The Q4 2024 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 Q4 2024 benchmarking report for UK window & conservatory suppliers has just been published. It covers the largest 7 UK window & conservatory suppliers, including Everest, Anglian Home Improvements, Conservatory Outlet, Ultraframe, First Home Improvements, Safestyle UK, 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, drive online traffic, 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 Q4 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.
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;
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing window and conservatory suppliers, or request a copy of the report for the full review.
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.
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.
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 prospective customers are able to find key information, such as payment plans, guides to the installation process, and product comparisons.
Anglian Home Improvements received the highest 4xx errors (226). This UK window & conservatory supplier should aim to reduce these errors to maintain a healthy site quality and enhance the user’s experience.
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, such as investing in energy-efficient, insulating windows, 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.
In our previous audit, First Home Improvements received the lowest mobile score. This quarter, it’s still at the bottom of the leaderboard with a score of 41. This supplier should ensure it’s using a mobile-friendly website theme to ensure it’s using a responsive website for all users.
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. Tying into the need to appeal to consumers looking to save costs on energy bills, windows & conservatory suppliers could look to creating shareable data on energy saving that is likely to be picked up by the national press, gaining both valuable backlinks and referral traffic.
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. The DA rating for this quarter ranged between 63 and 23, with First Home Improvements reporting the lowest DA score. This window & conservatory supplier should focus on receiving backlinks from authority websites by reaching out to them to build a relationship.
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. While, in Q1, we expected an increase in traffic to window and conservatory suppliers, due to consumers seeking energy-efficient home improvements which would save on energy bills, moving into the summer we expect to see these figures fall. With summer trade being more dependent on the home expansion side of these businesses, consumers are less likely to seek out these non-essential services and products.
Two brands reported a decline in organic traffic on desktop, and 5 saw a decline in organic traffic on mobile. Overall, First Home Improvements and EYG Home Improvements are the brands to watch and should focus on a keyword strategy to help improve their organic traffic on both devices.
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.
Everest continues to receive the highest Universal Search appearances (5,245), with the majority of these coming from ‘people also ask and ‘images’. On the other hand, Safestyle UK received the fewest overall appearances (119).
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.
Everest received the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (1,900) and positions 4–10 (2,077). On the other hand, Conservatory Outlet received the fewest appearances for all positions, and it should assess and monitor the keywords it uses across its website.
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies 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.
We’ve included 3 examples of Anglian Home Improvements’ sponsored Facebook posts. This UK window & conservatory supplier included a maximum of 3 lines of text (which is effective at helping readability for social media users), though it should ensure it’s using eye-catching imagery.
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 any offers they currently have on.
Safestyle UK has the largest Facebook page (51,400 Likes), though has zero Instagram followers. Instead, Anglian Home Improvements has the largest Instagram account (4,700 followers).
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 & conservatories will have universal appeal, so 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.
In our previous audit, Ultraframe reported 103 accessibility alerts and 106 contrast errors. This quarter, it still reported 103 alerts and has increased its contrast errors to 107. It’s important that brands focus on reducing alerts and contrast errors to improve readability for those with a colour vision deficiency and those using a screen reader.
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.