Shoppers Check It Out Online, Then Go To The Store
"According to BIGresearch's June Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, when asked how often they research products online before buying them in person or in a store, 87% of nearly 7,500 respondents said they did so occasionally to regularly.
Of those who said they researched products online before buying them in the store:
* 58% made less than $50K per year
* 51% were female
* 59% were between the ages of 25 and 54
In both income groups, the top search engine used for product research was Google.com by a large margin, but WalMart.com made a surprising appearance in the top 5 websites used first among those who did their comparative shopping online before buying in the store."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
How Podcasts Impact B2B Purchase Decisions
Nice set of stats on b2b podcasting..
"Podcasts are a great way to share your thought leading content which is why I found this report by KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann very compelling. They just announced the results of a joint research study on the emerging role of new media, particularly podcasts, on B2B technology purchase decisions. "
Nice set of stats on b2b podcasting..
"Podcasts are a great way to share your thought leading content which is why I found this report by KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann very compelling. They just announced the results of a joint research study on the emerging role of new media, particularly podcasts, on B2B technology purchase decisions. "
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
IP Addresses of Search Engine Spiders
Are you tracking the IP addresses of search engine spiders? You can see a nice list of search engine IP addresses and hostnames here.
Are you tracking the IP addresses of search engine spiders? You can see a nice list of search engine IP addresses and hostnames here.
Google AdWords Landing Page Quality Scores : SEO Book.com
SEO Book thinks that redirects may affect your CPC!
"The brutal part with this Google update is beyond providing these general guidelines they failed to define what qualities they are looking for when they test landing page quality. Some of the things Google might be looking for
* if your AdWords ads redirect
* your account history (are you a large reliable spender that has been spending for years? are you new to a saturated market? do you have a spotty past checkered with 20,000 unrelated keyword uploads? do your ads get a strong CTR?)
* history of competitors with similar keyword selections
* if your landing page links to known affiliate hubs
* if your landing page has redirect on outbound links
* if your landing page has many links to other sites or pages that are also advertising on the same or similar keywords
* if your page has duplicate or limited content (or conversely if it has a huge number of links to external sites on it)
* time on site
* rate which people click the back button after landing on your site
* outbound ad CTR on your landing page (especially easy if you are arbitraging AdWords to AdSense)
* conversion rate if you use Google Checkout, Google Analytics, or the AdWords conversion tracker"
SEO Book thinks that redirects may affect your CPC!
"The brutal part with this Google update is beyond providing these general guidelines they failed to define what qualities they are looking for when they test landing page quality. Some of the things Google might be looking for
* if your AdWords ads redirect
* your account history (are you a large reliable spender that has been spending for years? are you new to a saturated market? do you have a spotty past checkered with 20,000 unrelated keyword uploads? do your ads get a strong CTR?)
* history of competitors with similar keyword selections
* if your landing page links to known affiliate hubs
* if your landing page has redirect on outbound links
* if your landing page has many links to other sites or pages that are also advertising on the same or similar keywords
* if your page has duplicate or limited content (or conversely if it has a huge number of links to external sites on it)
* time on site
* rate which people click the back button after landing on your site
* outbound ad CTR on your landing page (especially easy if you are arbitraging AdWords to AdSense)
* conversion rate if you use Google Checkout, Google Analytics, or the AdWords conversion tracker"
Monday, July 17, 2006
From Online Spin
"While Digg is far from a mega-mainstream Web destination, it has disproportionate influence on search-engine results and blog memes, primarily in the tech and social-media world. Moreover, Digg's tendency to periodically extend beyond its core audience by uncovering and virally launching niche content into mainstream is certainly compelling."
"For example, when Vincent Ferrari submitted to Digg an MP3 recording of his excruciating experience trying to cancel his AOL service with a retention specialist, thousands of people "Dugg" him. This exposed his story and helped catapult it across the Internet, landing on NBC's "Today" show, and getting covered in the New York Times and many other places."
"While Digg is far from a mega-mainstream Web destination, it has disproportionate influence on search-engine results and blog memes, primarily in the tech and social-media world. Moreover, Digg's tendency to periodically extend beyond its core audience by uncovering and virally launching niche content into mainstream is certainly compelling."
"For example, when Vincent Ferrari submitted to Digg an MP3 recording of his excruciating experience trying to cancel his AOL service with a retention specialist, thousands of people "Dugg" him. This exposed his story and helped catapult it across the Internet, landing on NBC's "Today" show, and getting covered in the New York Times and many other places."
Monday, July 10, 2006
Red Door's director of search marketing reports on how much companies allocate to search, and how much you should, too.
Retailers reveal how they budget overall marketing spend
The latest Internet Retailer Survey shows the following summary for percentage of sales allocated to marketing budgets. While the data refers only to retailers, we think it generalizes across industries as a fairly good overall benchmark guide.
Retailers reveal how they budget overall marketing spend
The latest Internet Retailer Survey shows the following summary for percentage of sales allocated to marketing budgets. While the data refers only to retailers, we think it generalizes across industries as a fairly good overall benchmark guide.
- 4.1 percent of all companies earmark more than 25 percent
- 7.7 percent spend less than 1 percent
- 18 percent spend between 2 percent and 3 percent
- 19.9 percent between 4 percent and 5 percent
- 28.1 percent from 6 percent to 10 percent
- 21.9 percent from 11 percent to 25 percent
- 46 percent of catalogers allocated 6 to 10 percent of sales to marketing and advertising
- 31.8 percent of manufacturers
- 27.8 percent of virtual merchants
- 20 percent of chain retailers
Friday, June 09, 2006
Searching For Clicks
From Research Brief
A new report from 360i and SearchIgnite, describes the value of the entire path a searcher takes from the first click through purchase. Data from more than 3.9 million users and 5.1 million clicks during the first quarter of 2006 confirms the fact that the more times a consumer clicks on a marketer’s ad, the more likely that consumer is to convert. In addition, the highest conversion rate (9.30%) resulted when the user’s first click and last click on a marketer’s paid search ad were both brand terms.
Other key findings include:
- When the first click is on a non-brand term and the last click is on a brand term, the conversion rate is almost as high (8.73%). Marketers can leverage this by driving non-brand searchers to brand terms, concludes the report
- 5% of conversions from paid search campaigns occur from consumers who click more than one of the marketer’s ads. Purchasers click an average of 5% more of the marketer’s ads than consumers who don’t complete a transaction
- Consumers who click a marketer’s ads ten times are three times as likely to convert as consumers who click an ad only once. Purchasers are more deeply involved in the process
- Conversions also rise as consumers enter more unique keywords. Consumers entering multiple unique keywords accounted for 8.39% of the sample studied, but they accounted for 19.2 % of transactions
The report cites a Hitwise study that confirms that branded paid search terms convert better than non-branded terms in search engines, and that brand terms account for a high percentage of commercial searches. The study of 30 brands in the travel, retail, and business & finance verticals found that 75 of the top 100 search terms contained brand names, up 17% over February 2005. And SearchIgnite studies on branding found that brand terms generally represent a small percentage of the keywords that are managed in a search engine marketing campaign, yet they usually account for a disproportionate percentage of conversions.
Consumers, on average, clicked a marketer’s ad 1.33 times during the searching process. For the consumers who went on to make a purchase, they clicked a marketer’s ad 1.53 times on average – an increase of 15% compared to the overall population of consumers. Put another way, consumers who convert to buyers are more likely to spend added time searching and familiarizing themselves with a marketer’s brand, website, and offerings.
A number of factors that lead to increased conversions. concludes the report, are:
- The frequency at which a searcher clicks your paid search ads impacts the conversion rate. Conversion rates steadily rise as searchers click on more ads.
- The more ways a searcher interacts with your site, the higher the probability of conversion. For instance, searchers who clicked on two unique keyword ads are more than two times more likely to purchase than searchers with only one keyword exposure.
- For searchers who begin their search process on a non-brand term and then switch to a brand term, conversion rates are seven times higher than when there are only non-brand terms.
Finally, for users who start with a brand term and end with a non-brand term, says the report, the conversion rate is four times higher than for the users whose start-click and end-click is a non-brand term. And, for those searchers who click a marketer’s ads more than once, the conversion rate climbs significantly. As an extreme example, consumers who click a marketer’s ads ten times are three times as likely to convert as users who click an ad just once.
From Research Brief
A new report from 360i and SearchIgnite, describes the value of the entire path a searcher takes from the first click through purchase. Data from more than 3.9 million users and 5.1 million clicks during the first quarter of 2006 confirms the fact that the more times a consumer clicks on a marketer’s ad, the more likely that consumer is to convert. In addition, the highest conversion rate (9.30%) resulted when the user’s first click and last click on a marketer’s paid search ad were both brand terms.
Other key findings include:
- When the first click is on a non-brand term and the last click is on a brand term, the conversion rate is almost as high (8.73%). Marketers can leverage this by driving non-brand searchers to brand terms, concludes the report
- 5% of conversions from paid search campaigns occur from consumers who click more than one of the marketer’s ads. Purchasers click an average of 5% more of the marketer’s ads than consumers who don’t complete a transaction
- Consumers who click a marketer’s ads ten times are three times as likely to convert as consumers who click an ad only once. Purchasers are more deeply involved in the process
- Conversions also rise as consumers enter more unique keywords. Consumers entering multiple unique keywords accounted for 8.39% of the sample studied, but they accounted for 19.2 % of transactions
The report cites a Hitwise study that confirms that branded paid search terms convert better than non-branded terms in search engines, and that brand terms account for a high percentage of commercial searches. The study of 30 brands in the travel, retail, and business & finance verticals found that 75 of the top 100 search terms contained brand names, up 17% over February 2005. And SearchIgnite studies on branding found that brand terms generally represent a small percentage of the keywords that are managed in a search engine marketing campaign, yet they usually account for a disproportionate percentage of conversions.
Consumers, on average, clicked a marketer’s ad 1.33 times during the searching process. For the consumers who went on to make a purchase, they clicked a marketer’s ad 1.53 times on average – an increase of 15% compared to the overall population of consumers. Put another way, consumers who convert to buyers are more likely to spend added time searching and familiarizing themselves with a marketer’s brand, website, and offerings.
A number of factors that lead to increased conversions. concludes the report, are:
- The frequency at which a searcher clicks your paid search ads impacts the conversion rate. Conversion rates steadily rise as searchers click on more ads.
- The more ways a searcher interacts with your site, the higher the probability of conversion. For instance, searchers who clicked on two unique keyword ads are more than two times more likely to purchase than searchers with only one keyword exposure.
- For searchers who begin their search process on a non-brand term and then switch to a brand term, conversion rates are seven times higher than when there are only non-brand terms.
Finally, for users who start with a brand term and end with a non-brand term, says the report, the conversion rate is four times higher than for the users whose start-click and end-click is a non-brand term. And, for those searchers who click a marketer’s ads more than once, the conversion rate climbs significantly. As an extreme example, consumers who click a marketer’s ads ten times are three times as likely to convert as users who click an ad just once.
Friday, June 02, 2006
eMarketer looks at online advertising in Japan, one of the world's most "connected" markets.
As in many countries with an experienced online population, and borne out by recent data from Video Research Ltd., internet usage in Japan is higher than usage of all other types of media besides television.
New IAB Research Shows 12% Of Web Users Reject Cookies
New research commissioned by the IAB and presented at its board meeting this week shows that as many as 12 percent of consumers don't accept third-party cookies--that is, the cookies set by ad servers and analytics companies that track the Web sites that consumers visit and the ads they view, among other data.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Study: Goodbye Purchase Funnel, Hello 'Tumbler'› › › ClickZ News
By Enid Burns May 11, 2006
New research from Yahoo and OMD finds a cultural shift in how consumers use technology to make purchasing decisions. A study released today called the "Long and Winding Road: The Route to the Cash Register" identifies four paths, or product research cycles, consumers follow as they proceed to purchases.
The study breaks purchase paths into four categories: quick paths, winding paths, long paths and long and winding paths. Quick paths are characterized by little research and are used for impulse buys or routine consumer packaged goods purchases. A winding path indicates cross-channel comparison shopping, such as for retail goods. The long path often takes place in just one channel, but is lengthy because the consumer is waiting for an event such as a price drop or the availability of a new model.
The most involved path, and the one where marketers have the most room to convert in-market consumers, is called the long and winding path. Shoppers' paths usually fall into this category when they're seeking big-ticket items like automobiles and financial services. "Consumers of these products are the hungriest for information," the study said.
By Enid Burns May 11, 2006
New research from Yahoo and OMD finds a cultural shift in how consumers use technology to make purchasing decisions. A study released today called the "Long and Winding Road: The Route to the Cash Register" identifies four paths, or product research cycles, consumers follow as they proceed to purchases.
The study breaks purchase paths into four categories: quick paths, winding paths, long paths and long and winding paths. Quick paths are characterized by little research and are used for impulse buys or routine consumer packaged goods purchases. A winding path indicates cross-channel comparison shopping, such as for retail goods. The long path often takes place in just one channel, but is lengthy because the consumer is waiting for an event such as a price drop or the availability of a new model.
The most involved path, and the one where marketers have the most room to convert in-market consumers, is called the long and winding path. Shoppers' paths usually fall into this category when they're seeking big-ticket items like automobiles and financial services. "Consumers of these products are the hungriest for information," the study said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)