Research round-up: 3rd December 2009

Email and social media marketing top investment agenda for 2010

The majority of businesses plan to increase marketing spend in email marketing and social media in 2010, making them the top two areas of investment according to the November "2010 Marketing Trends Survey" released by StrongMail.  Signaling a positive economic outlook for 2010, the industry survey of more than 1,000 global business leaders also found that 89 per cent of respondents plan to increase or maintain budgets in the New Year.

The positive outlook is also supported by 50 per cent of polled businesses that expect their customers to spend more in 2010 and nearly a quarter more that expect them to spend the same.  Only 8 per cent of businesses project their customers to spend less.

48 per cent of businesses are increasing overall marketing budgets in 2010, and email and social media marketing are the two leading areas of investment at 69 percent and 59 percent respectively. Search marketing comes in third at 42 per cent.  Conversely, events and direct mail lead the pack in decreased spend at 44 per cent and 42 per cent respectively.

Social media marketing is a clear focus for businesses, with 69 per cent of respondents planning to integrate it with their email marketing campaigns in 2010.  However, of those who have already integrated the two channels, only 42 per cent are achieving a lift in campaign performance.  35 per cent report no significant lift and another 23 per cent are unable to measure.   Respondents identified the top three benefits of social media marketing as awareness building (64%), customer loyalty and retention (49%), and expanded reach (46%).

Survey Highlights

89% of businesses plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in 2010

50% of businesses expect customers to spend more; 23% to spend the same; 8% to spend less

69% of businesses plan to increase marketing budget for email; 59% social media; 42% search

69% of businesses plan to integrate email and social media in 2010

64% of businesses identify increasing awareness as primary value for social media

Survey Methodology
The StrongMail “2010 Marketing Trends” survey was conducted online by Zoomerang on behalf of StrongMail. The poll, which gathered feedback from 1,057 business executives in a wide range of industries, was conducted from November 17 to November 25, 2009 globally.

Source: www.strongmail.com

One in four small to medium UK businesses using social media

One in four small to medium sized businesses in the UK are using social media to connect with customers, according to new research from Daryl Willcox Publishing. The survey, entitled ‘How Do Small to Medium Businesses Market Themselves?’ revealed that 27% of those questioned used social media platforms such as blogging, Twitter, Facebook and online forums as part of their marketing activity. 285 companies ranging from 1 to 250 employees took part in the research.

The respondents, who represent over 80 industries including catering, health and fitness, construction, automotive, property, education and finance, also used a range of external marketing services to increase their online presence. Over half had paid for services such as email marketing and search engine optimisation. Nearly a fifth had invested in external PR services.

Results showed that over three quarters of businesses were confident when using the internet to interact with existing and potential customers. Half were very confident, while a further 35% were fairly confident.

“This survey shows that small and medium businesses are showing real imagination when it comes to choosing marketing techniques,” said Daryl Willcox, founder of Daryl Willcox Publishing. “Many are embracing social media and combining this with more traditional marketing methods. Companies realise the importance of being visible online and are recognising the benefits of having an up-to-date digital presence.”

When looking at the use of trade magazines, 88% said they read relevant publications to keep up to date with developments and competitors in their industry. The ways trade magazines are influencing businesses range from putting new business processes in place (32%), training staff in new areas (21%), targeting new customer demographics (27%) and implementing new technology (28%).

40% of those who took part in the research said they had advertised in trade magazines. However, direct mail was the most widely used medium to publicise services - 60% of businesses said they marketed themselves this way. 43% used press release distribution services, while 35% had taken out newspaper advertisements.

The survey found that a quarter of businesses regularly communicate with customers; informing them about offers and services every week. 23% of those surveyed contacted customers every month, and a further quarter every few months. Over half (57%) agreed that informing their customer base of new products, services and changes was very important, with a fifth stating it was quite important.

Almost all (97%) of the businesses surveyed had a website, with 2% planning on introducing an online presence. Only 1% didn’t have a website and were not intending to build one.

Source: www.dwpub.com

Google is a greater source of traffic to key U.S. industries

Search engines continue to be the primary way Internet users navigate to key industry categories, according to research from Hitwise. Comparing October 2009 with October 2008, Automotive, Business and Finance, Entertainment, News and Media, Online Video, Social Networking and Sports categories showed double-digit increases in their share of traffic coming directly from search engines.

Source: www.hitwise.com

Thames Water leads the way in UK utility websites

Thames Water's website offers its customers the best user experience among UK energy and water suppliers and marks an overall trend of improvement in website usability within the utility sector, according to a new study.  The 2009 Utility Website Usability Report from user experience consultancy, Webcredible, revealed that Thames Water came top of the 11 water supplier websites with a usability score of 87 per cent, a huge rise of 23 per cent from last year's report.  Scottish & Southern Energy was top of the six energy suppliers rising 12 points from 2008 to a score of 77 per cent in this year's report.

The average website usability score of UK utilities improved substantially by 11 per cent between 2007 and 2008, but 2008's average of 58.7 per cent still left a lot to be desired.  However, the 2009 report has seen 12 of the 17 suppliers improve the user experience of their websites since last year (five have improved scores by more than 10 per cent), giving a much better average score of 65.5 per cent.

The biggest usability improvement seen this year was by Anglian Water which improved last year's score by 27 to 83 per cent.  Despite improving by two per cent to a score of 79 in this year's report last year's top utility site, Southern Water, slipped to third behind the vastly improved Thames Water and Anglian Water websites.

Despite the potential benefits and cost savings of getting their customers online, many utilities are still not addressing basic usability guidelines that are essential to offer their customers a good online user experience.  Areas for improvement include the design of action buttons, provision of contextual help, effective error handling and explaining the switching process (for energy providers).

The average usability score of the energy suppliers (69.5 per cent) is still higher than that of the water suppliers (63.3 per cent), largely because there are still three water suppliers who scored 50 per cent or less, including Scottish Water which got the lowest score of 32 per cent, the same as last year.  However, the averages have become closer than the 10 per cent difference seen last year, largely due to improvements by the likes of Thames Water and Anglian Water.

Methodology 

Webcredible analysed the websites of 17 of the UK’s leading energy and water suppliers in October 2009.  A similar study had previously been completed in October 2007and November 2008 of the same sample of suppliers.

Each website was evaluated against 20 best practice guidelines and assigned a score of 0 - 5 for each guideline, with 5 being the maximum.  With 20 guidelines in total, websites were assigned a total Web Usability Index rating out of 100.  A full copy of the report can be downloaded from www.webcredible.co.uk/utility.   

Source: www.webcredible.co.uk

Affordable Xbox 360 beating pricey PS3 3:1 in Christmas console battle

Discount voucher code website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk has looked at buying trends in the run up to Christmas so far and found that Xbox 360s are outselling the pricier PlayStation 3s by 3:1, an indication that Sony will lose the Christmas Console war this year. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which has slowly been building up steam in recent weeks with news that it has partnered with Sky, Facebook and Twitter will win the Christmas Console war, according to UK retail expert Mark Pearson, founder of the country’s leading discount website.

Despite Sony’s PlayStation 3 rivalling the more affordable Xbox 360 throughout August and September, with purchases standing at 47%-53% and 45%-55% respectively in Microsoft’s favour, October and November has seen a huge surge by people buying the Xbox console in readiness for Christmas.

Xbox 360 market share vs PlayStation 3:

August –
Xbox 360: 53%
PS3: 47%

September –
Xbox 360: 55%
PS3: 45%

October –
Xbox 360: 62%
PS3: 38%

November –
Xbox 360: 74%
PS3: 26%

PlayStation 3s retail at £249.99, whilst at £149.99, the Arcade version of the Xbox 360 is a credit crunch friendly £100 cheaper, something retail expert Mark Pearson believes to be the difference this year. He had the following to say,

Source: MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

British bosses more optimistic about recession than US

50% of British bosses we will be out of recession by Christmas 2010, whilst 65% of US executives say it will be at least another two years before their economy shows signs of recovery. The comparative survey of over 4,000 bosses across the UK and the US by executive careers site, TheLadders finds that British management are surprisingly optimistic compared to their US counterparts according to TheLadders’ study.

Comparing the opinions of business leaders across the two major financial markets, the study found:

Fifty percent of British executives believe the job market will recover in 2010 compared to 35% in the US with 36% of Americans predicting further unemployment and job freezes.

UK businesses are also learning from the recession and adapting faster than US equivalents. According to 32% of UK respondents, the recession has improved efficiency in their company. This is compared to just 13% in the US who claim a sharper business model as a result of the downturn.

TheLadders’ survey also found UK executives more willing to move for the right job with 73% of respondents happy to consider a move across the pond to secure a job whilst this figure was just 59% in the US. However, bosses in the US are more flexible when it comes to salary with 73% willing to accept a pay cut to stay in their job vs 63% in the UK.

Respondents on both sides of the pond tell TheLadders that the recession has forced them to re-evaluate their careers.  30% of UK and 30% of US executives say they are now pursuing work they actively enjoy with 37% of UK and 42% of US hard working management now spending more time with their family whilst 13% of UK and 11% of US bosses have started their own business.

And finally whilst last year’s election of President Obama inspired many US businesses, 73% of bosses here see the forthcoming UK General Election as offering little hope to British business. Twenty percent say that the election may cause a temporary blip, 23% say the downturn is bigger than the UK and 30% believe that the UK economy is “in too big a hole” to spring back that quickly.

Says Derek Pilcher, Managing Director of TheLadders.co.uk: “Whilst the US may be officially out of recession along with several of our near neighbours, it seems that positive opinion is still trailing the UK.  UK business leaders seem to have a much quicker timetable for recovery, and we Brits are a little more optimistic in general about what lies ahead for business. If confidence is a barometer of recovery, we will see the UK climbing out of recession soon,” he continues.

TheLadders.co.uk and TheLadders.com have grown into the largest specialty employment website in the world, with over 3,700,000 members and over 35,000 recruiters. TheLadders.com is headquartered in New York with European headquarters in London. 

 Source: www.theladders.co.uk

Three quarters of Irish workers shop in business hours

73% of Irish workers admit to online shopping when they should be working, according to a new survey. On average workers admit they spend 2 hours, 5 minutes a day during work time and in the most excessive instances 3 hours. Peter Done, Managing Director of Peninsula, the employment law firm who conducted the research said today, "Employers need to get strict, they don't pay staff to browse the internet they get paid to work. If workers want to browse the internet to do their Christmas shopping then let them do this in their lunch break or outside of work hours.”

Done continued: "Last year we heard complaints from employers asking what they can do to curb the problem. Get tough, implement disciplinary procedures, inform them that wasting time during company hours is a disciplinary offence. The best method is to have a policy to deal with internet abuse. Ensure staff understand what the rules are and then get tough if employees abuse the system. If employees make targets then that is fine allow them the time if you can spare it. It can possibly be used as a target to increase productivity. "

Online retailers ‘can benefit from localising their offerings’

Quova, a provider of IP geolocation data services, has announced the findings of a Quocirca research report entitled "Customers in the Real World."  The report, written by leading primary research and analysis company Quocirca, examines the benefits of using geographical web site targeting for online businesses.  Using a fictional organisation called Things-4-You, the report demonstrates the opportunities available to businesses once they understand where their web visitors are located.  The full report, authored by Quocirca analysts Bob Tarzey and Louella Fernandes, is available for download immediately from www.quova.com/europelocalise 

Source: www.quova.com

Nokia and Samsung scoop Green awards

Nokia Siemens Networks and Samsung were among the winners of Juniper Research’s 2010 Future Mobile Green Awards, it was announced today. Nokia Siemens Networks won the Gold Award in the Green Infrastructure category for its Flexi Multiradio Base Station, while Samsung won the equivalent award in the Green Handset category for its Blue Earth model.Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi range was praised both for its adaptability and for the extent to which it reduced the scale of power consumption.For a full list of the award winners please visit the Future Mobile Green Awards on the Juniper website.

Recession sparks surge in online bargain hunting  

Although consumer confidence has increased, shoppers are being more thrifty with their spending, and people are investing more time on the internet sourcing bargains compared to three months ago. These are key findings from the latest Crunchonomics study, by media consultants Arena BLM, which this quarter measures retail and shopping habits in the recession.

Crunchonomics segments consumers into five groups, based on their lifestage and financial security.  Groups that have seen the most significant changes in the past three months are “Insecure Families,” who are struggling the most, while “Young Independents” feel more financially secure and are attempting to spend Britain out of the recession.

Internet bargain hunting more prolific

Consumers are continuing to shop around for bargains, with 79% of respondents using the internet more, or the same amount as three months ago to source money saving tips and advice. This up from 70% in February 2009 and 76% in April 2009.

Particularly interesting as both the Young Independents and Secure Family segments believe Martin Lewis (the self-styled “money saving expert”) has the best idea about how to get the economy out of recession, more than Gordon Brown or David Cameron.

The hardest pressed group, the Insecure Families, are also becoming more reliant on the internet to help make their purchase decisions.  In February this year, 21% of this group claimed to be doing more home shopping via the web than three months ago.  The latest wave with 34% saying they are doing more home shopping via the web than three months ago. 

Shoppers replace premium foods with budget brands

The largest changes in grocery purchasing habits were shoppers dropping ‘premium’ or ‘finest’ ranges, with nearly a fifth (18%) spending less. 

Conversely, the amount of people buying budget or value ranges has increased significantly up 36% since the summer.  72% of shoppers now say they buy such products.

Brands still retain their pulling power with more than a quarter (28%) of people saying they are more likely to spend more money on well known brands.

But the values associated with shopping at certain supermarkets have shifted. A quarter (24%) think Green credentials are less important than three months ago, whereas a quarter (26%) of shoppers now believe loyalty schemes are much more important than three months ago.

76% of shoppers agree that the current economic climate has impacted on the quantity or quality of the grocery items they purchase. 

More than half (57%) are eating less healthily because it is cheaper. 63% of respondents would buy GM products if they are cheaper, compared to more than a third (37%) who say they would avoid buying non-GM products despite their price tag. The same results apply for non-environmentally friendly products with more than three quarters of Britons buying them because they are cheaper.

In total, 37% of people think that the economic climate has changed their shopping habits, the type and quality of food that they buy.

Fair trade and organic produce

More than 70% of shoppers buy these products either regularly or occasionally.  Significantly, the number buying more in the past three months versus the number buying less is virtually the same, indicating the recession is having a negligible effect on such sales.

This indicates that shoppers have become increasingly savvy about distinguishing between products with no discernable benefit other than a premium label.

Decrease in disposable income spend

Although Crunchonomics highlights that more than a third (36%) of respondents are spending the same amount of money as they were three months ago, a quarter (25%) of people are spending less than three months ago.

Disposable income spend has been hit hard – down 60% across all respondents.  Spend on takeaways is down 46%, restaurants down 45%, bars and clubs down 40%.

Fewer people are paying for a gym membership, down 20%, clothing is down by 45% and people are making fewer mobile calls as spend is down 28%, while spend on holiday abroad is down 32%.

Cinema going and music hit, but DVD purchasing up

Spend on music is down 40%, cinema going is down 36%, but more people are buying DVD’s. Spending on TV services has remained the same as in Spring 2009.

Young Independents

40% of Young Independents, rate the availability of budget /value ranges to be more or much more important than three months ago (significantly more than other groups). 43% are likely to buy healthier products that are more expensive and 37% are buying into more expensive non-GM products. 72% are more likely to buy own label or value brands because they are cheaper.

How the UK Government is dealing with the current economic situation

30% think the government is doing an OK job in dealing with the economic situation, an increase on three months ago when 27% thought the same. 29% think the Government is doing a really poor job, a figure that is more positive than at the start of 2009 when 35% of respondents said they were unhappy with the response from the government.

Charlie Makin, chief strategic officer at Arena BLM and author of Crunchonomics, said: “This Crunchonomics report is much more positive than six months ago as confidence is up, but this isn’t being translated into spending.  The British public are planning a thrifty Christmas and start to 2010 even though they think the worst is behind them.”

www.arenablm.co.uk

A quarter of Brits think Christmas causes relationships to suffer

Close to a quarter of UK adults agree that relationships with partners become more pressurized during the Christmas period, according to new research from Divorce-Online.Co.UK. Women are more likely to take this view than men (26% vs. 22%). The residents of Bristol are also most likely to feel relationships with partner can become more pressurized during the Christmas period (35% vs. 16% in Birmingham and Cardiff)

Interestingly almost equal numbers of people believe money being tight and arguing over trivial things are reasons why relationships become more pressurized during the festive season (48% and 47%). Men are more likely than women to feel that relationships feeling the strain are because of too much pressure to buy perfect gifts (24% vs. 21%).

Other stats include:

• Almost two thirds of those surveyed agree that “a start to a new year can make people yearn for a change in their relationship” (64%). People who are separated or divorced are far more likely to agree with this statement (74% and 71% vs. 69% of single people)
• 16% of the UK's adults have experienced an argument with a partner during the festive season which made them contemplate splitting up, 9% have experience a relationship breakdown during Christmas and 8% have ignored the feeling of wanting to break up because it is Christmas
• People who are divorced are most likely to feel that reasons for relationship break downs during the festive season is due to people arguing about trivial things (44%) and people having to spend time with a partners family who they may not like (43%). People who are separated are most likely to think that it is because it is a period to contemplate change (52%)
• Over three quarters of the UK’s adults agree that the stress of the recession is more likely to separate couples (78%). Separated and divorced people are more likely to take this view (87% and 87% vs. 78% of single people)
• A third of people agree with the statement “A minor incident is more likely to end my relationship than a major one (32%)
• Women are more likely than men to think the final straw in a relationship is a thoughtless Christmas or Birthday present (43% vs. 38%). Men are more likely to think that it is disagreeing about a TV programme (7% vs. 4%)
  
  Source: http://www.Divorce-Online.Co.UK