During the pandemic, our attitudes towards our homes changed a lot. Unless in the interior design business you might not be aware that the last such huge change in mindset came over a century ago in 1918; the changes recently have really been huge!
Following the ending of the conflict in 1918, people started to redesign their kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. The concept of the ‘powder room’ was invented for people to sanitize their hands before interacting with other people. And now our homes have become a kind of safe harbor as well. People easily forget the original meaning of home — being a personal stronghold. People in many countries stopped buying apartments and primarily switched to renting, whether because of the rising prices or changing habits. Consumers were encouraged to eat out more which directly led to smaller kitchens becoming the norm.
When Covid landed, billions of us globally ended up being more or less locked in our homes, forced to live there. Suddenly our homes had to become a place for work, recreation, studying and practically everything your imagination can come up with. It’s obvious to us that people now really value their homes again: the stock of residential properties available for sale with real estate agents is at an all-time low. And online home decor sales are at record levels too. Think companies like Wayfair whose share price has grown 10 times since the start of the pandemic!
The home renovation market has reported accordingly with more people hiring designers, investing in renovations and taking more interest in interior design trends.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the global market for interior design services estimated at US$150 billion in 2020, is projected to grow to US$255 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 7.8%. Residential is projected to record a 8.1% CAGR and reach US$157 billion alone. The two largest markets in general will continue to be China and the USA.
With such huge business at stake, comes huge competition. New players in the world of interior design (whether commercial or residential) pop up all the time so how does one stand out in such a crowded market place? It’s definitely not easy and whilst there is no one answer to this age old question irrespective of the business, you will never go wrong by picking up on the power of conversational messaging.
For so long it was a case of emails or phone calls being the only real ways to contact customers but most businesses are still to switch on to something that delivers truly astounding levels of client engagement – SMS text messaging. It is now most definitely not just a one-way communications channel!
What other mobile digital channel do you know of has a 98% open rate and a 90 second average response time? Compare that to the barely 25% of emails that are ever opened and untold numbers of B2C phone calls that go unanswered and it’s easy to see why SMS needs to figure somewhere (at least) in your client mobile engagement strategy if you are looking to take a slice of the interior design business.
Whether it’s the sending of appointment confirmations, product information, order updates, special offers or practically anything else you can think of, then text messaging is absolutely something you cannot ignore.
Look at most people today and they literally can’t go more than a few minutes without looking at their phones. The average mobile phone subscriber looks at their device 150 times per day and the temptation of the beep or that flash signifying an SMS is sitting there waiting to be read is VERY hard to ignore! It drives urgency like nothing else. Never ignore text messaging. It gets the job done like no other mobile digital channel – just like Intis Telecom do when it comes to delivering marketing, transactional and informational content rapidly and accurately globally.
2022 is now our 13th year in the Messaging business and we know how important consumer trust is and professionalism. Our SMS messaging solutions make it genuinely easy for you to send your customers content rapidly and accurately. Business messaging is our focus and our solution is cost effective, intuitive and allows you to get on with doing what you do best – treating your customers with exceptional care, as individuals.
