Relocation.com New Mover Survey: Preferences for Offers and Promotions September 2009

Background

• This report summarizes the results of a recently-conducted survey focused on New Movers (defined as consumers who have a move scheduled in the next 30 days and those who have moved within the past 30 days).
  
  
• The survey was launched in late August and completed on 8-30-2009. Respondents were selected for email invitations to take this survey from a universe of Relocation.com subscribers (i.e., consumers who signed up on the website to receive more information from Relocation.com)
  
  
• Two distinct segments were identified and targeted, those who were planning a move in 30 days and those who had just completed a move in the past 30 days.
  
  
• Approximately, 20,000 email invitations were sent out by Relocation.com in late August and a total of 1,833 consumers clicked on the survey link resulting in 1,183 valid, completed surveys.
  
  
• This total sample size provides a maximum error tolerance (at the 95% confidence level) of no greater than +/- 3.0% with an average error tolerance of +/-1.9%.
  
  
• Of this total sample, 633 (54%) were identified as consumers planning to move within the next 30 days while 550 (46%) were identified as having recently completed a move within the past 30 days.
  
  
• This survey was focused on identifying which offers (e.g., discounts on purchase, coupons) were more compelling to these consumers as well as the ideal time to deliver these offers to these consumers across each of these two segments (Pre-movers and Pos- movers )
  
  
• The survey was limited to 9 primary questions and the average time to complete survey was less than ten minutes.
  
  

New Mover Segments

Preference for Home Improvement Offers

including stores/providers like Home Depot, Lowes, Carpet, Drapery, Appliances, Furniture, Window Treatments, Pool/Spa Construction and Kitchen Remodeling

Best Time to Receive Home Improvement Offers

Preference for Home Maintenance Offers

including service providers like Lawn Care, Pool/Spa Maintenance, Plumbing, Roofing, HVAC, Alarm Systems, Tree Service

Best Time to Receive Home Maintenance Offers

Preference for Healthcare Offers

including service providers like Family Physicians, Eye Doctors and Optical, Dentists, Podiatrists, Pharmacies, Chiropractors, Urgent Care and Family Mental Health/Counseling

Best Time to Receive Healthcare Offers

Preference for Childcare/Educational Offers

including service providers like Pre-schools, Learning Centers, Daycare, Private Academies, Educational Supply Stores

Best Time to Receive Childcare Offers

Preference for Local Service Offers

including stores/businesses like Grocery Stores, Fast Food, Pizza Delivery, Auto Repair, Car Washes, Dry Cleaners, Mail Boxes/Shipping, etc.

Best Time to Receive Local Service Offers

Preference for Pet Product/Service Offers

including stores/services like Pet Supply Stores, Pet Groomers, Veterinary Services/Hospitals, Pet Sitters, Pet Daycare, Kennels/Boarding.

Best Time to Receive Pet Service Offers

Preference for Personal and Beauty Care

including stores/businesses like Hair Stylists, Nail Salons, Spas, Beauty Supply, Tanning Salons and Fitness Centers

Best Time to Receive Personal and Beauty Care Offers

Preference for Type of Offer

Preference for How Coupon is Delivered

Top Offers by % of Total Sample

Summary and Conclusions

• Interestingly, there are very few substantive differences in offer preferences and/or timing between consumers who are planning to move and those who have already completed a move.
  
  
• In general, Pre-movers showed slightly greater preferences in coupons and discounts for Home Improvement, Local Services and Pet Services compared to Post-movers while Post-movers showed a slightly greater preference in only one category: Childcare and Educational Services.
  
  
• However, none of the differences between these two groups was found to be statistically significant, the average difference was only 4 percentage points, the differences in percentages obtained from these groups in the survey ranged from a low of 0 points to a high of 6 points.
  
  
• The highest preference overall occurred for Home Improvement with an average preference percent of 85%, followed by Local Services with an average preference percent of 83% and Personal and Beauty Care with an average preference percent of 59%.
  
  
• The lowest preference overall was found for Childcare and Educational Services with less than ¼ of all consumers surveyed selecting it. Based on this result, it does not appear that offers in this category would be very attractive to New Movers.
  
  
• One interesting result is that offers in the category -Pet Supplies and Services- (48%)were found to be somewhat more compelling than Home Maintenance (41%) and/or Healthcare Service (44%) offers.
  
  
• Finally, these consumers seem to prefer receiving coupons and discounts by regular mail (53%) slightly more than via e-mail (47%) and 44% of each group had no preference of the type of coupon received; a specific % or a specific dollar amount.