Marketing Recovery Series: Engaging the at-home consumer

As the world paused to flatten the curve, the stay-at-home economy gathered speed, adapting to the absence of physical contact. For all but the frontlines, home has been our focus. It’s where we’ve worked, parented and homeschooled. For a while now, it’s also where we’ve hunted for information, browsed for inspiration and shopped for wants and needs. According to research, nearly 90 per cent of key retail, automotive and financial purchase decisions are made or discussed at home – regardless of where we buy.

Home is a key place to target consumers

The 2020 Canadian e-commerce report reveals that 32 per cent of pre-pandemic online shoppers said they planned to buy more online in the coming year. With hindsight, those numbers will be higher. Sixty per cent of online purchases made in Canada are bought by 18 per cent of online buyers. These HYPER+ shopper segments are leading trends and behaviours that increasingly make the home an influential space for targeting.

Reaching at-home consumers requires strategy

At-home consumers are connected shoppers. Reaching them isn’t about where they buy but how they shop. For example, our homes have become delivery centres for groceries, subscriptions, as well as buying direct, local and on-demand.

Connecting deeply with at-home consumers is key

There’s a danger that brands become bland, falling victim to digital saturation as consumers block and filter the peripheral noise. To connect with the at-home consumer, brands need to get more personal and show their personality.

How your business can connect with at-home consumers

Optimize your mix by reaching consumers at home in more ways than one. By integrating digital and physical media into your marketing strategy, you’re likely to outperform either channel as a standalone. To influence discovery and purchases, think about the home from both the consumer POV and the channel perspective. Whether B2B or B2C, it’s about marketing with humanity. Combine personalization with brand personality for stand-out relevance.

Brands that connect with at-home consumers effectively

We’ve been entertained by these personable brands who have recognized what people want:

• True to itself, Airbnb recently messaged customers about Online Experiences. “Thanks to the dedication and passion of hosts, you can keep travelling even when you’re staying home.” Audiences can pay to see magic shows, meet special dogs, or take a family baking class while staying safe.
• A sponsored Bud Light Dive Bar Tour: Home Edition raised money for charity, and the first performance featured country music star Jake Owen at home. The virtual concert streamed on his Instagram Live page, with a personable pinned message, “Live at the @budlight Dive Bar Tour: Home Edition: Come have some beers and hang with us.”
• With many cars sitting idle on driveways, Ford wanted to bring some fun to video conferencing. They injected brand personality into virtual gatherings with customizable Fun Meetings Backgrounds keeping Ford models top of mind.

How to optimize your marketing mix to engage at-home consumers

Since so many purchase decisions are made where we live, our homes need to be considered as media channels. They’ve become information hubs, and our postal codes are filled with stable and holistic data revealing motivations, behaviours, interests and lifestyles to help understand and reach the at-home consumer.

During the pandemic we’ve turned to digital sources for news, shopping, entertainment and connection but we’ve also experienced digital fatigue. Direct mail can be hyper-targeted to improve personalization and relieve digital fatigue, while its physicality and creative flexibility brings brand personality to life.

See more great advice in our other Marketing Recovery Series blogs.