli, UDR’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the social media functionality is another way for UDR to reach prospects more efficiently and generate brand exposure.
“We’re attracting mobile users who live by their smartphone,” Taraborelli says. “A prospective renter can go onto Twitter from our application, which automatically bookmarks the UDR Web page for others to see.”
Utilizing the smartphone’s camera and a built-in compass to locate local properties, the UDR app displays content “layers” over a consumer’s camera image. By simply pointing a smartphone down the street, a user is notified of all UDR properties within a 10-mile radius.
UDR’s newest version builds on the original Layar application, which allows prospective renters to check apartment pricing; view photos, amenities and floor plans; reserve and place a hold on an apartment; and access GPS mapping and directions to nearby properties.
In addition to the original features and new built-in Twitter functionality, the latest UDR application enables users to create and edit their own comments at any location, leaving virtual Post-it notes about UDR properties and the surrounding community for others to read.
Another notable new feature allows customers to use their smartphone camera to scan Quick Response (QR) codes, which function like a bar code but can be read quickly by a cell phone and link the user directly to a Web site or coupon. Virtual discount coupons can be placed in a downtown city location, Taraborelli says, and are the next step in augmented reality promotional campaigns.
While it’s still too soon to get a clear indication of the new application’s potential success, UDR’s two augmented reality apps together have been downloaded 145,000 times. Taraborelli believes the latest features have all contributed to promising early numbers.
“Mobile as a percent of total UDR Web site traffic was 10 percent last year and it went up to 14 percent in the month of March,” Taraborelli says. “Our primary lead generation source is organic search engine referral traffic which converts to a lead and a signed lease. An increase in our mobile search referral traffic is also a strong indicator of people wanting to commit to an apartment due to the convenience and ease of use of our mobile Web sites and downloadable apps.”
UDR’s apps are embracing the future of apartment searching, Taraborelli states.
“Seventy-five percent of the country has a mobile phone and mobile analysts are forecasting that in the next two to three years, Internet use through mobile devices will surpass that of PC and desktop use,” Taraborelli says. “At UDR we develop our mobile applications to tie into the lifestyle of 20-to-35-year-olds, and the trend is continuing as the echo-boomers are entering the rental market. By reaching them through a mobile device, it’s another way of catering to a potential renter, creating brand awareness and capturing a new audience.”