Why new movers are such a compelling market for retailers

Humans are creatures of habit—once a pattern is established, it becomes close to impossible to change behavior. There’s one exception to this rule: life stage transitions—or “life events,” as marketers call them—that represent periods of disruption in our lives.

During a life event, a consumer is likely to reconsider many aspects of their lifestyle, shaking up habitual buying patterns and presenting a valuable opportunity for marketers. And new movers in particular are one of the most exciting—and lucrative—segments of the life events market.

New movers: A $150 billion market

Movers are much more likely than non-movers to engage with and try new brands. Why is this important? Because, annually, mover expenditures exceed $150 billion. A recent Zillow survey found that, on average, movers spend seven months making move-related purchases, with 21% of this group spending upwards of $10,000 on products and services related to their move. These purchases include everything from moving services and cleaning supplies to home furnishings, appliances, painting and repairs, décor and so much more.

Did you know?

• $9,400 = average spent on products and services before and after a move
• 60 percent change a service provider
• 42 percent upgrade their services
• New homeowners spend more within the first six months than an average consumer spends in three years
• New movers are 5x more likely to become long-term customers if you reach them first

Proven results

The best way to capitalize on this consumer behavior is by using trigger marketing to nurture new relationships at opportune moments. By identifying life events, such as a move, quickly, marketers can respond to signals almost immediately with a pre-determined message and offer.

And trigger marketing isn’t just quicker than traditional (non-trigger) acquisition marketing—it’s also far more effective. Deluxe sees new mover trigger marketing campaigns perform 2.5x better compared to net-of-control response rates of traditional campaigns: