DIY users aren’t just the stereotypical stay-at-home mom or dad.
DIY users make up a large portion of the population and they tend to be the tech savvy, modern day shoppers/business people looking for a unique experience.
They tend to care more about quality over quantity and they prefer convenience.
The DIY movement is growing fast and quickly becoming favorable in every type of business. With that said, the best way to work with this growing consumer set is to understand who they are, their behaviors towards certain products and what they want out of a product or service.
We will take you through a list of characteristics that will provide you with guidance on how you can obtain these DIYers and turn them from dreamers into doers.
To make this simple, we have chosen to use DIY shopping as our use case. But please bare in mind the story below, although a bit different will show similar patterns when analyzing most other DIY applications.
Who are they?
DIY has been around a long time, however, today the majority of DIY consumers are millennials. That being said, the DIY consumer is not limited by age – each generation just offers different purchasing styles.
The majority of DIYers spend some time doing research and understanding a product before buying. They are also advocates in comparison shopping.
When considering demographic, it is wise to segment them out as they have different needs:
Millennials
- Price conscious
- Value seekers
- Hardware store shoppers
- Most frequent online shoppers and purchasers
- Most active with social media
Gen-X
- Price driven (competitive prices)
- Value convenience
- Need project information
- Strong online shoppers and purchasers
- Looking for “sale” prices
- Active with social media
Baby Boomers
- Least price driven
- Seek out available and knowledgeable employees
- Want wide selection of products
- Need product information
- Heavy ad users
Characteristics of the average DIYer
They prefer quality over quantity
71% of DIYers agree that quality outweighs quantity when it comes to a product or service. When considering quality, they tend to look for smart technology and want something that is reliable. Because DIY doesn’t require labor, they are also willing to spend a little more to get the level of quality they desire.
They are tech savvy (online)
While there is no specific age group for DIYers, the majority are millennials who are very technology driven. As mentioned above, they like to do their research on a variety of products before making a purchasing decision. When doing research, most prefer to use their phone as they tend to be on the go. With that said, as a business, a mobile friendly website is a must.
They value sustainability
Most DIYers are looking for brands that are sustainable. Choosing products that eliminate waste is an important factor. Similarly to the desire for quality, DIYers are willing to spend a little more for environmentally friendly products.
They aren’t overly price sensitive
Lastly, DIYers aren’t overly worried about price. Because of the lack of labor you get with DIY, DIYers are willing to spend more.
What brands should do to successfully capture the DIY user:
Create engaging shopping experiences
Because of the desire to do research beforehand, products must have detailed information and be transparent to what the consumer is getting when purchased. If a brand is online, making sure there is a seamless experience all the way to checkout is important.
Further, providing transparency and trust will go a long way with the consumer.
Create personalized experiences
Creating personalized experience is one way to grab the attention of the consumer. And, using data to understand consumer behavior is important in understanding their needs.
Create simplicity and convenience in products
DIY requires self teaching, either with a set of instructions or by video tutorials online. With that in mind, keeping your product simple and easy to navigate for DIYers is important.
After reading about and understanding who DIY shoppers are, look around you and ask yourself “how many of the people you know are DIY shoppers?”. Then imagine all the other DIY tasks and applications these same people accomplish every day, without questioning, do I get help, or just do it myself.
Then ask yourself “why would all of these people not make the almost reflex-like effort to do their day to day jobs with DIY applications, if they could (i.e. run your own advertising as you are the best, most knowledgeable one for the job).
About the series authors
The team at Adacado have been pioneering Dynamic Creative and programmatic advertising since late 2009. It all started as a platform with full service, where creative costs scaled into crazy 6 figure numbers. From the get go this made no sense at all, however big brands and agencies were satisfied, at least at the moment in time. Adacado knew this was not sustainable and began almost immediately shifting to self-serve and now to a fully DIY advertising platform that allows an agency or brand to create and launch a campaign in minutes.
Sounds like an instant success. No, we are not quite there yet! In fact we are a frustrated group of people as we watch in amazement, while prospective customers glow about its capabilities and ease of use…. But when it comes to rolling up their sleeves and doing the job (becoming DIY) they procrastinate, stall, ask for help, almost everything imaginable, except getting the job done themselves.
Thank goodness for our customers who recognized the proverbial opportunity of DIY, have figured out how and why to use Adacado, and have quickly become perennial customers with ever increasing usage. They keep our hopes alive.
So why not everyone? Not sure, so the journey goes on… Adacado continues to improve and educate, and has decided that perhaps the basics of DIY are not that obvious, so we have set out on a venture to learn more and more about DIY, and pass on our learnings, with the hope that it will encourage more people to become DIY with more things, including advertising.
We hope you enjoy the series!
The Adacado Team
