Marketing Advisor Blog

1 out of 3 internet users sells online

According to recent European research from InSites Consulting, 1 out of 3 internet users sells online.

InSites Consulting says the P2P economy (consumers doing business with other consumers via the Worldwide Web) is the biggest market place that ever existed.

In 12 months (summer 2008 – summer 2009), 32% of European internet users sold something to another internet user via online classified or auction sites.

The future is mobile; email marketing too: some facts and tips

According to recent data from ABI Research, consumers are increasingly demanding smartphones. It’s only a matter of time before most consumers have a smartphone, especially since by 2014 45% of the smartphones shipped that year will be priced below $200.
 
This of course offers opportunities for mobile marketing, makes it more and more interesting to create a mobile version of your website but it also has important consequences for mobile email.

According to the ‘European email marketing consumer report 2009’ from contactlab, email accounts are more often checked on smartphones, although there are important differences per country.

Poor customer service in UK online travel sector results in missed rebooking opportunities

According to the latest eTravel Benchmark Study by eDigitalResearch, the online travel sector needs to invest more in online customer engagement if it is to encourage people to return and re-book.

With 94% of people researching their holidays online, eDigitalResearch believes that the travel sites that win loyalty will differentiate themselves on best practice customer service.

The survey explored the end to end website experience from first impressions to the booking process across 29 leading travel websites including cruise lines, cross-channel ferries, package holidays and airlines.

Portugal represents a dynamic and growing Internet market in Europe

comScore released the results of a study of the online habits of Portuguese Internet users, based on data from the comScore World Metrix service.

More than 3.8 million people age 15 and older accessed the Internet from a home or work location in Portugal in September, viewing an average 1,843 pages and spending an average 1.9 hours online per person during the month.

“Portugal represents a dynamic and growing Internet market in Europe with users continuing to be more active and engaged online,” said Mike Read, comScore managing director for Europe and Ibero America.
The average Internet user in Portugal is spending more time online engaging in different behaviors such as reading news and articles, search, conducting personal financial transactions and social networking.

UK marketers believe in email marketing but have strategic concerns

Earlier this week the UK’s Direct Marketing Association (DMA) released some findings of its latest ‘National Client Email Survey’ report. The DMA found that seven out of ten marketers expect to increase their expenditure on email marketing in 2010.

But the association also found that strategic planning and best practice processes are lagging behind. The survey reveals ‘that less than half of marketers have a strategy concerning maximum email contact frequency, only a quarter of marketers are able to calculate the value of an email address and 12 per cent of respondents do not know how many emails an address should receive each month’.

These strategic concerns seem to focus much on email marketing tactics and practical issues. The report found for example that deliverability is the main concern, followed by conversion rates. So we ask ourselves where the concerns regarding ROI and impact on sales are.

Online advertisers across Europe are focussing on ROI

According to new research from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) advertisers in – mainly – Western-European markets have continued to rely on online advertising in this (almost past) year of recession.

The EIAA found that 83% of the surveyed marketers increased their online ad spend in 2009 compared to 2008.

The outlook for 2010 and beyond is positive too: the association found that marketers predict a 7.6% year on year rise in online advertising spend in 2010 and a sharper increase of over 15% forecast for 2011.

New research on electronic commerce in France

French research company Ifop Group recently looked into the online buying habits and preferences of the French, on behalf of supply chains solution provider L4 Logistics.

According to the research, 86% of French Internet users have bought at least one item online during the last twelve months.

The annual average for the complete online population in the country was 9.4 products per head and 17% of respondents ordered 15 products or more via the web.

Note that for this question in the survey intangible goods (travel, tickets for events etc.) were not included.

UK consumers want website owners to track their online behaviour (on one condition)

According to new research, commissioned by Web Content Management Company SDL Tridion, British consumers are asking for online personalisation based on their online browsing behaviour.

This is of course contrary to popular belief that says internet users do not like businesses to track their online behaviour and shopping habits.

74% of the 1,000 surveyed UK consumers however demand customer loyalty schemes that offer discounts based on their online browsing behaviour.

The research, entitled ‘What the Customer Wants’, found that consumers want ‘convenience and relevance to help speed up and simplify their online experience’.

Two thirds (66%) expects to view content specific to their interests and needs.