The New Digital Must-Win Battles for Home & DIY Brands

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The New IndustryBrandsforMust-WinDigitalBattlesHome&DIYinsightswww.enjoy-digital.co.uk

A team of 60 digital marketers, market researchers, developers and technical experts across strategy and planning, digital experience creation, and performance & Weactivation. believethatattention has never been so in demand. Every day there’s a new feed to follow. Another post to read. Another place to buy from. A new trend to adopt. To get noticed, experiences must be inspirational, relevant to the audience and communicated in the right place at the right time. That requires an instinctive understanding of the customer, their buying behaviours and how they perceive your brand. But, true insight only comes from delving into the detail, analysing every interaction and mapping every purchase. To attract, engage and immerse consumers in an experience that is both memorable and measurable, you need to know their world, inside out. We are Enjoy.

What we do

The channels and digital experiences delivered along the path to purchase have only grown in importance, and with this trend, we’ve seen the gap between good and bad experiences grow, too.

To dominate the must-win battles in your space, you need to know where to place your focus, and in an ever-evolving market, understanding your consumer is the key.

The changing behavioural trends we’ve tracked over time have been supercharged by Covid-19 in relation to the wants, needs and expectations 
 of consumers in this sector.

We work with leading homeware and DIY brands across the UK, helping them understand and connect with their

Weaudiences.maptheirunique customer journeys to identify where time and budget should be spent to deliver maximum impact across their channels.

A ofjourney discovery We’re curious about the developing landscape around DIY & Home purchasing in 2022, so we set out to discover the latest trends in consumer purchase behaviour and attitudes to see where that journey has shifted, and which points now present the greatest opportunity to drive conversion. We conducted a quantitative survey with over 2,000 UK homeowners to establish: How do consumers discover new DI /homeware brands What are the typical paths to purchase? What types of products or services are consumers loo ing for? What influences brand loyalty? What are the ey challenges and opportunities for brands?

The lay of the landscapeconsumer

Over the past two years of travel restrictions, we’ve experienced a boom in spending in the home, with consumers spending their holiday money on their homes instead. But as life returns to normal, as our survey showed, spending habits are largely returning to pre-covid normals as well. Add into that the new challenge of the cost-of-living crisis, and the consumer landscape within this sector looks challenging compared to previous years. How do you maintain the growth of the last few years despite fluctuating market conditions? These changes mean it’s crucial to review, re-energise and optimise your brand and marketing strategies for the digitally savvy consumer.

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01 Discovery01

Brands need to help them overcome the abundance of choice and guide consumers to the right purchase decisions for them. They need to have confidence a product will do what they need it to do, with 45% buying a product because it looked premium/quality and 42% because the retailer had a reputation for quality.

The Interactiveinsightandvisualexperiences

are a key tool in the critical Inspiration phase of a home product or DIY purchase: Visualising the end result of your project or purchase is hard for a lot of people, and many end up looking at a mish-mash of content across multiple sources. 42% of all respondents wanted to know what would fit within the space they had available. We saw that 45-64 year-olds prefer researching products online. However, they do not research via social media s much as younger demographics, (just 18% of 45-64 year-olds used social media for inspiration, compared with 48% of 18-44 year-olds). They need brands to bring to life what the end result will look like and help guide them to their perfect solution, building trust and belief in the brand and product.

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Consumers are looking to manufacturers' & brands’ digital experiences more and more, and they expect a relevant, helpful and inspirational experience every time: Consumers want answers, and quickly. They are increasingly looking to the brand-owned experiences for those answers.

Price is always going to be an important factor, but a digital experience can be 
 the key differentiator in showcasing your product and more importantly, its Whilevalue:consumers may look for the best prices, they also want the best-looking products; you can showcase this very effectively through your digital experiences. The desire for high-quality products is consistent across age ranges, it's the channel they use across that journey that changes dependent on age group. Multi-brand retailers have a significant part 
 to play in this as there are still no real go-to digital experiences to properly collate and visualise DIY or home projects in one space. Our survey showed that the majority of respondents sought something to make the process of discovery and inspiration easier, and suggwsted the process of this collation as a real pain point in their investigation. Brands can use this to ensure their experiences solve consumer challenges, but multi-brand retailers have a real opportunity to create something leading in this space.

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RecommendationsIftheudgetsareavailalethenaninvestmentininteractive or visualisation

tools, ased on an assessment of your consumer's purchase path, can separate your experience significantly. Not only is this useful in the purchase cycle, but becoming a repeat visit destination will positively impact brand awareness, and increase future purchases We found that if consumers have confidence in an experience that makes the process of filtering to a purchase decision easier, they will actively seek out reusing it

If your udgets won’t stretch to a full tool, look at impactful cheaper options. Inspirational experiences at those early stages can e as simple as a more extensive and properly curated gallery of images or video content. Look to your engaged community of brand ambassadors to generate that content for you and increase community engagement as a by-product How can social feeds replicate this if your owned platforms can’t? But note that while Instragram (28% 18-34 used Instagram for inspiration vs just 8% over 45s) and Pinterest (27% 18-34 used Pinterest for inspiration vs 9% over 45s) were called out in our research as platforms of choice, they were much more heavily utilised by the under 35s, with those 45+ having a much lower adoption of these channels 28% 18-34 year-olds used Instagram for inspiration vs just 8% over 45s, while 27% 18-34 used Pinterest for inspiration vs 9% over 45s

Additional thought: Pinterest boards can become unwieldy, how do you make sure the images of your product images a) stand out and b) are easily brand identifiable?

B2B rands - How can retailers and rands work hand in hand to tie the physical and digital experience closer together? Collaborate with retailer partners to create in-store digital experiences that mimic the experience that a consumer has previously engaged in during the inspiration and investigation phases. Brand consistency across digital and physical products can simplify a purchase experience greatly.

If you have a house of rands under a parent company, do these rands connect either at purchase or during the purchase process? If so, do your digital experiences link those brands together effectively, and as far as possible in a noncompeting way? Tying those brands together more effectively digitally, and understanding how they fit together in a purchase process, can allow you to better leverage them, or introduce complementary purchases seamlessly.

etailer experiences oth digital and in-person are always going to e important parts of the consumer purchase journey in this space, especially when shopping around for the est price. We found that DIY stores were cited as the single biggest inspiration source across experience levels. If you are a B2B brand, how do you make the path to final purchase as simple and seamless as possible, reducing the effort and need for further searches by the user If you’re a rand with a D2C offering then understanding 
 where you are competing with the igger retailers for that final purchase decision and picking your must-win attles carefully is vital. As Google’s Messy Middle research shows, whilst there are two mental modes to a person's interactions, purchase decisions come when they are in the evaluation mode. Closing the gap between trigger and purchase so your existing and potential customers spend less time exposed to competitor brands is a key factor to focus on.

02 Discovery02

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The under 45s are a growing demographic in this sector but, when it comes to DIY, confidence in their own ability is low: 60% of under 35s, and just under 50% of the 35-44 group, look for help or advice either in-store or online when researching products. A brand that helps to build an individuals selfconfidence to attempt a project can significantly increase its brand value across these age groups.

Perhaps more interestingly in the 55+ group, the use of chatbots to get help or advice was almost non-existent (2%), despite the rise in usage of these tools over the past few years. One to consider if you are targeting that age group.

The insight

The most common form of interaction in terms of a person looking for help was still ‘in store’ at 26%, highlighting the real value of in-person interactions across these demographics.

Helpful also covers the support and communication services that a brand offers: No matter where a purchase is made, the brand's website is the go-to destination for questions that a consumer has both pre and post-purchase. Having a stand-out experience here can be both a trigger and a differentiator.

And this also covers the availability of product information, and how easy it is to find. Users don’t want to search long and hard to find product specs. Making this a smooth and efficient process boosts brand engagement.

‘Helpful’ is a key brand awareness and engagement factor. If consumers aren't using specialist stores where they can get expert advice, value perception and brand awareness are more likely to come into play at the point of purchase. 
 We also found that bad customer service would deter 43% of the entire sample from using a brand again, rising to 52% of the over 55s. The impact of being unhelpful is huge.

Being the helpful brand not only affects the immediate purchase but can also establish the reputation of a brand 
 for future purchases too, driving lifetime value that is so critical for brands in this space.

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WeRecommendationsfoundthatonlineinteractivehelpservices,such as webchat, were significantly more effective in building greater confidence in a product, which led to a much higher online purchase rate over those who did not use these services. 34% of those who asked for help online via chat tools preferred to purchase products for the home online vs 15% of those who did not ask. These interactive help tools seem to reduce the time to purchase significantly as well. 29% of those who asked for help online via chat tools spend very little time deciding which 
 DIY products to buy vs 15% of those who did not ask. This highlights the value in ensuring that these interactive help channel experiences are quick and easy to use, especially as adoption continues to grow.

Don’t ignore the offline channels; in-store experiences, and a brand's relationship with retailers are still a crucial component of the purchase journey especi lly for consumers over 45. Br nds need to h ve strong rel tionship with ret ilers to ensure they fully underst nd the product (i.e. the v lue not just the cost use c ses how to use it etc.) to id with the purch se decision.

High e rners re signific ntly more likely to follow DIY nd Home br nds online so be sure to promote informative and engaging content across your digital channels.

Under 45s re more likely to look to improve their property to sell on so need cost-effective ways to improve their home with a good ROI.

Pick the right channel for the right conversation with the right audience. For example Use social media to provide two-way interaction to add value throughout the purchase journey nd lign with influencers to h rness their re ch in inspir tion nd ‘how to’ content for younger udiences s n ex mple.

Capturing the audience in the right channel is one aspect; being helpful throughout their journey is the real key to being a helpful brand

Spend time looking into the types of searches that consumers may be completing when they are making decisions in-store Are they making a quick search for one product against another? Looking for a review? When they get to your brand's website is the information they are looking for quick and easy to access? Is your product search working? Does the site load quickly on mobile? Often overlooked, Google reports that over 50% of users won’t wait more than 3 seconds for a web page to load before abandoning and moving to another site All of these things tie the on and offline interactions together, reiterating a brand's helpfulness to a consumer Being helpful takes a number of forms and depends on the type of product you are selling along with the demographics that you’re targeting But in general, we are seeing that providing the expertise and know-how, along with easy-to-access information, is the content and experience that consumers are looking for at different stages in their purchase journey Doing so increases a consumer's trust in your brand, making them much more likely to purchase both now and in the future

Owned channels are important here, especially when it comes to product information and 24/7 access to support and help services that answer all possible questions a consumer may have To be helpful it is really important to understand the trigger that drives a person to your content

The survey illustrated that the most common trigger for a project was a need for repair, with 53% stating that something was in a state of disrepair, either through gradual degradation or moving into a new property where immediate work was required - being a helpful brand ensures that your brand is front of mind when this trigger is Informationfired around applying or installing a product has universal appeal by age, but is of more interest to those with DIY experience vs those who have none This suggests that it’s important to tie together a focus on ‘how to’ content, alongside considering how you can encourage those with no experience to engage with this type of content

03 Discovery03

Secondly, and the key to this final Discovery from our survey, is that neglecting brand-building activities in favour of immediate lead generation may not affect sales now, but it will erode awareness and trust over time. This will ultimately lead to a plateau in sales in the future. So how important is it to be a brand that people know and trust?

This is an understandable reaction, but the response to our survey along with the general trends we are seeing would add two caveats to that. Firstly, as we have said throughout, investing in the right areas to affect the immediate sale makes sense. Making sure you know the right channels to engage with your consumers on is key.

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The Consumersinsightacrossagegroups

In the survey, we saw that with less money 
 to spend on home projects, consumers are actively spending their budgets on products that they trust to do the job. They are doing this through safety measures like guarantees, but equally through the recommendations of the online communities and influencers that they engage with regularly, along with product reviews. This links very closely to building a helpful brand, as laid out on page 20.

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are putting more focus and consideration into where they are spending money in their homes. In our survey alone 64% of the under 45s and 36% of the over 45s agreed with this statement. This is increasing the depth and length of the investigation phase pre-project, and both the guarantees that are offered with products and the consumer's perception of quality are bigger drivers in the final purchase decision. Consumers want to be confident in the brands that they are purchasing from, and in the quality of the products that are offered by those brands. So consumers are falling back to the brands they know and trust. But trust is something that is also under scrutiny!

The survey showed that bad quality products and bad reviews are the leading factors that would put individuals off a brand, even taking price into account. These negative factors seem to have a stronger effect on those aged 55+ with 77% of those aged 55+ stating that bad quality could deter them compared to just 40% of the under 35s. Similar trends are seen for bad reviews, price and customer service.

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RecommendationsReviesandUserGeneratedContent(UGC)ingeneralcontinue to be a significant impact factor in decision-making for consumers in this space It’s importance has only increased as the total budgets available for DIY and home projects have reduced Building a strategy for actively seeking, monitoring, responding to and promoting both revie s and UGC in general is another channel to focus on Linking this to inspirational content and inspirational digital experiences, as shown in Discovery One, is a nice way to link these recommendations

Doubletogetherdo n on the confidence-building content for DIY-related purchases; trust can be built through quality but also through building confidence in someone's o n ability to use the products they are purchasing Look at channels like YouTube, that are showcasing this type of content most effectively and consider influencer partnerships within the communities your consumers are active in

Go to where your consumers are and engage with them We found that 86% of under 35’s share an image of a DIY project once it is complete But we also found that 69% of respondents don’t follow any DIY or Home brands online

Capitalising on engaged communities to further build out the content and digital experiences shortcuts the need for a person to follow you directly and allows your brand to naturally build brand awareness and trust Don’t cut ack on rand-level activity. Those who are famous for what they do and can ack it up will jump to the front of the consideration list even in a crowded market. We saw that this is especially important for the older demographics that we talked to - if they trust a brand they go straight to their website to do their research Under 45s were not only significantly more likely to agree that they prefer to purchase online, but the under 45s were also significantly more likely to prefer purchasing from the same brand each time Brand building is for the present and the future, and should not be deprioritised

Look to those communities, and your own active rand champions, for the est user-generated content to showcase real, inspirational examples.

other insightsinteresting

What this means

EnsureRecommendationsthatthereareengaging, inspirational ideas and information in-store that encourage them to try something new and cultivate digital engagement with this audience group.

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Take inspiration from the leading brands who are at the forefront of innovating digital in-store experiences to solve their customers’ real in-store challenges. Ideas like that from Ikea’s “next-gen” store to remove the customer pain point 
 of queuing.

The opportunity for digital to optimise and streamline the in-store experience and provide a place of inspiration is huge and key players in the market could be, and in some cases are, making strides towards this.

This audience is much more likely to head straight into a specialist store for their home improvement and DIY needs. However, they are struggling to find inspiring ideas within these spaces, defaulting to what they know already. This audience is a key one in terms of potential revenue but convincing them to switch to a new brand or product can be tricky.

Over 55s are significantly less likely to agree that they find it easy to source inspiring ideas and are much less likely to engage with brands/content online.

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What this means Different strategies are required for each audience type. While both audiences overall are looking for quality-looking products. If two retailers offer the exact same products at the exact same prices, these secondary factors will come into play to influence the point of purchase.

Overall, quality/premium products are the top driver overall but those under 45 are significantly more likely to be driven to purchase by the promise of a long product guarantee and strongly rated customer service. Older audiences are much more driven simply by what is available at the point of purchase.

EnsureRecommendationsthatalongsideproduct offerings there are the necessary factors in place to make audiences comfortable purchasing from you. A good customer service reputation is important and becoming more important over time. Monitor online and in-store feedback to ensure service is as good as it can be.

Age differences emerge when looking into the drivers of product purchase.

For older audiences, offer up-to-date stock information and where products are out of stock, offer accurate restock timescales. Customers can only purchase what is available to them but entering a store and discovering a preferred brand is unavailable can leave a negative impression with a retailer.

Our survey reiterated as Google highlighted back in 2020, that the goal isn’t to force people to exit the exploration and evaluation loop, but to provide the users with digital experiences that give them the information and reassurance they need to make a decision.

The key here is understanding your customer and competitor landscape.

If you’d like to discover more, talk to us about a free, no-strings-attached workshop. We’ll help you identify the quick wins and the areas where your budget is best spent to meet your business goals. We’ll also give you an overview of our model of effectiveness to help your brand capitalise on the must-win battles in the digital space.

To continued?be

To really apply these recommendations effectively for your brand it is critical that you understand your consumer journey, even if you don’t own the final purchase. And our survey emphasises that this journey has developed, in both expectations and needs, significantly over recent years. Do you truly understand who your customer is now and how they are using digital experience and channels to make their purchase decisions?

If not then start there. And we can help with that. Driven by data and insight, we deliver innovative digital strategies, experiences and activations that help our clients be more competitive, profitable and efficient.

Age D2 18-34 9% 35-44 21% 45-54 21% 55-64 21% 65+ 28% Region D3 East Midlands 9% East/East Anglia 8% London 17% North East 5% North West 11% Northern Ireland 2% Scotland 8% South East 12% South West 9% Wales 4% West Midlands 9% Yorkshire & Humber 8% Income D5 Less than £15,000 8% £15,000 to £24,999 13% £25,000 to £34,999 20% £35,000 to £49,999 23% £50,000 to £74,999 17% £75,000 to £99,999 10% £100,000 or more 6% Prefer not to say 4% Gender D1 Male 49% Female 51% The New Digital Must-Win Battles for Home & DIY Brands30 2,003Appendixinterviewswereconductedwith UK homeowners through an online omnibus partner. The resulting demographic profile was controlled to ensure it was representative of the UK in terms of region and gender. The focus of this research was homeowners, therefore age and income were allowed to fall out naturally.

INSIGHT DRIVEN DIGITAL. 0113 5378 www.enjoy-digital.co.uk718

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