Humans are creatures of habit—once a pattern is established, it becomes close to impossible to change behavior. There’s one exception to this “rule”: life stage transitions, which represent periods of disruption in our lives. Marketers call these moments “life events”—including everything from getting engaged to having a baby to making a move, and more. During these life events, many consumers reconsider aspects of their lifestyle—shaking up habitual buying patterns and opening doors for endless marketing opportunity.
The Opportunity
Brands can capitalize on consumer behavior by reaching new movers with the right message, in the right timeframe. New movers are much more likely to engage with and try new brands. Why is this important? Because, annually, new mover expenditures exceed $150 billion. A recent Zillow survey found that, on average, new movers spend nearly $10,000 on products and services related to their move—from moving supplies to home improvements to furnishings, and so much more.
The Challenge
New movers present a tremendous opportunity for marketers, but reaching out to this audience effectively and efficiently is not as easy as it may appear. New movers have unique and dynamic needs compared to non-movers, and getting in front of this fast-acting group can be a challenge for many brands without the right resources and support. If you aren’t prepared to “make a move” as well, you will miss out on this brief and lucrative window of opportunity.
The Solution
Trigger marketing is the solution for nurturing a new relationship at an opportune moment. In a nutshell, trigger marketing is about mastering the confluence of data to get the right message in front of the right people at the right time, across multiple channels.
By identifying life events, such as a move, quickly, marketers can respond to signals almost immediately with a pre-determined message and offer. But trigger marketing isn’t just quicker than traditional (non-trigger) acquisition marketing—it’s also far more effective. In fact, among our own clients, Deluxe sees trigger marketing campaigns perform 2.5x better compared to net-of-control response rates of traditional campaigns:
In other words: consumers are trying to find a solution to a new problem, and all you need to do is to meet them where they are with the right message and offer.
How to Execute Your Mover Campaign
Effective campaigns must have a very strategic approach to new movers. Getting the most out of your new mover data involves four key factors:
1. RIGHT PEOPLE
Data: the foundation of every campaign
All data is not created equally, which is why it’s critical to evaluate the data you are using today. Good data starts not only with high-performing leads but also extremely high volumes.
Many marketers rely on single-sourced or limited multi-sourced data providers when targeting movers. Deluxe has found that no individual provider—including leading multi-sourced providers—has adequate coverage, making it critical to aggregate data from multiple providers with complementary coverage.
Having an extensively multi-sourced database that yields as many new movers as possible (900K+/week) provides you with critical intelligence weeks ahead of your competitors. Not only does this ensure that new movers are identified as soon as they appear across dozens of sources, it also allows you to contact new movers as close to the triggered event as possible.
This minimizes the amount of time between the event (move) and the receipt of offer, translating into a more timely message for the end customer.
2. RIGHT MESSAGE
Create a compelling ad
Consumers want to be shown products and services that are relevant to them, and that provide value by being useful. Speaking confidently to a new mover with a great offer and personalized message can help you convert them into a customer. Additionally, addressing top concerns for new movers shows that your brand not only knows their challenges but understands how to solve them.
More ideas:
Anticipate their needs. Share services and offers related to their move—including complimentary offerings like design services, product samples or evaluations.
Provide a cost savings. Cater to the needs of a new mover who is spending $$$$.
Be helpful. Connect new movers to answers they are looking for such as “How do I find a 24-hour plumber?” or “How do I design this new space?”
Reduce the stress of moving. Provide a move-in checklist or a small kit of branded household essentials to make unpacking easier (paper towels, hand soap, bottled water, disinfecting wipes—even toilet paper).
Welcome them to the neighborhood. An empathetic, positive message can make a new home feel less foreign.
Share their excitement. Show customers what they can do with their home once they are all moved in—such as design tips and party hosting ideas.
3. RIGHT TIME
Be ready to execute ASAP
Marketers must be prepared to act quickly and reach out with the perfect message following a trigger event. In our own research, Deluxe sees responsiveness decline dramatically in each subsequent week following a trigger. By Week 3, average response rates have decreased 40.5% compared to Week 1:
We recommend planning ahead to build an agile, streamlined campaign execution process. By readying a complete campaign in advance, you can launch immediately—even on a rolling basis—after receiving new mover data.
4. RIGHT PLACE
Meet new movers where they are
Consumers today expect seamless recognition and connectivity. At Deluxe, we recommend our clients take an approach that both speaks to new movers as close to the triggered event as possible, and simultaneously communicates with them across multiple channels to maximize reach— online and offline.
A cross-channel approach not only integrates offer presentment and content within the relevant window of time, it also improves brand awareness and recognition. We have found that multi-channel trigger campaigns result in 15% lift in net-of-control response compared to offline-only trigger campaigns.
Here’s how a multi-channel new mover campaign might look in action:
In Conclusion
We live in an era where access to data, and the technology to implement it in profitable ways, continues to evolve and grow. Year over year, the data is better, the speed-to-market is faster, and the ability to personalize in multiple channels is beyond what we could have imagined just a decade ago.
Taking advantage of that opportunity requires speed and planning, but in the end, trigger marketing helps brands nurture a very dynamic relationship, as it creates goodwill with consumers and businesses in their time of need, positioning your business in a hero role that will create long-term loyalty—and repeat business—for years to come.
Read the full whitepaper below. Want more? Click here for more small business content right here on LenovoPRO Community.
Has your business targeted new movers in the past and have you found it to be successful? Leave your questions, comments, and your thoughts on Evolve Small as a whole in the comments below to get the discussion started!