Sterling Homes’ attention to customer experience helps boost Avid Survey scores

Calgary, AB – After carefully re-evaluating its approach at every stage of the customer journey, Sterling Homes Calgary’s customer experience survey ratings now significantly exceed the industry average.

The Avid Survey scores measure customer experiences throughout the buying process. Sterling Homes Calgary’s Year-End Avid scores hit 92 in 2024, compared to an industry average of 75, while the Move-In Avid scores increased from 86 to 90 from January to June 2024.

The team has taken steps to elevate the customer experience, including introducing a new role, mapping the customer journey, implementing new tools, establishing new mantras, and treating the customer and employee experiences as circular in nature.

^{Sterling Homes' customer journey map facilitates a smooth experience for new homebuyers}

Curt Keil, Vice-President, Sterling Homes Calgary, described the impact these changes have had so far.

“It has greatly benefitted our customers by improving efficiency, communication, and quality control,” said Curt. “Streamlined workflows and enhanced team collaboration ensure timely project completions and higher-quality homes. Additionally, our focus on transparency and responsiveness has led to a more satisfying and seamless customer experience.”

One of the changes the team has made is implementing a first-of-its-kind customer journey specialist role. Kelsea Redoble, Customer Journey Specialist, Sterling Homes Calgary, said the team felt that implementing the role was vital.

“It allows us to have one person dedicated to constantly evaluating and evolving the experience we provide to our customers, and helping our team and vendor partners understand that our job is more than just customer service,” said Kelsea. “Instead, it is about the customer experience, which encompasses customers’ feelings and actions as a response to each and every interaction with our brand.”

Mapping the entire customer journey from brand discovery to the end of warranty cycle, including all major milestones, was also an important step for the team. Kelsea shared how this helped highlight areas where changes needed to be implemented and the team actioned items accordingly.

“This helps us truly understand the current patterns and trends that emerge with each stage of the homebuying journey,” she said. “This can be as general as discovering us as a homebuilder, or as granular as the way we communicate to our customers while they wait for the first blueprint of their home.”

To improve the shopping and discovery portion of the customer journey, Sterling Homes Calgary is adopting visualization tools such as ResVR in the near future. These tools will allow customers to better visualize and customize their future homes so they can purchase confidently.

Along with creating department-specific mantras to represent each department’s connection and accountability to customer experience, the team has also implemented other initiatives that align with the idea that employee experience and customer experience are circular.

Curt shared that the initiatives include an idea vault so employees can anonymously submit ideas and suggestions, an innovation lab that involves prizes for the top innovative ideas employees submit, and an internal employee engagement and workplace culture survey to measure current initiatives and gather feedback for improvement.

“When we cultivate a culture of strong employee engagement, we create passionate and happy employees,” he said. “These employees are then driven to provide exceptional service to our customers. Happy customers, in turn, enhance our employees' sense of pride and further reinforce a positive and vibrant culture. It's a virtuous cycle where everyone wins.”

With its customer ratings continuing to trend upward, Sterling Homes Calgary’s commitment to paying careful attention to homebuyer feedback and using that information to constantly improve employee and customer experiences is proving to be a highly successful strategy.