Design a Furniture Marketing Strategy to Acquire New Customers During Q4

By Mspark Marketing Team Aug 23, 22

As the busiest furniture shopping season of the year approaches, now is the time to design a furniture marketing plan to engage shoppers and acquire new customers during the critical Q4 selling period.

Getting to Know Furniture Buyers

  • Furniture is THE TOP CATEGORY for New Movers
    • Movers are 3x MORE LIKELY to buy furniture than non-movers.
    • $5,214 estimated customer value during the first year
    • Furniture retailers MUST be FIRST in the mailbox Learn more strategies for targeting new movers here.
  • 60% of furniture shoppers say price is the most important factor in selecting a furniture store, followed by selection, quality, location, and service.

Furniture Shoppers Respond to a Variety of Advertising Channels

  • 91% say deals, offers, and promotions are most important
  • 69% respond to direct mail and digital combined
  • 60% visit a retailer’s website after seeing online or offline ad media

Anchor Your Advertising Campaigns with Print

Consumers are receptive to print messages they receive in the mailbox. In fact, 79% look forward to checking their mailbox each day and spend up to 11 minutes sorting, opening, reading mail daily. Unlike digital ads, direct mail ads have a shelf life of 17 days. Direct mail is also valued and appreciated by consumers of all ages.

Increase Response & Conversion Through Coordinated Exposure Adding Digital Strategies

Adding digital strategies to your direct mail campaign is proven to increase response rates up to 118% and conversion rates up to 28% compared to direct mail alone. Consumers of all ages are more likely to make a purchase after receiving both print and digital advertising from a brand.

Learn how other furniture retailers have benefitted from a coordinated direct mail + digital advertising strategy in our case studies below. Reach out today to plan your strategy.

Sources: Prosper Insights & Analytics, MBI – January 2022; RAD 2022, AdMall 2022; Sources: US Small Business Assoc. 2022; RetailWire 2022; USPS Mail Moments Survey; SG360 The Future of Direct Mail, 2021

 

Shared Mail Delivers Results for Key Furniture Sales Event

FURNITURE RETAILER: SWITCHED FROM LOCAL NEWSPAPERS TO SHARED MAIL FOR BLACK FRIDAY SALE INSERT EVENT

CLIENT CHALLENGE:

  • A southeastern US regional furniture company had been using local newspaper insertions for several years for their annual Black Friday sales event.
  • Several newspapers had raised their pricing for Black Friday while offering fewer zoning capabilities year-by-year, and many local papers had stopped their TMC product.

OUR APPROACH:

  • 250 plus markets were thoroughly researched for the best targeted and complete coverage for this crucial Black sales event. In every market, Mspark shared/solo mail replaced newspaper and/or TMC ad vehicles.
  • Key Takeaways: 
    • 8-page inserts landed in mailboxes the week of the sales event with no distribution issues.
    • The Black Friday Sale inserts landed in mailboxes, not driveways.
    • Became best practice for following yearly event as shared mail outperformed newspaper.

The Results

10%

Increase in Sales from Previous Year, Black Friday Sale Event

0%

Change in Distribution Costs from Previous Year

Furniture Retailer Achieves 875% ROAS By Targeting New Movers 

FURNITURE RETAILER: TRIGGER-BASED NEW MOVER POSTCARD

CLIENT CHALLENGE:

  • A local furniture retailer was looking for a cost-effective way to attract consumers who had never been in their store to come in and make their furniture purchases with them over the competition.
  • Client Success Metrics: Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

OUR APPROACH:

  • Trigger-based New Mover Postcard targeting client’s key geography within delivery area.
  • Offer: 10% OFF entire purchase | Financing Options
  • Key Takeaways: 
    • Reaching movers as early as possible during their decision-making
      process helps gain new customers during a critical, high spend,
      trigger-based purchasing event.
    • Client continues to utilize this New Mover marketing tactic as part of
      their marketing mix.

The Results

$8.75

for every $1 spent

Furniture Retailer

Objective

A furniture retailer was looking for a cost-effective way to attract consumers who had never been in their stores to come in and make their furniture purchases from them over the competition.

Strategy

  • Utilized Mspark’s Quick Response Boost Program to strategically target customers who recently moved to their delivery area.
  • Set up a frequency campaign to reach new movers within 2-3 days of being triggered.
  • Utilized a strong offer of 10% off the entire purchase that addressed the customer directly and featured financing options as well.

The Results

$13,400 in retail sales

directly connected to the program during the campaign period

$8.75 in sales

for every $1 spent

Furniture Retailer New Location

Objective

A furniture retailer was adding a new location to an existing market where newspaper penetration was low. This rural business needed a way to improve their ability to reach consumers around their new store location with a new media solution.

Our Approach

  • Targeted the best 28,000 households surrounding the new store location​
  • Provided an affordable solution to target, design, print and mail the piece
  • Designed an attractive ad with appealing offers for bedroom sets and mattresses

The Results

30%

YOY total sales increase

Furniture Retailer

Objective

A multi-location furniture store leveraged their database analysis to drive a specific offer to their customers.

Our Approach

  • Targeted the best ZIP codes covering more than 173,000 households based on recommendations from database analysis, specifically areas with high customer penetration and sales
  • Utilized a Targeted Insert featuring an attractive offer exclusive to the Mspark mailing: $100 off any purchase of $499 or more​

The Results

$109,838

Sales solely from the coupon offer

$8.05

In sales for every $1 spent on shared direct mail

Furniture and Bedding Retailer

Objective

A furniture and bedding company with 6 retail locations was looking to grow sales by marketing to new movers coming into their markets. Another objective was to drive more online traffic to their website as shopping has shifted more to e-commerce, and online competition has grown.

Strategy

  • Identified the client’s key geography and utilized our primary data sources to set up a monthly subscription-based integrated new mover marketing program.
  • Fast-to-market trigger-based Quick Response postcard reached targeted consumer mailboxes within 2-3 days of move-in.
  • Addressable geofencing digital ads deployed over the course of the campaign, targeting the same households, starting 1-2 days before the direct mail piece hit the mailbox.
  • Results were tracked by monitoring website traffic, as well as foot traffic attribution for all locations.

The Results

72% CTR

7x greater than industry average

Drove 211

website visits

98

foot-traffic conversions

Quick Response Furniture Retailer Case Study

A furniture retailer was looking for a cost-effective way to attract consumers who had never been in their stores to come in and make their furniture purchases from them over the competition.

Our Approach

  • Utilize Mspark’s Quick Response Program to strategically target New Movers in their delivery area.
  • Set up a frequency campaign to mail a personally addressed postcard that will hit the new mover’s mailboxes within 2-3 days of being triggered.
  • Utilize a strong offer of 10% off entire purchase that addresses the New Mover directly and features financing options as well.

The Results

$13,400

in retail sales directly connected to Quick Response during the program period.

$8.75

in sales for every $1 spent on advertising