What Shoppers Want From the Online Experience: 3 InsightsProduct information - particularly product imagery - and reviews are important to shoppers, who also want a frictionless checkout process.May 25, 2018

Online shoppers enjoy using mobile devices for their e-commerce activities, but a great online shopping experience depends on more than just ease-of-use on mobile devices. That’s according to a report from Namogoo [download page], which surveyed almost... READ MORE

Another Marketing Data Challenge: Telling the Right StoriesFor marketing and creative professionals, it's not just the science of data-driven marketing that's a challenge.

Much has been made of the difficulties marketers face with accessing data, integrating data across technologies, and even trusting their data. But some companies are facing an even bigger problem, according to Widen’s 2018 Connectivity Report [download... READ MORE

Q1 Largely Follows Trend Towards Greater Penetration of Smart Tech ProductsSmartwatch and smart speaker sales are growing, but not all smart products are seeing rapid uptake.May 24, 2018

Smart products are taking share from conventional products in the TV, speaker, and watch categories, reports Adobe Digital Insights in its Digital Dollar Report for Q1 2018. In fact, smart TVs represented almost 9 in 10 TVs sold in the US during the first... READ MORE

Brand Marketers Look to Visual Content As Marketplace DifferentiatorLarge online marketplaces are forcing almost half of brand marketers to rethink how they go to market.

Global e-commerce communities and marketplaces such as Amazon, Alibaba and eBay are revolutionizing and reinventing the global retail marketplace, believe a majority (56%) of brand marketers, according to a report [download page] from the CMO Council. The... READ MORE

Which Companies Are the Most – and Least – Trusted in the US?Supermarkets and Banks are among the most trusted this year, while TV/Internet Service Providers trail distantly.May 23, 2018

Only half of Americans trust business as an institution, per recent research, a problem given that trusting relationships are considered critical for customers, who are more likely to buy and recommend products from trusted companies. So which companies are... READ MORE

Sender Reputations Have A Strong Impact on Email Performance. Here’s How.Mailbox providers are turning away messages sent by mailers with low reputation scores.

Email providers are increasingly making life difficult for spammers, as just one-quarter of emails in 2017 came from the least reputable senders, down from 60% of messages in 2012. That’s according to Return Path, which has released its latest... READ MORE

What Strategies Are Senior Marketers Using to Get More Out of Existing Customers?More relevant and personalized communications - as used in acquisition strategies - are key.May 22, 2018

Only about 1 in 8 marketers (13%) believe that they’re realizing the full revenue potential of their existing customers, according to a study from the CMO Council and Sendwithus [download page]. The report, which is based on a survey of 179 senior... READ MORE

Small Businesses Look to Up Their Activity on Facebook, YouTube and InstagramAlmost all small businesses using social media plan to increase their efforts this year.

Small businesses are looking to increase their time and money investments in social media this year, reports The Manifest in a survey of 351 small business owners and managers at companies in the US with fewer than 500 employees (78% with fewer than 50... READ MORE

Social Media Marketing Update: Preferred Platforms and Content Types in 2018Instagram is rising in the ranks, while Facebook remains the most widely adopted and most important platform.May 21, 2018

What’s trending in social media marketing? The latest annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report from Social Media Examiner, based on a survey of more than 5,700 participants around the world, offers some insights into marketers’ preferences... READ MORE

Subscription Commerce Benchmarks: 7.2% of Customers At Risk of Involuntary Churn Each MonthSaaS businesses prove particularly adept at recovering past due invoices.

Subscriber retention is one of the most – if not the most – important facets of successful subscription businesses. Keeping subscribers satisfied with products and services is one thing – but what about involuntary churn, such as through... READ MORE

Luxury Brands to Devote One-Third of Their Ad Budgets to Digital This YearThe luxury market trails the advertising market as a whole in its shift to digital, as magazines and TV remain desired media channels.

Luxury ad spending is expected to grow by 2.4% this year and by 2.8% next year in the aggregate across 23 key markets, says Zenith in its latest forecast. The forecasted growth rate trails expected increases in overall ad spending in those markets, though... READ MORE

New Parents Join Online Communities, Get Info From Social MediaOnline parenting groups seem to grow in appeal as pregnancies progress, while new parents are apt to use Facebook to get recommendations on products and services.

Most new parents in the US are members of at least one online community, and both online parenting and online buy-and-sell groups prove popular with these individuals, according to a Facebook IQ survey. The study results indicate that parents of newborns... READ MORE

What’s Standing in the Way of More Mobile Shopping?Some people continue to prefer shopping on a desktop, for the experience and because it's what they're used to.May 18, 2018

Here’s an unexpected finding: the percentage of e-commerce sales made using a mobile phone decreased last year. That’s according to a report from Forrester Research [download page], which says that mobile phones accounted for 36% of online retail... READ MORE

Half of OTT Video Streamers Account for 90% of Viewing TimeHeavy streamers spend 90 hours a month streaming OTT content.

Close to two-thirds (63%) of US households with Wi-Fi streamed video content on OTT devices in February 2018, reports comScore, a figure that aligns with Nielsen data showing that 59% of all US homes had an internet-enabled device capable of streaming... READ MORE

Omnichannel Shoppers Spend Far More Than Online-Only CustomersOmnichannel customers represented 27% of sales in Q1, despite accounting for just 7% of all shoppers.May 17, 2018

People who shop both online and offline are far more valuable customers than those who limit their shopping methods to e-commerce only, according to a report from Criteo [pdf]. The study examined global data from retailers combining online and offline sales... READ MORE

Here’s How Much Snapchat’s Redesign Affected Its Status With MillennialsWas it the redesign - or that famous tweet - that caused Snapchat's satisfaction scores to plummet?

Snapchat has reportedly redesigned its much-maligned redesign, and with good reason. Recent data from YouGov shows just how great a toll the redesign took on Snapchat’s favorability among US Millennials. YouGov tracked the impact of the redesign by... READ MORE

US Online Ad Revenues Grow by 21% in 2017: 10 NotesHere are 2 key highlights: mobile video spend surpassed desktop video spend for the first time; and social media grew to comprise 1 in every 4 online ad dollars.May 16, 2018

Online ad revenues in the US grew by 21.4% year-over-year in 2017 to total $88 billion, per the latest revenue report from the IAB and PwC [pdf]. Revenues for the fourth quarter were up by about 21% year-over-year as the shift to mobile continued. Here are 5... READ MORE

B2B Firms Struggle With Data ActivationLarge B2B firms are basing half of their decisions on intuition and experience rather than data analysis.

B2B marketers and salespeople on average make about half of their decisions based on intuition and experience rather than quantitative data analysis, according to a commissioned study [download page] conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dun &... READ MORE

Video Streaming Device Users Still Rely on Traditional TVFully 93% of adults ages 25-54 with a streaming-enabled device watch traditional TV on a typical day.May 15, 2018

In November of last year, some 65.3 million US homes (or 59% of the total population) had an internet-enabled device capable of streaming content to the TV, such as a video game console, smart TV and/or multimedia device. So says Nielsen in its latest Local... READ MORE

Retargeting Ads Have Weak Appeal With ConsumersE-commerce performance marketers also believe that retargeting ads aren't being optimized properly.

Retargeting is considered to be one of the most effective tactics for driving search and social advertising performance. But shoppers have different ideas about the value of retargeting, according to a new study from Nanigans. To arrive at its conclusions,... READ MORE

CMOs Identify 4 Areas in Need of Improvement in MarketingProgress can be made in analytics, and CMOs need to tie results to organizational performance.May 14, 2018

CMOs’ average tenure may have slightly rebounded this past year, but that doesn’t mean the position doesn’t come with a hefty amount of pressure. So what areas do CMOs see as needing improvement? A recent report from Korn Ferry [download... READ MORE

Millennial Parents Demonstrate Strong Retail Brand Loyalties, But Also Have High ExpectationsMillennial parents seem to exhibit more loyalty to retail brands than do other parents and Millennials without kids.

Millennials parents prove to be an appealing demographic group for retailers: they’re more highly educated than parents in other generations and are more likely to have above-average household incomes, according to an NRF report. What’s more, a... READ MORE

These Brands Are Considered the Strongest by MothersNetflix leads the way, while chocolate brands have a strong showing.

Netflix tops all others in brand health, according to women in the US with kids under the age of 18. That’s according to the latest YouGov brand rankings, which revealed the top 10 brands among mothers, based on a composite score covering 6 brand... READ MORE

Google Search CPCs Decline for B2B AdvertisersMobile is playing a greater role in US B2B advertisers' paid search strategies.

The average cost per click (CPC) for a B2B search ad on Google in Q1 2018 was $1.75 in the US, says Marin Software in analyzing a sample of its client base for its latest quarterly benchmarks report [access page]. Perhaps more important than the actual... READ MORE

What Do B2C Brands Need In Order to Achieve A Single View of the Customer?Marketers are looking for cross-functional coordination of data that's underpinned by the right technology.May 11, 2018

Companies have long been trying to achieve a single view of their customers, but they’re still struggling to do so. Just 22% of senior marketers (primarily from large consumer-facing companies) responding to a CMO Council survey [download page] said... READ MORE

Digital Marketing Talent Continues to be In Demand, But Some Seek Traditional Marketers TooDemand for traditional marketing expertise has rebounded this year, outstripping supply.

Close to 7 in 10 marketing teams are expected to grow this year, says McKinley Marketing Partners in its 2018 Marketing Hiring Trends report [download page], basing its finding on responses from marketing professionals with influence on hiring decisions.... READ MORE

Average CMO Tenure Rebounded in 2017Two-thirds of CMOs at the top-advertised US consumer brands analyzed were first-timers last year.May 10, 2018

The average tenure of CMOs at 100 of the most advertised consumer brands in the US has rebounded after a couple of years of decline. That’s according to the latest annual analysis from Spencer Stuart, which also notes that fewer CMOs have been in their... READ MORE

Multi-Step Welcome Emails Prove Popular With Email MarketersMarketers aren't using the full array of marketing automation features available to them.

Marketers have plenty of room for improvement when it comes to marketing automation, according to a survey of GetResponse customers and Smart Insights members [pdf]. Just 1 in 5 say they use most or all marketing automation features available to them, and... READ MORE

Tech Update: Mobile & Social Media Usage, by GenerationSmartphone penetration, tablet adoption and social media usage have each exceeded the majority threshold among Boomers.May 9, 2018

Millennials continue to be the generation with the broadest access to smartphones and the heaviest use of social media. But Gen Xers are more apt to be using tablets and a majority of Boomers are also “embracing” digital technologies, according... READ MORE

2017 Webinar Benchmarks: 7 HighlightsFour in 10 registrants to marketing webinars converted to attendees last year. Across webinar types, attendees spent an average of almost one hour viewing them.

What can you expect when running a webinar? ON24 dug into its data and has provided benchmarks from an analysis of almost 20,000 webinars (with at least 100 attendees) conducted on its platform in 2017. Here are some quick highlights from the report... READ MORE

Analysis Shows Product Detail Pages Underperform As E-Commerce Landing Pages, But…Shoppers referred to product detail pages by email and social media act differently, and could be good targets for conversions.May 8, 2018

Nearly 1 in 4 online shoppers arrived at e-commerce sites on product detail pages (PDPs) during Q1, reports Monetate [download page] in a study of close to 2 billion global shopping sessions. Unfortunately, given their prevalence as landing pages, the... READ MORE

Subscribers Say Big SVOD Platforms Are Good Value, Traditional Pay-TV Not So MuchPay-TV customers may not associate great value to their subscriptions, but they spend plenty of time watching TV.

Two-thirds (68%) of US TV viewers subscribe to one of the big 3 subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms, up from 49% in 2014, according to a new report from Hub Entertainment Research entitled “What’s TV Worth” [excerpt download... READ MORE

3 in 4 People Say Customer Experience is A Competitive Differentiator: 4 InsightsSpeed and convenience are the most important elements of the customer experience, but employees are critical too.May 7, 2018

Brand marketers are prioritizing the customer experience this year, and it seems as though they’re doing so with good reason. Some 73% of people in 12 countries around the world – including 75% in the US – believe that the customer... READ MORE

Original Digital Video Ad Spend to Grow As Advertisers Target An Appealing AudienceMore than 8 in 10 marketers and agency execs believe that ads appearing in original video reach an audience that can't be reached on TV.

Ad spending on original digital video programming has been climbing rapidly in recent years and looks set to continue doing so, as advertisers eye the attractive profile of original digital video audiences, according to a pair of new reports from the IAB.... READ MORE

Customer Data Analysis Challenges Hinder Use of Advanced AI CapabilitiesThe majority of marketers surveyed believe they're putting less than half of their customer data to use.

Top-performing companies around the world are putting artificial intelligence (AI) to use, per recent research, and a new study [download page] from Blueshift and TechValidate indicates that 64% of marketers are planning to increase their use of AI in their... READ MORE

Total Mother’s Day Spending Expected to be Just Shy of Last Year’s RecordSome 86% of adults plan to celebrate Mother's Day, spending an average of $180 each.

Mother’s Day spending will total $23.1 billion this year, says the NRF in a new forecast, putting this year’s total retail spending just below last year’s survey record of $23.6 billion. Some 86% of American adults are planning to celebrate... READ MORE

Consumer Expectations Are Driving CX Initiatives, Which Aim to Increase EngagementData-driven marketers are responding to customer expectations for more personalization, and see improved engagement and loyalty as their main pay-offs.May 4, 2018

The majority of organizations now see the customer experience as a top priority, according to the “Elevating the Customer Experience” report [download page] conducted by the Winterberry Group for the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) and... READ MORE

Millennials’ Video Genre Preferences Vary by Device. Here’s What They’re Watching.News is Millennials' most-watched genre on digital devices, but it's the one for which they least over-index the general population.

Millennials in the US generally watch Comedy, Action/Adventure and Drama on TV but gravitate to News first on digital devices, finds a report from Oath. The Oath Video Content Preference study suggests that shorter content is favored on smaller screens,... READ MORE

Non-Profits Increase Their Email List Sizes, Campaign VolumeNon-profits averaged $42 in donations for every 1,000 Fundraising emails delivered.May 3, 2018

Non-profits sent 11% more emails in 2017 than in 2016, averaging 66 messages per subscriber throughout the year, according to the latest annual M+R Benchmarks Study. Fundraising emails comprised the largest overall segment, at roughly 2 per month (25... READ MORE

Americans’ Sense of Frugality Largely PersistsMore than one-third are spending less than they used to, and about 6 in 10 say they prefer to save than spend.

More American adults believe they’ve been spending less money in recent months (35%) than more (30%), a pattern that has persisted since the recession, per new Gallup data. However, the gap between spending less and spending more continues to narrow,... READ MORE

How B2B Buyers Feel About Sales Reps: 6 InsightsBuyers generally have a positive outlook about their relationships with vendor reps, but sometimes question their integrity.May 2, 2018

How does sales outreach look and feel from the buyer’s side? That’s the question ValueSelling Associates wanted to tackle in its “Sales from the Buyer’s Perspective” study [download page], conducted with Training Industry,... READ MORE

Email’s Still the Most Common Channel for Personalization, but Efforts Remain Fairly BasicMarketers are targeting audiences by segment more than by individual, perhaps due to a lack of sufficient data.

More than three-quarters (77%) of marketers are personalizing their email marketing, which, joined by websites (52%), are the only channels in which a majority use personalization. That’s according to the 2018 Trends in Personalization report [pdf]... READ MORE

Marketing Ops Execs Confident in ABM Efforts, More Skeptical About GDPR ComplianceMarketers say they're as likely to score accounts as they are to score leads.May 1, 2018

How do marketing operations professionals rate their smarts when it comes to various data management capabilities? Openprise surveyed more than 200 of them to find out, resulting in its Marketing Operations Benchmarking Report [download page], which reveals... READ MORE

Almost 6 in 10 Adults Say They’ve Used Voice Search to Find Local Biz InfoVoice search users would like to be able to make reservations and find out prices and inventory.

Some 58% of US adults have used voice search to find information on a local business at some point in the past 12 months, reports BrightLocal in its 2018 Voice Search for Local Business study. Most commonly, people are using their smartphones (56%) for voice... READ MORE

So How Many Millennials Are There in the US, Anyway? (Updated)Americans aged 18-34 comprised almost one-quarter (23.3%) of the total population as of July 1, 2017. April 30, 2018

Marketers focus a lot of energy on Millennials. Their lives are deconstructed on many different levels, from their media habits to their socioeconomic characteristics. Those analyses are all helpful in their own right, but – stepping back to the big... READ MORE

Small Business Owners Rely Most on Email MarketingPrint and direct mail lead among the traditional advertising types identified.

Most small business owners are self-taught when it comes to marketing and promoting their businesses, according to results from a Constant Contact survey. And while most do some form of marketing for their businesses, fewer than half consider themselves... READ MORE

Short Video Ads Capture Mobile Advertisers’ FancyPrivacy is becoming an important consideration for mobile advertisers, particularly relating to mobile device IDs.

Almost two-thirds (64%) of advertisers involved in mobile advertising hiked their mobile ad investments last year, and even more (67%) expect to increase their spending in the coming year, according to a report from Advertiser Perceptions. So which mobile ad... READ MORE

Amazon Ad Spending Enjoys Strong Growth Again in Q1Sponsored Product Ads drive the highest sales per click, but Headline Search Ads aren't far behind.

The median advertiser spent almost twice as much on Amazon Sponsored Product Ads (+96%) and Headline Search Ads (+90%) in Q1 2018 as they did a year earlier, reports Merkle in its Q1 2018 Digital Marketing Report [download page]. Spending growth accelerated... READ MORE

US Corporate Reputations Decline; Brands Face Authenticity DeficitBrands aren't seen as sharing consumers' values, and there are signs that CEOs should be more vocal.April 27, 2018

Corporate reputations in the US have diminished this year compared to 2017, according to the Reputation Institute’s “US RepTrak® 100” presentation [download page]. Only about half of consumers trust companies to do the right thing, down... READ MORE

Digital Video Ads Mainly Used for Branding As Relatively Few Measure SalesFewer than half are able to get sales metrics and conversion rates from their digital video ad campaigns.

Brand awareness is a more common objective for digital video advertising campaigns than lead generation or direct sales, finds a new study [download page] from The CMO Council and ViralGains. Indeed, video advertising’s main use in the customer journey... READ MORE