AI Promises the World – Roy Morgan Actually Delivers: Simonds Homes Sees 2.3× More Conversions, 40% Cheaper Leads
Simonds Homes increases lead efficiency with Helix Personas & Roy Morgan WorkSpace™
Simonds Homes has significantly improved its digital marketing performance after piloting the Roy Morgan WorkSpace Copy Engine, an AI-powered advertising tool underpinned by Helix Personas. The pilot, driven by its agency Sonar Group, delivered a 2.3x higher conversion rate on Google and a 40% reduction in cost per lead (CPL) across Google and Meta combined, compared to Simonds’ business-as-usual activity.
As digital advertising becomes more crowded and AI reshapes how brands reach customers, Simonds Homes set out to move beyond generic “home buyer” messaging and answer a fundamental growth question: Who are our best customers – and how can we find more people like them, earlier in their journey?
The pilot focused on three key goals:
- Better understand what drives Simonds’ best customers’ decisions
- Reach them earlier in the home-buying journey with more relevant, values-based messaging
- Test whether AI + Helix Persona-driven targeting could outperform traditional targeting on key performance metrics
AI + Helix Personas: the new foundation for targeting
Simonds identified key Helix Personas using the Helix Personas Pixel on its website, Persona profiles from its CRM and Roy Morgan’s Live Mapping tool to geo-spatially identify key locations. It used these Personas as a seed audience.
Roy Morgan’s AI-driven WorkSpace engine was configured with a Simonds company overview, tone of voice, the Helix Personas seed audience and campaign details for Wizard Quiz - Simonds’ lifestyle-based home finder.
From this, WorkSpace generated targeting recommendations (postcode clusters, interests, lifestyle affinities) and Persona-aligned ad copy for Meta and Google, tuned to channel best practice. This shifted Simonds from demographic to psychographic, motivation-led campaigns.
Standout results: higher quality, lower cost
The pilot delivered strong, measurable uplifts compared to business-as-usual activity:
- 2.3x higher conversion rate on Google (Roy Morgan WorkSpace CVR 15.43% vs. Always-On CVR 6.81%)
- 40% cheaper cost per lead overall across Meta and Google
The WorkSpace campaign converted far more efficiently, indicating that smarter geographic targeting and audience quality, not just copy, were key performance drivers.
The Roy Morgan WorkSpace campaign also broadened Simonds’ reach into under-served, high-value segments, especially on Meta. This meant that AI-led, Helix Persona-informed targeting helped Simonds engage both younger first-home buyers and older upgraders/aspirational buyers, expanding growth potential beyond their usual profile.
Scott Heron, Managing Director, Sonar Group says:
“The real breakthrough for Sonar was the hyper-local targeting capability. By focusing on postcode clusters where Helix Personas were strongest, we saw significantly higher conversion rates using the WorkSpace Copy Engine to deliver the campaign messaging.”
Jade Catanese, Brand Marketing Manager, Simonds Homes says:
“Roy Morgan WorkSpace has enabled us to build far more accurate and relevant campaigns, which has noticeably improved both our conversion rates and lead quality. In a landscape where social media advertising is increasingly saturated, having this level of precision is essential. It helps us stay ahead of the game, stand out, and remain competitive.”
Howard Seccombe, Chief Digital Officer, Roy Morgan says:
“With Roy Morgan WorkSpace and Helix Personas, Simonds Homes is now better positioned to cut through the noise, reach the right people at the right time with the right message – and convert them more efficiently than ever. We are excited to continue this journey with Simonds and its agency Sonar.”
For more information visit https://www.roymorgan.com/products-and-tools/workspace or view the full Case Study.
About Sonar Group
Sonar is a leading Australian digital marketing consultancy, working with clients to create tailored roadmaps and deliver measurable growth.
Visit the Sonar Group website here: https://sonargroup.com.au
About Simonds Homes
Simonds Homes is one of the leading and largest homebuilders in Australia.
Visit the Simonds Homes website here: https://www.simonds.com.au
About Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan is Australia’s largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state, as well as in the U.S. and U.K. A full-service research organisation, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information on consumers.
For more information contact:
Scott Heron
0427 540 014
scott@sonargroup.com.au.
Howard Seccombe
0434 602 386
howard.seccombe@roymorgan.com.
To learn more about Roy Morgan’s data, call (+61) (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com. Please click on this link to the Roy Morgan Online Store.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
