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“Experts” in the media get it so wrong so often you have to wonder what’s going on.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Research shows that investing in the stocks least-favoured by analysts yields five times more than buying the most recommended.

But we often defer to experts, especially those in the media. So, we listen to them, then assume taking their stock analysts suggestions would make us better off than doing the exact opposite, right? Well, no.

Recent research by Nicola Gennaioli and colleagues shows that the best way to gain excess-returns would be to invest in the shares LEAST FAVOURED by analysts. They computed that, during the last thirty-five years, investing in the 10% of stock analysts were most optimistic about would have yielded on average 3% a year. By contrast, investing in the 10% of stocks analysts were most pessimistic about would have yielded a staggering 15% a year.

Gennaioli and colleagues shed light on this puzzle with the help of cognitive sciences and, in particular, using Kahneman and Tversky’s concept of representativeness. Decision makers, according to this view, overweight the representative features of a group or a phenomenon.

After observing strong earnings growth, analysts think that the firm may be the next Google. “Googles” are in fact more frequent among firms experiencing strong growth, which makes them representative. The problem is that “Googles” are very rare in absolute terms. As a result, expectations become too optimistic, and future performance disappoints.

“In a classical example, we tend to think of Irishmen as redheads because red hair is much more frequent among Irishmen than among the rest of the world”, Prof. Gennaioli says. “Nevertheless, only 10% of Irishmen are redheads. In our work, we develop models of belief formation that embody this logic and study the implication of this important psychological force in different domains.”

So it looks like the talking heads in the media needs to give us better advice, or we need to forget them and trust our instincts.

 

A new report finds that nine out of ten marketers need help improving their personalisation strategy.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Personalisation is a good strategy for engaging consumers of all ages, BUT younger consumers find it especially important. Nearly half of centennials, age 18-21, (45 percent) and millennials, age 22-37, (49 percent) make purchases because of the level of personalisation within a brand’s email content, meaning that personalisation translates into revenue

This is according to a new study, which shows that two in five marketers don’t tailor their initiatives to audiences of different age groups. So, marketers potentially miss out on substantial engagement opportunities as consumers demand more customised content.

The report found that just 11 percent of marketers claim they can personalise all content. The study also found about only 27 percent can execute basic personalisation tactics, such as using a customer’s name or birthday. Another 26 percent can personalise based on browsing or purchase history, but say it’s tedious to do so. And 17 percent of marketers state they cannot personalise content because they still have trouble collecting and analysing data.

“Personalisation isn’t limited to a customer’s name; and marketers who go beyond this simple data point in order to customise communications will reap the benefits,” said Michael Fisher, president of Yes Lifecycle Marketing. “Marketers should tailor content to their customers’ habits and demographics. Fairly easy-to-implement adjustments, such as triggered campaigns and lifecycle messaging, will go far.”

Of the brands that personalise content based on age, two-thirds do so via email. Social media (38 percent) and website (35 percent) are the three channels that marketers are most likely to personalise content based on age.

“The takeaway from the data is obvious: consumers want marketers to personalise content based on their individual characteristics and attributes, and marketers still struggle to do so,” said Michael Iaccarino, CEO and chairman of Infogroup. “To alleviate personalisation woes, marketers need a partner that can help them enhance and leverage their customer data in order to improve personalisation, and as a result, increase revenue.”

Additional findings from the report include:

  • Less than a quarter of marketers personalise display (24 percent) or direct mail (23 percent) content based on customer age.
  • Driving revenue (40 percent), acquiring new customers (24 percent), and engaging customers (17 percent) are the three biggest priorities for marketers heading into 2018.
  • Only 16 percent of marketers believe millennials are most influenced to purchase by the email channel; yet 67 percent of millennials report finding email valuable when researching products.

To learn more about how marketers can personalise content by age, download the full report here.

 

This is fascinating stuff.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

A new study has revealed the true cost of delivery to retailers, with more than half (54%) of shoppers surveyed saying they have abandoned a purchase online because delivery was too expensive.

-83% of online shoppers said free delivery was the most important factor when ordering online

-More than half (54%) have abandoned online shopping baskets because of delivery costs

-A quarter cancelled orders because delivery wasn’t fast enough for their needs.

The original research of 2,000 shoppers by Arvato found that the majority (83%) said free delivery was the most important factor when it comes to fulfillment of online orders, followed by speed of delivery (53%) and free returns (52%).

This rang true for basket abandonment too, with nearly a quarter (24%) of shoppers saying they had cancelled an order because of slow delivery speeds, while 26% said that the product had been out of stock and, with no indication of when it would be available, they decided not to proceed with their purchase or shop with another retailer.

When it comes to fulfillment, 45% said that convenience was the most important factor, with 17% saying they liked to be offered multiple delivery options. 56% of shoppers already use the ‘buy online pick-up instore’ (BOPIS) option, but while only 11% currently use two hour BOPIS options offered by retailers, 32% said they would like to see more retailers offering one or two hour collection spots for BOPIS purchases going forward.

Ferka Vukel at Arvato said: “Delivery isn’t just about fulfillment but an integral part of the decision-making process for the online shopper. Those retailers who are not offering a fast, convenient and, crucially, free delivery service are at risk of losing out. With retailers having to balance the rising cost of fulfillment against the cost of losing an order, there is no easy answer, however one thing all retailers can do is to be transparent, giving customers an estimated delivery cost from the outset to avoid frustration at the end of the shopping journey.”

According to Vukel, the importance of delivery will not diminish over time and may, in fact, become even more significant to buyer behaviour in the future.

She explained: “Our research shows that within five years, shoppers expect retailers to offer up increasingly innovative delivery solutions – 7% wanted to see driverless vehicles or Uber drivers doubling up as carriers to get their products to them and a further 17% want orders from multiple retailers to be delivered in one go.”

Amazon’s Prime Air has also captured the imagination with 13% of shoppers wanting to see adoption of drone deliveries from retailers, while 11% wanted ‘drive thru’ collection lockers and 8% even thought that retailers should offer ‘to device’ delivery, where an item is delivered to a customer by using their smartphone or tablet to geo-locate them.

What’s more, 12% would be happy sharing their finger prints with retailers so they can ‘sign’ for deliveries with their finger print for more secure deliveries

“At the moment innovations such as drone delivery are more about capturing consumers imagination than reality, but what we are seeing from consumers is that speed, cost and convenience are imperative when choosing to shop online and that is something that is not going to change any time soon,” concluded Vukel.

 

Branding was never an easy task, but here’s something new to look out for.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers.

When companies put a human face on their brand, the public usually responds positively. This advertising approach has brought us alarm clocks with sleepy faces and colour-coated chocolate candies with legs and arms.

But a study conducted by Oregon State University showed that there is a greater backlash by the public when a product branded with human characteristics fails.

Lead author of the study, Marina Puzakova, said even though consumers can tell a camera designed with human characteristics such as little eyes and legs isn’t a person, the very act of humanising a product can be a powerful tool.

A humanised product (left) versus a non-humanised product.

“Somehow, now the product seems alive and mindful, and therefore can be perceived as having intentions and its own motivations to act in a certain way,” Puzakova said. “This perception of intentions can be extremely strong – consumers now see the brand as performing bad intentionally and therefore consumers develop more negative sentiments toward the brand.”

Puzakova conducted five experiments with products that had experienced negative publicity. As a general procedure, participants saw advertisements of both existing and fictitious products, where “human” characteristics, such as arms, legs, or facial-like features were manipulated. Then Puzakova showed participants news reports about how the product had failed in some way, not lived up to its advertising claim, or did not function based on consumer expectations.

In every instance, participants reported that they had stronger negative reactions to the products that were given human characteristics, also known as “brand anthropomorphisation.”

“Brand anthropomorphisation can be a very powerful advertising tool, so I am definitely not saying that companies shouldn’t use it,” Puzakova said. “However, they need to be aware that when they imbue their products with human-like characteristics, any backlash when something goes wrong could be stronger.”

Puzakova’s study found that the strength of negative reactions depended on consumer personality differences as well. Based on a personality test she gave participants, she found that people who believe in “personality stability,” or that personality traits are always the same and don’t change over time, tended to have stronger negative feelings towards anthropomorphised brands.

“Broadly speaking, men tend to believe in personality stability more than women, and seniors as well,” Puzakova said. “Also, some cultures tend to believe in this more than others. This can be important for advertisers to know, depending on who their target market is.

Having a deeper knowledge about their target markets, companies can also design their advertising communications tailored for different types of consumers. For example, marketers may want to emphasise flexibility and change in an ad campaign in order to reverse negative attitudes by male consumers, who tend to believe in personality stability.

Puzakova’s research also has a lesson for companies whose brands fail because of a product malfunction.

“As consumers who believe in stability of personality traits react to product failures more negatively, our research finds that companies need to provide either monetary compensation or give away coupons,” Puzakova said. “Offering a public apology is not enough. For instance, companies that have a humanised brand marketed heavily towards seniors may need to be prepared to generously compensate those consumers if something goes wrong.”

The bottom line, Puzakova said, is companies need to know their audience and the possible dangers of humanising a brand when a product malfunctions. It can be a powerful advertising tool, but if the product fails in some way, the damage control could be costly and timely.

 

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

How can you get your customers to write more online reviews?

Most online shoppers (81%) do not write reviews of their purchases, according to a new survey by Clutch. However, many of those same online shoppers say they rely on product reviews when considering a purchase.

E-commerce businesses face the challenge of growing the approximately 20% of online shoppers who regularly write reviews, since online shoppers often rely on reviews to make purchasing decisions. The study suggests the gap is an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to engage more online shoppers and address the reasons why they typically don’t write reviews.

Email marketing is an effective strategy for garnering reviews, prompting nearly one quarter (23%) of shoppers to write reviews. However, online shoppers cite lack of time and incentives as key reasons for their unwillingness to write reviews.

E-commerce businesses can potentially reverse that unwillingness with simple changes to their review gathering process. For example, businesses should ensure that the review process is as efficient as possible by requesting specific feedback through guided questions or star ratings.

Incentives, such as a discount or contest entry, can also help secure more reviews. However, companies should be aware of any local laws that prohibit exchanging incentives for favourable reviews.

Timely and effective customer service, including resolving an order issue or complaints, can also increase the likelihood of garnering reviews. Shoppers are more motivated to write positive reviews than negative ones: One third (33%) of online shoppers who write reviews share an especially satisfying experience, compared to 2% who write about negative experiences, according to the survey.

Experts say companies should use the review-gathering process to give customers the opportunity to alert them early on to problems that could undermine their satisfaction.

“If any issues arise within that initial use of the product, you can usually remedy the situation and put a stop to anything that might put a damper on positive reviews,” said Dan Scalco, CEO of Digitalux, a digital marketing and SEO agency.

Let’s get those happy customers reviewing your products ASAP.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Millennials rely on social media influencers more than ever for fashion shopping ideas and inspiration, but say they trust them less.

This is according to a Dealspotr survey of Millennial shoppers, conducted to better understand the shifting dynamics between consumers, lifestyle influencers and retailers in today’s digital economy. They say, “Perhaps more than any other industry, fashion retail has been upended by social media and the rise of digital influencers. Millennials are increasingly reliant on social media and the influencers who dominate them to curate trends, new brands, and the styles they wear.”

This year’s edition, Dealspotr’s Millennial Fashion Shopping Study, underscores some surprising shifts in Millennials’ perceptions of social media influencers. Notably, in 2017, Millennials are starting to trust influencers less than they used to. Millennials are also becoming more sophisticated in how they evaluate influencers – a previously important indicator of trust, an influencer’s number of followers, is now largely ignored by this demographic. At the same time, Millennials are now more reliant than ever on lifestyle influencers for fashion ideas and inspiration, creating a critical yet challenging landscape for fashion brands to navigate.

“Millennials now trust social media influencers more than their friends and family for fashion picks and recommendations,” says Michael Quoc, founder and CEO of Dealspotr. “However, as the influencer economy matures, brands must be hyper-aware of shifting perceptions and increasing skepticism towards online influencers when crafting an influencer marketing strategy.”

Highlights from the report:

  • Social media influencers are now the #1 factor driving fashion shopping decisions among female Millennials (41% selected as their primary influence). Lifestyle influencers now have greater impact than more traditional factors such as friends and family (37%), TV / magazines / advertisements (20%) and celebrities (19%).
  • At the same time, 52% of Millennials say they trust social media influencers less these days.
  • Millennials no longer judge influencers by their number of followers. Only 7% primarily care about an influencer’s number of followers, far outweighed by the influencer’s sense of style (60%).
  • Millennials are extremely price conscious when it comes to fashion brands. 70% of Millennials say price and value are the most important attributes of a fashion brand, above the brand’s style at 43%.
  • 36% of Millennials say the availability of a discount code is their primary factor determining whether they would try purchasing from a new or unfamiliar fashion brand.
  • 65% of Millennials primarily make fashion purchases in-store, compared to 41% who primarily buy online.

 

To download the full report, click here.

 

Want more traction in your marketing efforts? Then think births, deaths, and marriage.

Online social networking has revolutionised the way people communicate and interact with each other. This is despite all the annoying things that come with it (just think of all those articles complaining about the top ten most annoying habits on social media.)

Not only does social media make us happy and annoyed, there’s advantages to using it. For example, reconnecting and gossiping with old friends about babies, birthdays and baptisms/christenings.

A new study from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business examined the impact of major life events, such as getting married or graduating from college, on social network evolution. And the researchers say that the results have important implications for business practices, such as in marketing.

The study shows that major life events not only get more social media attention overall, but also bring long dormant connections back into social interaction.

Researches Hong Guo, associate professor of business analytics, and Sarv Devaraj, professor of business, and Arati Srinivasan of Providence College, specifically focus on two key characteristics of individuals’ social networks: indegree of ties and relational embeddedness. Indegree is the number of ties directed to an individual. Those with high indegree centrality are assumed to be the most popular, prestigious and powerful people in a network due to the many connections that they have with others.

“We find that the indegree of ties increases significantly following a major life event, and that this impact is stronger for more active users in the network,” Guo says. “Interestingly, we find that the broadcast of major life events helps to revive dormant ties as reflected by a decrease in embeddedness following a life event.”

Relational embeddedness is the extent to which a user communicates with only a subset of partners. Social networking sites allow users to manage a larger network of weak ties and at the same time provide a mechanism for the very rapid dissemination of information pertaining to important life events such as engagements, weddings or births.

“We show that major events provide an opportunity for users to revive communication with their dormant ties while simultaneously eliciting responses or communication from a user’s passive or weak ties,” Guo says. “Increased communication with weak ties thereby reduces the extent of embeddedness. We also find that one-time life events, such as weddings, have a greater impact than recurring life events like birthdays on the evolution of individuals’ social networks.”

So why does this matter outside of our social media circles?

“Knowing this, advertisers may better target their ads to major life events. For example, a travel agent marketing a honeymoon package can target a user who has shared that they just got married,” Guo says. “From the social networking sites’ perspective, various design features may be set up to enable and entice users to better share their life events, like how Facebook helps friends promote birthdays.”

So, you might want to think about your next marketing campaign. Does it tie in with big life events? No? Then get on that.

 

If you want to reach people with your advertising message, what can you do?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

While consumers use social platforms as their principal access point for information, not many people trust the content they find there. 89% of 18-64-year-olds are categorised as social skeptics when it comes to things they read that has reached them via social media. The solution? You’d better use a trusted news/information site, or you are just peeing your ad spend up a wall.

These results are according to a research conducted on behalf of Digital Content Next. The research highlights the fact that brand credibility is EVERYTHING.

“Consumers lack trust in social platform content and that it’s spilling over into their perceptions of brand sites and apps,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next. “While we don’t recommend that publishers walk away from the relationships they have with the platforms, we do recommend they urge the platforms to better utilise and protect trusted news and entertainment brands.”

When it comes to trust, consumers have higher expectations for brand sites and apps and expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate and up-to-date. Thus, brands should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

Other findings:

  • Social automation and algorithms appear to have a negative impact with 62 percent of consumers agreeing that “there’s so much random content on social media, there’s no way to tell if an article is credible or not.”
  • A younger audience of “Social Skeptics” has emerged. Seven in 10 of these consumers choose quality brand sites for content and prefer brand sites/apps for information. In fact, 41 percent of Social Skeptics have a content subscription, which also signals a preference for premium content.
  • Brand sites build trust by delivering on key attributes, such as credibility and accuracy, which correlate highly to both trust and importance. However, there are also hidden drivers which are less obvious—but that correlate highly to trust. These include popularity, virality, and personalisation, all of which are important strategies to employ and very much a part of the algorithms of platforms.
  • “Trust as a Proxy for Brand Value” found that brand sites should incorporate four key building blocks of trust into their strategies:
    • Attribution (confirming multiple sources)
    • Reputation
    • Navigation
    • Prediction (past experiences with the brand)
  • Consumer trust in brand sites also positively impacts advertisers on the site. Higher trust in brand sites results in a trust halo effect for advertisers. Brand sites provide a significant boost in advertiser trust and positive perception compared to social media and YouTube.
  • Consumer expectations around trust are higher for brand sites and apps and they expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate, and up-to-date. Therefore, publishers should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

To view the full research report, click here.

 

Because selfies.

By Mediastreet Staff Writers

A hotel company surveyed Millennials to see what they want from holidays. And it seems, they want to pose on social media and that’s just about it.

Holiday group Hotels.com commissioned a study into Millennial behaviour to best work out how to attract Millennial customers. It was conducted by One Poll in November 2017. The data they crunched was based on 9,000 respondents across 30 countries.

So were there any surprises? Not really. What do Millennials want from their holidays? It’s what we all want. To brag. And they don’t care if they are bragging to real friends or fake online friends. They just wanna brag. And most of us love looking at other people’s holidays, let’s be honest.

Whether it’s the deluxe suite, the hip hotel or the #foodporn, travel bragging has become an essential part of any trip. 30% of Millennials admit they spend over four hours a day on their mobiles whilst travelling, often more glued to the small screen than the beach scene.

When it comes to what social savvy travellers are bragging about on their trips, food snaps (44%) is up there. Travel braggers show off their #foodporn to those stuck at home with their avocado toast, posting weird and wonderful dishes from across the globe.

Being a generation of filter-loving, selfie-stick addicts, two out of three Millennials surveyed (66%) admit they would rather upload a selfie than a picture with their loved ones (62%) on holiday. Not only that, 60% of young travellers admitted to uploading pictures, checking in at cool locations (39%) and tracking the amount of interaction on their posts (32%) whilst on holiday.

The new global research has also proven the long-debated theory that romance really is dead, with 14% admitting they would rather travel with their smartphone than their partner. Travellers even get more anxious when their phone runs out of battery (15%) than if they argue with their partner on a trip (8%).

“We know that 28% of people wouldn’t enjoy their holiday without their smartphone in their hand – how could they possibly capture the best selfie or show off to their friends at home without it? Not only that, we also know that getting the perfect picture plays an even bigger role with 14% of travellers admitting they would pose anywhere for that flawless selfie, often putting selfies ahead of safety,” said Daniel Craig, VP of Mobile at Hotels.com brand. “With a third of travellers refusing to book a hotel that doesn’t offer free Wi-Fi, there is a clear demand for travellers to be connected at all times.”

 

Maryann Fasanella is an expert in law firm marketing. Here, she gives us inside marketing tricks of the trade. While she comes from a law perspective, many of these tips can be applied to marketing across several service industries.

Tip 1: Know your audience

Though it seems obvious, this tip is the crucial ingredient that is the most overlooked in any marketing strategy, not just law marketing. The idea that the widest cast captures the most is a deeply held, and equally flawed, belief. Make sure when you are constructing your plan, you are targeting those who most need your services. You cannot let fear of the one that got away drive your strategy. The best plan is one that is tailored to attract the clients that are most likely to sign on with you. Your marketing materials and strategy are the first pieces of information that many potential clients will see. With that in mind, make sure that your first impression will ensure that when they walk through that door, it will be with purpose and intent.

Tip 2: Content Content Content

“Crazy Eddie selling used cars at prices so low he must be insane” may have gotten a laugh back in the early days of television. It may have even garnered a sale or two. However, today everyone has a world of information at their fingertips 24/7. The only way to shout through the noise is through your content and message. It is vital that the content you display is relevant as well as easy to digest. If knowing your audience is the key to getting the right clients, then your content is the key for those clients getting to know you as the right firm.

There cannot be enough emphasis placed on the content of your marketing. The words and visuals that you choose to place before your potential customers should always follow your messaging. The internet has a long memory, and something that sounded good in the moment can and most times will come back to haunt you. Solid ideas and marketing will always hold up to scrutiny, and you would have to be crazy to allow anything less than the best out into the landscape.

Tip 3: Your Stop Doing List

In the Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he outlined his findings from examining companies that went from mediocre to remarkable results over a 40 year period. One of the biggest takeaways from that research was that what the companies had stopped doing was much more important to their success than what they were doing. This idea is at the core of a great marketing plan. Once you have your messaging, stop doing anything that doesn’t measurably contribute. Some things may seem like great ideas, but anything that doesn’t serve the message strips funds and momentum from everything that does.

So spend a few moments thinking about everything that you do to market your firm. Odds are there are a few that have returned questionable results. Don’t simply jettison those ideas out of hand though. Consider the value of each of them carefully. Be tough and fair, but if they don’t fit the message, then they have to go. Your marketing strategy will be all the stronger for your efforts.

Tip 4: Building Your Web

You cannot, and should not expect clients to simply walk through your doors with no effort. The effort that you place in building your web of clients extends beyond just your online presence, but in cultivating the referrals that will walk through your door. Never miss the opportunity to ask a client for a referral. You may not get one every time, but you lose nothing in asking. In today’s day of instant information, it is the collective strength of your web that will set you apart.

Tip 5: Engagement, not Visibility

People see advertising every day. However, we would argue that a good conversation will exert more influence than the flashiest, most expensive advertisement on the most heavily travelled roadway. When you look at your plan for marketing, consider that. If most of your plan revolves around passively presenting information to your potential clients, you may be spending more than you need to get the returns you want. It is the conversation that will provide the most influence, so don’t be shy about pursuing it. Join a trade association, or get involved with charity groups. If you surround yourself with clients, you are bound to raise the level of your engagement, which will translate to a better return.

Finally: Be Accountable

By using these tips, you can create a solid marketing plan that will generate returns. But don’t just pay them lip service. Discuss them, argue over them, and refine them until you are satisfied that they meet the goals of your firm. And most importantly of all, write them down! After all, if it means garnering more business coming through your doors it is well worth that extra effort to solidify it in writing.

However, the worst trap you can fall into is believing you are finished with your plan. Marketing of any variety is never complete. If your success is to be properly measured, accountability must be the ruler. The best and most carefully laid plans can and often are, decimated by excluding it. Let’s take a ludicrous example. Say that my goal is to see a sunrise and my plan is to run west until the sun cracks the horizon before me.

Now, we all know that I will never see that sunrise. It doesn’t matter how much time I put into it, nor does it hold that working harder or longer will produce my desired results. Without accountability though, I would never question that ridiculous plan. Make sure to review your plans regularly. Celebrate the successes and learn from the failures. Remember, accountability is just as important to do internally as is it externally. You would not expect to keep a client’s business if you were not accountable to them, so make sure to keep your law firm marketing plan accountable to you.