Robert Yardy tells how to create a tailored online user experience for every individual. The ‘household name’ websites admired by marketers across the digital industry have managed to apply a perfect formula that keeps users engaged for longer and creates a tailored user experience for each and every visitor. The art of only showing users what…
Public perception of direct mail is on the rise. So says a consumer direct mail benchmarking study, which reveals that almost half of consumers (48 per cent) now think direct mail is a good way for a business to connect with them. This has increased by seven per cent since 2014. The UK report carried…
Mass marketing is out – and grazing is in! That’s the verdict of Tony Kemp (pictured), who tells how regular, varied and personal ‘snack’ comms are taking over from the costly ‘spray and pray’ campaigns of old. Leading edge technology is about to revolutionise the world of direct, one-to-one marketing. Where once it was deemed that two…
Focusing on MMT Digital’s work on the UK’s Compare The Market’s hugely popular ‘Compare the Meerkats’ campaign.
“It’s simply not good enough for people to buy and sell data if they have no means of satisfying themselves that the people involved have given consent for the information to be shared in the way proposed.”
The confident outlook builds on the sales success of 2015. More than seven out of ten (74 per cent) SME e-retailers increased their sales last year. This is the highest level in the last three years: 58% reported increased sales in 2014 and 49% reported sales growth in 2013.
Online retailers are also confident about their customer satisfaction levels: 63% believe their customers have become more satisfied in the last year.
The most common factor in driving customer satisfaction is on-time delivery, voted by two-thirds (66%) of those surveyed, behind the quality of products (62%) and the price of goods (57%) as key drivers of customer satisfaction.
An easy payment process – particularly important for mobile commerce – leapt up in importance this year. E-retailers now rate the payment process as the fourth most important factor for customer satisfaction, up from eighth place in 2015.
The overall increase in confidence in the market comes despite 53% claiming competition is more intense this year. Many have already identified new factors for competition this year: the rise of smartphone shopping (47%) and price promotions which lead shoppers to seek out the best prices (44%).
However, the main drivers of competition remain the same this year, with consumers’ price sensitivity and an increased number of websites as the main reasons for increased competition (both at 52%).
To address increased competition and increase sales in 2016, seven in ten online retailers plan to increase the number of channels they sell through: 85% are planning to list on additional online marketplaces. Half of SME online retailers intend to launch their own website.
Royal Mail Parcels managing director Nick Landon said: “Confidence is continuing to grow this year and that technology is playing an ever more important role in the retail world. Technology is influencing how people shop, where they shop and what they define as an excellent shopping experience. Our research shows that SME online retailers are plugged in to the needs of the shopper and they are taking actions to enable them to meet the demands of the discerning online consumer.”
Tina Judic explores ways marketers can leverage the power of video advertising in their campaigns.
Is it time for Build-Your-Own brochures, asks Neil Georgeson. He examines new software that can transform the hefty college prospectus, streamlining it into a document that is simply personalised.
UK business and consumer marketing data specialists, DBS Data, has announced the availability of a newly enriched 2.5 million record charity database, of known charity donors in the UK and – in what the company says is a ground-breaking move for the data marketing industry – usage of the data will be limited to one charity delivering one communication per month to each donor.
Charities that will benefit from this new DBS Data service are those operating in the health and medical, animal, cancer and environmental sectors.
Managing director of DBS Data, Adam Williams (pictured), said: “This new service enables charities to better target people with the highest propensity to donate to their specific cause. The result will be a combination of lower yet more effective marketing spend and higher more profitable response rates.
“We have taken the bold decision to place usage limits on the data, to prevent households from being bombarded with donation requests which can lead to apathy. In doing so we hope and expect that this will help charities to stand out in their marketing communications and increase donations.”
The new database has been created by extracting key characteristics from DBS’s pre-existing 2.5 million charity donor file and overlaying it with its LifeBase pool of 46million consumer records. This means that using DBS propensity scoring models and flags, DBS can enable charities to target and engage with donors (by mail, email and Facebook) based on the types of charities the person donates to and the value and frequency of their donations.
Dominic Trigg takes a view of the future via marketing trends and how marketers can adapt to the consumer’s wide-ranging journey via technological touchpoints.