SEO News

The trick to a higher conversion rate

• One-fifth of companies in Adobe’s Digital Optimization survey achieved a conversion rate greater than 4.5%. What’s their secret?
• It’s no surprise that that testing is important, as 70% of top performers use testing in various capacities compared to only 46% for the rest of the sample.
• Similarly, the top 20% performers are 54% more likely to be devoting more than 5% of their budgets to a range of optimization activities.

What percentage of your total marketing budget is allocated to optimization activities (including agency fees, professional services, technology)?

Delivery forecast increased after strong Q1

• UK retailers are predicted to dispatch 900m orders and 940m parcels in 2014.
• The latest IMRG and MetaPack forecast for delivery volume growth has been raised from 12.5% to between 16-19% following unprecedented cumulative year-on-year growth in the first four months of 2014.

UK retailers to rake in billions thanks to World Cup

• The 2014 FIFA World Cup will generate nearly £1.3bn in sales for UK retailers, pubs and restaurants if England make it through the second round, according to a report by VoucherCodes.co.uk. 
• If England makes it to the final then fans will spend more than £2.5bn on souvenirs, sportswear, new televisions or celebrating at home or in the pub.
• Online retailers are expected to perform very well during the World Cup, with an additional £174.71m of spending expected by the second stage, increasing 110% to £367.49m should England be finalists.
• The report is based on on analysis of the 2010 World Cup tournaments, interviews with 605 shoppers and 40 UK retailers responsible for 18% of UK annual retail sales.

People use different social networks for different tasks

• US social media users take a different approach to each network and the way in which they interact with brands.
• In a new survey 60% of respondents agreed that they connect with different types of people, media, and brands on different social platforms. 

• The report also found that 67% of respondents use their social accounts to sign in to mobile applications like news, music, and gaming apps, with 91% of those respondents finding it valuable to connect to other apps via their social accounts.
• The findings come from a 140 Proof survey of 500 US consumers who are active on more than one social network.

Internet ad revenue closing in on TV

• According to the new PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook internet advertising will be poised to overtake TV by 2018.
• In 2009 internet ad revenue was $58.7bn compared to $132.0bn for TV. But the former is predicted to rise 10.7% annually to reach $194.5bn in 2018, just $20bn behind TV advertising.

Dishonesty on social is leading to mistrust

• Dishonest practices are undermining consumer trust in brands on social, according to a study from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
• Almost half (44%) of those surveyed said they find it difficult to trust brands on social networks. 
• Similarly, 51% of marketers have seen questionable content from brands on social media in the past six months, while 52% agree that the effectiveness of the channel as a marketing platform is at risk due to dishonest behaviour.
• The report is based on a survey of 3,000 people across the UK, and 1,150 marketers from businesses of all sizes.

Food shopping online isn’t easy

• Just one third (32%) of UK online grocery shoppers rate the buying experience as easy, according to research by eDigitalResearch.
• 50% online grocery shoppers surveyed are deeply unsatisfied with the time it currently takes them to complete a food and drink shop via a supermarket’s website.
• Almost three quarters (74%) of British online shoppers have now shopped online for grocery items, with 40% doing so regularly on a weekly and monthly basis. 

World Cup ecommerce habits

• A Peer 1 survey of 2,000 UK consumers has found that a quarter of people plan to watch the World Cup online via On Demand TV, mobile or tablet.
• 35% of respondents plan to spend more than £50 on entertaining during the World Cup.
• Finally, a third of respondents said they would purchase merchandise, food or drink online during the World Cup.

Paid search is useless, says eBay

• Ebay has published the findings of research which indicates that customers are just as likely to click on natural search results as paid ads.
• A paper published in conjunction with Berkeley and Chicago universities found that paid search ads are of “no measurable benefits.”

Programmatic infographic

And finally, here is an infographic from Millennial Media looking at programmatic buying in mobile advertising…