Now more than ever, amidst a global pandemic, people are leaving crowded cities and opting for a more suburban lifestyle where housing is more affordable, the risk of human interaction is less, and working from home is the new norm. Irrespective of what we’re seeing in recent months however, people are always moving. As marketers, it’s important that we follow our customers and greet them at their new home with the right content, since often times, a move can be a trigger for a purchase event.
Working with several home furnishing brands, we are creating impactful and interesting new mover programs to stand out from more traditional mailings and to cater to their life event. This mail piece is a strong brand statement and will highlight a discount offer separate from other sales that may occur during that timeframe.
Our clients are experiencing great success by creating content and messaging relevant to this new life event. In addition, we also take it step further – we identify the pre-movers. What is a pre-mover, you ask? A pre-mover is someone either early in the stages of moving that has listed their home on the market, or in the later stage of the move and has entered the contract phase of their home sale – nearing the finish line. Mailing to these pre-movers is key because you can put a bug in your customers’ ears before they have even moved. That way, they’re ready to act quickly and utilize their “new mover offer” once they’ve made the big move. Moving is a very time-sensitive event, so you have an advantage if you can be in your customers’ mailbox before it happens.
The results below are indicative of what we have mailed to prospects or new/pre-movers over a 5-month timeframe for a home décor brand. While there is a lower response rate to the new mover offer, the AOV is $400 more since these prospects are poised to purchase. We see this higher AOV consistently month after month compared to the “normal” prospects – new movers are spending more.
This same exact process can be done to your customer file as well. Identify through NCOA and PCOA who your customers are that have moved (or are about to move) and mail this separate offer around the time of the moving event. While you think this may be creepy, customers actually enjoy being catered to with personalized offers and messaging – they may finally reactivate if they haven’t bought from you in years!
Another idea to consider – do you mail to the new resident at your customer’s old address? If the home caters to a certain design aesthetic, or has large yards for landscaping and gardening, mailing the new resident at the customer’s old address is a great lead for home décor as well as plants and seed brands.
If you’d like help crafting a better new mover program, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at lminer-voigt@cohereone.com