If you’ve not seen the video from Socialnomics yet, titled “Social Media Revolution”, then you need to carve out 5 minutes to watch and enjoy! If you or your team are trying to get buy-in & more budget, from upper management, for social media content marketing, please share the below video. You can also speak with a New Media Account Executive here at TDM to learn more about solutions, strategies and ways to greatly leverage the power of social media and search optimization.
Channel Advisor just released its bi-annual study titled “How Consumers Shop Online”. As an industry leader in shopping comparison engines & product feeds, CA knows a thing or two about consumer shopping trends for the advertiser’s they serve. The study comprised 850+ individuals in nearly 30 states, ages 18-65 years old. To access the full report, click here.
Here are some key takeaways for online retailers to strongly consider as they plan for the Holiday Shopping season and into the future:
“81 percent of consumers begin their product searches with Google and 11 percent begin with Yahoo”
“Consumers are using more sophisticated, specific searches to seek out the exact products and deals they want. As a sign of this trend, Google recently reported an eight percent increase in searches comprised of three words or more.“
“Free shipping, peer reviews/ratings, free returns and the ability to view products from multiple angles are the most influential purchase drivers on
a retailer’s storefront”
Advertisers are using a diversified mix of shopping comparison engines to help promote their brands and other primary traffic sources such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Email marketing, etc. Below is a breakdown of where CA customers are investing in comparison engines:
As this study indicates, search engines continue to lead the way for online retailers as a source of traffic, product research & comparison, finding deals and finding new brands. Of that source, search optimization should continue to be a focal point for retailers as it’s the greatest area for improvement, yields the best ROI and provides the longest term impact. It is important that eTailers consider ways to sell more through a multi-channel approach such as shopping comparison engines, affiliate marketing, email marketing, etc. Use some of this proven information as outlined above to plan your efforts for the holidays & going into 2010.
A recent study by PPC management firm EngineReady presents alot of great data for retailers to consider regarding order sizes, conversions & other purchase metrics important to eCommerce. The study was summarized by InternetRetailer, which can be found here.
The problem with this study, as many studies & surveys in the online marketing industry, is that it is SKEWED to the target audience. Below are some reasons why the study is wrong in its claim that PPC is more likely to bring buyers than SEO.
Key findings from the study included:
The conversion rate from paid search is 2.03% versus 1.26% from organic search, according to the study, which is based on traffic to 26 e-retail sites in the 12-month period that ended June 30.
Paid search visitors bought the most, with an average order value of $117.06 versus $109.27 for those coming from other sites, $106.64 for visitors from organic search and $95.29 from direct referrals, such as from a bookmark or direct entry of a URL.
The known trends (SEO vs PPC) from many other industry studies that have been overlooked in this study, thus skewing the claim that PPC can bring more buyers, include:
MORE visitors are reached through SEO as consumers are significantly more likely to click on organic listings over PPC listings (recent Hubspot researched showed 75% of clicks are to SEO listings, 25% to PPC ads)
Due to the sheer volume of traffic delivered through organic search, odds are the conversion rate will decrease. SEO delivers the masses (3-4X reach of PPC) — so conversion rates logically would be somewhat less.
PPC will have a higher conversion rate due to the sophistication of landing pages purely for PPC. As a holistic strategy, SEO can’t really operate with depth of landing page refinement that PPC can.
In aggregate, SEO typically has higher ROI due to rising PPC costs and the fact that SEO clicks are “free”. Granted, you do pay a retainer fee for SEO services to get you & keep you ranked. (SEOMoz study found that 88% of budgets go to PPC, while 12% go to SEO). Net-net, what’s the better ROI?
PPC is the equivalent of renting a house. SEO is like owning a house. The investments in SEO have significantly stronger long-term benefit than PPC.
At the end of the day, PPC has tremendous value for advertisers, and is a powerful mechanism when combined with successful SEO. The study discussed here does have useful findings, but it’s missing important data for eCommerce decision makers. When one looks at the complete reach of SEO, cost-analysis and long-term value —- the benefits of a well run SEO campaign outperform PPC and in sum, bring more buyers.
A recent study by PPC management firm EngineReady presents alot of great data for retailers to consider regarding order sizes, conversions & other purchase metrics important to eCommerce. The study was summarized by InternetRetailer, which can be found 