Company: Property Exchange Australia (PEXA)
Contact: Emily Billing
Title: Community Manager
Related URLs: https://community.pexa.com.au/
Who is PEXA?
Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) is a digital start-up, formed to fulfil a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiative—the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia. Its mission is to modernize the $7.6 trillion residential property market, which is the nation’s largest asset and wealth contributor. PEXA is a national digital platform for completing online property transactions. Its members include 150 financial institutions and 7,000+ legal and conveyancing firms. The platform integrates with Australia’s Land Registries, which register and secure ownership of Australian land; as well as the Revenue Offices in the various states, which collect taxes on land transactions.
Lithy category: B2B Community Innovator
1. Describe the innovation(s) and how you settled on the decision to innovate (user request, Lithium suggestion, internal idea, etc.)
The e-Conveyancing Community inaugural Superuser Program
The Australian property industry is undergoing a digital revolution thanks to PEXA and e-Conveyancing – its most significant change in 150 years. Given the vastness of the country, PEXA members in rural areas can be geographically isolated with little access to peer support and face-to-face training on the PEXA process.
Early adopters and champions within the industry are incredibly important to us, as the success of property’s digital reform is dependent on the presence of a united, collaborative professional network. Our members are based throughout Australia, processing property transactions at varied volumes and are at different stages in their digital transition. They also have distinct, sometimes competing, views of customer service as they work across banking, legal and conveyancing organisations.
Our Lithium community, the e-Conveyancing Community, has been vital in developing these industry leaders around the country and providing them with a platform to learn and adapt together. In 2018 we set out to formalize our inaugural Community Superuser program. The purpose of this program was to encourage Community member leadership and recognise and reward members who have demonstrated key Community values.
2. Tell us about how you made it happen
How did we choose
From a pool of 2500 Community members, we selected 10 as our 2018 Superusers. These members had embodied the values we pride ourselves on in the Community; passion, knowledge sharing, consistent contributions and willingness to engage and help their peers in the Community. We were hoping to incorporate members from each state and industry segment. Fortunately, this ran true when we selected our 10 as we had a mix of conveyancers, lawyers, and financial institution employees.
With our group encompassing the various property industry sectors, we were able to maximize the learning opportunities and help alleviate some of the tension that had developed between our financial institutions and practitioners, pre-dating PEXA, as they now had a space to communicate and improve their shared processes.
Importantly, the program was not just a Community recognition tool, but also a chance for these Superusers to meet each other and our staff, helping to strengthen their relationships – a vital aspect of the ongoing digital transformation.
The Superuser Event
We surprised our Superusers with an all-expenses paid two day visit to the PEXA head office in Melbourne. We timed the trip to align with our third Member Open Day, with 120+ other PEXA members and industry participants attending.
Our Superusers arrived from all over Australia on the Thursday afternoon. We met the group at the hotel for a quick introduction before heading to our planned activity for the evening – a night at Cork and Canvas, where we had a painting lesson, ate, drank and mingled. Some were certainly better artists than others (I certainly won’t be pursuing a career as an artist!). We also invited a few of our staff members who are key Community contributors and only knew our Superusers by their “profile name”. After many months of talking online everyone was excited to finally put faces to names!
The following morning, we kicked off a special Superuser agenda which included a chat with our Chief Product Officer on the future of PEXA, a platform feedback workshop and a discussion on the future of Community. Amidst a jam-packed schedule, I think the highlight of the day was meeting and chatting with our CEO, Marcus!
After lunch our Superuser group joined over 120 members who attended the PEXA Member Open Day, and participated in a PEXAplex tour, product marketplace, industry discussions and networking event.
Our Superusers also received their very own Superuser badge to wear and take home, and a goody bag with PEXA swag!
It was a very successful day with our Superusers and staff having a great time with each other!
In addition to this event, we recognised our Superusers on the Community with
3. What were the results?
What our Superusers said
We received wonderful feedback from our Superuser group who really enjoyed the experience with a few not wanting to leave!
One of our superusers also wrote a post on the Community about his experience of the day:
“The ice-breaking social event at Cork & Canvas was a brilliant idea, as was the discussion opportunity the next morning. I enjoyed the "frank exchanged of views" with Brett regarding the position of the banks on certain issues (I'll be pursuing those further in the Community Brett), and the opportunity to gain insight into the way others are operating and their hopes and expectations as PEXA and the e-conveyancing concept develops into the future.”
Superusers amaze us, the Community Managers!
Five of the eight superusers who came to the event, to our surprise and delight, changed their display pictures on the e-Conveyancing Community to the frogs they had painted from our meet and greet night.
The stats
Most importantly, this group were able to meet in person and develop their relationships with each other and PEXA. We’re now preparing for our 2019 Superusers, who will have some wonderful mentors to work with!
Thanks for reading,
Emily Billing and TJ Chellew, PEXA Community Managers
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