artegic Study: Online Dialogue Marketing in Retail
Online Dialogue Marketing is an established and indispensable element in the marketing mix of retail companies. eCRM consultant and technology provider artegic and the Institut ECC Handel carried out a survey examining the use, targets and forecasts for online marketing tools among German B2C and B2B retail companies
According to the study, search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are the most popular elements within the online marketing mix. 73.2% of the questioned companies are using SEO, 72.4% are using SEM, while 20.1% are planning to use SEO in the future and 13.3% are planning to use SEM. Equally important is the continued presence of email marketing. Already 71.2% are carrying out marketing via email. With 17.4%, more companies are planning the use of email marketing than SEM. The most robust growth in planned marketing use is recorded by customer opinion tools (27.4%), mobile marketing (27.1%) and affiliate marketing (25.1%). Social networks surprisingly only make it to fourth position. However, 24.2% plan the use of Facebook in their marketing. Approximately half (47.2%) already use Facebook.
For most companies, mobile marketing still seems a long way off. Approximately one in four companies is planning its future use, though, only 13.5% currently employ mobile marketing. About half of the questioned retail companies do not see a place for mobile marketing in their marketing mix.
In email marketing, even larger potential becomes apparent. The use of well-engineered email marketing applications, such as lifecycle emails, trigger emails and emails drawing from comprehensive user profiles is on the agenda for most companies but in the majority of cases, not yet employed. Approximately three quarters of retail companies are still using mass emails. 66.9% however, make a distinction between different target groups. Only one third (33.1%) use event-specific communication, such as birthday emails or post-purchase customer satisfaction surveys. These trigger emails, however, take second place on the email marketing wish list of companies, with 47.9% – after lifecycle emails (51.2%). Top of the retail company agenda for email marketing targets is the creation and expansion of their address base. The increase of user engagement, automation of processes, improved targeting / individualisation, improved data linkage from all data sources and systems, improved analysis, use of transaction emails for marketing and legal security (validation of opt-ins) are important or very important tasks.
In contrast, the increase of company-own email marketing success figures is only among the top 10 targets. The integration of social media into email marketing has been identified as a target, but does not take priority.
For the achievement of objectives, better targeting and improved individualisation of marketing emails and the linkage of data sources and systems are the current concerns of companies.
The questioned retailers generally view the development of success figures in email marketing as very positive. Three quarters base this on increasing send volumes, 42% forecast increasing open rates and 48.7% increasing click rates.
51.4% see the development of conversion rates as even more positive. This shows a clear trend towards growing performance figures in email marketing from a retail point of view. Most likely, this is linked to the increasingly high degree of maturity of email marketing applications, which many companies develop or attribute potential to.
The question about the significance of email marketing in retail companies is also answered clearly. 60.5% of retail companies believe in an increase or even heavy increase in the significance of email marketing for retail.
The same applies for social media. Not less than 84.6% forecast an increase or heavy increase in the significance of social media in the next two years. Only 5.3% see social media as a flash in the pan with its significance decreasing.
However, social media is only in its early days. Many companies have had their first taste but serious use is barely established. Looking into the causes of this hesitation, we can identify a series of specific obstacles for companies.
Identified by 59% of the questioned retailers as the most significant issue by far was the lack of resources. They do not dispose of relevant staff or free capacities in order to establish social media marketing. This lack of their own resources is a clear call upon service providers. The same applies for the consulting demand, which was identified by 27.9% who were not aware of the possibilities and 24.6% who see potential data privacy risks.
No wonder that budgets for social media are increasing in view of its significance and the existing handicaps. 80.8% of the questioned retail companies plan to expand or even heavily expand their budgets in social media.
The most important object of social media measures in retail is to strengthen customer loyalty. An increase of the awareness level and the interaction with customers follow on second and third place. Surprisingly far behind are turnover targets (6th place), service (7th place) and market research (8th place).
If we look at the achieved results, the accounts are still straightforward. Only 12.1% of companies have more than 10,000 Facebook fans. More than half (50.6%) have less than 1000 fans. This implicit question about achieved marketing effect is also reflected by the comparison of aims and actual target achievement. While most of the questioned companies are very ambitious in regard to their targets, the actual target achievement shows a completely different picture. In almost all questioned points, companies are not satisfied with their so far achieved social media results. In most cases reality and target are worlds apart.
