Brits batten down hatches in return to Covid 'cocooning'

UK shoppers are reverting to the “cocooning” behaviour of the Covid years as they invest in their homes and focus on reducing their bills, turning sectors such as DIY, finance and insurance into a new goldmine of high-value leads.

That is according to a new analysis by digital marketing platform Esbconnect, based on a giant cache of nearly 70 million email marketing messages, which reveals that while consumers are clicking less frequently than before, the intent behind those clicks is significantly stronger.

The figures also demonstrate that, in a zero-click era, other forms of engagement are clearly influencing sales, with increasing numbers of consumers responding to messages by going directly to brands’ own sites.

The data, which details 67 million marketing messages, 200,000 consumer clicks and 17,584 qualified leads, highlights three major new trends in digital marketing.

Firstly, high-intent channels are outperforming broad-reach advertising, with brands that are targeting consumers when they are already researching purchases seeing significantly higher conversion rates.

Secondly, lead generation is once again proving its value. Sectors focused on driving leads – such as home improvement, finance, and insurance – are generating higher-value customers than ecommerce channels that are simply trying to push a sale. Click-to-conversion rates are increasing by between 2x and 5x in many cases, showing the value in reaching customers early in their journey.

Finally, quality traffic is replacing cheap traffic. The data suggests the era of high-volume, low-quality acquisition may finally be at an end, as intent increases and clicks become rarer but more valuable.

Esbconnect chief executive Suzanna Chaplin said: “Consumers are becoming more selective about what they engage with, but far more likely to convert when they do. In other words, the Internet is moving from a discovery economy to an intent economy. Clicks are becoming rarer, but far more valuable, and brands that capture consumers when they are actively researching a purchase massively outperform those chasing cheap traffic.”

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 and DIY, with the likes of B&Q (pictured) no doubt well placed.

While home improvement generated the highest value leads, financial services brands delivered some of the highest lead volumes, with conversion rates up by between 2x and 5x for products including car finance checks, life insurance/PMI, mortgage and remortgage offers, boiler and energy switches and broadband:

Chaplin commented: “Click-to-conversion rates for a lead have doubled in the last 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 increased this.”

While travel and tourism appears to be immune from the cutbacks, consumer brands are finding it tough going.

Chaplin added: “There is still demand, and people are spending, brands are better off getting consumers into their first-party database and nurturing, 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 for when they do convert.”