Keystone survey finds 70% of installers win most work by referral, and few rely on suppliers.
Word of mouth remains the main source of work for seven in ten UK window and door installers, according to new research that also finds most place little value on the marketing help offered by their suppliers.
The UK Installer Insights Report, published by Keystone Market Research in November and commissioned by installer software provider AdminBase, surveyed 124 installation businesses in June and July. It is the second in a six-part series and focuses on how installers win and market their work.
Seventy per cent of respondents named word of mouth as their main source of work. Online search came a distant second on 15 per cent, with showroom visits, supplier-generated leads and website enquiry forms on 5 per cent each. No respondent named social media.
That is despite a fair degree of digital spending. Almost half of installers, 49.4 per cent, invest in website updates or search engine optimisation, and 45.7 per cent in social media. Paid search attracts 17.3 per cent and print 13.6 per cent. More than a third, 35.8 per cent, do no marketing at all.
Keystone argues that websites and social channels are mostly used to reassure customers who arrive by recommendation, rather than to generate enquiries in their own right.
Installers are confident in their own abilities, with 83 per cent saying they are very or fairly confident marketing their business. They are less sure about the results. Just 23.5 per cent are very satisfied with what their marketing delivers, while the same proportion are not satisfied at all. Among those with websites, only 53 per cent track the enquiries their site generates.
Cost was named as the biggest barrier to doing more by 46.9 per cent of installers, ahead of time on 24.7 per cent. Only 11.1 per cent pointed to a lack of knowledge. Just over half spend between 1 and 2 per cent of turnover on marketing.
The findings will make uncomfortable reading for suppliers. Some 42 per cent of installers said they did not rely on suppliers for marketing or lead generation at all, and a further 38.3 per cent only minimally. Only 7.4 per cent described supplier support as critical to their business. Brochures and literature were the most used supplier resource, at 34.6 per cent, while co-branded marketing was used by just 2.5 per cent.
Keystone recommends that suppliers stop assuming installers want more leads. Instead, it says, they should offer ready-to-use, installer-branded content and simple ways to track enquiries, with support aimed at “building installer capability, not supplier dependency”.
Some of the figures warrant caution. The report does not publish how many businesses answered each question, but its percentages are consistent with about 81 responses rather than the full 124. On that base, a typical finding carries a margin of error of roughly 11 percentage points either way. The report also gives two different figures for low supplier reliance, 78 and 80 per cent, and does not explain how respondents were recruited.
The headline on digital channels also needs care. The survey asked for a single main source of work, so a channel that produces a steady minority of enquiries scores nothing. Taken together, online search and website enquiry forms are the main route to market for one installer in five.
The broad direction is nonetheless clear. Installers win on reputation, spend modestly on marketing and want to run it themselves. For fabricators and systems houses built around lead-sharing schemes, the challenge is to help installers prove which enquiries paid, rather than simply supply more of them.
Later reports in the series will cover recruitment, digital technology, administration and the habits of high-performing installers.
