HomeGround is a real estate agency with a difference and is Melbourne’s first social enterprise property management company. They offer a bespoke and competitive real estate experience for ethically minded homeowners looking to make an impact to help end homelessness in Victoria.
HomeGround is an initiative of Launch Housing, an amazing Melbourne-based homelessness charity. Providing web design and development for HomeGround is an excellent fit for our team as we seek to use our digital expertise to empower purpose driven organisations to bring positive change.
The challenge
HomeGround’s previous website was hard to navigate, and the branding and design did not reflect their recent rebrand. While some of the properties are rented at “social housing” rates, HomeGround provides a high quality property management service and seek to property owners (landlords) seeking that professional service. It was also difficult for the office to update the website with new properties for rent, as the backend integration was clunky and the process was very manual.
Our approach
The team at Heartburst facilitated a digital discovery phase to delve into the various personae for their website, and also to learn more about the plugins, integrations and customisations needed to make their daily workload easier and more efficient. Following our discovery workshop, we provided a comprehensive Project Charter detailing discovery outcomes, proposed information architecture, and roadmap for design and development.
Solution
Building on the success and strength (and fun) of the discovery phase we delivered this website to schedule and on budget.
Using the newly minted HomeGround branding assets, our design team were able to produce an eye-catching and modern look for the website. The revised navigation menus were streamlined to address the needs of priority user groups (Property owners, Renters, Prospective Renters), uplifting the user experience.
For each of these audience groups we created design prototypes for their respective key landing pages. The layout and content prioritisation for these pages were guided by outcomes from our discovery phase, creating a result we can be confident in.
We were also able to research suitable integrations to provide a seamless and customised platform for them to attract new landlords, keep existing ones and showcase new listings easily and elegantly.
We were further able to assist by providing photography, along with optimised content from our non-profit expert copywriter.
The result
Heartburst were amazing to work with for our website redesign. They were easy going and offered many options to bring our idea to life and absolutely nailed it. Would have no hesitation recommending them to anyone and we’re super pleased with the website and the ongoing support offered.
Samantha Gatherum-Goss — Manager, Home Ground Real Estate
The new homeground website is finely tuned to address the needs of its user personae. Landing pages have been carefully crafted to funnel prospective customers toward a purchase decision, and prospective renters can easily review listed properties.
The new look positions HomeGround with elegance alongside purpose, leveraging authentic photography and clean digital design. These features will drive more inquiry to the business, and provide homes to many, including some who are in need of a hand up.
Ultimately, the website will drive success for a business that is funnelling revenue to Homelessness charity Launch Housing. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to assist this innovative and purpose driven organisation.
Our resident photographer/developer Sam Hart did an amazing job, and even got to model in his own shoot!
