If you didn’t get the chance to read last weeks blog then, amongst others, you missed out on social strategies for small businesses, which KPIs to set for your e-Commerce app and how to improve your sites search functionality. Once you’re caught up, take a look at this week’s offering…
Digital marketing spend is growing, with practically all companies launching social media campaigns, as well as creating and publishing videos and content. However, according to digital agency Greenlight, only 36% of digital marketers feel confident that they’re targeting the right audience.
From the survey of over 200 UK-based digital marketers, the research found that 18% didn’t think that they were reaching their target audience, and 10% of respondents admitted to not knowing which channel is best suited to their goals. Digital marketing is multi-faceted and multi-channel, so marketers can find it difficult to decide where to focus their time, energy and budget.
Greenlight CEO and Co-Founder, Andreas Pouros, noted that,
“It may seem daunting but digital marketers should make the most of the data they have to hand, and aim to dig a little deeper so their brand gets seen in the right places by the right people… The best campaigns are led by audience insights and by focusing on this, marketers will then, in turn, be able to prove ROI and demonstrate the impact of their campaigns to the broader business.”
Social media should be a key part in any business’s strategy – which was reflected in the survey, which showed that 35% of the marketers were spending the majority of their budget on social media campaigns. The other big ticket item for digital marketers was content, with 21% of marketers giving content marketing the largest proportion of their budget.
Measuring success within digital marketing seems to be a key issue amongst marketers. 44% struggle with the challenges that are presented by having multiple data sources, and 35% have difficulty in tracking online vs. offline spend. Marketers often rely on a few data points – site traffic, impressions and customer acquisition cost.
Andreas Pouros noted that,
“The reality is marketers can’t look at metrics in isolation, as it can lead to a tunnel-view approach to campaigns, which can then restrict the creative element. Ultimately, having an end-to-end understanding of your customer interactions is key to success, and will lead to better personalised campaigns as a result of that full, unique customer understanding.”
A recent eye-tracking survey by London-based AI company, GumGum, has analysed how users interact with a variety of mobile ad formats. By using eye-tracking technology it is possible to understand how much time and attention consumers give to the most widely used Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) formats – and the results were not positive for digital marketers.
The survey shows that the average time spent looking at these ads was just 1.42 seconds, a result that has been described as ‘banner blindness’. With an estimated mobile ad spend of £139 billion in the UK by 2018, this ‘blindness’ presents a big problem for marketers – however, integrated ads that are dynamically tailored to the page on which they are served have had far better results, with consumers spending 3.14 times longer looking at ads in this format.
Integrated ads also performed better than the IAB format for the customers ability to recall the brand – with customers who had seen the integrated ad being 50% more likely to remember the brand behind the ad. This is an effect that GumGum has explained as greatly linked to the increased amount of time that the consumers looked at, and therefore engaged with, the integrated ads.
“Old ad standards simply aren’t working because consumers are becoming ‘banner blind’,” said Phil Schraeder, President and COO of GumGum. “They’re so savvy about these formats, they’re willfully ignoring adverts online. It’s time for advertisers to consider new, rich media formats that are integrated into the content we see online. By making adverts fit the context of the page via in-image techniques, consumers will be more likely to engage with them – and advertisers will avoid wasting billions.”
Mindshare Futures brings ‘’The Future of Retail Customer Experience’ (CX) report, in which they highlights five trends to get on board with…
David Walsh, chief business officer from Mindshare UK, commented:
“We believe that audiences are our number one client. By creating valuable experiences for them, greater business value will be driven for brands. This is never truer than in the continually adaptive and constantly changing world of retail. With the increase in technical innovations and connected devices, consumer expectations of their shopping experiences are higher than ever before. This research report aims to highlight some of these key trends as well as providing actionable insight that brands can implement.”
Research by Gartner shows that 86% of customers would actually pay more for a better customer experience, with research by Forrester backing this up, with six years of data that proves that leaders in CX have faster growing revenue than those who lag behind. Although CX is a complex topic, there are five key areas that when applied consistently will improve your customer experience.
Page speed is a vital element in positive CX – even a delay of just 250 milliseconds can cause customers to visit less often, and so companies should aim to have the fastest page speed possible. Research has shown that the top 10 global websites load in just under one second. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are a lightning-quick, and have so far had very positive results. Housing.com installed PWA and saw a 95% reduction in cost per acquisition, whilst Alibaba built a PWA that saw a 76% increase in conversions.
84% of customers expect brands to be innovative and exciting, however the stats show that many do not deliver. One in four Brits delete apps the same day that they’re installed, so make it a priority to provide exciting, engaging and innovative content.
With 67% of consumers stating that bad CX as the main reason for churn, it is advised for brands to design their website to be clear and concise. Interactions need to be task oriented, and brands should provide very clear CTAs in order to engage with potential customers.
Every brand should aim to be perceived as genuine and transparent by consumers, as this will counteract their worries around purpose and security. Having publicly available information and aiming to use customer feedback in order to help build a more successful product.
Take advantage of the ever-evolving technology that is available, using AI alongside other technologies and a human touch, it is possible to create a system, and feedback loop, that will create a greatly improved CX.
After learning how to improve your CX, now it is time to consider your UX. User Experience (UX) focuses on creating a seamless, logical and natural path around your site. A well-designed site will create an efficient UX, that suits the ever-diminishing attention span of a potential customer.
Designing a site to have intuitive navigation, clear signposting and engaging content will mean that you meet the needs of your users – offering answers before they have even thought of the question! Mobile devices require an even more intuitive and efficient design, so we have put together five key elements to take into consideration when designing mobile UX on your site…
Studies have shown that the majority of mobile users hold their phone in just one hand, using their thumbs to navigate, so it is vital that you take this into consideration when designing your site. Ensure that the buttons, menus and navigational elements are easy-to-access with a simple touch, swipe or scroll.
It is advisable to research heatmaps, as these show the areas that are most easily reached with one thumb – in general, place primary actions near the bottom of the screen.
Avoid having users repeatedly pinch, zoom or excessively tap when on your site, as it can cause frustration when having to perform many hand actions in order to read or move around a site. Also, used fixed positioning to keep CTAs present and accessible (this is also perfect for search filtering) and, on a technical note, make buttons and links at least 44px x 44px.
Too much information on any sized screen can be offputting, however, on a smaller mobile screen it can be incredibly frustrating. Split individual actions within the user journey into separate full-screen elements, as this creates a naturally clean and clear design that focuses the user on a single task. Having larger, individual elements makes it more thumb-friendly, as bigger images or links are easier to accurately click onto, making for a UX that is quicker and more efficient overall.
Page loading times and conversion rates have been proven to be linked – and with nearly half of web users expecting a site to load in under 2 seconds, and the same amount abandoning sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load, it is vital to get your pages loading as fast as possible.
We have covered how to increase your site speed in previous articles, but beyond technical improvements, there are ways to make users think that your site is faster than it its. This ‘perceived performance’ is greatly influenced by having a visible system status that provides feedback whilst the site is loading – a spinning icon or a progress bar has been shown to minimise user tension.
Other options include providing a friendly and humanised message to reassure the user that your site is in the process of performing a task, alternatively, consider a distraction that is fun and interesting, or even displaying the skeleton of the page is preferable to a blank page as it tricks the user into thinking that the site is loading faster than it is…
Well designed and executed animations can be engaging for a user, and can highlight CTAs or help to direct users through their journey. Animations can also emphasise an action, so consider adding a compelling and interesting animated element to your site.
The way that we physically interact with our mobile devices has broadened recently – where swiping left and right now feels just as intuitive as vertical scrolling on a mobile. It is recommended to use both within your mobile UX, with vertical scrolling being used for primary navigation, and with horizontal scrolling being used to show closely related items to the main page.
By having a basic understanding of how people use their mobile devices – both physically and online – it is possible to create a smooth, quick and convenient user experience.
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