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US online buyers who were led to their purchase by a search engine or social media site, November 2010:
- Search: 51%
- Search and social: 48%
- Social: 1%
Furthermore, when consumers were exposed to both brand-specific search results and social media, search click through rates increased by 94%.
Buyers researching brands on their product shortlist depend largely on their peers' opinions - 30% of consumers rely on user reviews to aid in their purchase decision, whereas only 17% and 9% turn to Facebook or Twitter, respectively.
Social media used by US online buyers to make purchase decisions, November 2010 (% of respondents):
- Users reviews: 30%
- Facebook: 17%
- Video-sharing (e.g. YouTube): 14%
- Twitter: 9%
In the 90 days leading up to purchase, less than 1% of all online purchasers engaged with brand-controlled social media from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube or ads on social sites, whereas 16% of consumers engaged with vertical- or industry-specific blogs offering expert opinions and product reviews.
Additional findings from ForeSee Results further emphasize the role of product review websites as an important influence on buyers visiting retail websites. Compared to other influences, product review websites were most likely to affect the shopper's likelihood of purchasing online, sharing this distinction with another highly influential factor: word-of-mouth recommendations. (eMarketer, March 2011)
Competition appears to be heating up in the daily deals space, with LivingSocial gaining ground on market leader Groupon following a popular 50% off Amazon promotion it ran January 20, 2011.
LivingSocial's traffic surged 80% in the week beginning January 17, while visits to the Groupon site declined 20% in the same period, according to data from Hitwise.
Although those gains are likely a direct result of the extremely popular Amazon promotion that ran that week, they imply that market leader Groupon may not have an insurmountable stranglehold on the space.
The direct correlation between LivingSocial's gain and Groupon's decline also suggests a possible saturation in the market, given that a spike in traffic for the former appears to come at the expense of the latter. It would appear, therefore, that consumers are choosing to visit one or the other, as opposed to both. Of course, that trend could simply reflect less popular deals being offered by Groupon that week.
For the week ending January 22, LivingSocial attracted over half the traffic of Groupon. It remains to be seen if LivingSocial can capitalize on that surge in traffic and maintain an increased audience, however. (ClickZ, February 2011)
Social shopping sites like Groupon and LivingSocial form another piece of the social commerce space, and despite the hype many shoppers have not yet jumped on the bandwagon. Two in five online buyers surveyed had not heard of social shopping sites, and another 28% knew what they were but had never used them, according to JPMorgan's "Nothing But Net 2011" report.
US online buyers who use social shopping sites, December 2010 (as a % of respondents):
- Bought from such a site: 17%
- Have signed up, never bought: 16%
- Heard of such sites, never users: 28%
- Not familiar with such sites: 39%
Age and income were major determining factors for participation in social shopping sites, the survey found. Web users ages 18 to 34 were 10 times as likely as those 55 and older to have purchased from such a site, and twice as likely to have done so as 35- to 54-year-old respondents.
Income's effect was less dramatic but still clear: 23% of web users with an income of at least $100,000 annually bought from a social shopping site, vs. 10% of those making less than $50,000. Income also determined whether internet users had heard of social shopping at all; the least well off respondents were significantly less likely to be familiar with the sites even though they did not use them. (eMarketer, January 2011)
Lead generation budgets were slashed by many companies in 2009, but now that the economy is on the upturn again, dollars are flowing and acquiring new customers is a priority.
According to the "2010 Lead Generation Optimization Key Trends Analysis" from CSO Insights, more than 91% of companies worldwide reported increasing new customer acquisition was one of their top strategic marketing objectives for 2010.
Based on the quantity and quality of leads generated, companies said email was their best lead generation program, followed by live events, website registrations and webinars. The effectiveness of online channels, coupled with the fact that prospects indicate the web is the first place they look for more information, makes it natural for companies to be increasing their investments in web design, email marketing and search engine optimization.
Investments in new media are also on the rise, even if it remains less effective than more traditional channels.
At the same time, the web was the area companies were most likely to say needed improvement in its ability to execute lead campaigns. For many marketers, there has already been significant improvement: 51% said the web did not meet expectations in 2010, compared with 68% who said the same in 2009.
In addition, marketers' ability to measure their own success affected whether they thought the web was an effective channel. Among those companies that had not adopted a lead generation management system, 65% were dissatisfied with the performance of web-based lead generation efforts. But among marketers that did have a system in place to track leads, only 37% agreed-putting the web on par in effectiveness with traditional media advertising and ahead of direct mail or telemarketing. (eMarketer, July 2010)
Open rates continued a steady decline around the world, according to MailerMailer's "Email Marketing Metrics Report," dropping from 12% in the first half of 2009 to 11.2% in the second half.
The report suggested several factors that might contribute to fewer opens, including cluttered inboxes, the rising use of mobile devices and the common habit of turning email images off, which can prevent an open being triggered.
Click rates suffered a much worse descent in the second half of 2009, dropping more than 38% from the first half and nearly 43% from the same period of the previous year.
Again, MailerMailer suggested inbox clutter or list fatigue was a problem, but also noted that anti-phishing security measures sometimes stop links from going live. Email recipients must then take two actions-one to enable the links, and a second one to click on them.
The industry breakdown was similar to the one for open rates, with religion, transportation, environmental and retail emails coming out on top. Legal, marketing, entertainment and restaurant industry emails had the lowest click rates.
According to MailerMailer, the vast majority of actions will take place in the first 72 hours after sending a message, including about 90% of opens. Experian Cheetahmail similarly reported that in March 2010, 92% of opens and 93% of clicks came within the first three days, with 98% of opens and clicks coming within seven days after sending the messages.
That study found messages from nonprofits saw the fastest opens, while catalogers were quickest to be clicked on. Marketers can speed up interaction rates with tactics like limited-time offers in email subject lines, but some industries, like travel, should expect a longer lead time due to the nature of their products and services. (eMarketer, July 2010)
Retailers are responding to the growing consumer appetite for online videos by adding them to their Websites both to differentiate themselves from competitors and to keep up with what consumers expect from their online shopping experience.
Although consumers rank other purchase decision-making tools, such as customer reviews, ahead of videos in importance, according to eMarketer. But that has not discouraged retailers from quickly adding videos to their sites. They find that videos boost sales conversion rates and reduce abandoned shopping cart and product return rates.
The proportion of the top 50 US online retailers offering videos jumped 378% in 2009 over the year before, according to a Forrester Research study, "Online Retailers' Adoption of Online Video Content Is Ahead of Consumers' Preferences," published in November 2009. In 2009, over two-thirds of the biggest online retailers hosted videos.
The adoption rate is poised to climb further, as revealed by a February 2010 Multichannel Merchant survey. Among the two-thirds of respondents who indicated they were planning a site redesign in the next 12 months, some 42.3% said they would add video to their site. That makes it the second-highest priority, well behind social media tools but ahead of other popular Website enhancements including customer reviews and personalized recommendations. (eMarketer, May 2010)
Users of print and online directories are prepared to make a purchase after researching local businesses, according to research conducted by Burke and commissioned by the Yellow Pages Association (YPA).
About 8 in 10 users of either type of directory bought or planned to buy a product after their search.
US consumers who intend to make or made a purchase after searching print vs. internet Yellow Pages, 2009 (% of respondents):
- Internet yellow pages: 44% intend to make a purchase / 36% made a purchase
- Print yellow pages: 39% / 39%
A Q1 2010 study from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat found that 48% of internet users looked for info in online yellow pages when researching local products and services, compared with 90% who used search engines.
But the YPA "2009 Local Media Tracking Study" found greater trust in both print and internet yellow pages than in online search. Two-thirds of respondents said directories were more trustworthy and accurate for local information.
Aside from the YPA's interest in print and online directories, respondents were asked about search in general rather than local search specifically. Research on local search behavior from TMP Directional Marketing and comScore indicated that for most business categories, internet users did use general search engines rather than specific local search sites. But users of local search were 12% points more likely to visit a store in person than users of online yellow pages or general search. Most internet directory users did contact a store by phone after their research. (eMarketer, April 2010)
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 16:19
