Tag Archive for: from our May newsletter

An Inside Look at How COVID Has Impacted the Home Improvement Space

3 men in hard hats and mask, with tools, looking over blueprints

A lot of things have changed in the past year, including the way Canadians spend, save, borrow, and manage their money. But contrary to what a lot of people think, the changes haven’t been all bad, especially when it comes to the home improvement industry.

Consumer Confidence in Canada

Consumer confidence is a measurement of how optimistic consumers feel about current economic conditions. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is a score derived from a five-question survey among 5,000 households. Participants are asked to answer each question as “positive”, “negative”, or “neutral”. Using a specific calculation based on values assigned to each question, the answers are averaged together to end up with a final number. It’s the direction of that score that matters most—the premise of the CCI is that if the score increases, it means consumers feel good about what’s happening in the economy and their expected financial situation. As a result, they’re more likely to spend and help support a thriving economy. But if the score drops, it means they feel pessimistic about the economy and their lack of spending could further impact the situation.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit a little over a year ago, consumer confidence dipped, dropping 73 points over the course of two months to hit a record low of 47.6 in April 2020. No one was really surprised, given the lockdown measures, physical distancing guidelines, and high unemployment rates seen across the country. For the rest of 2020 and even into 2021, the numbers have bounced up and down.

The Impact on the Home Improvement Sector

At the start of the pandemic, the home improvement industry seemed to follow the same trajectory as the CCI. When customer confidence was at its lowest, we also saw a lull in business with a dip in new loan applications. In the first four months of 2020, loan applications were 23% lower than the 2019 volume. However, despite the fluctuations in consumer confidence, we’ve since been seeing nothing but upward trends with regards to loan applications. We actually saw an uptick in numbers with record-breaking investments in the home improvement sector. Here’s how 2020 ended up shaping out:

  • In 2020, we actually recorded a 20% increase in loan applications compared to 2019. In fact, we had more loan applications in 2020 than in the previous three years.
  • Although we saw numbers drop in Q1 of 2020, loan application volume from May to December was 38% higher than the same period in 2019.
  • In 2020, we loaned Canadians 24% more money than we did in 2019.

This trend has carried on into 2021. In Q1 of this year, we received 32.8% more loan application submissions compared to Q1 2020. Our Residential New Construction business has also seen a jump with a 47% increase year-over-year as builders recover from the pandemic and continue to ramp up on construction to make up for delays in 2020.

For the remainder of 2021, we’re expecting a continued increase in home improvement spending. A recent survey by HomeStars, Canada’s largest network of verified and reviewed home service professionals, found that 74% of Canadians have plans to improve their homes this year through repairs, improving functionality, or just updating and upgrading. When it comes to anticipated spending, 46% of respondents plan on doing jobs for up to $10,000, while 24% are planning for jobs up to $25,000.

What Does All of This Mean for You and Your Business?

The fact of the matter is that Canadians are willing to invest in their homes, now more than ever. Given the rolling lockdown measures across Canada, people are spending less time (and money) on the road and on travelling, and more time at home. And as a result, they’re becoming more acutely aware of what needs to be fixed or upgraded in their home and are more likely to redirect funds accordingly.

But for many homeowners, their disposable income may not be as readily available as they were pre-pandemic, thanks to closed businesses and changes in employment. This is where financing comes into play. Our unique financing programs, like the 240-month amortization option, are specifically designed to help your customers get the home improvements they want without having to sacrifice on quality. For you, this means being able to sell more at the kitchen table. By leveraging the option of financing, you’ll be able to increase your average ticket and successfully close more sales.

All things considered, the upcoming year looks promising for the home improvement industry, which means your business is uniquely positioned to thrive. And as always, we’re to help. We’ll continue to provide you with the tools, resources, and dealer promotions you need to continue offering your customers the industry-leading financial solutions they want.

For a more in-depth look at our market trends, industry insights, or for more information on our dealer promotions, get in touch with your Business Development Manager!

Grow Your Business with a Customer-Centric Approach

Picture focuses on a hard hat while in the background 2 men are shaking hands

From day one, our focus has been on innovation that improves the customer experience. Wondering why? The reason is simple. Because focusing on your customer is what will ultimately drive our shared success.

How We Measure Customer Experience

Our approach to customer experience is guided by the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is known as the gold standard of customer experience metrics. NPS measures the loyalty of a customer based on how likely they are to recommend a company or service to a friend. At SNAP Home Finance, we report against NPS and this is one of the key metrics that our teams use to drive our strategy and measure success.

We’ve also developed a process that enables the customer experience to evolve over time based on the feedback that our frontline team members are collecting. We use that feedback to identify actionable insight and further refine our customers’ experience journey. This is a constant, ever-revolving process that receives our ongoing dedication, helping us to improve and uphold excellent customer satisfaction every single day.

Why Should You Care That We’re So Focused on Customers?

Taking a customer-first approach is ultimately the thing that will put more money in your pocket. We may have a great rate card, but without products and experiences that are designed specifically for your customers, they are going to find the products and services they want, elsewhere.

What truly drives our collective business success is being able to offer the products that your customers want and need, so you can sell more at the kitchen table. And then follow up that sale with an experience that drives real value for customers.

Let’s break it down a little with a couple examples of how our customer-centric approach can impact your business.

  • Breaking Down Financial Obstacles: You have a customer who really wants to remodel their kitchen, but just can’t afford to front the cost of it. Our 240-month amortization product allows for them to get the job done now and then pay it down at their own pace with affordable monthly payments. Without that product, the sale could have been in jeopardy.
  • Solid Digital Infrastructure: A customer is interested in financing their new HVAC equipment, but is turned off by the idea of dealing with complicated paperwork. Our digital infrastructure was built with a singular goal of providing an improved customer experience and seamless journey, from the application right through to funding. Being able to sell them using this technology will make it this much easier to close that sale.
  • Upsell on Quality: A customer has applied for financing for their new HVAC system, but unfortunately could not be approved. Rather than let that customer walk away, you can tell them about our leasing options, which were designed to help more customers gain access to leading energy-efficient equipment if they’re declined or ineligible for financing. To improve the customer experience, we’ve simplified and streamlined the process—they’ll be able to get the equipment they need, and you’ll still be able to close your sale.

At the end of the day, your customers are your bread and butter. We get that. And that’s why everything we do revolves around ensuring that their experience is nothing but positive. It’s just one of the many ways we partner with you to grow your business and help you succeed!

Interested in learning more about our customer-centric programs and strategies? Contact your Business Development Manager!

Spring Promotion: Don’t Let Another Sale Get Away!

Tiny house next to a banner that reads "Close more deals with our spring promotions"

Have you taken advantage of our 3-for-free promotion yet? For a limited time, you can offer customers 3 months of deferred payments with no interest and no dealer cost. It’s as simple as that!

This is a savings of $125 to you!*

Don’t lose another sale because a customer isn’t quite ready to move forward yet. Instead of just letting them walk away, you can offer them the option of putting off payments for the first 90 days of their loan. The best part? It doesn’t cost you a thing because there’s no dealer fee involved. This could very well be the ace up your sleeve for closing more sales this month.

Start submitting your deals today to take advantage of this exclusive promotion!

 

*Based on a $10K loan, 60-month term and 180-month amortization.

Business Corner: How to Use Social Media to Drive Your Sales

Man holding a cup while looking at his phone with power tools in the background

If you’re not already using social media for your business, you could be missing out on major (not to mention easy) earning potential. The best part is you don’t need to be a social media pro to use these platforms to your advantage! With the right strategy, you’ll be able to successfully generate strong leads and drive more sales for your business.

Why Social Media Marketing Is Important

 Here are a few numbers, courtesy of Sprout Social, to give you an idea of why social media is worth the effort. As many as 57% of consumers follow a brand on social media just to learn more about their new products or services, while 47% follow to stay on top of company news. It doesn’t stop there. After following a brand over social media, a whopping 91% will visit the company’s website, 89% are likely to make a purchase, and 85% will recommend the company to someone else. Convinced yet?

9 Things You Can Start Doing Now

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you tackle your social media strategy.

  • Tell Your Story: Everyone loves a good story. Use social media platforms to provide insight into who you are as a company and to personalize your company. This will help you differentiate your brand from others, connect with your followers (who will hopefully become customers if they aren’t already), and increase brand loyalty. Just make sure that your brand story is authentic.
  • Nail Down a Schedule: Ideally, you should be posting something once a day or, at the very least, three times a week. Also think about what time of day you’re posting. The idea is that you want to make sure you’re posting when your target customer base is online, so that they’re more likely to see it. For your target demographic, that’s likely before and after a typical workday, over lunch, or in the evenings. You’ll want to avoid holidays and weekends if possible.
  • Plan It Out: It’s about more than just throwing up a couple posts and calling it a day. Take some time to think about what you want to share and put together a calendar of what and when you’re going to post. When you see it all laid out, it’ll be easier to identify overlaps and gaps in your content.
  • Use Video: Users are more likely to engage with a video post than a static image or text. As many as 72% of customers prefer learning about a product or service via video and 92% of mobile users are likely to share a video, according to Adweek.
  • Pick Your Platforms: You don’t need to post on every single platform. Think about your target audience and do some research about which platforms they’re using most. Pick the ones that make the most sense for your business and focus on those.
  • Take Advantage of Tools: There are plenty of tools available to help you manage, simplify, and even automate a lot of your social media work, including scheduling and posting, templates for graphics, analytics, and more.
  • Boost and Advertise: Consider setting aside a small monthly budget to spend on boosting posts and ads that can be targeted to a specific audience at a pretty granular level.
  • Do Some Tracking: By keeping track of the posts and ads that generate the most engagement, you’ll be able to get a better idea of what type of content to focus on in the future. Many social media networks offer free reporting built right into their platforms.
  • Experiment and Evolve: Social media platforms are continuously evolving, and so should you. Try a few different things, experiment with new tools, look for inspiration from other brands you admire, and see what works for your community. Some might be a miss, but you won’t know unless you try!

We’re always here to help! For more helpful marketing tips, reach out to your Business Development Manager.