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News & analysis on digital marketing & analytics

Mobile vs. Desktop Browsing: Is Time Spent On Site a Useful Metric?

By Jonathan Levey | May 18, 2012

As smartphone and tablet adoption increases, businesses are finding that they have to track and optimize their sites for additional metrics. While desktop browsing still far exceeds mobile browsing, mobile Web usage is expected to overtake desktop usage by 2015. Businesses that have begun tracking mobile metrics and optimizing for mobile behaviors stand to benefit the most from this revolution in Internet access.

Time on Site: Mobile vs. Desktop Visitors

One key metric for measuring visitor engagement is the time spent on site. Typically, more time spent on a website means that more pages are likely to be visited, leading to an increased chance of conversion.

Mobile users tend to spend less time on site than desktop visitors do—in some cases, as much as 40 percent less time. Many factors contribute to this, including:

• Simple Navigation
• Quick Conversion Funnel
• Savvy Navigators
• Increased Download Speed

Simple, Streamlined Navigation

A best practice for a mobile site’s homepage is to place the navigation menu at the top so that visitors can easily navigate as soon as they land on the site. Many sites also replicate the same navigation menu and place it in the footer on internal pages of the site. Adding a site search, especially with auto-complete functionality, is another good practice for mobile sites.

Quick Conversion Funnel

Mobile visitors who are ready to convert want a quick conversion funnel, so it’s best to map out how a mobile site will have the shortest path to conversion possible. It may be as simple as including a click-to-call phone number in the header, having a prominent call-to-action button linking to a lead generation form in the content of each page, or integrating PayPal’s Express Checkout for Mobile Devices.

Savvy Navigators: Mobile vs. Desktop Visitors

Sometimes visitors spend less time on a site because they know how to find what they seek right off the bat. Today’s mobile users include a large percentage of tech-savvy individuals who may know how to navigate websites better than those still tethered to personal computers. As smartphones penetrate deeper into the market, this factor will become less significant.

Download Speed: Mobile vs. Desktop Visitors

Smartphones employ the latest technology, while many desktop visitors may be accessing the Internet on older, slower systems. This means that what appears to be a difference in time spent consuming content may actually represent a difference in download speeds, with mobile users able to receive and consume content faster than those using a desktop computer.

Mobile Devices are Not Created Equal

When analyzing mobile behavior by device, one key insight emerges: smartphone and tablet usage varies. In fact, tablet behavior more closely correlates with that of desktop usage than that of smartphone usage. Businesses seeking to maximize the value of their mobile market should segregate their data to allow for a better understanding of the needs and behaviors of users on different devices.

Time on site can be an important indicator of visitor engagement, but as the above factors indicate, it must be considered within the context of the user, the device used, and the site goals. Businesses should be tracking time on site by device and optimizing for mobile usage in order to respond to this rising market that will soon eclipse desktop browsing.

Email Marketing Problems: Are You an Email Assaulter?

By Paul Richlovsky | May 18, 2012

Is your company guilty of email assault? When it comes to your subscribers, how do you know the difference between regular communication and aggressive bombardment? It’s not as simple as you might think.

Consider that according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal—”Stores Smarten Up Amid Spam Flood“—some of this country’s biggest retailers by e-commerce revenue sent the following estimated pieces of email in 2011:

• Spiegel: 663
• Neiman Marcus: 534
• Lands’ End: 376
• Gilt Groupe: 362
• Toys “R” Us: 349
• Williams-Sonoma: 328

More or less?
The highest average monthly retail email volume in 2010 (December) was 18.2.* That breaks down to roughly 4.5 per week, or a little more than one every 2 days. The average monthly volume for that year was around 11-12, or roughly 3 per week. Guess how many emails Apple sent in all of 2011? 26. Yes, that’s one every two weeks. What’s the magic number for your business?

I’m not going to claim that your company should necessarily imitate the largest retailers that are sending 6 emails per week or go Apple’s opposite way: rather, consider the point that even if your business is only sending one message every two weeks, if you’re giving the right people what they want, you’re going to cash in sooner or later (DMA average projected ROI for email, 2012: $39.40 to $1). It’s the value and regularity in the messages more than any particular frequency that matters.

So, how do you know that you might be guilty of email assault in the court of subscriber opinion?

5 Ways To Know You’re a Spammer

 

1. You blast like Neiman Marcus, but you’re not Neiman Marcus.

Yes, you’re the stalker who ignores restraining orders. The cliché ”absence makes the heart grow fonder” is foreign to you. Message overkill is the norm, not the exception. You’re giving customers a whole lot of information, but not the information they want.

2. You have an obscenely large database, but you don’t customize your messages.

The secret to Neiman Marcus keeping its unsubscribe rates steady while increasing open and click-thru rates despite sending 534 subscriber emails last year is its use of customer data to customize its messages. By targeting based on purchase history and website behavior, the luxury department store gives customers the precise content that is known to appeal to them. Lesson: Using “Big Data” to segment can help save you from an ugly situation.

3. “Less is more” sounds like bad business to you.

You subscribe to the notion Bud Konheim, CEO of Nicole Miller Inc., elaborated upon in the above article (as quoted by its author, Dana Mattioli):

 ”You get into this mind-set that the more emails you send, the more sales you generate.”

Konheim followed that by revealing, “But that can really start to annoy people.” A typically easy way to annoy people is to send them a high volume of messages in short time periods (this can apply to Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter updates as well). Make those messages unwanted messages that crowd out the messages they actually want to read, and you’re wearing out your welcome.

Consider that many people might think that more than one message a day from a good friend is too much, especially if that friend is forwarding spam or a link to some cat video you’re not actually interested in watching. If people don’t have patience for the friend (or the cat), they’re going to have even less for you, the company, unless you offer them something of value. If you’re able to offer value in each of your messages—whether or not you’re sending 1.46 messages per day (a lá Neiman Marcus)—then more power to you.

 4. Your open and click-thru rates plummet.

Pretty self-explanatory: Fewer people open your emails after each send, and fewer of those that actually do bother to open the message take the next step of clicking thru to the landing pages that reflect your offer(s). This is a sad fate.

 5. Your “unsubscribe” rates are skyrocketing (or worse, your relegations to the spam folder).

While dissatisfied or apathetic users may not follow your links or even open your messages, the next logical (and worse) step is actively leaving the list. If you have increasingly large percentages of your database opting out, this can mean one or two things: your list is bad or you keep pushing the wrong message. If your list is poor quality (containing outdated or otherwise not fully opted-in readers), consider proactively cutting out the subscribers that have shown no activity in the past 6-9 months. Before you put them in cold storage, you might want to try a last-ditch, “We miss you”-type campaign with a special offer to re-engage. However, don’t expect the world. The smarter choice would be to refine your pitches to the slimmed-down list and resurrect the recruitment of new subscribers through enticing offers (with a double opt-in mechanism). (See additional tips for doing email right.)

News flash for CMOs: Digital growth trumping traditional
Mattioli’s article also revealed these nuggets from Forrester Research: That online sales accounted for 9% of total 2011 U.S. retail sales, and they’re growing at a rate >2X as fast as brick-and-mortar sales. At the same time, the DMA tells us that in 2012 Internet marketing in general will surpass direct mail in sales driven to the tune of $652B to $642B.

CMOs, don’t let your marketing department’s email messages turn into the disaffected loners of their beloved subscribers’ inboxes. Delivering too many (or really bad) messages may not be a felony, but imitating a stalker will hardly flatter you in your readers’ eyes.

As online sales increasingly make up a larger percentage of total sales, both in retail and elsewhere, make sure you’re not turning off one of the most potentially significant sources of digital revenue: your email subscribers.

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*Source: DMA 2011 Statistical Fact Book/Responsys, “Retail Email Year-End Trends,” 2010.

Photo courtesy of Mulad via Flickr.

LinkedIn PPC Advertising, Part II: Avoiding Ad Fatigue

By Ryan Nguyen | May 17, 2012

Just as I stated in a previous post about Facebook ads, keeping your LinkedIn ads fresh can be tricky at times.  Ads can completely stop showing if you do not make proper adjustments. If your campaign’s CTR is lower than the minimum 0.025%, then your ads will be penalized. This typically happens within the first 10,000 impressions your campaign gets.

That being said, here’s how to avoid ad fatigue:

1. Pause poor-performing ads. When poor performing ads are live they reflect poorly on your top performing ads and will hurt the number of impressions that they will potentially see.
2. If you are consistently having problems, start making adjustments to your ads. Whether it’s editing your ad copy, changing out an image or editing the URL. This can help refresh your ads in the LinkedIn system and allow you to begin receiving impressions again.
3. If you have the financial means, try increasing your maximum CPC bid a little to help your ad show more than others who are bidding below you.
4. Make adjustments to your audience if you are seeing a drop in performance. For example, if you are targeting certain groups, LinkedIn gives you options for similar groups that may be relevant if you cannot think of new groups to target on your own.
5. If you are targeting a certain age group, it might be wise to remove that parameter from your campaign. Not many people share their age on LinkedIn, so if you do target a certain age group exclusively through that filter, you are missing out on all those who do not have age listed in their profiles.

 

Want more insight into LinkedIn sponsored ads? Check out this blog’s popular introduction to LinkedIn PPC Advertising by Joe Castro, Fathom’s Director of Online Advertising.

If You Build It, They Will Click

By Danielle Kolesar | May 17, 2012

In order to compete in today’s economy; it’s becoming increasingly obvious that social media and technology are a vital part of a business’ online marketing mix. It is also widely known that the manufacturing industry has been slow to adopt these practices:

• 81% of B2B companies are using social media, but the manufacturing segment does not comprise a large part of this number.
• Only 33% of global manufacturers plan to increase social media spending in 2012.

These numbers are even lower for smaller manufacturers, yet these companies have the most to gain in developing social media strategies, as much of their new business relies on word-of-mouth. One of the best ways for manufacturers to begin building a stronger share of voice in the social media world is to turn to your supply-chain partners. You will have a much better chance of finding your customers and giving them an opportunity to participate by using your supply chain-partners as a gateway to untapped prospects.

• 18% of manufacturer respondents (out of a total of 60% from all industries surveyed)…
  • Have no idea how their primary supply chain vendors/partners are using social media sites or services to interact with customers
  • Say their primary supply chain vendors/partners are not using social media sites or services to interact with customers
• 12% of manufacturer respondents (out of a total of 40% from all industries surveyed)…
  • Are very familiar with how their primary supply chain vendors/partners are using social media sites or services to interact with customers
  • Have a general understanding of how their primary supply chain vendors/partners are using social media sites or services to interact with customers (via PDF: “Research Study: Social CRM in the Supply Chain”)

*Please note: The manufacturing industry was one of 11 industries that responded to the above survey.

Although social media can benefit businesses in all industries, there is one particular challenge facing those in manufacturing. Heightened pressure exists to lower overall standards of quality and reliability as companies struggle to maintain profits. When social media is utilized for a specific product, demand increases, which is considered a good thing in many cases; however, manufacturers are then forced to shorten production times to meet it. As a result, fewer resources are available for quality testing.

Now that you know why you might want to use social media, learn more about how manufacturers should approach social media.

 

 

B2B Manufacturing and Social Media: How To Begin

By Patricia Thibault | May 16, 2012

While many manufacturing businesses are using social media, many don’t know why they have a Facebook page/Twitter handle or why they are trying to get more followers. Others are contemplating social media and don’t know where to start.  Regardless of where your business falls, you should step back and think strategy.

A strategic approach to social media first involves knowing why you want to be involved and your goals for participation. Then, you need to determine who you want to connect with, where they gather and what topics are important to them.  Knowing the “who,” “where” and “what” starts with in-depth social media research:

Identify conversations: 

• Map the volume of conversations about your brands/products to events (marketing events) and determine which ones generate the most buzz
• Identify the top online channels and their demographics
• Determine the topic of conversations
• Understand the tone of the conversations
• Mark cyclical and seasonal trends and emerging topics

Understand your audience:

• Who are your target audiences online?
• Where are the audiences talking about your brand already?
• Is your company engaging in conversations with your audiences?

Gather intelligence:

• Define your audiences and where they gather
• Identify advocates and influencers
• Listen to the top conversation topics (what matters to your audience)
• Analyze your brand data
• Conduct a competitive analysis

Once you have conducted the research, it’s time to build a social media plan for B2B manufacturing:

• Develop a content strategy
• Determine how you will connect with your audiences
• Define your goals for social media and what/how you want to influence
• Develop a plan based on what makes sense for your brand, your interaction tolerance, and how other channels will be integrated
• Monitor, measure and optimize

Stay tuned for another blog post tomorrow on social media & manufacturing: “If You Build It, They Will Click.”

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Photo courtesy of Voka – Kamer van Koophandel Limburg via Flickr.

Get Real Problem-Solvers for Real Results from Your Big Data

By Chad Luckie | May 15, 2012

It can be very easy for a user to get lost in all the “Big Data” hype, but several things need to be in place to make sure your company finds the gold that lies within large data sets. It should be stated that you could have all the newest tools and experience in the world, but without the proper problem-solvers, your marketing intelligence could be misinterpreted. Big data for marketing is best applied with a combination of the latest software and skilled talent. By taking insights gained from a Big-Data analytics platform, you can make smart marketing adjustments grounded in science.

The ability to understand a problem/opportunity and what data is applicable to that problem/opportunity is what separates a great Big-Data capability from a good one. The ability to mine, process, and collect data has been around for a while, but the ability to analyze that data and quickly make revenue-generating recommendations for digital marketing campaigns is a game-changer. Simply put, with better insights, you can profit from careful segmentation of your target audiences.

Big Data can cost your company rather than benefit it if used incorrectly. The key ingredient to Big Data is finding a service done by a software platform or problem-solvers that has the capacity to make sense of your data. The act of taking the correlations your Big Data reveals and turning them into tactical marketing recommendations is the missing factor that companies need. That missing piece is usually filled by real-life problem-solvers who have experience in the field. If you consider outsourcing this process to a company that has experience applying predictive analytics and the ability to make sense of your large data sets, make sure the results are transparent in the form of increased ROI (in incremental revenue lift).

AdAge 25 Largest U.S. Search-Marketing Agencies (2012)

By Paul Richlovsky | May 11, 2012

Fathom is living large … again. For the 6th year in a row, the company has been named to the Advertising Age list of the 25 largest U.S. search-marketing agencies. Ranked by 2011 U.S. revenue, Fathom ended up at #21.

On behalf of the entire company, I’d like to thank the many clients of Fathom throughout the years for making both this milestone and my career (along with the careers of my colleagues) possible. I’d also like to thank AdAge for this public recognition of our growth and overall success. Though many more results are still to be delivered for current and future clients, making this list is an encouraging sign that we have at least gotten a good start on our quest to be the premier provider of profitable revenue from the digital world.

The “Other” Moneyball: Baseball Business Analytics

By Steve Kessen | May 11, 2012

With the Major League Baseball season only a month old, spring fever has hit the Fathom team as we reminisce about my favorite sport: Baseball. Incomparable to any other sport, statistics rule the game of baseball. Virtually every conversation about the game mentions a player’s batting average, home-run total, ERA (for pitchers) or one of a thousand other measured stats from the national pastime.

After the release of the best-selling book and award-winning movie Moneyball, there is more attention than ever on statistics in baseball. Though with less fanfare than the player side of the game, business analytics in Major League Baseball is what helps teams drive revenue and provide a better experience for their fans.

Analytics has become an area of focus for most major-league teams over the past few years. Most teams have one or maybe two analysts on staff to help the organization make better data-driven decisions on the business side. Having previously worked in analytics for the Cleveland Cavaliers, I understand the many challenges that these analysts face:

“Big Data” Means Knowing Where to Find the Gold

By Janet Aldrich | May 10, 2012

Back during the American Gold Rush, most of the people who went out for gold were enthusiastic amateurs who had to search for it the hard way – they’d sit by a stream where gold had already been found, and run water through a shallow pan, hoping for paydirt.

Today, a lot of people using digital marketing – be it email, SEO, PPC or some other medium – are functioning about the same way those miners did; that is, hit and miss and hope for the best.  They’re missing out on leads and sales because they don’t have a clear idea of when, where or how to direct their efforts.

That’s where “big data” comes in.  To boil it down to one simple image, big data is knowing where to find “gold” in the form of leads and/or finished sales.  It means avoiding guesswork. It means taking your database and extending it with additional data, analyzing it and running it through models. The end result is data on your customers that lets you target them in the right way at the right time – thus achieving the results you need.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to be careless about your data. Data that’s not maintained and used correctly can waste money and damage your online reputation, particularly in the area of email marketing.  Bounces, invalid addresses and accounts left inactive (which could be spam traps) can mean that your message won’t get where you want it to go. Even in PPC or SEO efforts, you need to know the message you want to deliver and how to time it for maximum effect.  Big Data can help you make the right choices.

Is your enterprise a candidate for big data? If you want to expend your digital marketing dollar efficiently, you need to look at the data you use and how you use it.  More importantly, you need to know what do with the data once you’ve analyzed it and are ready to implement what you’ve learned.

Big Data is still, to some extent, in its infancy.  Now is the time to evaluate your company’s acquisition and use of data and how you can get ahead of the curve.

Fathom Core Value Stories: May Edition

By Paul Richlovsky | May 9, 2012

Every month at company meetings, a handful of Fathomers are recognized in front of the group for extraordinary manifestations of our four core values (“everyone a leader,” “be the consigliere,” “make order from chaos,” “reward sustainable results”). This space immortalizes their accomplishments for the world to see. I hereby present the 7th edition of Core Value Stories:

• Everyone a Leader, Cheryl VanJaarsveld (pictured) — For providing outstanding strategy to a client’s automated lead-generation campaign that incorporated what they were asking for without straying from our plan’s overall goals.
• Be the Consigliere, Clinton Dugan – For quickly jumping in with informed and enthusiastic social-media consultation to help close additional business for an existing client.
• Make Order from Chaos, Dusty Steinbrink – For being particularly helpful with two landing page projects on short deadlines, including the redesign of a microsite. Each of these projects helped increase the conversion rate and overall performance of the campaigns.
• Reward Sustainable Results, Caroline Bogart –For facilitating the writers’ persona training for Q1, part 2 of a writing course on conversion style. This has enabled the group to produce better customer-centric writing around their respective buying cycles.

To the victors go the spoils … huzzah!