You can buy a hot tub online and still receive professional installation and aftercare. We choose not to offer online checkout because the important questions about suitability, access, preparation and overall cost still need to be answered. We think they are better answered before a customer commits, rather than afterwards.
There comes a point when browsing our website where you may notice something missing. You can compare our hot tubs, swim spas, saunas, steam rooms and ice baths, but there is no button to put one in your basket.
That is deliberate. We sell water-care products, cleaners and other consumables through our online shop, but before taking payment for one of our larger products, we want to know that it suits the customer and that the project is workable. The conversations needed to establish that would still have to take place if we offered online checkout. We prefer to have them before the customer commits.
Several online retailers include delivery, positioning, installation, filling and a handover, followed by perfectly good warranty support. Ordering through a website does not inevitably mean having a hot tub deposited at the kerb. Our decision has more to do with the order in which things happen.
“We could have an e-commerce site and you could buy on the website,” says Carla, our Managing Director, “but we as a business don’t believe that is the best process for a customer.”
What a product page cannot tell you
Specifications can help somebody narrow down the choice, but they have their limits. Jet count is a good example. In theory, it gives shoppers a convenient way to compare models. The type of jets, where they are positioned and what they actually do usually matter more than the total, and you have to try them to know how the massage feels.
Customers can also surprise themselves when it comes to seating. Some even arrive with a particular model firmly in mind, then find that another suits them better once they get into it. A lounger may look comfortable in photographs, but a wet test can reveal that the customer feels more comfortable sitting upright in the water. If so, an all-seater is likely to serve them better.
The choice of shell height can be equally personal. What feels comfortably deep to one person may be awkward for another, particularly if mobility is limited. Sitting in the spa gives a much better idea of both the seating and how easy it will be to get in and out. It also lets the customer see the finish and colour properly, which matters when different screens do not reproduce colours consistently.
Natalie, our Sales and Showroom Manager, recently spoke to a customer who had been considering a Limelight Flair. When he saw the moving Moto-Massage jet in a Highlife Aria and understood how it worked across the back, he decided that feature mattered enough to justify moving up to the more expensive model.
On other occasions, the conversation leads in the opposite direction. Customers decide that the extra features or performance of a more expensive model would bring them little benefit and choose to spend less. What matters is finding the product that makes sense for the person buying it.
The things that are difficult to judge vary between products. With a sauna, dimensions and timber specifications cannot fully convey how spacious the cabin feels, whether the benches are comfortable or how well the door closes. An ice bath is generally a simpler installation, although its size and construction can still be easier to judge in person. We use the same purchasing policy across these larger products, even though some need considerably more planning than others.
The product price is not necessarily the project price
With a hot tub, we need to understand the access route, confirm that the proposed position has a firm, level and suitably load-bearing base, and check the planned electrical supply. A swim spa can involve excavation, crane access and more substantial groundworks.
Any of those details can alter the cost. A hot tub that will pass through a side gate is easier to deliver than one that has to be lifted over a house. Preparing for a swim spa above ground is quite different from making it partially recessed. Until we understand what is involved, the price of the product alone may not tell the customer what their finished project will cost.
Other products have their own requirements. A sauna needs a suitable electrical supply. A steam room also requires provision for water, drainage and ventilation. The discussion need not take long, but the answers are specific to the property.
Even a hot tub’s electrical requirement is not always settled by reading the amperage in the specification. An electrician may need to consider the demands already being placed on the property, particularly where equipment such as EV chargers has been added. We will cover that properly in a separate article, as it deserves more explanation than we can sensibly give it here.
Then there are the smaller decisions that affect everyday use. A cover lifter can make a hot tub much easier to manage, while somebody setting the spa into a deck may have no need for steps. Rather than applying the same package to everybody, we can work out what will actually be useful.
If the customer wants us to, we can coordinate the installation and the relevant trades. We can also work with their own electrician, groundworker, architect or garden designer so that everyone understands what is being installed and what needs to happen first.
Why not sort all this out after checkout?
It could be done that way. A responsible online retailer can take an order and then check the access, electrical provision and installation requirements. There is no reason that process cannot end in an equally good installation.
The checks still have to be made, though. If the customer will need a crane or groundworks, or if another model would suit them better, we think that information should form part of the original decision. It gives them a much clearer idea of the product, the work involved and the likely overall cost before they part with their money.
An online order may be easy enough to change, but the customer has already made what felt like a final choice. They may have settled on a particular model and mentally committed to the price. It is usually easier to weigh up the alternatives before one of them has been bought.
We also want to do more than confirm that the chosen product can be installed. Part of our job is to help the customer decide whether it is a sensible choice for the people who will use it. Carla describes this by saying that customers “don’t know what they don’t know”. That is no reflection on the quality of their research. A product page cannot anticipate every question raised by a particular person, property and installation.
Buying remotely
We strongly recommend seeing the products and, with hot tubs and swim spas, trying them where possible. A showroom visit is not compulsory. Some customers have already used the exact model at a friend’s home or seen it elsewhere, while others simply cannot travel to us.
We can deal with those purchases by phone and email. We will still discuss how the product will be used, check the proposed location and preparation, and review the access route, often using a video supplied by the customer. If everything is in order and they want to proceed, they can buy from us remotely.
For somebody who knows exactly what they want, the conversation adds very little effort. For somebody who has missed an important detail, it may prevent an expensive or disappointing mistake. We are happy to sell remotely; what we have chosen not to offer is a purchase made without any contact at all.
Knowing who you bought from
These products may remain in a customer’s home for many years. Questions about water care or controls can arise long after installation, as can the need for servicing, repairs or warranty support. Because we were involved from the beginning, we know what the customer bought, why they chose it and how it was installed. When they contact us, we do not have to reconstruct the purchase before we can help.
People who visit the showroom also meet some of those who may look after them later. Carla sees that as the beginning of the long-term relationship we want to have with our customers. Plenty of online retailers offer good aftercare; we simply prefer that relationship to begin while the customer is still deciding what to buy.
We probably lose some sales by leaving online checkout off the website, although there is no useful way to know how many. There will always be people who want to choose, pay and move on with as little interaction as possible, and our approach will not suit all of them.
We accept that trade-off. The missing button gives us the chance to understand what the customer wants, spot anything they may not have considered and give them a realistic picture of the whole project. If the conversation has to happen at some point, it is more useful before the order than after it.
