Oxley Woods Living

As Paul noted in his recent post, there are currently three new Oxley Woods homes under construction, which are now being offered for sale via the Taylor Wimpey website.

But until today I hadn’t seen any evidence of Taylor Wimpey promoting the homes for sale at all, at least not positively. More worryingly, I had received first hand insights from some prospective buyers that they were finding it really difficult to get any helpful information. (I’ll come back to this issue in a future blog post).

But in my inbox this morning was an email newsletter from Taylor Wimpey South Midlands. Normally I ignore the newsletter, having happily bought my home two years ago, but this time was different. The email was intriguingly titled “Only 3 plots left at this totally unique development”. It could only be Oxley Woods.

I opened the email, curious to see whether Taylor Wimpey might explain the ‘final’ nature of the three homes they are marketing. Instead, however, was a simple sales pitch. Let me take you through the different elements.

First things first – the text:

Not too much too argue with here, apart from the lack of attention to detail in the missing ‘s’ on Oxley Woods.

The development really is stunning, the design really is truly thoughtful and by world renowned architects, and the homes really are great value – a snip I would say.

But what comes next is more troubling. For if a picture paints a thousand words, what does this say about their marketing of Oxley Woods?

Seriously, is this the best image that they could find to promote the site to prospective purchasers?

There are a wealth of photos and design images available for the homes here at Oxley Woods, not least on Taylor Wimpey’s own website.

Why use something so poorly drawn as this? It’s not even an indicative sketch of the properties under construction, 2 of which are double-fronted homes, and all 3 of which are 3 storeys high. Oh, and 2 of them have roof terraces. And they all have views over the park from their front windows. And they are being built now so prospective owners should get in quick to be able to customise them during fit out. Where’s the hook to get people to want to look further?

Still, the email hadn’t finished. Perhaps I was too quick to criticise. I scrolled down, hoping I might see something more attractive. Perhaps a photo of one of the existing homes?

Wrong again. Some photos of other developments, and a random wall.

At least contact details are provided. But prospective buyers take note: the sales office is for the neighbouring site at Oxley Gate.

Let’s hope the sales staff have been provided with some better information than was on display in this marketing email.

{Guest post by Chris}