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Google has released a customer journey to online purchase benchmark tool, providing insights as to where different marketing channels impact the customer journey. Based on transactional data collected from Google Analytics accounts with e-commerce tracking enabled, the tool reveals that in the US, display, social and email each act more as an assist interaction, while paid search acts almost equally as an assist and last interaction. Read more »

A new report [download page] from the Platt Retail Institute, conducted in association with the American Marketing Association and sponsored by hybris software, compares marketers' rankings of various channels' budget allocations against the channels' perceived importance and ROI. The study reveals that of the 11 channels identified, email marketing ranks 3rd in current importance and 5th in return on investment, but only 8th in budget allocation. A similar pattern emerges for social media. Read more »

HubSpot has released its "2013 State of Inbound Marketing report" [download page], with a host of statistics covering adoption and use of inbound marketing tools. Among the insights from the survey, 27% of marketers report below-average costs per lead (CPLs) for both email marketing and social media, with SEO and blogs close behind (25% and 24%, respectively). When looking at lead conversion rates by channel, 15% of respondents say SEO delivers above-average sales conversions, with social (13%) next on the list. Read more »

The latest report on paid search trends has been released, this one from Kenshoo. As with previous reports from RKG, The Search Agency, and IgnitionOne, the Kenshoo study notes that mobile devices are playing a strong role in the search advertising market. Separately, though, the report illustrates that on a global basis, paid search click volume (+21%) and click-through rates (+62%) each saw strong growth, with spending up 15%.  Read more »

The median email click-through rate (CTR) in the US stood at 2.2% last year, and the mean rate at 3.3%, but the top quartile of performers achieved an average rate of 8.3%, according to [pdf] a new email marketing benchmarks study from Silverpop. The study also reveals that when it came to unique open rates, the top quartile of performers in the US saw an average rate of 34.7%, more than double the median rate of 16.5%. The strongest performers bested the median click-to-open rate by 83% (24% vs. 13.1%). Read more »

Marketers plan to split their online advertising between direct response and brand advertising initiatives, with 18% of marketers focused on each, and the remaining 64% employing a mix, according to [download page] results from the "2013 Online Advertising Performance Outlook," a survey fielded by the CMO Council, with findings developed by Vizu. But those advertising dollars look like they're shifting from direct response to branding initiatives: 61% said they are re-allocating budgets away from direct response to brand advertising initiatives. Read more »

Asked whether they would rather see online ads for random products and services or ads directed towards their interests, 40.5% of respondents to a new survey [pdf] chose the latter (targeted ads), while another 27.6% were content to see both. The study, conducted by Zogby Analytics on behalf of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), found only 16.1% preferring random ads, with another 15.8% unsure. Late last year, a study from Ipsos similarly found Americans giving targeted social networking ads a vote of confidence. Read more »

While only 9% of B2B marketers (primarily from the UK) currently consider Google+ to be their most useful social media marketing channel, 29% believe it will be so in the next 12 months, according to results from a B2B Marketing survey. The researchers indicate this is part of a wider shift towards content-focused platforms, with Slideshare (+10%) and Pinterest (+5%) also seeing a positive net change in perceived usefulness over the next year. By contrast, more popular platforms such as Twitter (-26%), LinkedIn (-20%) and Facebook (-13%) are slated for a net decrease in usefulness. Read more »

The Search Agency has released an analysis of paid search trends in the US in Q1 2013 across devices and verticals. Looking at the B2B vertical, the study finds that impressions rose 27.2% year-over-year, while clicks stayed flat. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, impressions were up 35.5% and clicks up 15.6%. The data also reveals that while click-through rates grew by 16% year-over-year on average for all industries (to 3.15%), B2B companies saw a 21.6% drop (to 2.07%). Read more »

Online ad prices are moving in opposite directions depending on the channel, per results from a new report [download page] from Turn which looked at trends across the US, European Union, and Asia-Pacific region. Average video eCPMs increased 6.2% between January and March 2013, from $9.41 to $9.99, while display ad prices grew by 15.2% from $0.92 to $1.06. By contrast, mobile ad prices dropped by 45%, from $1.31 to $0.72, while social (Facebook/FBX) advertising remained the cheapest option, falling from an average eCPM of $0.30 to $0.24. Read more »