30-second summary: The World Bank predicts that the global economy will see a 5.2% contraction in global GDP in 2020. This could mark the darkest recession since post-WW II. While CFOs face the reality of revenue drops by 25%, they’re in no mood to focus on their cornflakes In fact, PCW’s CFO pulse survey shows that 50% of CFOs plan to accelerate automation and new ways of working Our Pulse Survey finds that 44% of marketing leaders are maintaining their marketing budgets 42% of marketing leaders are increasing spend on marketing technology Email marketing remains the classic favorite for brands to drive customer engagement, tap into their customers’ minds, and influence customer experience through their inboxes Special focus on industry wise share of email marketing campaigns, region-wise email marketing stats, and the most read email content types The best performing email message was… can you guess it? CFOs’ take on …

30-second summary : Email marketing conversions continue to climb : Email marketing’s performance continues to strengthen. In Q3 2020 alone, the conversion rate for promotional emails increased by 169% year-over-year. The metrics for automated emails are even more impressive. Marketing automation is a must for ecommerce brands : Email marketing automation drove 32% of email conversions while accounting for less than 2% of total email sends. Brands wanting to increase revenue should look to automate revenue-driving messages. SMS marketing is accelerating quickly : In Q3, there was a 237% lift in SMS messages sent over the same period in 2019, accompanied by a significant increase in both click and conversion rates. Expect SMS to increase in usage even more during the holiday shopping season. Push message marketing : While still in the early stages, push message marketing is showing signs of increased adoption by online stores. Year-over-year, we saw a …

30-second summary: 73% of online shoppers are expected to chase post-holiday bargains while 76% of eBay buyers plan to take advantage of after-Christmas and New Year shopping deals. 33% of brands that shifted their ad dollars in Q1 and Q2 of 2020 moved money to ecommerce. SMS conversion rate increased 98% over Q2 making it a priority to add SMS to email strategies. Three must-have omnichannel touchpoints to induce conversions. CTV ad impressions grew by 2X, 55% YoY, the only medium to see such accelerated growth. 23% of consumers are more comfortable sharing data about their likes/dislikes, gender, and location data. 56% of businesses without CDPs have limited ability to apply insights holistically across their marketing efforts. D2C retail companies have a customer-first approach that is 2X better than their non-transactional counterparts. This week we share revenue-driving insights on omnichannel marketing and CTV advertising that can help ecommerce businesses increase …

30-second summary: Ecommerce businesses are well aware that October 13 and October 14 should be a high priority for their digital marketing strategy. Our pulse survey insights show that ‘Content and experience’ piqued senior marketers’ interest in September. Email marketing, content marketing, and SEO are the top technologies that senior marketers are most keen on evaluating for purchase. More data juice on how email marketing has been exceeding performance in 2020, how marketers can use these insights to smash their holiday shopping sales targets, and more. We’ve already established the power of Prime Day in our previous key insights article . Ecommerce businesses are well aware that October 13 and October 14 should be a high priority for their digital marketing strategy. What do you need to know and how can we help you best equip your business as the greatest “window” of opportunity and Halloween creep in closer on …

30-second summary: 2020 has given consumers and brands the most digital-first holiday shopping season. Consumers are making buying decisions in the “messy middle” stages – namely, exploration and evaluation. “Cheapest” vs “best”, what’s winning consumers’ search worldwide? If you’re still looking for ways to finetune your holiday season digital strategy, we’re sharing insights about just the missing pieces. This week we’re going for a strategy-heavy look at the crucial phases that influence your consumers’ buying decisions and how you can slam dunk sales by bumping up your digital marketing strategy to resonate through sales. 2020 consumers and brands have seen the most digital-first holiday shopping season and consumers are making buying decisions in the “messy middle” stages – namely, exploration and evaluation. According to Google’s behavioral science analysis, despite the global economic pressure, people aren’t interested in the “cheapest” products/services. The graph below pits the “cheapest” vs “best” search trend …

What you will read in this post: Understand holiday season traffic trends Optimize for strong SEO and PPC keywords Analyzing keyword-driven traffic for seasonal marketing Which sites won the most keyword traffic? Black Friday marketing: November 2019 Christmas marketing strategy: December 2019 Build strong display and referral partnerships Analyze historic conversion data The biggest display and referral sites (and the brands winning traffic) Black Friday marketing strategy: November 2019 Christmas marketing: December 2019 Already imagining the taste of the delicious holiday meals and the laughter of your kids when the entire family comes together? Sorry, we know you’re a marketer; you don’t have time for that. You’re busy worrying whether you have everything you need so your marketing strategy can ensure the biggest possible chunk of holiday traffic and generate maximum sales. This post investigates seasonal marketing statistics of the past few years and provides some eye-opening insights from SimilarWeb’s …

30-second summary: Healthcare and educational institutes win consumer trust while media and government struggle March saw push notifications reach their highest direct open rates and 32% of website visits were through these mobile app push notifications Mobile remains the best way to engage people with push notifications DemandLab’s recent ‘Martech stack optimization survey’ reveals that 53% of marketing leaders have no plan in place for their martech stacks Deals have shown a positive graph, Australia and Germany are opening up their economies due to some relief from the COVID-19 hit Conviva study segments streaming behavior across regions and devices – TV, PC, live streaming, and video on demand Standard ads vs COVID-19 based ads, what performed better? More on what CMOs’ immediate budget actions should be Information is power and mental health is key. In light of current events, we took the onus to save you the effort and have …

30-second summary: Holiday sales are projected to smash records with a total $189 billion reaching a 2X growth. Black Friday sales are expected to reach $10 billion. Shopping with many online retailers is a limbo for consumers. 42% of consumers did not complete a transaction and 52% of consumers were quick to buy from your competitors. With many walk-in retailers being closed on Thanksgiving, there’s room for online sales to see an additional $11 billion online spend bonus. Unlock your opportunities, discover the milestone dates where holiday sales will skyrocket and the pressing concerns that you need to tackle. Winter’s here, shopping’s near, but online experiences aren’t very dear. Even though holiday sales are projected to cross $189 billion, online retailers are far from home in the shopping experience department. This week we walk you through the predictions, milestone dates, customers’ shopping challenges, and the factors that can bridge that …

30-second summary: Cyber Monday and Black Friday are set to smash the $10 billion ballpark figure in ecommerce sales. Thanksgiving is expecting a 49.5% sales growth. US retail ecommerce sales to reach $190.47 billion, which is a 35.8% jump. Consumer behavior insights that will help retailers take advantage of the shorter calendar window between Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas will positively impact holiday shopping dynamics. Our latest Marketing Automation Summit data shows that 13% of businesses do not use marketing automation while 47% use some of it, and 28% are exploring their options. We tracked $52 million of investment in Marketing Technologies during October. Who got the funding? What are the top martech? How can you pivot strategy to ace holiday sales? Let’s help you find answers. After the smashing success of Amazon Prime Day , Cyber Monday and Black Friday are set to smash the $10 billion ballpark figure in …

30-second summary: The shift to online shopping was already well underway pre-pandemic. Consumers are taking advantage of expanded service offerings to get the products. Customers see digital and in-store as two facets of the same experience. People are looking for brands to deliver instantly on the values they believe in. In the absence of historic data, BI and search insights have become critically important. Now that the holiday buying season is well underway, we’re seeing the extent to which the year of the pandemic—and its unusual consumer trends and behavior—is impacting the retail industry. While some of these trends could revert to historic levels post-pandemic, others will likely change retail into 2021 and forever. The shift to online shopping was already well underway pre-pandemic, although no one could have predicted the speed at which adoption would increase over these past months. As digital accounts for an increasing proportion of purchases, …