Welcome to our first Home Loving Case Study. We’ll be publishing these regularly to share the love about our products, the business, our clients, suppliers and much more.
What’s the story, Home Loving? By Tina, from Home Loving HQ
I wanted to share with you the story of how our Home Loving Heroes came to be. It gives you a great insight into what makes us tick and why we believe that if we all make small changes, big changes happen.
It starts with our sister business, Oven Loving. We were really keen to offer our oven cleaning customers a fantastic service and, as part of that, we wanted a range of cleaning products that matched our values and standards.
We had a list of things we wanted:
- Eco-friendly
- Safe (family friendly)
- Effective
- Whole range available
I’m sure you’ve guessed the twist in the tale: we found nothing that met all our requirements.
The superheroes are born
Soon after this, I started on my mission to create a range of professional-standard cleaning products for our oven cleaners to use, which we could safely leave behind so our customers could maintain the same high standards of cleanliness.
Considering how clear and simple our brief was, finding the right solution was harder than I expected. Manufacturers were focused on results but at the expense of everything else. Products were highly perfumed; coloured to make them look pretty; they didn’t qualify for the accreditations I needed; vegan, Made in Britain, cruelty-free.
A breakthrough
Eventually I found a manufacturer who could help me create a completely new, unique Home Loving product range. We quickly realised the product was so good we could launch a domestic range. The beauty of safe, natural, environmentally friendly products is they don’t have to be covered in warnings or used in controlled conditions. We’d found what we were looking for!
What did people think?
We carried out some early market research with small samples of the Daily Surface Cleaner. I was nervous because people seemed to be more interested in the smell that the results: I gave people their samples and they replied with “thanks, I can’t wait to see what it smells like”. We’d insisted on no fragrance because we wanted to add nothing that didn’t contribute to the effectiveness or that would carry a warning for use (which even fresh lemon fragrance does).
However, once people got the product home and started to spray, wipe and buff their way around the house, the feedback changed. It was all about how amazing the results were, people seemed to have forgotten the smell.
What do I think of the final products?
Now we’re close to manufacture and sale, I’m so proud of my band of superheroes. We stuck to our guns and now have products suitable for trade or domestic use, they’re safe for people and our planet and they work really, really well. My favourite is the Cleaning Boost. It’s a paste which looks like a cream but because it contains chalk, I always feel like I’m giving my oven a face mask when I apply it. The chalk draws out all the grease and holds on to it so you can wipe the oven clean with little to no effort at all. Amazing stuff.
