Complete showroom – at a click
Having the right products in 2023 is only part of the answer, according to Sternfenster’s sales director Nathan Court, who asks: can your customers see them? We report.
The talk in the glass and glazing trade press at the start of 2023 has been very much about where the demand for home improvement products is coming from, but less about the marketing to homeowners.
“The housing market is slowing down, thanks to high interest rates and a drop in the average home’s value,” says Sternfenster’s sales director Nathan Court. “So those homeowners who were looking to move in 2023, may well be looking to improve instead.
“And since the government is expected to dilute its Energy Price Guarantee in April, many homeowners are looking to improve the efficiency of their properties this quarter,” Nathan adds, “which is fuelling the current demand.”
Sternfenster’s range of aluminium and PVC-U products meet this demand for high-value energy efficient products comfortably, including its popular StyleLine range, which includes a flush sash option, invisible weld, and a WER of A.
“StyleLine combines the high-end end aesthetics and energy performance that today’s homeowners are looking for,” Nathan says. “But those same homeowners also spent much of the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 moving their buying habits online. As a result, they spend much more time conducting research before approaching retailers.
“This has shifted the balance of power, which has had a profound impact on window retail companies’ marketing strategies.”
Nathan argues that marketing now not only needs an education element, but also a visible route to securing the deal.
“When you bring homeowners back to your website, it isn’t good enough to simply present a contact form to fill in, with the promise of a telephone call from a salesperson,” Nathan says. “Once they get to your website, they are ready to continue the purchasing journey, and all you are doing with a contact form is putting up a barrier – they will likely fill out the form then carry on looking elsewhere.”
Sternfenster recognised that online buying trends were changing, even before the pandemic took hold. As a response, the trade fabricator invested in an online showroom, complete with a full suite of CGI (computer-generated image) videos, which is available for customers to incorporate into their own websites.
“Together with our digital partner Icaal, we created CGI videos for each of our PVC-U and aluminium products,” Nathan says. “Each one-minute fly-through provides a close-up of our products’ key features.
“These sit within a virtual showroom, which showcases each product’s technical specs, colour options, hardware options, brochures and locks – all presented in a series of drop-down menus. These sit alongside a CGI hero image with interactive ‘hotspots’ highlighted, which give contextual detail for the areas of the window. And the moment this page is opened our virtual salesman video will start to sell and present the window to the viewer in a relaxed but comprehensive manner.”
The virtual showroom was developed by Sternfenster so that it can be distributed to its customer base and over-branded through its own back-office CRM.
“Essentially, we are creating an online environment to support our customers as they sell windows to homeowners,” Nathan says. “The result is a virtual showroom with many complementary features that not only helps engage the homeowner, but works hand-in-glove with our other online tools, such as our Proposal Builder.”
Capitalising on the interest generated by the virtual showroom, Nathan says the Proposal Builder invites homeowners to submit their own measurements, which would generate a quote, thus kickstarting the sales process online, and in the comfort of a potential customer’s home.
“Having a virtual showroom isn’t just a nice to have anymore,” Nathan concludes. “It has now become a vital part of the online buying experience for the homeowner.”
