Consumer Behavior in Digital Environments

How Do You Feel About This: AOL Enables Brands To Track Users' Unconscious Emotions, In Real-Time - 06/14/2013

 

 

In a move that ups the ante for real-time media measurement, AOL  today will unveil a new platform that enables brands to measure not just whether  people are exposed to or even see their content, but how they actually feel  about it. The platform, which is being introduced by fledgling AOL branded  entertainment unit Be On, utilizes users’ own webcams to read their facial expressions while watching a brand’s video content in order to understand what  their unconscious feelings are while exposed to the brand’s messages.

 

The platform is being powered by Realeyes, a tech firm that has  figured out an economical way of utilizing “computer vision to read faces and  measure human emotion” via common webcams on users' PCs, tablets and smartphones, and initially will only track the faces and emotions of users  participating into opt-in consumer panels operated by CINT and Tolluna, but

 

Be  On CEO René Rechtman says AOL is already considering ways it could deploy the  technology to track the emotional sentiment of its general users who want to opt  into it.

 

 

It's not a big surprise that a majority of millennials (68 percent) get their news from social media. But someone should tell the major news outlets that—even in the age of social media—millennials care about more than speed when it comes to obtaining information.

 

Almost 70 percent of millennials would rather be the last to know the news than receive inaccurate information.

 

Youth Pulserecently conducted a study of 500 millennials aged 14-30 to find out how they get their news and whether they trust it. It then listed the results in an infographic.

 

Here are some of the findings:

Two years ago, we released ”The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors.” Now we’re back with an update. We’ve introduced some new elements, adjusted a few rankings and given the table a more encompassing name, The Periodic Table Of SEO Success Factor

 

Philosophy Behind The Table

Our goal with the updated table is the same as before, to break search engine optimizationdown into broad fundamentals needed to achieve success. These fundamentals involve both “on-the-page” and “off-the-page” factors, which are:

Content – the quality of your materialHTML – elements used to technically create your web pagesArchitecture – elements involved with your overall siteLinks – how links to your content may impact rankingsTrust – the degree your site seems to be a trustworthy authoritySocial – how social recommendations impact your rankingsPersonal – various ways personalized search results impact your SEO

Within these broad categories are specific factors, ranging from content within your HTML title tags to whether your content is socially favored by visitors. Here’s a close-up of the individual factors (it also links to the table’s main page, where it can be downloaded):

Smartphone ownership has surged since last year, rising from 46% of U.S. adults in February 2012 to 56% in May 2013, finds Pew Research in a new telephone survey. Altogether, 91% of American adults own some type of cell phone.

Ownership is highest among younger adults, with 80% of those 18 to 34 owning a smart phone, droping to 69% of those 35 to 44 and 18% of those 65 and older. It's also higher among men (59% of men, vs. 53% of women) and blacks (64% of blacks, vs. 53% of whites).

Ownership was measured using a 3-question battery, produced below. Smart phone owners were those who said they had a cell phone and then either identified it as a smartphone or identified it as a type of phone that Pew Research classifies as a smartphone.

For all the research and attention paid to showrooming, webrooming (doing research online and then buying in-store) is actually a far more popular activity among Millennials (aged 18-35) across several product categories, according to[pdf] survey results from the Urban Land Institute. For electronics items (computers, tablets, cellphones, TV/audio equipment, etc.), 50% of respondents prefer to research online but buy in-store, compared to 11% who prefer to do their research in stores but then buy online. Similar gaps exist when looking at Millennials’ shopping preferences for shoes (25% vs. 10%), sports equipment and accessories (21% vs. 13%), and cosmetics and personal care items (20% vs. 8%).   

Businesses planning today to improve their connection to customers in digital channels are increasingly looking at the discipline of mapping out what’s being called the ‘customer journey’.  Over the last ten years, the fragmentation of customer engagement across dozens of channels has turned into both a highly vexing problem and an increasingly disruptive challenge to businesses that still keep doing what used to work, but are getting sharply falling off results from old touchpoints like TV, phone, and e-mail.

 

This fragmentation of customer touchpoints cuts across marketing, sales, customer service, and even product development. In short, customers have moved to the digital world en masse, and companies have not kept up. Yes, it’s true that most businesses currently realize they need to evolve. They know they must acquire suite of capable mobile apps, an effective strategy for connecting with consumers in social media, a workable plan for inbound search, and a good way to stay connected with consumers so they can build strong, long-term relationships, instead of merely engage in still-vital yet far less strategic point transactions.

 

At this point, you may ask — given that it’s often hard to pin down the big shifts in society and culture until after they happen — what exactly is the imperative for companies to shift from transactions to engagement? For example, in my recent post on the strategic value of customer communities, I highlighted data that shows that customers engaged socially typically results in double digit gains in revenue. More importantly, strategic relationships both online and offline tend to be a zero-sum game. You typically only need one most-valuable business partner for a given function, if they understand your needs and cater to them. In this way, deep digital engagement is the future.

Some 81% of moms would buy more from a brand if rewarded, and over 50% are  willing to engage with a brand on Facebook and other social media platforms if  provided incentive, according to a recent report by PunchTab.

 

What type of rewards do moms want? 80% of those polled said they prefer  financial rewards, such free products or gift cards, and 67% said they would be  interested in receiving perks associated with elite status, such as free  shipping or branded merchandise.

 

Below, key findings from the report, Scoring Points With Mom, which was based on an online survey  of 647 moms.

 

Actions for Rewards

 

Actions moms said they would take when provided with an incentive:

72% would take a survey or poll.59% would sign up for regular email updates.41% would share personal details and purchase behavior.41% would post a review.57% of would "like" a brand's page on Facebook.

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10772/50-of-moms-would-engage-with-brands-on-social-media-if-rewarded#ixzz2TTR6AOlb

 

Showrooming has become a growing point of contention in our industry. As consumer behavior becomes more and more accustomed to using the in-store experience as a point of research and brand experience, only to then purchase online, brands and retailers must pivot their in-store and digital strategies.

 

Underscored by the economic recession and the prominence of the web, people began to educate themselves on product traits, brand identity and, most importantly, price comparisons. The web was used as a tool to ensure a customer was getting the best price on an item they desired. The problem this posed for brands, of course, was that strictly online retailers often had the ability to offer lower price points, as there was less overhead involved in their businesses. Customers would see, touch and feel the product in the store and then purchase elsewhere online.

 

And the numbers only underscore this shift.

 

Research shows the number one reason for showrooming is price (72% of consumers engage in showrooming because the price was better online).

In particular, the fashion apparel and accessories category has an audience share of a whopping 43% of customers who purchase online after showrooming. This category is second only to consumer electronics (which comes in at 63%). On the other end of the spectrum, jewelery and watches carry a 16% showrooming statistic. (Source: Statista)

 

Social media, online content and mobile devices continue to play a large role in sports, according to a new study.

 

But the growth of fans following sports via social media has leveled off over the past year, according to Sporting News Media's survey of just over 1,000 American sports fans.

This year's study found that an even 25% of fans use social media to follow leagues, teams and players online. In the same survey last year, 26% of fans said they did so, while just 15% of said they did so in 2011. Among fans who do follow online, Facebook ranks as the most popular social platform.

 

That stagnant growth pattern seems curious, given the rising number of followers of players, teams and leagues across a range of networks. Other factors that should point to positive growth include social media being increasingly incorporated into broadcasting andmarketing, and athletes continuing to make news online.

We often discuss how brick-and-mortar stores must become omnichannel, creating online and mobile presences to keep up with channel-agnostic consumers. But what about online-only retailers? They too would benefit from an omnichannel presence in the physical world.

Previously online-only eyewear brand Warby Parker recently opened its first brick-and-mortar store. Founder Neil Blumenthal says every brand must be both offline and online:

“This is the convergence of ecommerce and bricks-and-mortar. The idea that it’s one or the other is ridiculous. Ecommerce as a term will become obsolete in five or six years.”

But opening standalone shops isn’t for everyone. Online-only retailers enjoy cost benefits brick-and-mortar stores don’t: No rent or store overhead, no store staff, centralized inventory (or none at all), etc. So how might these retailers create a physical presence without losing their advantages?

- See more at: http://blog.bazaarvoice.com/2013/06/12/how-online-only-retailers-can-sell-in-the-physical-world/#sthash.YCxx72IF.dpuf

Flurry measured a 47% increase in active smartphones and tablets in the United States between April of 2012 and April of 2013. While that number sounds impressive, it actually puts the U.S. in the bottom 5% of countries for connected device growth in the past year. Worldwide, growth of these devices is exploding. To be in the top 5% of countries for growth over the past year, a country’s number of active connected devices needed to more than triple.

 

There are currently more than one billion active smartphones and tablets globally, and based on current growth rates we expect to reach two billion in 2014. In this report we discuss which countries are growing fastest, and the implications for the mobile ecosystem and for society more generally.

I’m going to keep this brief, because you’re not going to stick around for long. I’ve already lost a bunch of you. For every 161 people who landed on this page, about 61 of you—38 percent—are already gone.

Nearly 3 in 4 shoppers (74%) are more sensitive to price in 2013 compared with 2012,  according to a recent survey of US consumers by Parago.

That increased price sensitivity may stem from shoppers' concerns about how much their dollars will buy, with 42% of survey respondents saying they feel their purchasing power has decreased in the past year.

Below are the additional findings from Parago's third annual Shopper Behavior Study.

Deal Seeking Increases

Before shopping, 80% of consumers surveyed said they look for deals, rebates, and the best prices, compared with 69% in 2012. 46% of consumers surveyed shopped where they could use their smartphones to check prices; only 11% did so in 2012. Price was the most important purchase driver for every income level below $200,000 and three times more influential on purchase decision than any other criteria overall. 

 

 

If you’ve ever been chided by your grandfather’s tiresome rant for not finishing your supper, using the computer too much, or listening to rock ‘n roll, you may have internalized the stereotype that the elderly are grumpy and cantankerous. Despite our subjective experiences, psychological research exists that counters this, and instead proposes that positive emotions increase with age.

Positive sentiment increases with age

A study by Arthur Stone, PhD illustrates that self-reported well-being dips during the younger adult years then increases sharply from age 50, with females being slightly more positive than males. Recently, the Social Analytics team dove deep into our ocean of review data and discovered strikingly similar trends in product ratings.

 

Digital marketers know that marketing to Europeans requires different tactics and messaging, if only slightly, than marketing to Americans, or people anywhere else.

 

And when 20% of the world’s Internet users are European – when Europeans only make up 12% of the world’s population – getting educated on where and what Europeans are doing online is vital.

 

The infographic below, created by MintTwist, takes a look at the Internet habits of Europeans right now.

 

A few takeaways:

- Facebook is the most popular social network and has slowly been encroaching on native sites such as Hyves (the Netherlands) and nk.pl (Poland).

- Citizens of the UK, Germany and the Netherlands love shopping online, but that’s not as true of Italians.

- By 2014 there will be an estimated 35 million tablets in the area, and multi-screen browsing is becoming normal behavior. That said, in some countries such as Turkey, desktop browsing is increasing as more of the country has access to broadband.

 

Where does Twitter factor into Europeans’ social media usage? Twitter UK’s guesstimated 10 million active users (and about three times as many registered profiles) is an indicator of how active people in Europe are on the platform.

When it comes to social media, male and female behavior is very different.

 

For instance, women do the bulk of Facebook sharing (62 percent), while more men are on LinkedIn than women (54 percent). Men also spend more time on YouTube each week than women, as guys clock an hour compared to 35 minutes for women.

 

Twitter appears to be dominated by women (62 percent) and, not surprisingly, Pinterest (70 percent). 

 

Overall, though, a higher percentage of women (71 percent) use social media than men (62 percent). 

 

For more on the differences between the genders" social media use, check out this infographic from Interentserviceproviders.org:

Moving Forward with Big Data: 

The Future of Retail Analytics     

 

BMC's second big data survey reveals that the relationship between big data and retail is evolving rapidly.

 

Get up to speed quickly by learning:

Where and how big data is adding value for retailers on both the demand and supply sides of the business.The type of big data projects that are under way, and the stage of development or implementation they've reached.How clarifying the definition of big data can accelerate progress in using this valuable resource.Barriers that are limiting the application of big data in retail.

The findings in this report will help retailers at all stages of big data adoption either get started, decide where to place priorities, or compare their progress with what others in the industry are doing.

Is now the time to shed the one-size-fits-all marketing strategy and focus on the individual consumer? This infographic shows that your customers think so.