Study: Web-traffic boosts in-store sales

In a recent study the research companies comScore, Accenture and dunnhumbyUSA found some significant relevance between in-store sales and a company’s web presence. The study was based on a panel of CPG customers and one million U.S. Internet users who have given comScore explicit permission to have their online activities continuously measured and matched to their in-store brand buying behavior provided by dunnhumbyUSA.

The report comes to the conclusion that consumers who visit a website prior to their shopping experience in a company store spend 34% more with that company and 57% more on products or services based on their specific industry sector. It also states that visitors of brand websites are frequent buyers of the brand in retail stores. It shows that 42% more of these clients finish their transactions than non-visitors. Furthermore, website visitors are also heavier buyers in a brand’s product category. They are spending 53% more in their category dollars than non-visitors.

“Since website visitors have higher affinity to the brand and the overall product category, there is an opportunity for brand marketers to drive loyalty through personalizing the website experience, catering to the preferences of their best customers.”John LaRocca, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, dunnhumbyUSA

And again another study highlights the importance of content marketing as the new emerging trend in marketing. Shoppers were more aggressive in their approach to understand and evaluate their purchases prior to their visit in shops as a result of the massive information access through the web. According to the research, content marketing plays a significant role here. So, campaigns on the web not only add value to web shopping but also -and for some companies and brands more importantly- will help to drive and boost in-store habits and sales – apart from positioning a brand’s capability.

“Marketers who create compelling (brand) website experiences for consumers are extremely effective in driving incremental and profitable in-store sales. Analysis shows that consumers visiting the best of the 10 CPG brand websites evaluated in the research study, spent over 200% more on the brand than non-visitors.” Jerry Lohse, Senior Director, Accenture Interactive

Based on the fact that Brafton reported some weeks ago that the average consumer visits more than 10 web pages before a purchase decision, this study marks an important point in the relevance between online and offline shopping. This might be catalyzed by the new opportunities that smartphones, tablets or Augmented Reality (see real-life community shopping) offer, and shows the straight relationship between the two shopping experiences which more and more merge to one close shopping cycle.

Spot On!
More companies are realizing that offering web shoppers the same information and service as in-stores will lead to more purchase at both ends of the shopping cycle: online and at offline locations. The challenge for companies is to differentiate the shopping experience by using SoLoMo (social – local – mobile). Here the question for the future will remain whether in-store shopping needs to become more of a lifestyle experience or adventure to attract more consumers to join in-store activity (see IKEA Sleepover), or wether people will want to have real people around them and thus make it a social reality world, rather than a social web world…

comScore: Smartphones and tablets boost European media consumption ‎

The digital environment is chaining very fast, based on the evolution of the modern mobile devices which are offering new opportunities and challenges, depending on whether at home or at work. Some forecasts already proclaim the death of the desktop. Today, mobile devices like tablets and smartphones change the daily lives of Europeans, and the way we use our mobile devices was explained in one of my last posts. .

A recent study by comScore, Inc. and Telefónica Germany called Connected Europe -published during DLD Conference today- shows some five developments and gives an outlook where the mobile evolution is heading to. The study was based on a survey of mobile subscribers age 13+ and their primary device. These are the key findings the study is coming up with…

Smartphones and Tablets make PC more and more redundant.
Reasons: Lower hardware costs, increased subsidies, and aggressive operator price plans. A majority of non-computer web traffic comes from smartphones (65%) and especially tablets (25%) are picking up momentum in the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom).

Mobile Media is booming.
Reason: Ubiquitous 3G/4G networks delivering mobile ready content to multiple screens (PC, Smartphone, Tablets). 75% of the EU5 use mobile media users in October 2011 which is an increase by 62% in the past year.

Apple connected use wins in fragmented EU5 market across ecosystems.
Reason: However, there are powerful competitors (Nokia and Google), Apple’s iOS has the top spot when combining smartphones, tablets and other devices: 30% share of connected devices in use! Nokia’s Symbian and Google’s Android win in terms of the highest market share among smartphone.

iPad boost Apple’s market power.
Reason: iPad enthusiasm is not limited to Apple enthusiasts. Users of other phones such as LG (86% more likely) and Motorola (72% more likely) were overrepresented amongst iPad owners, as compared to their respective shares of the smartphone market. Obviously, iPhone owners were quite likely to have an iPad (66 times more likely).

Mobile commerce is increasing and changing expectations for the retail industry.
Reason: Smartphone users are massive mobile shoppers and push retail with double or triple digit growth rates across European countries. Just look at the use of modern mobile devices and their apps in the Prime Time and you won’t be surprised anymore.

Spot On!
According to the study, Germany had the fastest growing (increase of 112% year on year) user base and witnessed the quickest adoption of emerging technologies, such as QR codes. Interesting to me were two facts…
a) Men are still more likely to have a tablet than a smartphone compared to women, whether this is based on business issue or interest the study did not give an answer…

b) Smartphone and tablet is not an issue of income aspects. 65,4% of a household income under 40K EUR have a smartphone and 56% own a tablet.

Would you agree that calling a smartphone and a tablet your own will become as important as having a TV in the past?

ComScore study: 31% of banner ads get lost for viewers

Companies and brands love to book page impressions with publishers, shopping and trading sites. Users find themselves being bombarded with banner ads all over the web – and not often do these ads add any value on customer journeys and the digital shopping experience. Often they bore us (dresses and dishes), annoy us (gay ads for married people) or make us hate companies brands (you love a and get b beer brands). Real Time bidding (RTB), (Behavioral) Retargeting technology and demand side platforms (DSP) will become game changers in the ad space in the future.

Sounds good but do advertisers get what publishers promise today, just on the basis of ad impression buying? Well, not really…

Yesterday, ComScore announced their “Validated Campaign Essentials (vCE)” which is said to be a Holistic Measurement tool for verifying the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and their subsequent targeting tactics. Thus, ComScore can double-check of where the ads are being delivered, where they are positioned within a page and who’s eyeballs they meet with the optimization add-on to know where they can be better positioned and at what time. The new technology or tool (vCE) will allow ComScore check campaigns effectiveness on a demographics basis.

ComScore definitely recognizes clients need for a world of better performance with campaigns for a reasonable future of advertisements. However the good news, when you worried about the effectiveness of your last campaign, there is much worse stuff to think about…

ComScore has found, in a recent comprehensive study, that over 31% of online display ads get lost for eyeballs of potential viewers, and for some websites it is even a scary number of 91%. Reasons are obvious: Some of these ads are below the fold. User might not scroll down far enough to view them, and vice versa. Some people just scroll too quick and thus get passed them before they have been loading.

The findings also state that as many as 15% of campaign ads were delivered to viewers outside of the targeted media plan places. An average of 4% of ad impressions found viewers in locations that weren’t on the plan, or where products weren’t available. Do you still wonder why the above mentioned banner campaigns reach us? But ComScore works on the issue…

“One big issue with internet advertising is that not all ads that are served end up being seen. This is a core issue raised by the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative. In order for marketers to have the same confidence in the digital channel as they do in TV, we need measurement around the visibility of ads.” Mike Donahue, EVP, Strategic Partnerships, ComScore

Spot On!
Google will penalize companies and platforms that have too many ads above the fold in the future: 3 ads per page is sufficient and strategically clever, Google advices in this video. Just imagine your banners are being delivered to platforms that are damaging for your brand. It happens. Impressions appear beside content that were defined as “not brand safe” by the advertiser. Of all tested campaigns, 72% showed up on pages that had objectionable content, as defined by the brand. Now, that ComScore and advertisers like Chrysler, Discover, E*TRADE Financial, Ford, Kellogg’s, Kimberly Clark and Kraft among others push the development of the third-party tracking, there might be hope that consumers and clients get banners delivered that are targeted the right way. Nevertheless, companies need to start thinking about the right call-to-action in order to get the right conversation figures…

The near future of Augmented Reality (AR) and QR codes

Augmented reality (AR) has a glorious future according to a new market research published by MarketsandMarkets. It will be interesting to see which role QR codes play in that future as more and more technologies arise.

The new market research report “Global Augmented Reality (AR) Market Forecast by Product (HMD, HUD, Tablet PC, Smartphone) for Gaming, Automotive, Medical, Advertisement, Defense, E-Learning & GPS Applications (2011-2016)” states that the total Augmented Reality applications market will be growing by over 95% from 2011 to 2016. The research sees it reaching a market volume of $5151,74 million.

According to Comscore research almost 10% of all smartphone users have scanned QR codes in June this year. The interesting fact is that most users scan their QR codes from home (57,4%). In public only 20% use those QR scan options from outdoor advertising or in public transport.

Although screen technology (smartphone, tablet and eye-wear) is still in its infancy concerning AR, and also facing some challenges, the Universities of Washington and the MIT see a better future on the experience horizont. Especially, the head up and head mounted displays have become mature, finds the study. Leading and growing in use are online apps, gaming apps and GPS apps. So far, campaigns like the following by MIRAT Paris work on the basis of QR coding…

But what kind of Augmented Reality technologies are rocking the transformation from the physical to the virtual world, or shall we say to the mobile world?

Some months ago, we only had browser technology like Layar and Wikitude. Today, companies like Tesco are experimenting with other capabilities in their retail shops. For a long time, we had to use QR codes or trigger points to initiate some activity with AR technology.

Layar’s latest innovation called “Vision” is another reason why QR codes are becoming uncool. Vision is a tool that lets advertisers and content owners integrate Augmented Reality ads in publications. As an example you may watch the Dutch magazine Linda how the technology works…

Some other technology innovations are also evolving that might catalyze the technology shift in the AR sphere. Here are three of them…

Aurasma
The Aurasma technology -unlike the GPS based technologies Layar (until the Vision version) and Wikitude that merely recognizes what someone has tagged as locations or places- is a new generation augmented reality browser. Aurasma recognises images through cameras in a way search engines recognise words. The browser then creates so-called 2D or 3D „Auras“ which show animated audio-video content. Just watch some examples of Aurasma campaigns.

blippAR
With blippAR the whole advertisment becomes the response tool. It is enough to simply point in the direction of the ad with the app. Still, the awareness challenge needs to be solved. And, the need for a specific browser to use the technology. See some examples of blippAR usage. At the moment you can even participate in the interactive blippAR campaign “escape the map” by Mercedes Benz.

Printechnologics
Printechnologics is based on Touchcode carrier technology. It contains a blind or transparent code which is embedded via invisible data storage development inside print products like carton, foil or simply paper. Printechnologics turns the AR identification around as you lay the paper on top of the tablet or smartphone, and not the other way round. And you don’t even need to modify your device, download a browser, use NFC (near field communication), or a camera for it to identify and initiate the online activity form the offline trigger. The last issue from the ICONIST carried a Printechnologics card and here you can see how it connect the two worlds….

Spot On!
In some months, the QR codes might be gone as an AR trigger, and thus leave the advertising world. However, all AR technologies have one weakness: You need to know that these technologies are embedded in any forms of campaigns. You need some trigger point, button, picture, image or QR code that people see. Thus, the main challenge for QR codes and Augmented Reality is to build awareness and understanding what it can do. Nobody is using a browser or a camera if there is no “visual” reason for virtual interactivity. I see TV using any of the forms as an extension for their TV shows in order to promote their digital content and advertising opportunities, just like the print industry did in the past. One thing is for sure: Augmented Reality will definitely become a new playground that connects the TV and online markets in the future…

What’s your view on Augmented Reality and QR codes? Let us know…

Paid search ads strategy – Consumers do more research before purchase

Is paid search part of your advertising strategy to generate sales? Then, you better think about your paid search bidding strategy, if you don’t want to spend too much as a retailer.

According to a research by NetElixir -done amoungst 32 large retailer clients that spend at least $75,000 a month on search engine marketing- consumers are clicking more on paid search ads before buying products. The problem is that the cost per click went up by 16% in a period from January 2011 to January 2010, explains Udayan Bose, NetElixir founder and CEO.

“It’s a sign of the times. Consumers want to check out the best deal before committing their money to someone,” Mr. Bose concluded.

Some key insights…
- Consumers click 3.1 paid search ads before purchasing products (January 2011). Two years ago, it was 2.7 clicks.
- Consumers take more time to shop around (time between first click on a paid search ad and final purchase). This is a 12% increased in two years
- Consumers (52%) clicked on retailer’s display ad, a listing on a comparison shopping site, an ad on an affiliate site or social network, or on an organic search result before making a purchase. The interesting part is that all the activity came after the first clicked on the paid search ad from a retailer. This equals an increase by 30%.

Spot On!
We know that the time period between first click and purchase is long. The study and another one by GroupM and Comscore shows that brands and retailer need to extend their expectation for the time period from promotion to sales to 20 or 30 days, not only 14 days. It is not the last click we should monitor when bidding on generic keywords. Ideally companies and brands should not stop bidding on more general keywords that consumers type in early in their research. It is the best way to get consumers early in their purchasing process to meet the latency effect, and to become an evaluation partner for the later sale.

Study: Search and Social amplify purchase decisions

One thing leads to another. Today we could transfer this quote to: One search leads to another social activity, and vice versa. And this interconnection of web-strategy tactics amplifies the user’s purchase decisions.

A new study from GroupM and comScore states that 40% of consumers who search for products to purchase are taking a social activity as a next step to finalize their buying decision. And the activity can be seen from the other direction as well: 46% of consumers who use social media are searching for products to expand the basis on a product range to take a decision.

58% of users begin their journey to purchase with search. Company websites come in at 24% and social media by 18%. The opinion of “friends” on the purchase decision is highly rated in social networks and cannot be underestimated these days from brands and retailers any longer.

The study reveals interesting insights in the time period that make the essential change in the buying decision process. The “late kick” comes 30 days prior to purchase when brands and companies have to engage with their audience – and can leave search tactics behind. A difficult topic to handle in the B2C industry but for B2B very helpful.

“There are still many brands who haven’t figured out why they’re in social media. We still talk to brands that are trying to determine if they should be in social media. The data suggests the two most important subsets in social are user reviews and category blogs, rather than sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.” Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search

Some important findings on how social and search are linked together…
- 86% see search engines important in buying decisions – Consumers use search in buying cycle as a pricing tool (research products and select purchase location)
- 45% use search throughout the buying cycle
- 26% use search at the beginning of their research and shopping process
- Social is essential in the consideration process
- 30% use social media to create a shopping short-list
- 28% say social media has a valuable impact in creating awareness for brands and products

Spot On!
The study shows the impact that the combination of social and search have on the purchase decision. The challenge for companies will be to understand in which way to balance their tactics between search and social in reference to seasonal sales timing, marketing opportunities while not destroying maximum margin, and customer loyalty programs to amplify brand buzz. Another study by econsultancy also illustrates how undervalued social media and search are from a sales perspective. The study says that Social Media “gets eight times less credit for its direct contribution to sales than it should” and “Generic SEO gets credited for 14 times less sales than it deserves”.

What comes first when you take buying decisions? Search or Social? And how does it amplify your buying process? Interested in your thoughts…

News Update – Best of the Day

How many user will access the internet in 2025? Well, according to a study conducted by Cisco and the Monitor Group’s Global Business network, throughout the next 15 years the number of users is expected to increase dramatically and reach approximately 5 billion users worldwide

Stats on Social Networking in Asia Pacific were difficult to find. A Comscore study now shows data: Half of all Internet users visit a social networking site each month.

“Although Asia Pacific as a region reports lower social networking usage than other regions (due largely to low broadband penetration in some markets as well as restricted usage in places such as China), usage across the region continues to increase rapidly. Several markets in Asia were some of the most avid users of social networking in the world including the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, which each saw more than 90 percent of their online population social networking during the month.”

Who is responsible for sharing the masses of content? 27% of ‘Frequent Sharers’ (6 stories each week) were responsible for 87% of all news shared online, writes Freshnetworks.

Although social media is not talking about reach, you might use Tweetreach to find out how many people your latest tweets have addressed.

Studie: Engagement Banner zahlen auf Marke ein

Im Grunde genommen klingt es einleuchtend und doch scheint es für Kreative eine schwere Geburt zu sein. Die Verbindung zwischen Kreation und Interaktion bei Werbemitteln ist der Schlüssel zum Erfolg von Online-Werbung, wie ein aktueller Benchmark Report zeigt.

Die aktuelle Studie “Benchmark Insights” von Eyeblaster hat dabei 13.000 Online-Ads und 13 Milliarden Rich Media Impressions aus dem Jahr 2009 analysiert. Das Ergebnis verdeutlicht, daß intelligente Online-Werbemittel, welche vom User Engagement erfordern, die Konversion und Brand Awareness erhöhen. Die Intensität und Zeitaufwand dieses Engagement bezeichnet Eyeblaster als (“Dwell”) und wurde im letzten Jahr bereits mit einer interessanten Studie verdeutlicht.

Diese sogenannte “Dwell-Time” zahlt aber auch auf die Suchmaschinen-Eingabe des Markennamens nach Nutzung der Online-Werbung ein. Der Traffic auf den Marken-Websites stieg um 69%. Die positive Folgewirkung ist, daß die Kunden sich mit der Marke intensiver auf der Webseite auseinandersetzen. Sprich: Besuchsdauer und Zahl der PageViews steigen.

Um die Wirkung der “Dwell” auf die Marke zu belegen, hat Eyeblaster mit Microsoft Advertising und comScore kooperiert. Die Studienpartner werteten für die Erhebung 800 Rich Media Kampagnen aus, die Eyeblaster 2009 auf Microsoft Advertising Sites platziert hatte.

“Unsere Analyse zeigt, wie wichtig es ist, das Interesse und das Involvement der Zielgruppe direkt am Ort der Werbung zu gewinnen – und nicht erst auf der Website des Brands” Eyeblaster, Christoph Benning, Geschäftsführer Deutschland.

Spot On!
An dieser Studie sind für mich zwei Punkte wichtig, die es weiterhin zu erforschen gilt. Wie müssen Banner gestaltet werden, die ein solches Engagement des Kunden hervorrufen? Gibt es Key-Elemente, die sich hier herauskristallisieren – abgesehen von In-Banner Data Capture Optionen. Falls Eyeblaster hierüber etwas weiß, teilt es schnellstens mit der Werbeindustrie. Desweiteren empfiehlt Eyeblaster auf Basis der Ergebnisse, Online-Kampagnen, mit denen sich User intensiv beschäftigen können, an jenen Orten zu platziert werden, an denen sie sich generell lange aufhalten. Man frägt sich, auf welchen Webseiten lesen User Artikel intensiver: traditionelle Medien oder soziale Medien (speziell Blogs)? Und wie effizient ist Online-Werbung hier im Vergleich?

Wie seht Ihr das?

News Update – Best of the Day

Talking about Tiger Woods and his reputation nightmare and how to solve it with social media is something that can be done best by the social media expert that has been working for Accenture – Tigers sponsoring partner for years. Antonio Altamirano has been my point of contact for the Top Strategy Consultants: What is your Twitter strategy? post. He contacted me as he is not working for Accenture anymore. Here is is excellent post about the end of the Tiger and Accenture relationship and how this could have been handled with the power of social media.

Comscore is celebrating their 10th anniversary – Happy one! Watch their celebration video to the past, present and future of the internet.

Study: Are you a natural born clicker?

We all know that banner advertising is still one of the online tactics by marketers love on their media plans when it comes to grow brand advertising and awareness generation. But when talking effectiveness and results, marketers just want to see page impressions and clicks in order to have the right CPC (cost-per-click) measurement for their success sheets.

Now, according to a recent study “Natural Born Clickers” by ComScore and media agency Starcom, the people who are clicking display ads is exactly what the world does not have. The study results show that the success rate has dropped 50% in less than two years: Only 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks! One year ago, it was 16% that generated 80% of clicks. Doesn’t this sounds like the Twitter phenomenon where 10% are generating 90% of the tweets? Sounds like display advertising only accounts for a tiny group of internet users.

Well, one thing is for sure: Marketers are facing a problem in the future. If there is no valid click-through rate measurement anymore, how can they proof the success of their campaigns? Will it be the dwell-time method? Will it be the lead measurement? Will it be a new form of engagement method coming from the social web world? We all don’t know. And how do we think about this brand new US study saying: Internet users are opposed to being tracked?

For years, all web platform owners have been telling clients that a click is not only a click, right?! The Comscore study follows this approach and makes clear that a low number of clicks doesn’t necessarily mean banners are not performing. The question is… Is the CPC measurement method the wrong success metrics. What is the effect on branding and awareness? What the effect on search and research? What is the difference between a click on a B2B and B2C campaign? What is the effect of the online advertising world to the offline sales world?

The biggest challenge that the digital world in terms of measurement has to face is in which way it can get out of the vicious circle that the web industry has placed itself into. The web is trackable. Thus, a lot of evangelist have over exaggerated in telling everybody it has more value that print (as no-one could track print).

I held a lead generation webinar yesterday, and when it came to display advertising I advised the people with the following words:

“Don’t rate the click to high as you don’t know the effect of having seen a logo, a company name or a product brand on a banner might have had in the long run. Display advertising is meant to build trust early in the marketing field, long before someone becomes a lead in the sales funnel.”

Spot On!
In the old print world nobody has ever thought about the effectiveness topic. We had the good old copy tests as publishers – and that was it. But times are changing and the web is trackable. The question is what makes people click banners? And if there are natural born clickers in the world? I doubt it…

If you are one of these, please raise your hand and tell us if the click has the same value as seeing a banner ad without clicking it? Or how do you think about the click… Looking forward to your feedback.

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