Only 5% of media and marketing professionals currently believe that the commercial research studies on digital advertising are of good enough quality.

The data, from a survey of 220 industry professionals carried out by Inskin Media, found that 57% thought that the commercial needs of the company owning the research is the biggest obstacle to the production of useful content.

23% reported that most of the time they disregard commercial research projects, with 19% considering the majority of them to be absolutely useless to them.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is research agencies were regarded as producing the highest quality research content, while media buyers and media sellers were regarded as producing the worst kind of content.

“The industry has been deluged by studies on digital advertising over the last decade, most of which is used as a Trojan horse to promote a sales agenda,” said Steve Doyle, Inskin Media’s CCO.

“Unfortunately, much of it isn’t fit for purpose and it’s tended to tar everyone with the same brush. Paradoxically, it’s also created the problem of undermining genuine findings even if the company doing the research has a commercial interest in proving them, so the results are mistakenly ignored.”

Doyle also added that he was well aware of the “irony of producing a research study saying research quality is inadequate”.

Explaining the method

So, what is the current acres of commercial research failing to do? 61% of the survey respondents say that quality and detail are the most important factors in making research good content. 54% cited relevance as the most important factor.

A couple of suggestions really resonated with respondents as methods to try and improve the quality of commercial research. 71% said an independent industry body ‘seal of approval’ would be useful, while 70% would like to see detailed methodology sections become standard.

“The rise of online survey platforms means anyone with a few hundred pounds can produce one but hopefully the industry will start demanding far more rigour and detail about the methodology, as well as taking into greater account the agenda of the company producing it,” says Doyle.

“Indeed, the support for an independent seal of approval is reminiscent of what’s happened in Germany. The major trade bodies along with Google and Facebook launched ‘Qualitätsinitiative Werbewirkungsforschung’ – an initiative to increase transparency and quality in advertising effectiveness research.”

The media and marketing professionals surveyed prefer to hear research insights in face-to-face presentations (56%), with infographics (45%) and trade magazines (37%). Of all the methods cited, webinars were the least popular with 14%.

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

Have you ever calculated the cost of an ineffective onboarding process? Or do you think that your company uses its potential to the fullest?

Let us imagine now a different situation. All newcomers are introduced to their workplace so well that they can carry out their tasks effectively right from the very beginning. Knowledge trainings produce sales representatives who offer high customer service right from the start. Employees know details about each product from the portfolio and represent the company and its mission in the best way possible. If the description above is not about your company, it is high time you considered introducing the employee gamification software.

Companies that focus on an effective employer branding strategy see some potential in engaging newcomers. That engagement, during their first days at work, may involve meeting the team and preparing the work equipment. But not only. Gamification may also be an interesting layer to knowledge or skills trainings needed to carry out all work duties in a proper way.

A smooth start in a new workplace

Meeting new staff members, preparing the work equipment, installing all needed programs or setting up an account in the main messaging tool used by the company. All these actions are simple but, without proper instructions, they may be stressful and take way more time than you would initially expect. However, by boosting the employee engagement we may turn those activities into an excellent step by step guide, appealing to our new employees. For this reason, we have come up with a ‘welcome game’. A small app where each new employee may enjoy learning all the information they need to start their work by playing games.

The result was nearly 100% of newcomers participating in the game and acclimatizing to their new workplace within the first week at work.

Gaining knowledge as an adventure

Do you use e-learning programs to train your future sales representatives? Or do they receive leaflets, catalogues or other materials to become familiar with your product portfolio or customer service tricks? What results do you get? One of our clients approached us to ask whether we saw a possibility to improve his current results in knowledge training by combining the educational content from e-learning platforms and marketing materials with engaging solutions to create a universal tool to encourage sales forces to improve their knowledge and skills by participating in a gamification scenario.

We implemented a gamification platform that pushes the content about client’s products, customer service and the brand. After adding the fun factor, entertaining storyline and a bit of rivalry, users visited our platform regularly and took as many actions as they could to discover the new content.

The more we know about the users of a gamified solution, the better we can inspire them to undertake specific actions like reading about new products and their competitive advantages.

In our project, we analyse users’ activity month by month and adjust our gamification mechanics to it. Our work brought the following results:

• a 28% increase in the weekly frequency of visits owing to the introduction of a new feature - educational duels between users,
• a 198% increase in the monthly number of openings of the educational content following the adjustment of task mechanics to the users’ preferences.

Information about your employees and their most effective ways of learning can be used to increase the performance of newcomers at work and to plan subsequent trainings aimed at developing their skills.

An opportunity cost of onboarding

Each employee engagement software may have various forms and be used to achieve different goals.

Gamification may have impact on simple tasks connected with starting work at a new company. It can also be a core of the knowledge training program. The right question to ask is not whether to introduce gamification, but what is your current opportunity cost connected with an ineffective onboarding - and how do you decrease that amount with engaging solutions?

Text prepared with cooperation from Comarch.

87% of retail disrupters say that they believe in the benefits of physical stores and will continue to try and open them in the future. While much has been made about ecommerce’s continued chipping away at retail sales, many retail brands still think that a physical store is an important part of creating attractive experiences for customers.

The data comes from the 2018 Retail Disruptors Survey from JDA Software, who interviewed over 100 retailers worldwide. Disruptive brands are categorised as those, ecommerce-based and not, that provide high quality products and services, are faster and more responsive than their rivals and have “fundamentally changed the customer experience”.

And rather than abandoning bricks and mortar, disruptive retail brands see stores as an important part of the multi-channel approach. 71% of them believe that cross-channel fulfilment such as buy online, collect instore drives foot traffic into stores as they continue to grow in popularity.

60% also thought that loyalty programmes and interactive technology are also good ways of getting shoppers into stores.

“The results of this survey are clear: Disruptors are more willing to sacrifice a faster growth trajectory to achieve the customer experience shoppers expect, with a mix of human- and data-driven insights for the perfect blending of art and science,” said JoAnn Martin, vice president, retail industry strategy, JDA.

“Retail disruptors realize that technology is a strategic enabler and not just a cost to be managed. This will be absolutely critical to success in an evolving and turbulent time for retailers.”

Focus on experience

Two factors seem to be setting retail disrupters apart from their non-disruptive peers: a focus on customer experience and a willingness to invest in tech to help make it better.

“Disruptors are more willing to implement new technology to improve the customer experience, but they’re also quick to change course when they don’t see benefits they anticipated. And disruptors right-size to hone in on the right technology mix that yields the best shopping experience,” noted Martin.

The kind of investments that are working for disrupters include end-to-end supply chain visibility (49%), regional and localised distribution centres (38%), and partner collaboration with vendors (38%).

Investing in customer acquisition priority areas is another key part of creating the right kind of retail experiences. 58% focus on engaging lifestyle content, while 57% are investing in customer-focused events and activities.

“So, where do retailers go from here, especially if they want to be disruptors? They need to live and breathe the intersection between products and customers, finding the right balance between human- and data-driven insights. Deploying new technologies quickly – while also changing course if they aren’t working – will also be important to keep speed and agility top priority in order to support their stay ahead in an ever-changing retail landscape,” said Martin.

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

Linkedin is viewed as the platform that provides brands the most safety, according to a new survey by AI company GumGum.

The company interviewed more than 200 industry professionals in the US, UK and Canada as part of it’s The New Brand Safety Crisis report. Among the respondents, Facebook was viewed by a wide margin as the most unsafe platform for brands (-23), followed by Twitter (-11), publisher sites (-10) and YouTube (-8).

The results suggest that despite its numerous and very public issues with brand safety over the last few years, YouTube is still thought of as relatively safe place for brands. It seems that Facebook’s prominent roles in the ‘fake news’ scandal has done significant damage to the company’s brand.

And the problem is clearly a pronounced one. 75% of respondents reported that their brand (or one they worked with) have had brand safety issues, with 43% saying it had happened more than once. 44% said that they have problems with brand-unsafe imagery, while 32% reported video as the main source or danger.

And while 45% have been employing technological solutions to try and protect themselves from brand safety issues, 15% are not currently using any at all.

“Epidemic levels”

When asked what kind of content they considered to be the most unsafe to their brand, the respondents put hate speech (34%), Pornography (17%), and violence (13%) at the top of the list. The kinds of unsafe content that they had actually encountered, however, tend to be that relating to disasters or tragedies (39%), divisive political issues (39%) and fake news (39%).

The effects of brand content appearing in the wrong place can be significant. 47% of respondents said that they received negative social media blowback, with 25% claiming this lead to actual negative press. Only 13%, however, lost any revenue due to the incident.

“When brands are damaged, we all suffer,” said Phil Schraeder, President and CEO of GumGum.

“With brand safety now reaching epidemic levels, we need a comprehensive understanding of how these issues occur in the first place and impact the brand ecosystem. Based on our findings, we are able to identify ways to limit brand safety exposure, with computer vision as a leading solution.”

When it comes to what potential solutions to the problem might be, 59% of publishers thought that direct relationships are the most effective way to ensure ads are appearing in the right places. Other potential solutions include blacklisting (31%), ads.txt (24%) and keyword detection (22%).

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

According to a report from ad verification company Meetric, the viewability of UK ads has hit its highest level since Q2 2014.

The IAB defines ad viewability as a measurement of whether a display ad has the opportunity to be seen. So, for a desktop standard banner, the minimum threshold for viewability is 50% of the creative asset are being in view for at least one second. For a desktop video, half of the creative asset should be in view for at least for two consecutive seconds.

According to the Meetrics data, the final quarter of 2017 saw the proportion of banner ads meeting this minimum viewability criteria rose from 52% to 56%. This is the first time the proportion has risen for three consecutive quarters.

"Despite previous, albeit small, jumps, we’ve been cautious about being too positive but yet another rise, the joint biggest we’ve seen in consecutive quarters, suggests the battle is being won,” said Philipp von Hilgers, Meetrics’ CEO and co-founder.

“The jump is particularly impressive as in most markets viewability drops in the final quarter due to higher activity – driven by Christmas – which leads to lower quality placements resulting in lower viewability, so the UK has done very well to override this trend.”

Middle of the table

The UK traditionally lags pretty far behind its Western European peers that Meetircs measures. But the newest data puts it ahead of Switzerland (48%), Poland (50%) and Germany (55%).

In terms of the proportion of ads that meet the IAB’s minimum viewability criteria, the best performing country is Austria (67%), followed by Italy (63%), France (62%) and Sweden (61%).

While the IAB minimum criteria says that a 50% of an ad should be viewed for at least one second, the average time a UK ad was in view (but not necessarily viewed) rose by 15% to 24.3 seconds.

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

Mobile network giffgaff has released research estimating that average mobile data usage will climb to a mammoth 93 GB per month by 2025.

With 5G due to launch globally in 2020, giffgaff has based its estimations on theoretical speed increases. Research and advisory company Gartner believes 5G phones will begin to reach the market in 2019, when rollouts of 5G networks will start in select countries, such as the US and South Korea.

"We predict that, by 2021, 9 per cent of smartphones sold will support 5G," said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner.

“Overall, 5G will be a significant driver of video and streaming services, as it will bring faster uplinks and support new AI applications.”

Giffgaff have previously estimated that global mobile data usage will grow by 720% by 2021.

4K streaming

The research shows that the largest proportion of the increased data usage will be down to video streaming. Users consumed an average of 0.83 GB worth of their total data on video streaming in 2017, with this expected to rise to 24.7 GB in 2021.

Streaming 4K will be available to most mobile users in 2025, and giffgaff are predicting that this will send the proportion of mobile data used to stream video soaring to 73.87 GB.

Messaging is also likely to see a big increase in data usage. It consumed 0.46 GB’s worth of user’s total data in 2017, but this could grow to as much as 40.63 GB in the first half of the next decade.

“For millions of people, using a mobile phone for music and video streaming is more important than its traditional use for calls and texts,” Chief Commercial Officer at giffgaff, Kim Faura, commented. “With the launch of 5G, we will finally have the bandwidth to deliver speeds even faster than home broadband.

“Consumers need to bear this in mind when signing up for a two-year contract; 5G will be here in two years and many users will want a phone that will let them enjoy all 5G has to offer.”

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

The UK data market value will hit £1.1 billion ($1.58 billion) in 2018, making it the second largest data market in the world and the biggest in Europe.

The figures come from OnAudience.com, which is part of the Cloud Technologies group who are one of the largest data warehouses in the world, and show a pretty rapid expansion in the UK market. In 2016, the estimated value of the UK data market was £0.7 billion, increasing by 26% to hit £0.9 billion the following year.

The company is predicting further double-digit growth of 22% this year to tip the market value over the one billion mark. The research also shows big growth in the global data market size, growing 34% from $13.5 billion in 2017 to an estimated $18.2 billion in 2018.

“Data has become the currency of 21st century. On the data market, there is a significant upward trend that we can notice at least since 2016. We can say that the need for data is growing simultaneously with the rate of digitalisation,” commented Maciej Sawa, Chief Commercial Officer at OnAudience.com, Cloud Technologies capital group.

“In highly developed countries, such as the UK or the US, there is a big awareness of benefits from the processing and monetizing of data. This is why firms are more likely to buy and sell data – they are aware of profits generated thanks to the information collected.”

Data driven

The global data market is currently highly-concentrated, with 90% of global data spend coming from 28 markets. The marketing industry is the main driver of data market growth, with its seemingly insatiable appetite for consumer data over the last few years.

Information about demographics, user interests and purchase intentions are now considered essential knowledge for marketers to have if they are to properly tailor their ad campaigns. The digitalisation of companies is another key driver of the growth in the data market, with many firms changing their model to be more data driven.

”Organisations of all sizes and representing all industries start to look for revenue in data streams, flowing constantly into their systems. Harnessing information and turning it into more insights, better informed decisions and more customer engagement scenarios are among key topics discussed with our customers nowadays,” said Tomasz Pelczarski, Business Solution Professional at Enterprise Group, Microsoft.

“Artificial intelligence has a key role in analysing and processing information. Since each organisation is unique, they need to find their own way to make the most of AI systems.”

- by Colm Hebblethwaite

When people think of geomarketing — the integration of geographical intelligence into different aspects of marketing, like sales or distribution — they usually think of retailers. B2C companies can certainly target customers much more effectively when they know where those customers are. But location-based data can be used by any company, including those targeting businesses. Geomarketing can be used to book meetings, expand a company’s reach, or even find the best market.

Geomarketing opens up possibilities for B2B companies beyond a mere regional head count. Because of improvements in marketing technology, it’s now possible to track multiple geolocations at once, all while gathering rich data. And the data isn’t just relevant at that point in time, as it is with retail. B2B businesses can use this data to track the entire customer journey. With that level of tracking, businesses can begin to understand how ads drive store traffic and ultimately purchases.

Geomarketing and the silk route

Here’s a little-known secret: geomarketing isn’t new. It’s been around since merchants traveled the Silk Route from China to Europe.

Consider that the Silk Route ran through many different empires, kingdoms, and cities. Each locale was unique, and residents wanted different goods from the Far East. Therefore, Silk Route merchants became the first geomarketers, catering their offerings to each individual location.

With the growth in today’s digital economy, location has become even more critical. As we move away from physical stores and have fewer in-person touchpoints, it’s vital for businesses to understand all nuances in terms of neighborhood, culture, and customer journey. Every buyer is now a digital buyer.

“Geobased marketing provides contextual relevance for both marketers and sellers, but even more important is the use of location data to drive customer experience,” states Cindy Zhou, a B2B marketing professional at Constellation Research. A lack of personal proximity has led to a lack of intimate feedback — that’s why the data from location-based technology is so important.

Think back to when people had to deposit their physical paychecks at the physical bank every week or two. It was easy to build trust and understand the customer’s needs. Now, people rarely visit actual banks, opting to use an app instead. As businesses looking to leverage geomarketing, we have two challenges: accessing that data regularly enough to create the personalized experience customers are looking for and doing it in a way that protects privacy and utilizes the best cybersecurity.

According to a new Carnegie Mellon University study, mobile apps check a customer’s location more than 5,000 times every two weeks. That’s more that 350 times a day! That kind of frequency allows businesses to meet customers right where they are, and advances in blockchain technology will continue to improve privacy and security offerings.

Geomarketing: Beyond retail

Where would Uber and Airbnb be without geolocation? What about social media, which keeps tabs on user location via tags and other data? Can you imagine any of these 21st-century businesses without geodata?

Diana Wertz, a digital marketing expert at L2, puts it simply: “Geomarketing gives businesses more control over sales and customers — they can integrate their app or website with Uber to drive customers to the nearest store (as Cole Haan does), or they can list inventory levels and availability at local stores in real time to drive shoppers to the store. Geomarketing better enables businesses to get customers from wherever they are to stores, events, or other locations that might benefit the business.”

As we continue to improve the technology, it will become imperative for businesses of all kinds to figure out how to optimize it. Think about tourism, which is expected to grow to a $2.6 trillion market in the United States by 2027. That kind of growth is ripe for geomarketing.

If you’re a city like Nashville, your goal is to attract as many tourists as possible. Location data will help you understand foot traffic, ride-sharing data, and other important metrics. Over time, you will begin to understand why travelers choose Nashville over, say, Atlanta or Indianapolis. As a growing city, this kind of geomarketing and location data will help you increase your appeal.

“Another non-retail example I use is sports arenas,” Zhou says. “Geomarketing can look at concentrations of crowds at concession stands, restrooms, etc. and direct customers to other locations with less wait time. Not only is it providing the customer a valuable service, but it can offer concessions in more remote corners of the venue increased foot traffic and an opportunity to push offers.

“Specific to B2B marketing, geomarketing for events to notify attendees of sessions that match their persona or reminders to visit a booth for giveaways is another customer experience and marketing one-two punch.”

That’s just a handful of examples. Consider how knowing where your customers are will help you literally meet them there.

Engagement is the most challenging obstacle for businesses — and also the biggest opportunity for marketers. Utilizing location data will allow businesses to uncover insights about their customers that will more closely mimic real-life data. Like those original geomarketers on the Silk Route, we will be able to build trust and provide exactly what customers want — exactly when they want it.

- by Gurvinder Sahni

Last year’s Black Friday data shows quite clearly just how important eCommerce has become to consumers.  While high street footfall dropped, online purchasing soared, but retailers and brands cannot afford to rest on their laurels.

Recent research that MetaPack carried out amongst over 3500 consumers in the UK, US and Europe illustrates sharply that shopper power determines the strategic decision-making for eCommerce retailers and nowhere more so than in the delivery choices that they offer.

To keep customers loyal, retailers need to stay on their toes.

We asked our cohort of research respondents how likely a positive delivery experience would be to encourage them to shop with that retailer again, and in the UK a massive 84% said very or somewhat likely.

Of course, the flip side to that is when a delivery goes wrong - in fact, over a quarter (29%) of Brits said they would never shop again with an online merchant following a negative delivery experience. When it comes to winning and keeping customers, delivery has the power to make or break the online shopping experience.

Loyalty benefits

Amazon, which knows a thing or two about marketing to its customer base and keeping it happy, has set much store by listening closely to what shoppers want and creating competitive advantage. Prime, its loyalty programme, now offers many benefits to members, but what it is best known for is free, one- or two-day delivery on most items that it sells on its marketplace.

Amazon understood early on that customers will have no compunction in abandoning an online shopping basket if the delivery choices on offer are unsatisfactory, and instead of taking that risk, it promised to provide a high standard of delivery choices and enfolded its shoppers into a long-term, highly beneficial commitment in return.

This works well with consumers who value personalisation and individualism and want their loyalty to be recognised and rewarded. In the UK, 69% of our survey respondents said that they would like the eCommerce websites they use regularly to offer a delivery loyalty program, with their loyalty rewarded by free or quick delivery. Looking at the total number of respondents, 86% said they would even prioritise shopping with that retailer.

So, it’s not surprising that other online merchants are following in Amazon’s footsteps and introducing loyalty schemes that customers are prepared to pay for. Typically, however, today’s savvy shopper is fully aware of how best to make this work for them. Over a quarter (27%) of shoppers from our survey already belong to at least one programme – a further 22% subscribe to two or more schemes. The younger they are, the more likely to be taking advantage, with 68% of millennial shoppers utilising up to seven delivery loyalty programmes

Consumer willingness

If retailers are considering launching a loyalty scheme it’s worth noting that 39% of consumers say they plan to join at least two programmes in the next year.

The privileges that consumers perceive come from membership of a loyalty scheme have distinct benefits to their relationship with the retailer. Most say they shop more with e-tailers that offer delivery loyalty programmes – and almost a third are prepared to pay an annual fee for premium benefits that eliminate the need to factor in the delivery cost of their purchases.

What is also telling is that 42% say that loyalty schemes make them feel special and 55% will prioritise one retailer over another if it offers a delivery loyalty programme – an important fact when considering strategy for the year ahead.

One other area in which online retailers could make changes that would encourage loyalty from customers is by working in consolidation with each other. This might be particularly appropriate for those e-tailers looking to drive down the cost of delivery – or utilise drop shipping fulfilment or crowd-sourcing warehousing strategies to achieve greater proximity to customers and fulfil orders faster – our research shows that shoppers are more than eager to participate in multi-vendor delivery loyalty programmes.

Almost three quarters (71%) indicated that the idea of joining a scheme involving multiple retailers and brands working together to offer premium delivery services held a strong appeal for them.

One final point for consideration. Consolidated delivery, particularly as part of a loyalty scheme, ticks many boxes for consumers, but there are indications that it might also prove popular with those that are interested in buying from retailers with green credentials.

27% of consumers said that they care a great deal about the impact on the environment of their online shopping deliveries whilst 47% say it’s a big concern for them. It might just be that the consolidated delivery trend has the potential for more than one positive outcome.

- by Bruce Fair

There has always been a debate about whether verified reviews or personal recommendations from friends and family are the biggest influence on an individual’s purchasing decisions.

New research from reviews and customer insight company Feefo, has found that, at least when it comes to financial decisions, young people place a huge amount of trust in verified reviews. In a survey where the company asked over 1,000 UK consumers between 16 – 34 about their attitudes to financial sectors, 85% said that they trust verified reviews more than any other source.

That means that young people trust reviews more than their own friends and families when it comes to financial decisions.

“This is compelling evidence that verified reviews have a major influence on younger adults when they take big financial decisions,” said Matt West, CMO at Feefo.

“Banks, lenders and insurers that fail to offer trustworthy, easy-to-use review systems are sacrificing a huge commercial advantage among young adults, who are looking for mortgages and loans as they start out in life.

Increasing loyalty

The financial industry is an interesting case because people rarely actually switch their bank accounts. The results of the showed that both switching and non-switching consumers value verified reviews. 82% of respondents that had never switched said that they would use verified reviews to make their decision.

Of the respondents that had switched, 88% described reviews as “highly persuasive”.

“In the hyper-competitive era of fintechs and challenger banks, financial services organisations need to maximise every means of engaging with customers,” said West.

“Out-of-the-box solutions can provide a bank’s customers with reviews they trust, using advances in artificial intelligence to provide personalised drill-downs and summaries. As well as enticing new customers and dramatically increasing loyalty, review systems tell a financial services provider what it is doing right and where it is going wrong. They are definitely revenue-builders.”

- by Colm Hebblethwaite