Jed Mole examines data technology and says 21st century experts in data are colliding with top-level engineers to steam ahead as the very best marketers.
Simon Schnieders discusses the advantages of marketers adopting voice search SEO strategies sooner rather than later, as its increase in popularity poses a significant shift for SEO professionals. He highlights differences between written searches and voice searches and how data obtained from consumer habits can be utilised into digital marketing campaigns to increase conversions.
The majority of PR crises either start or become worse on Twitter and one in five break on Twitter. This makes the platform more influential than Facebook and YouTube, says international study.
You might still be lolling in your summer shorts, but one company is calling you to action stations, with Black Friday just three months away. What’s more, Salmon claims it will be not just Black Friday, but a Black Fiveday week, predicting that a record breaking £5 billion spent online from Thursday November 24 through to Cyber Monday.
It says retailers need to be in the midst of their preparations now for that shopping phenomenon – and in order to help them get ready, global digital commerce consultancy Salmon has devised a checklist to ensure they are thinking about their peak trading operations and making the vital requirements.
Black Friday hit the £1billion mark last year in online sales, as Salmon had predicted, and this year Salmon is anticipating that it will be even bigger.
Salmon’s head of managed services, John Beechen, has advice for businesses on what to achieve in order to be truly ready. Beechen said: “Retailers should think about peak trading as a crisis that they know will happen in advance. Preparation is vital and retailers need to consider their business and operational plans for the period.”
Beechen added: “Retailers must ensure that they have laid out clear contingency plans for their teams to respond to issues during the week. The Black Friday week is an excellent opportunity for retailers to win new customers and grow their customer following and ultimately increase sales.
“The retailers who were as prepared as possible, from front-end to back-end, have been the ones to see success.”
Salmon has created ‘The Black Friday and Peak Trading Ecommerce Operations Playbook’, a guide based on Salmon’s experience in supporting the peak operations of several leading UK retailers.
The Guide to Mover Marketing will also identify those who may be looking for move-related and home improvement products and services.
It has been developed in response to research from Royal Mail Data Services, which surveyed nearly 200 leading UK marketers to discover the key business challenges surrounding the use of customer data for marketing purposes.
The research revealed that 45% of marketers say recruiting new customers is their biggest challenge. The remaining 55% struggle with re-activation, upselling, retention and cross-selling to existing customers.
Further research suggests that 65% of consumers switch suppliers or engage with new brands during the home-move period as they track down the best deals.
Home-mover marketing presents proven opportunities for brands, particularly in the utilities, telecoms, finance, insurance, banking, DIY, retail and home improvement sectors, to increase their customer retention, acquisition and re-activation rates, the firm claims.
The guide outlines the trends and characteristics of the UK home-mover market. It also offers strategies for data-driven B2C marketers to improve their customer acquisition, retention and engagement strategies by segmenting and targeting home movers with relevant, useful marketing communications.
It also explains how businesses can quantify the value of the home-mover market through analysis of customer purchasing behaviours before, during and after their moves.
Royal Mail Data Services managing director Jim Conning said: “The combination of price-conscious consumers, the breadth of choice to be found online, and fierce competition is making it more challenging and costly for B2C marketers to improve the performance of their marketing while boosting revenues. The key to success lies in a marketer’s ability to deliver ‘right-time’, contextual marketing that anticipates what customers need before they have to ask.”
The guide draws on Royal Mail Data Services’ experience of working with many of the UK’s leading brands to help them reshape their approaches to “right-time”, contextual marketing through the use of home-mover data alongside specialist data analysis and marketing services.
Conning added: “To be successful at ‘right-time’ marketing, marketers need access to timely customer information. This data must be accurate, permission based, and sourced via a first party. But it’s not enough to just provide great-quality data.
“Businesses also need insight into home moves period to help them understand when consumers are most likely to buy a company’s products or services or, indeed, to switch to the competition. And that’s where our specialist knowledge and experience come in. Our guide offers marketers a step-by-step approach to adopting effective marketing strategies and techniques to target home movers.”
The move follows the launch of eBay Advertising’s Home Mover ‘Advanced Targeting’ scheme, which cross references insights from eBay’s 19 million monthly users with Land Registry data to predict movers months before they actually settle into their new abode.
A new study by The Software Bureau reveals that 60 per cent of marketers do not practice reverse marketing; the management of returned direct mail, which costs firms £4.02 per piece of returned mail.
Approximately 90 million pieces of direct mail (2.5 per cent) are returned to sender each year. Forty per cent of these or 36 million are returned due to the recipient’s wish to be removed from the marketing database, equating to a loss of potential revenue of £116 million and £29 million in wasted production costs.
Reverse marketing enables organisations to compile in-house do not mail lists that can be screened against future campaigns reducing the volume of mistargeted mailings, saving money and improving the reputation of the organisation among customers.
The study revealed B2B organisations to be the worst culprits followed by retailers, credit card providers, retailers, pension providers and charities. Conversely, local government was found to be the most responsible.
Martin Rides, managing director of The Software Bureau, said: “The fact that every piece of returned mail costs businesses £4 is incredible – this soon adds up, amounting to thousands per year.
“Reverse marketing is a key component to reducing the volume of mistargeted direct mail. It is shocking that only four in ten organisations manage their returns and, more importantly, learn from them.
“Our new initiative, Lean DM, helps organisations to identify the areas which produce the most wastage in their direct mail activity and minimise it. With the advent of GDPR and increased scrutiny from the media and legislative bodies, it is crucial that organisations focus on data hygiene.”
The study was carried out by ‘mystery shopping’ last month.
£4.02 = 3.6 billion pieces of DM sent annually (OFCOM) x 2.5 per cent returned (Royal Mail) x 40 per cent of returns due to opt outs (DMA) = 90 million returns x lost ROI (£3.22 Royal Mail) and average cost of a mail pack (£0.80).
Big data, artificial intelligence analytics and connectivity are driving Fintech revenue, report reveals.
In a world where an ever-increasing number of transactions are carried out online – requiring consumers to share personal information – the threat of a data breach is never far away. In the last month alone, Netflix and Facebook have both been hacked and in June 2016, a breach at South Yorkshire Police Force’s website potentially put confidential data at risk.
According to new YouGov research commissioned by credit information provider, Equifax (YouGov online survey. Total sample size was 2,037 adults. Fieldwork undertaken between June 17-20 2016. Figures from YouGov Plc), nearly a quarter (23%) of UK consumers say that a company holding their personal information has experienced a data breach, with those in the South East being the most affected at 30% and residents in the North East being the least affected at 19%. When it comes to the generations, the 25-34-year-olds seem the most affected at 31%; the figure falling to just 18% for the over-55s.
It seems that with the increased risk of a data breach, consumers’ expectations of how they are informed and assisted by any company holding their data are unsurprisingly high. Almost three-quarters (73%) of UK adults surveyed by YouGov on behalf of Equifax think companies should tell them that they have experienced a data breach at some point, with 63% expecting to be told within a few hours of the breach being discovered by the company. 61% would expect financial compensation if their personal data was misused as a result of the breach and 57% would expect to have a free monitoring service set up to alert them if their financial information is misused.
Not only do consumers expect fast action and compensation if their data is breached, companies also need to adhere to the Data Protection Act enforced by the ICO. Companies may receive a fine if they suffer a breach of customer data, and also may face legal action. Future regulation may also require organisations to notify all individuals if they suffer a breach.
Lisa Hardstaff, credit information expert at Equifax, explained: “A data breach isn’t just a huge logistical challenge for any organisation. It also can do serious damage to brand reputation, as our recent research revealed. 61% of consumers said they would be unlikely to purchase goods or services from a company if it had experienced a data breach in the past.
“It’s clear that consumers quite rightly expect companies to look after their data. But individuals have a part to play, too, in keeping their own details safe. It’s worth remembering that social media accounts hold a lot of personal information, giving fraudsters more than enough data to help them steal someone’s identity and rack up debt in their name. However, our latest research revealed that consumers are most worried about their bank account and credit card details being stolen (84%), while only 7% are worried about hackers gaining access to social media account login details, in the event of a breach.
“Fraudsters are continually evolving their methods and, while organisations tracking and stopping them do have high success rates, the financial incentive for fraudsters to invent new techniques means they stay one step ahead of those out to stop them. Consumer vigilance is therefore key and while the onus is on a business to take action to protect the personal information that has been hacked, there are steps consumers can take, too, including changing passwords.”
Data Theft 101: Renée Frappier discusses why improperly handling a security breach hurts businesses – and what your organisation should do instead.
Randy Wootton is closely watching the US Presidential campaigns and how parties are leveraging the very latest digital techniques: programmatic politics.