Peter Troast presented on big data insights from Energy Circle's analysis of home performance marketing trends over the past 6 years. He discussed Google Trends data showing search interest in various home performance topics. He also reviewed Facebook interests data to show potential targeting segments. Additional topics included who is buying home performance, how people search for and buy home performance services, the push for indoor air quality in home performance, changes in Google search results, the rise of mobile, factors that drive website strength, and analysis of conversion rate data.
Biggish Data: 6 Years of Facts About How Homeowners See Home Performance
1. Peter Troast, Energy Circle
ACI National Conference, Austin TX
April 5, 2016
Biggish Data:
6 Years of Facts About How
Homeowners See Home
Performance
2. 10/19/15
Founder/CEO of Energy Circle
Linked In: Peter Troast
Twitter: @EnergyCircle
G+: Energy Circle
Facebook: Energy Circle
Volunteer/Pro Bono
Efficiency First
Home Performance Project
Home Performance Coalition
1000 Home Challenge
Mallett Deep Energy Retrofit
2
Peter Troast
3.
4. 10/19/15
THE BIG PICTURE: THROUGH GOOGLE TRENDS
158 MILLION STRONG ON FACEBOOK
WHOāS BUYING HOME PERFORMANCE?
HOW PEOPLE BUY HOME PERFORMANCE
IAQ & HP: WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR?
RECENT CHANGES IN GOOGLE SEARCHāIMPACT
MOBILE WORLDāWHAT IT MEANS TO HP
WHAT DRIVES WEBSITE STRENGTH
CONVERSION: WHY IT MATTERS & WHAT WEāRE LEARNING
4
What Weāll Discuss
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
5. 10/19/15
Mother Google (Trends & Search)
Mashup of 350+ High Performance Building Businesses
builders/remodelers, raters, auditors, architects, HP contractors,
HVAC, non-profits
12.2 Million Web Visitors
Paid Search Results
64,000 Tracked Search Terms in Home Performance, HVAC
Select Contractor Performance (Anonymized)
Facebook Interests
Peterās Opinion
5
Data Sources
26. 10/19/15 26
Mind Blowing Targeting
Interests
Ventilation
Sick Bldg Syndrome
Mold Growth
Radon Mitigation
SEER
ASHRAE Handbook
R-Value
SIPs
HRV
Allergen
Thermal Comfort
Behavioral
Length of Residence
Recent Homebuyer
New Mover
CharitiesāEnviro
Home Renovation
Green Cleaners
AOL email
Gmail email
Primarily Cash
Watch Home Imp
Shows
Demographic
Expectant Parents
Very Conservative
Very Liberal
Donate to Liberal
Year Home Built
Square Footage
Home Value
Life Event: Newly Moved
Friends of Recently
Moved
Liquid Assets
Net Worth
27. 4/11/16 27
Green Living
Home Improvement
HVAC
Environmentally Friendly
Solar Energy
Climate Change
Efļ¬cient Energy Use
Thermal Insulation
Retroļ¬tting
Heat Pump
Indoor Air Quality
Particulates
R-Value
ASHRAE 14,000
20,000
73,000
230,000
300,000
640,000
1,000,000
1,100,000
2,100,000
3,200,000
3,700,000
9,500,000
13,000,000
29,000,000
Data from Facebook Interests, US, April 2016
Facebook āInterestsā Volume
30. 10/19/15
NAMES
Green
Sustainable
Low Energy
Healthy Home
High Performance
30
The Label Challenge
āBRANDSā
Passive House (Haus)
Net Zero
Deep Energy Retroļ¬t
Pretty Good House
CERTIFICATIONS
Energy Star
LEED
NAHB
Energy Fit
Pearl Certiļ¬ed
Etc
32. 10/19/15
AGE DEMOGRAPHICS
Baby BoomersāLast Home
Phenomenon
Gen X (35-55 yrs)
Millennials (15-35 yrs)
32
High Performance Home Buyers
OTHER CATEGORIES
Academics
Technologists (Engineers,
Medical, Technology, Software)
Upscale/Wealthy
Green/Left Leaning
Health Focused
First Home
33. 10/19/15
AGE DEMOGRAPHICS
33
High Performance Home Buyers
OTHER CATEGORIES
Academics
Technologists (Engineers,
Medical, Technology, Software)
Upscale/Wealthy
Green/Left Leaning
Health Focused
First Home
Millennials
Boomers
Gen X
34. HOW PEOPLE BUY HOME
PERFORMANCE
(they donāt. you sell it)
35. 10/19/15 35
Fundamentals of HP Marketing & Sales
EGIA/BPI
WHOLE HOUSE HOME PERFORMANCE
AC Repair
Spray Foam Asthma Rebate
IAQ
New Furnace
Climate Change Heat Pump
Sick Child
Mold
Cold Room
Energy Cost
MORE COMPREHENSIVE JOBS
Fujistu
37. 10/19/15 37
Whole House
Home
Performance
Health
Cold Room
EUC
Rebates
Energy
Cost
Climate
Change
Furnace
Repair
Solar
Heat
Pump
IAQ
EfficiencyFurnace
Install
Energy Audit
Attic
Insulation
AC
Replace
Spray Foam
Mold Fear
AC Service
Geothermal
39. 10/19/15
63,749 Real Search Queries
~$1,500,000/yr Google Click Spend
39
Some Big(ish) Data
2015 Timeframe
~45 Contractors + BPI
Primarily HVAC/HP
Some Envelope Only
Mixed Geographies
40. 10/19/15 40
Whole House
Home
Performance
Health
Cold Room
EUC
Rebates
Energy
Cost
Climate
Change
Furnace
Repair
Heat
Pump
Efficiency
HVAC
Furnace
Install
Energy Audit
Attic
Insulation
AC
Replace
Spray Foam
Mold Fear
AC Service
IAQ
Home Perf
IAQ
Program
s
Solar
Geothermal
47. 4/11/16
indoor air quality standards
the best humidity level for home
air quality inspector
air quality inspection
what is the best level of humidity in a home
how to test indoor air quality
what is the best humidity level for your home
normal humidity levels in a home
home humidity levels chart
measuring air quality
what causes moisture in a house
what is a good humidity level in a home
how to get rid of dust in home
symptoms of mold in home
what is good humidity level for home
what is the optimum humidity level for a home
air quality check
indoor air quality company
how to ļ¬nd mold in your home
home air quality testing
what is the best humidity level for home
ideal humidity level for home
47
Top 25 (based on Click Through Rates)
48. 4/11/16
indoor air quality standards
the best humidity level for home
air quality inspector
air quality inspection
what is the best level of humidity in a home
how to test indoor air quality
what is the best humidity level for your home
normal humidity levels in a home
home humidity levels chart
measuring air quality
what causes moisture in a house
what is a good humidity level in a home
how to get rid of dust in home
symptoms of mold in home
what is good humidity level for home
what is the optimum humidity level for a home
air quality check
indoor air quality company
how to ļ¬nd mold in your home
home air quality testing
what is the best humidity level for home
ideal humidity level for home
48
Top 25 (based on Click Through Rates)
49. 4/11/16
indoor air quality standards
the best humidity level for home
air quality inspector
air quality inspection
what is the best level of humidity in a home
how to test indoor air quality
what is the best humidity level for your home
normal humidity levels in a home
home humidity levels chart
measuring air quality
what causes moisture in a house
what is a good humidity level in a home
how to get rid of dust in home
symptoms of mold in home
what is good humidity level for home
what is the optimum humidity level for a home
air quality check
indoor air quality company
how to find mold in your home
home air quality testing
what is the best humidity level for home
ideal humidity level for home
49
Top 25 (based on Click Through Rates)
50. 4/11/16
indoor air quality standards
the best humidity level for home
air quality inspector
air quality inspection
what is the best level of humidity in a home
how to test indoor air quality
what is the best humidity level for your home
normal humidity levels in a home
home humidity levels chart
measuring air quality
what causes moisture in a house
what is a good humidity level in a home
how to get rid of dust in home
symptoms of mold in home
what is good humidity level for home
what is the optimum humidity level for a home
air quality check
indoor air quality company
how to find mold in your home
home air quality testing
what is the best humidity level for home
ideal humidity level for home
50
Top 25 (based on Click Through Rates)
58. 4/11/16
ā¢ After the SERP change, CTRs and Avg. CPCs are better
than the prior period for positions 1 ā 3
ā¢ CTR and Avg. CPC are massively improved for position 4
after the SERP change
ā¢ After the SERP change, performance is signiļ¬cantly
worse for position 5, but a bit better for position 6
ā¢ Bottom line ā it appears that this change is helping
performance for top positions and is drastically helping
position 4
ā¢ Any concerns about increasing CPC results are not yet
being seen in the most important positions
58
Early DataāEnergy Circle Managed Accts
30 days prior to Feb 22 vs 30 days after
62. 4/11/16 62
Mobile % of Total Traffic: ~340 HP Sites
Mobile + Tablet: 18.37%
Mobile Only: 10.52%
63. 4/11/16 63
Organic Search is Biggest Mobile Driver
butā¦BIG skew to ābrandā search
(donāt overcomplicate mobileāitās people looking to contact you)
65. 10/19/15 65
Moz Domain Authority
Authority
ā¢ An approximation of your websiteās quality in the eyes
of Google
ā¢ 40 Factors
Popularity (links)
Size (# Pages)
Age
Freshness (recency)
ā¢ Proven by correlation
74. 10/19/15 74
Why Conversion Matters So Much
Before
All Web Trafļ¬c 1625
Conv Rate 7.72%
Leads 125
Lead -> Job 12%
Jobs 15
Ave Job 8500
Revenue $127,500
75. 10/19/15 75
Why Conversion Matters So Much
Before After
All Web Trafļ¬c 1625 1625
Conv Rate 7.72% 9.39% +1.67 / 22%
Leads 125 153 +27
Lead -> Job 12% 12%
Jobs 15 18 +3
Ave Job 8500 8500
Revenue $127,500 $156,060 +28,560
76. 4/11/16 76
Contractor 1
Contractor 2
Contractor 3
Contractor 4
Contractor 5
Contractor 6
Contractor 7
Contractor 8
Contractor 9
Contractor 10
Contractor 11
0% 4% 8% 12% 16% 20%
6%
6.87%
8.8%
5.88%
13.11%
10.22%
9.84%
19.05%
19.47%
12.02%
10.71%
Data from Energy Circle Clients, 12 months of 2015
Average Conversion Rates: Select Companies
78. 10/19/15
Correlated
ā¢ High % of āBrandā Searches
ā¢ Domain Authority > 20
ā¢ Volume of Reviews (esp.
Google)
78
Why Do Some Sites Convert Better?
Not Correlated
ā¢ Age of Website
ā¢ Age of Company
ā¢ HVAC in Origin
ā¢ Envelope in Origin
Commonalities
ā¢ Contextual Calls to Action
ā¢ A/B Testing
81. 10/19/15
Relevancy = Conversion
Energy Audits --> āComprehensive Evaluation....ā
Multi-Family Audits --> āComplete ROI analysis...ā
Financing Programs --> āSee if you qualify...ā
Indoor Air Quality --> āAllergy & asthma problems...ā
Solar --> āWhatās your solar potential...ā
81
Section Specific Links --> Landing Pages