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Archive for November, 2011

How Buyer Perceived Risks (BPR) Affects Buyer Behavior and Purchase Decisions

Posted by Tony Zambito on November 29th, 2011 at 10:52 am

Image by IceSabre via Flickr
The notion that perceived risks influences purchasing behavior has been around for quite some time.  As we have seen an increase in the complexity of the buying process, we are seeing a correlating increase in Buyer Perceived Risks (BPR)© associated with purchase decisions.  Compounding perceived risks is the increase in choices as mentioned in my previous article as well as new social channels to explore.  This new mishmash of complexity, choices, and new channels causes a much higher degree of uncertainty on the part of buyers.
What does understanding choice have to do with Buyer Perceived Risks (BPR)©?  It comes down to two general areas:
Buyers are dealing with the uncertainty and the risks of making a bad choice
Buyers are dealing with the unknown consequences resulting from a bad choice
These two general areas of perceived risks are not necessarily new however the degree of impact has expanded significantly as a result of the convergence of the Internet and Social Technologies.

Variables that are affecting the degree of impact include speed, awareness, chance, and reputation.  Put more simply:
The impact of a bad choice is happening much faster, more people as well as organizations are aware when they happen, there are... Read more

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Posted in Creative Best Practices, Emerging Platforms, Opinions, Search, Social Media, Targeting, Websites | 2 Comments »

Mobile Engagement Can Drive Significant Holiday Spending This Year

Posted by Amanda Van Nuys on November 29th, 2011 at 9:55 am

On the Eve of Black Friday, I walked by a long line circling Best Buy in San Jose, CA. Hundreds of people--young and old--were waiting patiently for the electronics giant to open their doors early, giving eager shoppers a jump on their holiday shopping. I stopped for a few minutes and noticed that roughly 60% of shoppers had smart phones in hand with their eyes glued to small screens. Yes, some were doing non-shopping related activities, but my suspicion is that a fair number of people were doing a little last minute online comparison shopping before the store opened.
With the increased adoption of smart phones, and the still precarious state of the economy, 2011 has seen the emergence of the savvy mobile shopper - they are more informed, have access to real-time information on the go, and are hungrier than ever to find the best deals available. Based on a recent study by the National Retail Federation, 50% of consumers will use their smart phones this year to buy goods, look for local deals, and grab special discounts and mobile coupons. And, Google forecast that 15% of total Black Friday searches would come from mobile devices. If true, that behavior... Read more

Posted in Opinions | 3 Comments »

The Path to Meaningful Social Measurement

Posted by Scot Wheeler on November 28th, 2011 at 8:26 pm

The Challenge
Common sense asserts a wealth of marketing opportunity residing in the analysis of consumers’ publicly shared (and digitally documented) interests and interactions. However, there are significant challenges in separating valid information from noise, then structuring that valid data to draw actionable insights with the same level of confidence that businesses expect from their market research, web analytics, and business intelligence functions.
The first generations of social media measurement and analysis have addressed these challenges as best they could. To advance beyond pseudo-science into the realm of truly actionable business analytics, the next generation of social media analysis will need to draw from the established standards and best practices of organizations' existing analytics functions with established competency in building data-driven management practices from digital analytics.
Current State
Current approaches to social media measurement come in two forms:
1) Content-based monitoring or “listening” evaluates the content of conversations to assess current perceptions, and guide future engagement.
2) Context-based “social graph” analysis evaluates relationships and interactions within and across the social graph to assess networks and their capability to drive business objectives.
Businesses are currently trying to apply these two forms of measurement in various combinations for several objectives; to avoid or respond to brand crises, to build... Read more

Posted in Social Media, Web Analytics | 1 Comment »

DATA: Are you using it to your advantage… or just to make you look good?

Posted by Nicole Rawski on November 28th, 2011 at 5:49 pm

In it’s ideal form, data should be unassailable. But it’s not.
Data can be twisted, tailored or censored to tell many different stories.
It’s not uncommon for marketers to skew their data because they’re afraid that showcasing the “real” numbers behind a marketing program could illuminate a failure. Web analysts, on the other hand, don’t have any motivation to skew data; their goal is to make informed decisions to optimize results.
The practice of web analytics has evolved over the years, and today analysts can provide key stakeholders with actionable insights. For various reasons, however, that information often goes ignored.
More marketers are adopting web analytics programs, so it’s more imperative than ever to utilize the data to optimize. Sure, using data to make you look good can reap immediate satisfaction and maybe impress people who aren’t asking the right questions. But, in the long run, you could hurt your company by ignoring what the data is really saying.
Here are a few simple ways to use web analytics data to make informed decisions:

Dive deeper into bounce rates. Bounce rates on landing pages can show how well the page is at engaging visitors, but look further into bounce rates from different traffic sources or campaigns.... Read more

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Posted in Web Analytics | No Comments »

The "Marketing Singularity" is Near.

Posted by Roger Toennis on November 28th, 2011 at 2:52 pm

(NEW BLOGGER INTRODUCTION: Greetings! My name is Roger Toennis and this is my first blog entry for iMediaConnection.)
I want to thank Lori Luechtefeld and Lucia Davis for agreeing to have me be a blogger on this forum. By education and experience I'm an Electrical Engineer with extensive technical and management background in the Aerospace industry (Navy Research, NASA, Lockheed) and also the Telecommunications industry (Bell Labs, Lucent, Avaya). More detail about me here on my LinkedIn profile.
Three years ago I left the telecommunications world to start my own company. My goal was to leverage my experience in solving complex aerospace engineering problems and also in building realtime multimedia communication applications to the exciting discipline of building innovative, cloud-based communications technologies for the world of "Mobile/Social" marketing and advertising.
My posts here will focus on how Marketing and Advertising are being affected by all the radical technology disruptions that are happening as a result of the accelerating advances in mobile communications technologies (smartphones, tablets). I'll also talk about how the emergence of what I call the "Socially Hyper-Connected Consumer" will change how you do your job every day as a marketing professional.
All this technology change, and the resulting changes in human social behaviors, is leading... Read more

Posted in Creative Best Practices, Opinions, Social Media, Targeting, Web Analytics | 9 Comments »

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