Targeting homemovers unpacked strong sales
Background
Moving home is one of life’s biggest milestones - and a time when furniture buying becomes both urgent and emotionally charged. With purchase intent at its peak, home movers represent a uniquely valuable audience.
DFS, the UK’s leading furniture retailer, saw the opportunity to connect with households in the final weeks before their move - when decisions about furnishing their new home are front of mind.
Solution
To capitalise on this opportunity, DFS partnered with Precision Proco to deploy its HomingIn solution, an innovative data-led approach designed to reach households at exactly the right stage in their moving journey. HomingIn enables brands to identify and target home movers with unparalleled accuracy, unlocking valuable audiences during a life stage when purchase intent is at its highest.
The creative idea behind the mailing was clever, distinctive, and rooted in emotional relevance. The six-page digitally printed roll fold format was designed to resemble a packing box, a familiar, tangible symbol of moving home. From the moment recipients picked it up, the connection to their current life stage was immediate. Each fold was designed to encourage engagement, creating a sense of discovery. Large-scale lifestyle photography featured prominently throughout the piece, showcasing the brand in aspirational yet relatable real-life settings. This imagery reflected DFSs core style and visual language, ensuring seamless alignment with other marketing channels and reinforcing brand recognition. The piece’s physical form was not just functional; it was symbolic, reinforcing the sense that DFS understood exactly what its audience was experiencing.
Building on this, the design combined bold photography with a clean, spacious layout to create an aspirational yet approachable feel. The tone of voice was warm and reassuring rather than sales-driven, deliberately avoiding discounts or urgent calls-to-action. Instead, the piece positioned DFS as a trusted partner ready to help, creating a memorable and emotionally resonant brand impression.
Data targeting was central to the campaign’s success - rather than use a scattergun approach, DFS targeted households within one to eight weeks of their move date, focusing on the top 30% most likely to convert, and within a 30-mile radius of DFS stores. Weekly data updates ensured the campaign stayed responsive to changes in the housing market, while digital printing allowed mailers to be produced on a weekly basis, flexing volumes up or down in line with the number of eligible movers. This agile approach maximised return on investment and minimised waste.
Timing was a critical factor in the campaign’s ability to cut through. Mailings were strategically scheduled to arrive during non-peak trading times, avoiding the clutter of high-volume promotional periods. Just as importantly, they landed in the one-to-eight-week window before moving day - when customers are researching and planning purchases but still emotionally engaged with their move. By establishing itself early in the home mover’s consideration set, DFS was able to shape perceptions and build familiarity before competitors entered the picture.
As many movers create a “moving folder” or designated spot in their home for inspiration and suppliers; DFS’S beautiful mailing was designed to live in that space, quietly influencing decisions over several weeks.
Results
The DFS Homemovers mail campaign delivered outstanding and measurable results, underscoring the effectiveness of precision targeting combined with compelling creative execution. By reaching highly relevant audiences at the perfect time in their moving journey, the mailing generated significant commercial impact.
Order rates among recipients were 134% higher than the control group, while average order value increased by 13%. Together, these gains drove a 160% uplift in ROI versus control, proving that precisely targeted, creatively distinctive direct mail could outperform expectations and generate incremental sales in a highly competitive market.
When benchmarked against other channels, the campaign delivered significantly better cost-effectiveness in generating incremental sales within the home movers segment. The physical, tactile nature of the mailer, paired with precise timing and brand-aligned messaging, created a high-impact customer touchpoint that digital-only campaigns would struggle to replicate.
Source: SMP Award Winner 2025