10 funky digital marketing stats from this week
YouTube ROI is higher than TV in 77% of campaigns
This research was widely reported this week; Google’s latest attempt to lure TV ad spend to online video.
A meta-analysis of 56 case studies across eight countries showed that advertising on YouTube delivered a higher ROI than TV in 77% of cases.
Looking in-depth at 17 of these case studies, 80% were recommended to more than double spend on YouTube ads.
The research was carried out with a range of partners, the following carried out by Kantar Worldpanel using media mix modelling:
- Mars UK ran a Snickers campaign in summer 2015. Testing the mix of TV and online video activity in order to maximise in-store sales, the results showed that YouTube delivered more than double the ROI of TV for each pound spent.
- Danone’s French campaign for Danette desserts saw an ROI two to three times higher for YouTube than TV for every Euro spent. 7% of the sales were attributable to the online video activity.
Brits are 63% more likely to open an email with an emoji
Mailjet’s research was conducted on a 15,000 strong sample of its database.
- In the US, the average increase in open rate from emojis drops to 43%.
- ‘Face with tears of joy’ was the most successful emoji, generating an open rate of 41%.
- Average open rates fell by 11% among French recipients, showing that perhaps emoji are not the answer to every problem.
At time of going to press, I don’t have the raw data or methodology for this study, so although it’s an interesting topic, you’ll have to watch this space for a link.
It would seem ‘face with tears of joy’, the Oxford English Dictionary word of the year, may also be an effective marketing weapon.
Cost of poor content
Shotfarm has produced a report on product information, looking at how product content affects online sales.
The survey of 1,500 consumers revealed the following:
- 78% of consumers said product information is very important when making a purchase decision.
- 42% of consumers have returned an online purchase in the past year due to poor product content.
- 56% of consumers have abandoned their online shopping cart due to poor product descriptions or low-quality images.
33% of marketers admit company culture is a barrier to digital investment
Econsultancy’s Marketing Budgets Report 2016, sponsored by Oracle, includes some fascinating data from the seventh year of the study.
72% of the 500 marketing and agency respondents said they would be increasing digital marketing budgets in 2016. This was slightly down on last year (79%).
Other findings include:
- 16% are decreasing paid media spend, compared to 9% in 2015.
- 33% of marketers admit company culture is a barrier to digital investment.
The chart below shows how 2016’s respondents seem to be less confident in a number of areas including working towards cohesive customer experiences, breaking down internal silos, achieving boardroom buy-in and innovating.
On the brighter side, 54% are planning to recruit more people into their digital teams next year (compared to 51% last year).
Under 35s account for 55% of mobile searches
Data from Bing search trends have revealed the following changes:
- The number of questions asked on smartphones is growing by over 20% year-on-year.
- Under 35s account for more than half of smartphone queries (55%).
- Over 50s continue to dominate searches on tablets (40%).
- Women currently make six in 10 searches on smartphones and tablets.
The chart below shows which categories see more search share on mobile.
86% higher spend on social advertising year-on-year in Q1 2016
Spend on social advertising jumped 86% year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter of 2016, boosted by a 122% rise in mobile ad spend, according to the latest quarterly global data from Kenshoo.
Instagram ads and Facebook Dynamic Product Ads helped push social spend in the first quarter higher than that of Q4 2015, atypical for the season.
In paid search, much of the 13% YoY growth for the quarter came from a 77% increased spend on smartphone ads.
98% higher spend on Product Listing Ads (PLAs), generated three times more clicks than a year ago.
eBay.co.uk Spring spending
eBay Advertising sent me some stats about purchases on eBay.co.uk in May 2015, when it seems home improvement is in order.
- 8m purchases were made in the Home, Furniture and DIY category – three purchases every second.
- Shoppers made 26 searches per minute for “sofa” in May 2015.
- 1.4m were made in the Garden and Patio category, when searches for “BBQ” peaked at over 300,000.
Smartphone sales growth 101% in UK, tablets just 6%
The IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index looks at ecommerce in the UK. Its Q1 2016 results revealed the following:
- 15% YoY growth for Q1, over double the growth in Q1 2015 (excluding travel).
- Smartphone sales growth (101% YoY) far outstripping that of tablets (6%).
- Average basket value (ABV) increased from £77 (Q1 2015) to £81 (Q1 2016).
- The Home and Garden sector saw its highest increase (26%) since February 2014.
Mobile responsible for majority of traffic to top 25 UK retail sites
The majority of visits to the top 25 UK online retailers in Q1 2016 came via mobile (2m) as opposed to desktop (1.6m). A pattern also seen in Q4 2015.
Very.co.uk recorded the highest mobile share (72%), followed closely by New Look (70%) and Argos (69%).
Ebuyer.com recorded the highest desktop share (62%) followed by Ocado.com (60%) and ASOS (52%).
Traffic sources were as follows:
- Direct traffic was responsible for 1.6bn visits (a 42% share).
- The second highest source of visits came from organic search, 1.05bn visits (29%).
- Referrals from third party websites (top two being eBay and Hot UK Deals) accounted for 709m visits (19%).
- Paid search accounted for 134m visits (4%).
Ecommerce in Italy
Casaleggio Associati presented Italian ecommerce figures for the tenth year to the Milan Chamber of Commerce.
2015 turnover is estimated at 28.8bn euros, putting growth at its highest since 2011.
