The Q1 2023 benchmarking report for UK Window & conservatory suppliers has just been published. Learn how the top 7 UK Window & conservatory suppliers perform across the digital space.

The latest Q1 2023 benchmarking report for UK Window & conservatory suppliers has just been published.  It covers the largest 7 national Window & conservatory suppliers, including Everest, Anglian Home Improvements, Safestyle UK, Conservatory Outlet, Ultraframe, First Home Improvements and EYG Home Improvements.

The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other window & conservatory suppliers to win brand exposure locally, drive online views, and generate orders. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.

To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.

What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing.  Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.

Technical Website Compliance

Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Having a technically sound website will ensure the consumer has the trust needed in their chosen window & conservatory supplier.

Whilst most of the window & conservatory suppliers we researched had a fairly low amount of website errors, all seven of the brands had at least a few 4xx or 5xx errors showing. Ultraframe are seeing the worst level of 4xx error codes, with 34. Ultraframe need to be looking into the cause of these errors.

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. With ways to save money at the forefront of everyone’s mind during the cost-of-living crisis, ensuring your site is working to its full potential is essential for stopping customers from jumping to a competitor’s website.

We would expect most to achieve at least an ‘okay’ score of 50-89, whereas only five of the seven window & conservatory suppliers did. The mobile page speed scores are currently between 0 and 79, with EYG Home Improvements lagging behind. All the brands that are scoring below 50 have some serious work to do on improving their mobile page speed.

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Windows & conservatory suppliers need to ensure they are constantly working on their DA and comparing with their competitors to gain consumer trust.

A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. Only four of the seven brands achieved a score of average or above, with the DA ranging from 28 to 60. Conservatory Outlet are the lowest-scoring brand. Those at the lower end of the scale need to be focusing on building a stronger backlink profile to compete with the higher-scoring window & conservatory suppliers.

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. We would expect window & conservatory suppliers to have continued gaining year of year since the pandemic, especially now more people are trying other ways to save on heating costs during the cost-of-living crisis, such as installing new windows.

We looked at how all twelve Window & conservatory suppliers have performed compared to last year. Continuous improvement and optimisation is also needed to secure traffic year on year. We discovered that only two of the Window & conservatory suppliers in our report have gained organic mobile traffic year on year. First Home Improvements saw the biggest gain with a 41% increase, whilst EYG Home Improvements saw the biggest loss of -59%.

Universal Search Opportunity

Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. Customer reviews and FAQs are a great way for potential customers to see the experience others have had with the window & conservatory suppliers and gauge which company has the happiest customers.

We could see that FAQs was the highest used universal search feature, with Everest taking the top spot reaching 2,000 results. Some brands are underusing all universal search feature options and only seeing a handful of results. Those getting a small amount of results need to work towards the numbers their competitors are achieving.

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Window & conservatory suppliers have a wide range of longtail keywords to work with, and should also take the opportunity to look at keywords including the cost-of-living crisis and ways to save money on heating.

Conservatory Outlet are ranking for a significantly low number of longtail keywords compared to their competitors, with very few of their longtail keywords ranking in the top 20. Conservatory Outlet should be looking at how to improve their rankings on existing longtail keywords, but also at how they can expand their strategy to include new specific search terms.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) forecast to hit over 42 million users by 2022, it is not surprising that brands have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. Facebook ads are a great way for window & conservatory suppliers to reach a wide range of people. Ensuring they use eye-catching copy and clear CTAs helps capture the scrolling viewer’s attention.

Below, we can see examples of Safestyle UK’s Facebook ads. The use of clear CTAs and mixing images of products and consumers make the advert eye-catching to scrolling social media users.

Top Social Shares & Content

When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Window & conservatory suppliers should be taking the opportunity to share statistics on how much money new windows can save in the long run, and also sharing any offers they currently have on.

We saw in our research that Everest are falling behind their competitors when it comes to both Facebook Likes and Instagram Followers. Everest need to look into how they can compete with the other window & conservatory suppliers.

Website Readability & Accessibility

20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Window & conservatory suppliers need to ensure their site is accessible for all. They need to ensure everyone can access and use their website with ease, to stop customers from leaving for a more accessible website.

All of the window & conservatory suppliers appear to be struggling with accessibility within their sites, with all twelve seeing an array of errors, contrast errors, and alerts. Ultraframe are seeing the worst amount, hitting 102 alerts on their website. The window & conservatory suppliers seeing issues should be reviewing and optimising their accessibility, and investigating to see what the issues within their websites are. 

Q1 2023 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 7 window & conservatory suppliers on, check out our quick-look table below;

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2023 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.

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