Balance Catamarans, Where the Market Is

The Question The Market Is Asking

Since May, every prospect reaching Balance through paid ads has chosen between two offers: a chart that helps them compare builders, or a video that tells them what a Balance costs. The choice is a vote on what they still need to work out. Adjusted for budget, the split is 60/40: 60% want the comparison chart, 40% want the pricing guide.

Which offer prospects chose

Share of demand, adjusted for the budget each offer received

60 / 40

Comparison against pricing

The split once each offer's budget is taken into account

1.64x

More leads per dollar

Comparison cost $4.57 a lead, pricing $7.50

Offer

Spend

Signups

Cost per lead

Builder Comparison Chart

$1,614 (58%)

353 (69%)

$4.57

Pricing Guide Video

$1,185 (42%)

158 (31%)

$7.50

The comparison offer won in all five matched audiences, and in every month but September.

Why adjust for spend at all

If one offer gets twice the budget it will get more signups no matter what people prefer. Cost per lead removes that and shows what each dollar bought.

Matched audiences

Both offers ran against the same five lookalike audiences, four of them at near-identical spend. That is as close to a fair test as live advertising allows.

What this measures

The market reachable to us, modelled on Balance's own leads and customers, which is the better way to target anyway.

Figures

Spend in US dollars, converted from the Meta API, and totalling the $2,801 reported in the lead gen review. Signup counts are Meta-reported and run slightly ahead of the Master Leads sheet, which de-duplicates.

Are These The Right People

Before reading anything into what they chose, the fair question is whether these are Balance buyers at all. Three independent checks say yes.

67%

Want a 464 or a 502

51 of the 76 who named a model. The two boats Balance prioritised for inventory.

62.7%

Email open rate, comparison group

Pricing group 60.0%. Balance owners 64.1%. Rest of list 42.3%.

2 in 3

Are 12 months or more from sailing

Matches the buyer persona: most buyers sign within a year of first contact

$1M to $2.5M

Where the budgets sit

Self declared by 70 leads. 464 and 502 territory.

Important

These leads open Balance's email almost exactly like people who already own the boat. 62.7% and 60.0%, against 64.1% for the owners list and 42.3% for the rest of the database. The audience is not cold and it is not junk. It is attentive and waiting.

Two Questions, Not Two Stages

The instinct is to read the pricing group as further along, closer to buying. The form answers do not support that. Both groups sit the same distance from a purchase. They are asking different questions, not standing at different points in a queue. Click either group to open it.

Who They Are Comparing Us Against

If two thirds of the market is choosing between builders, the useful question is which builders. Two separate datasets answer it, and they name the same two.

Brands named on the signup form

Free text, grouped. Asked only since Aug 15, so the sample is small but consistent.

Same two names

The CRM says it independently. Among on-hold leads who recorded a competitor, HH appears 21 times and Outremer 19. Among buyers who actually signed, 7 of the 8 who recorded a competitor named HH. Comparing is not a sign of a weak lead. Balance's own buyers were cross shopping the same two brands.

What We Recommend

Three moves, each one following directly from a number above.

Recommendation 01

Build the head to head: Balance vs HH vs Outremer

Both datasets name the same two rivals, and the old comparison chart has been switched off as outdated, so our best offer has nothing behind it. Build the three way comparison and advertise it as how to choose between Balance, HH and Outremer, which is exactly what the market is asking for.

Recommendation 02

Ask the pricing group what their concerns are

158 people asked what a Balance costs and they open our email at 60%. Write to them and ask what is on their mind, and we will learn whether the gap is price, value or model fit.

Recommendation 03

We are now confident to increase the budget

With the level of detail we now gather on every lead, we can spend with confidence. We average about $1,100 a month against a $1,600 allowance, so there is $500 of room, and no sign of fatigue: frequency has fallen from 3.4 to 2.4 and CPM from $21.67 to $18.32 while reach grew.

Already done

The forms now ask for a phone number

The buyer persona work showed a phone call is the strongest marker of a sale, present for 64% of buyers. The forms had deliberately left phone out; that was revisited and the field went live on 10 September.