Few people go through life without ever having to move apartments, condos, or houses. It’s a stressful time for the 31 million people going through it yearly, but it’s a great opportunity for businesses, as new movers spend an average of $11,000 on items and services during a relocation, according to Porch Group Media.
Movers are likely to take stock of their existing possessions and decide which will make the journey with them and which are long overdue for replacement.
In addition, they will need new Internet service and will begin looking for the shops and services that will become a part of their new routine.
Historically, companies looking to reach this audience would prioritize sending direct mail targeting movers in their new apartment or home. If you’ve ever moved, you’ve most likely received a Blue Envelope from leading direct marketer, Valpak, filled with offers from both local and national companies trying to get your attention.
Broadening reach to include online channels like CTV, mobile, app, and web display creates a comprehensive approach to reaching this important audience. For brands, moving is one of the highest-intent life events out there.
Yet most brands still struggle to reach movers at the right moment. Supply-side curation changes the equation.
Why Curation Finds Movers Before They Make Decisions
The key is getting to these movers at the right time. Most believe the critical buying window begins 7 weeks before the move and continues 7 weeks after.
People will take their time for the items that have greater importance. For more trivial items, movers are susceptible to buying from the first vendor that contacts them, to get one item off of their to-do list. In fact, 85% of new movers use the first business that contacts them, according to Welcome Wagon.
While not all movers announce their intention to move, their searches often belie intent-rich signals. Reading articles about the best neighborhoods in a particular area or more specific self-help topics like changing an address or choosing a school can be great signs that someone is planning a move. Local publishers produce this content because of how it helps them attract a new target audience.
Supply-side curation identifies high-value inventory specifically for potential movers by analyzing the entire bidstream.
By leveraging segmentation and contextual intelligence, agencies can target content that is highly relevant to relocating individuals.
This approach uses advanced signals, like first-party audience data, to create high-performing custom private marketplaces. 33Across works with premier partners like Valpak to apply the same valuable offline data use to reach 41 million demographically targeted households across digital channels.
Consequently, advertisers can reach engaged movers more efficiently while ensuring brand safety and reducing wasted spend on low-quality placements.
Curation Use Cases for Mover Advertisers
Home goods providers, home insurance, and Internet and utilities providers are among the businesses that use supply-side curation to engage with new mover audiences.
For home goods companies, they target rich data inherent in home décor, interior design, and apartment content publishers like Apartment Therapy, Architectural Digest, and Wirecutter with “recently moved” + “household income $75K+” signals across CTV and web.
Home insurance providers can target moving-related content enriched with “homeowner” + “in-market for insurance” segments across web and mobile.
Internet providers can utilize geo-contextual curation for people who access “best internet providers in city X” content within the target service areas.
In addition, the multitude of local service providers for areas like fitness and food and drink can lean into hyperlocal curation using offline data signals, such as lifestyle and neighborhood content within a 10-mile radius, enriched with “new resident” and “exploring local options” contextual signals.
The Cross-Device Mover Journey
Publisher first-party data from real estate and home content sites can still provide high-intent signals without cookies but including offline mover signals creates a complete view of the mover As such, single deal IDs follows the mover through this journey with unified frequency capping.
For example, movers and prospective movers may shift from mobile research during a commute to CTV viewing at night and desktop comparison shopping during the workday. Cross-device curation can help brands maintain continuity.
As a result, advertisers can improve sequencing, control duplication, and ensure messaging reflects where consumers are in the moving journey rather than treating each impression as isolated.
However, mover-intent signals decay faster than others, so companies must enable real-time contextual targeting.
The Path Forward
Mover curation requires reaching the right household during the research window before decisions are made. The act of moving creates a huge opportunity for brands using supply-side curation to meet movers where they are (going).
They are researching, comparing, and deciding before moving, and those that have the tools and techniques to reach them where they are actively searching for information will win.
About 33Across
We help marketers connect data to media activation, simplifying programmatic targeting across digital channels to drive more efficiency and higher campaign performance.
Why It Matters to Marketers Targeting the Mover Market
Time is of the essence to reach new movers researching and making purchase decisions. Using contextual intelligence and first-party audience data, brands can align campaigns with household preferences and behaviors to impact consumers during this critical buying window. Glossary targets and packages inventory in brand-safe, premium environments across CTV, mobile web, in-app, and desktop.
Find out how to apply rich data signals and activate your campaign across digital channels using supply-side curation.
