________________________________________________________________________________________ Purchasing Behavior
The sectors that are hot right now
We will inevitably see more movement as economies and geopolitical events shift, but for now, the data allows us to observe several clear themes:
■ Home improvements are dominating revenue With the housing market suppressed, consumers are boosting the long-term value of their homes and nesting in the face of difficult times. Their engagement goes well beyond browsing- they are booking design appointments and investing in major home upgrades. Consumers may be cutting back on smaller purchases, but when it comes to improving their homes, the intent is extremely strong.
■ Financial services, utilities and telecoms are driving high-volume lead generation While home improvement generated the highest value leads, financial services brands delivered some of the highest lead volumes, with conversion rates up by between two times and five times. This includes products such as car finance checks, life insurance /
PMI, mortgage and remortgage offers, boiler and energy switches and broadband. Click-to-conversion rates for a lead have doubled in the past
12 months. Consumers are actively trying to reduce monthly household bills by focusing on remortgaging, energy switching and broadband switching- and the ongoing global situation has only accelerated this.
■ Ecommerce brands generate engagement- but lower value Some of the highest lead volumes came from ecommerce brands, but the time to conversion has increased- indicating a hyper-competitive market for consumer spend. That means that although there is still demand here, and people are spending, brands may be better off getting consumers into their first-party database and nurturing them, rather than focusing on pushing a sale now. Consideration periods have lengthened, and brands need to work on their own brand awareness to ensure they are front of mind when they do convert.
The fact that 67 million marketing messages can deliver all these insights is a testament to the central role email now plays in our marketing ecosystem. First-party data is both the lens that allows us to see these trends and the method by which marketers can capitalize on them.
That might not make the world any less troubling, but for brands, at least, it makes it a little more navigable. ■
Suzanna Chaplin esbconnect. com
Suzanna Chaplin is CEO at esbconnect, a role she assumed when she led a management buyout of the company in 2003, after almost nine years with the firm. Since then, she has transformed esbconnect from a legacy email marketing company into a strategic data and technology business that’ s helping brands overcome today’ s marketing challenges, while remaining centered on email.
retail-merchandiser. com 25