Chart of the Day: The amount of time people spend using messaging apps in Europe, Latin America & Asia has grown by up to 10 times that of the USA

In a recent report by ComScore measuring the percentage of time the average user spends using messenger apps versus all other mobile activity found that people outside the USA, UK and Canada spend significantly more of their time on mobile using these apps. The messenger apps included in the report were the 5 key apps globally, Facebook messenger (with over a billion installs on Android - who doesn't have this on their phones), WhatsApp (and this one), Line, WeChat & QQ messenger. These 5 apps share 1.4% of all mobile minutes in the USA and 2.3% in the UK, but when you compare that against 15.8% in Mexico and 14.9% in Indonesia the difference is staggering. …

Will 2017 really be the 'year of video'?

Year after year marketers are presented with the same rallying cry: this is the year of video. However, it's become crystal clear that 2017 may very well represent the turning point for video marketing as we know it. The rise of video isn't exactly a secret among the many trends of content marketing. Video has been traditionally associated with a high barrier to entry, questionable ROI and a somewhat heavy investment in terms of time and resources. The good news for marketers? Times have changed. The bad news? Those who don't hop on the video bandwagon sooner rather than later may very well get left behind.

Why Marketers Must Get On Board with Video

The numbers don't lie: video is on course to dominate the web in terms of reach and traffic. According to a report by Cisco released last year, video is projected to account…

10 Delightful Email Design Trends to Flatter Your Subscribers

You've got mail! The design is quirky, colors bright and beautiful, and there’s an oh-so-amazing GIF. You love it at first sight! Psychologists have researched to find out that we take 1/10th of a second to form an impression, and only a long term experience is capable of altering it. So the point is… YOUR EMAILS MUST HAVE THE WOW FACTOR. People love novelty, and more engaging the novelty, the merrier. Email marketers, the smart ones, have always gone with the flow, embracing new discoveries and paying heed to new age demands. That's why I'm presenting some amazing email design trends that I feel will having a big impact this year.

Roll Out the Red Carpet for These Delightful Email Design Trends

Long live the GIF: How many GIF emails did we see in 2016? Countless. A GIF gives movement to a static image. And with…

Chart of the Day: Share of Smartphone vs desktop retail sales

As our regularly updated stats on mobile trends shows, we are now well past the tipping point where mobile visits to consumers exceed desktop visits, at least for consumer brands and e-commerce sites (B2B is quite different). Yet while smartphone usage has been climbing dramatically in all countries, the same can't be said for smartphone conversion rates which are typically only one quarter to one third of desktop conversion. Mobile conversion varies on many factors related to buyer behaviour and culture in different countries, but the effect has been the same in different countries with the mobile share of retail e-commerce transactions being less than 50%. Yet this percentage mobile commerce transaction figure is climbing too and the latest research from Criteos' retail customers in different countries shows that in two, the UK and Japan it now exceeds 50% with Australia and…

How acknowledging your customers’ emotions helps Improve your customer experience and business performance

Every business would like to uncover the secret of the best customer experience. Customers have always run the business--no customers, no business--but this saying has never been more true than in the digital era. Brands that appeal to customers are those with added value, great features and an easy, frictionless experience--and we’re not talking about reduced prices here. Here’s how most companies try to improve their customer experience: through surveys or market research, they find out what customers want or need and try to fulfill that need. Sure, it’s important to understand what customers want and know how they want to be served, and to use this information to guide your strategy. That’s a basic business principle. The problem is that many companies have forgotten the basics--they forgot that emotions actually drive customer choices.

Customer experience is pivotal

There has been a…

Customer expectations are rising fast. Meet them or die.

Today, website visitors expect more than ever before from your website as they compare your user experience against the leaders from different sectors like Amazon, Facebook, HubSpot or Uber. Yet, often there are common flaws in how websites are designed and implemented which means they don't support your communications goals and the customer journey. While mistakes may not be fatal, if you think of every design or content mistake you make as a defect in the customer journey, that will be repeated thousands of time or more if it's not fixed, it's not going to help you compete since research shows that bad experiences mean that visitors or customers won't return. The quality of the Customer and User Experiences that businesses deliver through their customer-facing websites is now vital in most industries. The website experience must support the whole customer lifecycle from acquiring customers…

Chart of the Day: What is the comparison of segmented vs non-segmented campaigns

Segmentation is an important tactic every email marketer should be using. Firstly, what is list segmentation? List segmentation is when you segment (or split) your subscriber list based on your chosen criteria. E.g: if you want to only target clients in London, you would build your list, and instead of choosing everyone, you would only include those clients whose city was London. This means everyone outside of London wouldn't receive the email. You can make your list very specific and more relevant to your client (making sure that the email messaging reflects this, of course) but it will also make your dispatch list smaller. Segmentation is pretty standard with all Email Service Providers (ESPs) and they will have documentation of how to set them up for your campaigns. In the below chart, the results are unsurprising. We…

1 to 1 dynamic content personalisation is the future of email marketing

I am a big fan of automation, a very big fan. Whenever you can, automate part of your email marketing process. While delivering timely, personalized and relevant content, automation is a big step forward in email marketing maturity of any program. So, the next big thing is Email Content Automation. Few email marketers are currently using it but it’s about to be the hottest trend – and a trend that’s here to stay. Realistically a lot of production time goes into curating, copy-pasting and sorting content. Then there’s compliance and the multiple people who have to give their stamp of approval, checking details they shouldn’t be worrying about. It can take all your time just to manage and get “business as usual” email out of the door. Often that is a huge waste of creative power, time and resources. Wouldn’t…

How to use filters in Google Analytics to get more accurate data

In this article, we will explain how to receive more accurate data using filters. For a start, keep in mind that filters in GA are designed to help you customize the data seen/viewed in GA, according to the purpose of the report you need to create. You can Exclude data; Include data; Change data; Search & replace data; Set up an advanced filter.

First Things First: How to Add a Filter

Filters are added only within the “View” menu and here you can create many views if required. A view of the website is basically a copy of the GA data with different settings applied, e.g. you can set access rules, determine the goals for your website, etc. For further information about what the view is and how to add a view check out this material. Now, log into your GA account,…

Chart of the day: User researchers are taking advantage of multiple user experience (UX) research techniques

A study discovering the UX research techniques used most often reveals that researchers are using multiple methods with key techniques and emerging techniques equally important. Task analysis, journey mapping, design reviews, user stories and prototype testing are the most popular methods. You can click on the chart below to see an enlarged version. The study by NNG, leaders in UX research, also found: Surveys are still heavily used, providing reliability Remote user testing is not as popular as in-person research Diary studies are used by just 2 in 10 (22%) researchers and just under half (47%) use search log analysis. Researchers seem committed to using multiple techniques, which should continue to increase the quality of user research, experience and conversions. Source: NNG - the study is referenced here and …