foresee results report on social media marketing uk

© 2011 ForeSee Results

The ForeSee Results Report on Social Media Marketing(UK Edition)

Social Media Marketing in the UK:Do Retail Results Justify Investment?

February 3, 2011

by Larry Freed President and CEO of ForeSee Results

2 • The ForeSee Results Report on Social Media Marketing (UK Edition)

www.ForeSeeResults.com

Recently I heard the following question posed at a trade show: if you had to choose (with the proverbial gun to your head), would you put money into a Facebook e-commerce site or a tra-ditional e-commerce site?

It’s a bit of a false dichotomy; most of us can do both. Anyway, the answer depends on a lot of fac-tors, including product line, company size, existing Facebook presence and more. Still, the question is getting at something we’re all dealing with. Despite the exponential, widespread, and breathlessly-documented rise in social media activity and usage, many of us don’t have a great way to quantify the value of social media marketing to bottom-line business results.

Every year, we measure satisfaction with the top 40 retail sites in both the United States and the United Kingdom. All told, we ask more than 20,000 online shoppers all sorts of questions about their shopping experience, including what most influenced their visit to a retail website. For three years now, we’ve asked about a full range of traffic and sales influencers, from intangibles like brand fa-miliarity and word-of-mouth to more traditional marketing tools like advertising and promotional emails. We then used the scientific methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to analyse which sources drove the best quality traffic. The sources that drive the greatest numbers of people are not always the same as the sources that drive people who are the most likely to purchase. As we all struggle to understand the impact of social networks and other online marketing initiatives on our brands, it’s helpful to have some hard data.

Our data shows that in terms of pure volume, social media still trails traditional customer acquisition sources (like promotion-al emails) significantly in both the United States and in the UK. In fact, social media interactions are a primary influence for only 3% of visitors to e-retail websites in the UK, while search engine results influenced 13% of visitors and promo-tional emails influenced 10%. In addition, customers who come to a website because of a social media interaction (either with a friend or a company) are not among those most likely to purchase. Social media doesn’t seem to be adding true value for UK retailers just yet. The marketing mix for every company will vary, but under-standing the patterns can help guide further research and investment.

Social Media Research Findings for the UK

FINDING #1: Look for quantity and quality of traffic.

Social Media: Only 3% of online holiday shoppers in the UK report being primarily influenced to visit top retailer sites by social media (in the United States, this number is only 5%), yet retailers continue to devote considerable attention to this channel based on the promise of potential big results. Mean-while, 10% of website visitors came to the website primarily as a result of a promotional email and 13% as a result of search engine results, suggesting that we shouldn’t give short shrift to tried-and-true online marketing tactics in favour of newer media.

Social media interactions are a primary influence for

only 3% of visitors to e-retail websites in the UK, while

search engine results influenced 13% of visitors

and promotional emails influenced 10%.



In the preceding chart, “interaction on social network” includes getting a message or recommendation from a friend or family member(1%), an interaction or message from a company on a social network (1%), or watching a relevant YouTube video (1%). “Internet advertising” includes advertising on all websites, including social media sites. See the following chart for further breakdown and specificity.

The numbers are a bit different in the U.S.: promotional emails are the primary influence for 19% of American e-retail traffic, while search engine results influence only 8%.

However, looking only at the volume of traffic from any given source can be misleading; we also need to look at the quality of the traffic. In the following chart, we see all the traffic acquisition sources bro-ken out individually and assigned scores on our methodology’s 100-point scale for satisfaction, likeli-hood to buy online, and likelihoouyto buy offline. In the United States, some of the sources that drive the smallest numbers of people drive the best quality traffic; people coming because of social media or product review websites are much more likely to buy. However, in the UK, some of the sources that drive the most traffic also drive the best traffic: some of the site visitors who are most satisfied, most likely to buy, and most likely to recommend arrived at the site because of previous familiarity with a brand, promotional emails, and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Familiarity with Brand

Search Engine Results

Promotional Emails

Word-of-Mouth Recommendation

TV, Newspaper, Radio or Magazine Ads

Internet Advertising

Interaction on Social Network

Shopping Comparison Website

Blogs or Discussion Forums

Product Review Website

% of Respondents (UK)

Prvate Sector Websites 2009/2010

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Primary Influence On Website Visit

46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%

Only 3% of shoppers came to a website

because of social media

UK MARKETING MIX: IS SOCIAL MEDIA WORTH THE COST?



What most influenced your visit to the website? % of Respondents Satisfaction

Likelihood to Purchase

OnlineLikelihood to Recommend

Familiarity with site/company/brand 46% 75 75 76

Search engine results 13% 67 66 66

Promotional e-mail(s) from the company 10% 73 75 74

Word of mouth/recommendation from someone I know 10% 73 75 75

TV, radio, newspaper, or magazine advertising 8% 72 69 72

Internet advertising 4% 69 69 71

Link from a shopping comparison website (Shopzilla.com, Shopping.com)

2% 70 69 70

Message or recommendation from a friend on a social network

1% 72 72 73

Internet blogs or discussion forums 1% 70 68 71

Video I saw on YouTube 1% 69 70 69

Product review website(s) (CNET, Epinions) 1% 65 67 66

Advertising on social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter)

1% 71 73 71

Message directly from the company on a social network 1% 64 65 66

Instant Message from a friend or colleague 1% 69 70 70

Mobile phone text messages or alerts 1% 72 71 71

These scores represent average findings from recent visitors to the top 40 online retailers’ websites in the UK (by traffic volume, as listed by IMRG and Hitwise). Each individual retailer is likely to have a different picture of which acquisition sources drive the most traffic and which drive the best traf-fic. But if we’re only looking at what drives the most traffic, we’re missing key information that could serve as a huge competitive advantage, since success is often found at the margins. We’re missing some opportunities for real volume.

When I look at this chart, what I see is that search engine results and promotional emails are deliver-ing tremendous bang for the buck because both sources are driving high quantity and high quality. Based solely on this data, I would be tempted to put my resources into really understanding what can be done to make promotional emails more effective because I can have more control over emails.

Social media has yet to blow me away as a driver of website traffic, store traffic or sales. That doesn’t mean we should ignore it; that means we should keep it in perspective as one of many tools at our disposal.



Promotional Emails










0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%






Promotional Emails










0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%






FINDING #2: Our customers want to hear from us!

We asked people how they wanted to hear from retailers, and traditional channels win again. Nearly 20% of our customers don’t want to hear from us; the other 80% have definite opinions on what channel they like best. Are you asking your customers how they want to hear from you? Once you know the answers, are you digging deeper to find out if you are effectively communicating throught-hose preferred channels and driving the sales and loyalty you want?

How do you prefer to hear about sales and promotions?% of

Respondents U.S.

% of Respondents

UK

Promotional emails 64% 62%

Don’t want communications 10% 18%

This company’s website 21% 16%

Postal mail 25% 12%

Television 11% 8%

Social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) 8% 2%

Mobile phone text messages or alerts 5% 1%

Radio 3% 1%

Other 2% 1%

As retailers, we sometimes assume that since “everyone” is using social media these days, “everyone” wants to hear from us on Facebook. In fact, a scant 2% of all of our site visitors prefer to hear from us on social media (in the US, that number is 8%). Most prefer emails, our websites, and even snail mail.

Though only 2% said social media was their preferred way to hear from us, more than one-third of our website visitors seem to be willing to connect with us in some way on social media. When we asked all of the survey respondents which social media site would be their first choice, 33% chose Facebook. Still, nearly two-thirds of our customers don’t want to connect with us on social media. This suggests a bit of a glass ceiling when it comes to using social media to engage large percentages of customers. These figures will almost certainly change over time, but right now it’s an uphill battle.



Promotional Emails










0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%






Which social media website would be your first choice for receiving communications from this company?

% of Respondents

U.S.

% of Respondents

UK

None of the above 47% 58%

Facebook 40% 33%

Twitter 4% 2%

A website not listed here 2% 2%

YouTube 2% 3%

LinkedIn 2% 1%

MySpace 2% 1%

Flickr 1% 0%

FINDING #3: Facebook still rules, but is not as big a factor as we might think. Yet.

We already know Facebook is becoming the number one website in the world in terms of traffic; this research shows that it is also the social network preference—by far—of the shoppers at the Top 40 retail websites in both the United States and the United Kindgom. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of online shoppers in the UK are regularly visiting Facebook this year (compared to 56% last year), and less than one-third of online shoppers report that they don’t use any social websites (compared to one-quarter of American online shoppers). These numbers are growing so fast that while we don’t see social media (and Facebook in particular) as a huge driver of sales and traffic yet, it could soon be a game changer.

Which of the following websites do you use regularly?

% of Respondents

U.S.

% of Respondents

UK

Facebook 66% 61%

I don’t use social websites 24% 28%

YouTube 23% 27%

Twitter 13% 10%

LinkedIn 11% 5%

MySpace 10% 3%

Flickr 5% 3%

Yelp 3% 0%

A social website not listed here 3% 2%



Promotional Emails










0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%






Promotional Emails










0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


46%

13%

10%

10%

8%5%

3%

2%

1%

1%






FINDING #4: Let the customers be your guide.

This research represents aggregate findings for the Top 40 retailers in the UK. All of us should know how many of our own customers are influenced by promotional emails or advertising on Facebook or word-of-mouth recommendations, and furthermore, we should know which group is most likely to buy. We should also know how people want to hear from us and how well we’re doing when it comes to communicating through those channels. We need to ask ourselves if social media is worth the in-vestment. If we discover that the answer is yes, we need to make the most of it by making sure that everything about our interactions on social media meets the needs and expectations of our custom-ers. Otherwise, the effort is wasted, and could even be detrimental. About the Author

As President and CEO of ForeSee Results, Larry Freed is an expert on customer satisfaction and authors dozens of research papers and reports on the subject every year. Larry speaks extensively on the topic at private and public sector industry events in the United States and in Europe, and has been quoted in numerous publications and media, including the BBC, CNN, London Times, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Internet Retailer, Internet Retailing, Multichannel Merchant, DM News, Computerworld, Federal Computer Week and Government Executive, among many others.

About the Research Team

Rhonda Berg, Research Manager at ForeSee Results, led the research team that worked on the 2010 ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Rhonda manages many research initiatives, such as the annual Top 100 and Top 40 Retail Satisfaction Indices (both U.S. and UK) and the quarterly E-Government Satisfaction and Transparency Indices. She also serves as an internal consultant regarding statistics, methodology, and survey design. Rhonda has been a research profes-sional for 20 years in a number of industries and holds advanced degrees in business and sociology.

About the Research Methodology

The social media findings reported in this paper are based on a survey of almost 12,000 visitors to the Top 40 e-retail websites (determined according to sales revenue as reported by Internet Retailer’s 2010 Top 500 Guide). Survey responses were collected by FGI Research’s Smart Panel. The study measured satisfaction among shoppers who visited the site, regardless of whether they ultimately executed a purchase online, providing insight into the performance of retail websites as research and purchase channels. ForeSee Results used the methodology of the American Customer Satisfaction In-dex (ACSI), developed at the University of Michigan, to determine the scores. The ACSI is the national standard for customer satisfaction and has been proven to have a direct link with stock prices and other measures of financial performance.



About ForeSee Results

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyses voice of customer data to help organisations increase loyalty, recommendations and marketing value. Using a patented, scientific methodology developed at the University of Michigan, ForeSee Results identifies improvements across all channels and touch points that drive customer satisfaction. With more than 58 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, Fore-See Results offers unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement and management around the globe.

ForeSee Results, a privately held company, is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan and at www.ForeSeeRe-sults.com. Connect with ForeSee Results at http://www.foreseeresults.com/blogs-community/

foresee results report on social media marketing uk

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