Nesta ran a 12 month social media campaign between 2024 and 2025 in support of its heat pump information website, the research and innovation foundation has said. The site was developed in partnership with MCS Foundation and was created to fill a gap in independent, reliable online information on heat pumps1.
The campaign ran adverts across a number of channels over the 12 months, including TikTok and Pinterest, which Nesta said it had not used before. Broadening the channel mix allowed it to test both platforms for reach and conversion against its target audience. Pinterest was less effective for converting to clicks, while TikTok exceeded targets and provided a good route to the target audience1.
Nesta also reported on targeting. Ads aimed at the entire UK were less expensive than ads limited to target locations: almost one tenth less costly per link click, 36 per cent lower cost per search and 33 per cent lower cost per message. It said AI-driven interest targeting, in which a list of interests is put into Meta to target rather than only targeting users who identify with those interests, was most effective for driving actions1.
On the copy itself, Nesta said an earlier campaign for its separate Visit a Heat Pump platform carried too many calls to action, with targets for searches, messages to hosts and bookings. Switching focus to encourage people to message a heat pump host, and making that call to action clear in the copy, saw an immediate uptick in conversions1.
"We found that Pinterest was less effective for converting to clicks, whilst TikTok exceeded targets and provided a good route to our target audience."
The findings sit alongside Nesta's segmentation work with Experian, which identified eight distinct segments of the UK population with different barriers, motivations, ideologies, finances and priorities. Qualitative interviews across those segments found cost was the biggest barrier, including preparatory upgrades, the upfront cost and running costs. The same interviews found a strong appeal across all segments to move towards home-grown energy, with being able to generate, store and use energy, and to escape volatile international gas and oil markets, described as a big pull1.
Why it matters for households
The campaign was aimed at people considering a heat pump for their home, so its reported findings describe what did and did not move householders towards finding out more. Nesta's own account of the barriers is that cost, covering preparatory upgrades, the upfront cost and running costs, was the largest obstacle identified in interviews, and that this applied across all eight segments it defined1.
The other reported motivator is closer to energy independence: Nesta said there was a strong appeal across all segments to move towards home-grown energy, and that being able to generate, store and use energy, and to escape volatile international gas and oil markets, was a big pull. It added that messaging focused on the lower volatility and security of electricity is likely to be a useful motivator1.
The campaign also points to how households encounter the technology. Nesta said many people claim never to have seen a heat pump in real life or to know someone with one, and that seeing and hearing from people like them with a heat pump in a home like theirs is important social proof. Its separate Visit a Heat Pump platform, launched in April 2024, currently features over 1,200 homes where owners answer questions online and invite visitors to see a heat pump in person1.
What happens next
No further campaign dates have been reported. Nesta said it expects more insights to emerge as the market moves from an innovator purchasing a heat pump into the early adopter phase1.