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Retailers Tagging Social and Mobile as 2012 Targets

by | Dec 8, 2011 | Trend Tracker | 0 comments

According to the report, “Surviving the Current Market Mania with a Solid 2012 Plan,” by Bronto Software, while traditional digital channels such as search and email continue to dominate retailer marketing spending, social and mobile channels are growing in importance.

Use of Mobile and Social Marketing Tools (% of Respondents; November 2011)
Tool In Use Now Plan to Use in Next 6 Months
Facebook fan page and/or shopping 87% 8
Twitter publishing 82 8
M-commerce site 29 42
Bar, codes, QR codes in traditional advertising 38 31
Mobile application 19 27
Collecting SMS opt-in (all channels) 14 29
Texting marketing messages 7 29
Texting transactional support messages 6 26
Source: The E-tailing Group, November 2011

Marketers are also seeking to improve data analytics capabilities to identify the most profitable channels and design the optimal marketing mix for driving engagement and sales. Important tactics include:           

Planned Improved Tactics
  % of Respondents
Tactic Critical Very Important
Capturing phone numbers during call center transaction 13% 15%
Capturing phone numbers during online transaction 10 16
Capturing phone numbers during retail transaction 3 12
Executing email campaigns with SMS opt-in objectives 5 9
Executing traditional marketing or advertising campaigns with SMS opt-in objectives 1 9
Source: The E-tailing Group, November 2011

Respondents, when asked how they are likely to allocate their 2012 digital marketing budget, as their top priorities retailers identified:

  • Paid search (30%)
  • Email (18%)
  • SEO/natural search (11%)

In the coming year, retailers said they may shift these priorities in response to changing dynamics in today’s marketing landscape with plans to allocate more spending to SEO/natural search, social strategies (blogs, social networks), email, and retargeting/behavioral marketing. Regarding revenue generation, merchants surveyed said that they expect top-performing channels will be:

  • SEO (31%),
  • Mobile (mCommerce, iPads, mobile application (30%)
  • Email (22%)
  • Paid search (22%)
  • Social media (14%)

The survey also revealed that digital channels have provided merchants access to a wealth of information about consumer preferences and behavior, but the flood of data overwhelms the majority of retailers. Less than 10% surveyed said that they are in an ideal situation to tap into the data they have to effectively market to their customers and prospects.
Retailers, asked about the “the number one thing they would do to elevate their current marketing strategy,” reported the following as the top areas for improvement:

  • 18% said marketing resources-staffing, funding
  • 13% said consumer behavior insights/CRM/data
  • 13% reporting, analytics
  • 11% SEO, search-paid, local 
  • 8%  said Segmentation, targeting

“With a growing need to market across channels, particularly mobile and social, retailers will need marketing solutions that allow them to not only run cross-channel campaigns, but also to leverage the wealth of data at their disposal to improve engagement through relevant marketing,” says Lauren Freedman.
Joe Colopy, CEO of Bronto Software, concludes that “… etailers are realizing that marketing based on customer preferences, interests and behaviors drives greater interaction… more likely to result in repeat purchasing…”
These are the top-level findings of a recent survey of 110 retailers conducted by Lauren Freedman and the e-tailing group.
Please visit Bronto here for more information about the survey.
 

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