Defining 2020; Consumer Behaviour in a Changing

The impacts of the last couple of months on the design and construction industry are significant. As we look forward, how we utilise the knowledge we have gained over this period will be the deciding factor for many businesses. For many, it has been a confronting time where balance sheets are dwindling and pipelines aren’t looking as full as they once were, so the question is: how do we adapt and do business in a better way?

At ArchiPro, we’ve been asking ourselves the same question. What next? Where to from here? How do we take the learnings of the last few weeks and translate them into a positive framework for the future?

While the market remains agile to the constant changes being presented, and positivity and confidence increases, there is a range of key data that highlights how both consumers and industry are responding.

As a data-driven company, we’re always looking at certain benchmarks to ascertain current behaviour. Recently, we analysed ArchiPro’s pre-covid activity and user engagement with that in the five weeks New Zealand was in Alert Level 4 to understand the key metrics and the impacts the lockdown had on the industry as a whole.

Going forward, we will present updated data regularly to allow us as an industry to have a benchmark from which to better understand the changing market and ensure we’re aligning with key trends and industry insights.

The results of our latest analysis represent an acceleration of pre-covid trends that show consumers are spending longer on the site, conducting more in-depth research and engaging with the network more decisively, all of which underscore the value and importance of the digital landscape more than ever before.

What does this data tell us?

The increased activity on ArchiPro tells the story of a changing world where digital is the major player and is at the forefront of consumer interactions with businesses - a trend the pandemic has accelerated faster than expected.

Consumers are researching and engaging with businesses more frequently and in a more in depth manner than they were pre-covid.

This highlights the opportunity that exists for businesses to harness the increased activity and further engage with target markets.

More users and sessions

A significant increase in both users and sessions is indicative of an ongoing trend where more research is undertaken online, which was evident well before March 2020, however it also highlights a stronger reliance on digital than ever before.  

During lockdown vs. the prior period, ArchiPro had:

Longer on site

Users spent longer on site, especially browsing the products library. This is indicative of consumers and specifiers researching and comparing specific products in a more in depth way.

As part of their research, the number of pages viewed per session increased by 28.2% - an increase particularly evident in the product library, with a 52.7% increase in pages viewed per session.

Email open rates and conversions increase

Similar to the increases evident on the platform itself, email open rates increased to 38.21% vs the three-month average of 37.51%. More importantly, conversions from the emails increased by 11% during lockdown on both editorial and advertorial content. It is evident that consumers and specifiers alike are interested in learning more about the latest technology, designs and methodology and they’re doing this by reading educational content online.

This tells us that focusing on educational rather than promotional content is particularly important in the current climate. 

Engagement with professionals and product suppliers

By measuring the number of ‘events’ on the platform, we can analyse the amount of direct engagement with the network.

The most significant of these events were saves, up 197.2%, document downloads (including spec sheets and brochures) up 63.3% and enquiries submitted directly to members up 53.6%.

These figures outline the general trend of increased engagement with brands in digital environments. Consumers and specifiers are utilising online tools such as design boards to collate their ideas and store information, and then using that information to engage directly with the relevant supplier, manufacturer or professional.