Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Amplied
Analytics
INSIDE THIS ISSUE...
A Guide to
Website Redesigns
Checklist for Publishing
Quality Content
Upping Your Delayed
Conversions Game
PLUS
O P 5 0
T Analytics
olutions
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Amplified Analytics
It can be challenging to know definitively what the driver of conversions or
engagement events are on a digital property, but it is becoming much less
complicated thanks to the increasing experience of Web professionals and the
powerful technologies supporting them.
Affiliate Marketings
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From the
EDITOR
the immense amount of data that can be utilized in the effort to improve 999 E. Touhy Ave. Des Plaines, IL 60018
enterprise performance from a business, user experience and organi- Toll Free: 1.800.817.1518
International: 1.773.628.2779
zational standpoint. Fax: 1.773.272.0920
The problem, however, is that it is easy to become overwhelmed by the
increasing number of data sources and the highly detailed metrics coming
from a rising volume of channels and technology platforms. Econsultancys
Measurement and Analytics Report 2016 (produced in partnership with
Lynchpin) for example, explored how organizations are using data strategi-
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
cally and tactically to generate insights and improve business performance Peter Prestipino
and the results were intriguing. peter@websitemagazine.com
The report revealed that the vast majority (84 percent) of marketers agree
that their understanding of the customer is increasing over time, and 64
percent say that they are currently using data-driven customer insights to MANAGING EDITOR:
adapt their marketing strategies and influence business decisions. Despite Amberly Dressler
the obvious increasing importance of data, the proportion of analytics data adressler@websitemagazine.com
used to drive decision-making within organizations dropped by seven per-
centage points compared to last years survey. Whats more, while 77 percent
of marketers believe digital analytics important to their companys digital *CONTRIBUTORS:
transformation, fewer than one in five consider digital reporting to have a Kevin Lindsay
Brian Toolan
very influential role in supporting business decisions. Daniel Bornstein
In this months feature article in Website Magazine, readers will be exposed Martin Greif
to the trends that impact the collection of data and the tactics that can be used EJ McGowan
to put the insights gathered into action. While Web analytics is a broad practice Hunter Jensen
Jamie Birch
area and can be quite complex at times, it serves each Net professional well to
have a solid foundation.
In addition to this insights shared in Website Magazines December 2016
GRAPHIC DESIGNER:
feature article, readers will have access to other helpful articles on topics
Shannon Rickson
including e-commerce, Web design, search marketing and more from some shannon@websitemagazine.com
of digital medias brightest minds. This issue also offers useful information
on conversion optimization, mobile and digital advertising as well as a list
of 50 of the most popular digital analytics solutions. ADVERTISING:
As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of Website Magazine and en- Brian Wallace
courage you to join us on the Net where our editors and industry contribu- brian@websitemagazine.com
tors share the technologies and insights that matter most to Web success.
Now Available to Website Magazine, 999 E. Touhy Ave., Des Plaines, IL 60018.
Canada Post: Please send undeliverable items to: 2835 Kew
Drive, Windsor ON, N8T 3B7
Find out whats on the editorial calendar, learn more about the variety of Copyright 2016 by Website Magazine. All rights reserved. Materi-
als may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written
new promotional opportunities available and access current advertising rates permission. For reprints of any article, contact the editor.
*The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those
in Website Magazines 2017 Media Kit available at wsm.co/mediakit17. of Website Magazine.
www.WebsiteMagazine.com
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MARKETING NEWS
$52 Million
Mobile Opens by Wavefront, a metrics monitoring
service for cloud and modern
Weekend Warriors
application environments, an-
nounced that it has secured $52
million in a Series B funding round.
Mobile now accounts for 73 percent of email opens for retailers Existing investors, Sequoia Capi-
according to Yesmails analysis of 3 billion email opens, with that tal and Sutter Hill Ventures, were
number spiking to 78 percent on Saturday and Sunday. This fi nding joined by new investor Tenaya
suggests those are either the best days to send e-commerce emails Capital and other equity holders.
or that people have held onto the messages until they have down-
time to read or review. $100 Million
Five-time NBA champ Kobe Bryant
and business partner Jeff Stibel
While online retail sales are certainly still trending upward, they are not $25 Million
expected to have the same growth as in holidays past. Adobe predicts Baobab Studios, creators of virtual
that 2016 will see 1.7 percent less growth than 2015 but still $9.1 bil- reality animation entertainment,
lion more than 2015 for a total of $91.6 billion overall. And, for the first announced the close of $25 mil-
time, mobile will exceed desktop shopping visits for the full holiday lion in Series B funding, bringing
season (53 percent). While mobile traffic has hit a tipping point, visits total funding to date to $31 million.
from these devices will only contribute to 34 percent of online sales.
$12.4 Million
Apptimize, a company that of-
fers an optimization platform for
Access holiday predictions based on 1 trillion A/B testing of mobile apps, has
website visits at wsm.co/hpredict. announced it has secured $12.4
million in Series B financing.
TECH UPDATES
Start Using a
Secondary DNS
Octobers epic DDoS attacks against Dyns network forced many
enterprises to examine their existing domain name system (DNS)
configurations. What they found, however, does not bode well
for the state of Internet security. Looking at the top 100 domains No HTTPS? Now
at Alexa, DNS Made Easy found that 58 percent of those out-
sourcing their DNS were still using only a single provider. The
You Should Panic
company, and many security experts, suggests that a second- Starting in Jan. 2017, Googles Chrome
ary DNS should be a standard practice among large brands who browser will begin marking any page with
value performance and reliability. a password or credit card fields as insecure
if the page is not on HTTPS. As it stands
NeverBounce
Origami Studio EMERGE App
Largerio
Real-time email
A tool for designing in- Multi-channel order and inven- verification and email Shows the technologies
terfaces from Facebook tory management system cleaning services used on websites
Josephine County
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micro-breweries Toni Webb, Director
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49%
a 3-D projection of participants in real-time so that people can Nearly half (49 percent) of survey respon-
communicate as if they were face to face. Developments like dents say wearable technology will
these no doubt contribute to Goldman Sachs predicting aug-
increase workplace efficiency, and two in
mented and virtual reality will be an $80 billion market by 2025.
three want their company to pay for their
Pokmon Go no doubt will contribute to ARs growth as well.
wearable tech. (PwC, 2016)
The app brought augmented reality to the masses, even
adding in some unexpected benefi ts. According to a Microsoft
Research and Stanford report, Pokmon Go added 144 billion
steps within the first 30 days to U.S. physical activity. Those fig- 12.4 The production of new automobiles
equipped with data connectivity, either
ures are not even as impressive, however, as the five new world
records it broke according to Guinness: Million through a built-in communications module
or by a tether to a mobile device, is forecast
to reach 12.4 million in 2016 and increase
1. Most revenue grossed by a mobile game in its first month to 61 million in 2020. (Gartner, 2016)
2. Most downloaded mobile game in its fi rst month
3. Most international charts topped simultaneously for a
mobile game in its fi rst month (downloads)
4. Most international charts topped simultaneously for a
mobile game in its fi rst month (revenue)
11% When asked about when they connect to
social media during their workday, about 40
percent of respondents said during lunch
5. Fastest time to gross $100 million by a mobile game and intermittently throughout the day
respectively, and 11 percent said during
Despite all this, the effects on the local business economy bathroom breaks. (Bambu by Sprout Social, 2016)
missed the mark with San Francisco/Portland startup Womply
unable to uncover any meaningful impact after reviewing its
companys database of over 2 million merchants regardless
of reports indicating otherwise. Still, the apps overnight popu- 30% By 2020, 30 percent of Web browsing sessions
will be done without a screen. (Gartner, 2016)
larity proves were one digital step closer to having the technol-
ogy were creating now, being what will inform us in the future,
perhaps in 3-D humanoid form.
EXPLOSION
How many apps do you have on your mobile phone?
1. The global revenue opportunity for publishers of mobile
If youre like most modern consumers the number apps is forecast to grow by 270 percent from $70
ranges anywhere from 11-20 (Pew Research), and billion in 2015 to this amount in 2020:
the time you spend interacting with them is growing a. $189 billion
at record pace. b. $1.2 trillion
c. $250.93 billion
Globally, time spent in apps grew by a staggering 114
d. $727 billion
percent on Android phones from 2014 to 2016 according
to App Annie Intelligence, with communication and social 2. What were the top three paid apps by iOS and Google
apps like WhatsApp Messenger and Facebook attracting Play revenue in the first half of 2016?
the largest share of time spent. Time spent in media and a. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Facetune and Terraria
video apps (like YouTube) has also grown by 212 percent b. Monster Strike, Clash of Clans, Game of War - Fire Age
c. Facebook, Snapchat and Selfie
over this period and is on the brink of overtaking games.
d. Shutterfly, Minecraft and Pokmon Go
Even so, app retention remains a critical issue in this eco-
system with 75 percent of all app users churning within 90 3. Which country recently surpassed the U.S. in iOS App
days (Localytics). Store revenue?
Despite this challenge, many brands are consider- a. Japan
b. Russia
ing tapping into this competitive yet potentially lucra-
c. Brazil
tive market. Knowing the factors that contribute to
d. China
app downloads, engagement and revenue is a good
place to start. 4. Not all apps are created to generate revenue through the
Take this months Quiz Time to test your app-savvy app stores or in-app advertising. Weve listed some of the
strategies of popular apps below. Which one is not true?
and see if your app idea has legs based on 2016 data
a. HBO Go: Allows current subscribers to stream content
from App Annie.
on the go
b. Uber: Drives mobile transactions that are processed
outside of the app store
c. eBay: Drives online shopping conversion
d. Venmo: Uses augmented reality to let users see how
furniture would look in their homes
Access the answers to Decembers Quiz Time 5. True or False: While there are more app downloads on
by scanning the QR code on the left or visiting Android devices worldwide by a factor of 7:2 due to its
wsm.co/qtdec16. larger base of users, iOS leads on revenue generated from
apps by 3:2 due to its more affluent user base.
D E CE M B E R 2016 | .com | 11
Enterprise
READY
From a Web
of Pages to a
Web of Experiences
By Kevin Lindsay, Adobe
Were in a major period of transition, as ...a new era of business in which your brand is de-
our Web of pages shifts to become a Web fined by those who experience it.
of experiences. The last millisecond and A marketers job is to understand how customers
the behaviors it triggers have become less experience their brand and work to define those experi-
a consideration and more the norm in this ences to benefit both sides. No longer are great products
always-on, customer-first universe. enough to win over consumer sentiment, he explains;
instead, we all need to be razor-focused on building and
Consumers dont just expect, they demand, more cultivating the most meaningful experiences possible
spot-on experiences and personalized journeys from experiences that stretch across all of our brand platforms.
the brands they frequent. They dont want websites. Why does it matter now? Because, were in a web-
Websites are boring necessary evils in their fully inte- site crisis, really. On the average website, nearly two
grated lives. Web experiences, though, are something in five users dont complete even the simplest tasks.
special. Thats what pulls consumers in and inspires Design and UX are issues. The simplest transaction is
purchases, viral chatter and other key actions. A Web loaded with steps and page after irrelevant page of info.
experience is something we, as consumers, can climb Its not surprising that so many people ditch their
on board for, feel good about or get behind. Its some- carts before buying their shoes, downloading their
thing we can all relate to on a bigger level. music or booking their flights; theyre just not good
This shouldnt surprise us; were in the experience experiences. Theyre not meant to be. Theyre meant to
business and have been for a while. The next phase is be websites. And the average person will give a website
optimizing those experiences with our collective eye about 60 seconds before calling it quits that last mil-
on creating perfect experiences. Its doable. Since you lisecond is a powerful pull.
have a site, you already have the data, the content and
the context three key pieces to building a Web ex- HOW WELL SHIFT TO A WEB OF EXPERIENCES
perience. The next step is to tap into the brave new This goes beyond just finding (or not finding) our way
user experience (UX), design and tech worlds to create through cluttered and poorly organized pages. Once
something even bigger and better: a true experience. upon a time, websites provided dazzling new ways
to communicate our brands. They were cutting-edge
THE WORLD OF NEW UX & methods that boasted transactional experiences with-
THE NEW WORLD OF EXPERIENCES out the hassle things that, prior to the Internet, we
Brian Solis, a thought leader in the space, unpacks had to do in person or over the phone (the horror).
this even more in his book, X: The Experience When Fast-forward two decades, and now, we casually
Business Meets Design. He mentioned that this is toss around the term digital experience to describe
Analytics for
4. tableau.com
5. appannie.com
6. kissmetrics.com
7. optimizely.com
Next Month:
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40. swrve.com
How Your Business Can ties arise. An experienced investor can bring years of ex-
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get through the burst than just access to capital would.
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E-Commerce
EXPRESS
Lookbook for
5 Email Types
By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
3 Email
a brands website, the ability to buy online and pick up in A person purchasing a high-ticket item, for example,
store and get near real-time help to customer service is- may not be fully able to review the product until they
sues on social media. So, it is not a stretch to ask engaged
email recipients to follow a brand on social media or en-
get it home and try it for a lengthy amount of time.
On the other hand, if purchasing experience is being Types You
gage in a contest on the page. Carters knows its audience
well in that its social media sweepstake asks parents to
surveyed, that email can be sent right away as the
transaction is fresh in the recipients mind. Arent Sending
tag Carters in pictures of their sleepyheads for a chance
to win a gift card. As they do, Carters not only improves
There are hundreds of email types to choose from
when scheduling campaigns this holiday season and But Should
social media engagement and creates brand advocates beyond. Understanding what the competition is doing
but it is also able to leverage all of that user-generated well, however, is a good way to narrow down the Get in the know at
content for more relatable campaigns. emails that should and shouldnt be sent. wsm.co/3etypes.
Design and
DEVELOPMENT
DIGITAL
CHANGES
Practical Solutions for Overcoming the Inherent
Challenges in Website Redesign Projects
By Peter Prestipino, Editor-In-Chief
In the course of an enterprises digital performance is to start with the right architecture in the
lifespan, the time will inevitably come first place. So too can the right color palette lead to
when the redesign of a website be- significant increases in conversion, and the placement
comes necessary. of calls-to-action (CTAs) literally make or break an en-
terprise, but changing even a few elements of a website
Whether it is to take advantage of the latest trends, freshen likely wont be significant enough on their own. As a
what has become a stale brand or to simply keep pace result, a redesign from the virtual ground up is almost
with the competition, there are plenty of reasons to en- always a better course of action. That, of course, requires
gage in a redesign project and it can be both exciting and a great deal of investment and effort.
terrifying for those responsible for the projects success.
Website Magazine regularly addresses the reasons Establish a Plan & Process
that Web design (and specifically a redesign) should Perhaps the best advice that Web professionals re-
top the list of an enterprises priorities and the content sponsible for a redesign project will receive (impor-
readers find each month in the print edition and daily tant if they are a designer or an enterprise employing
on the Net within our Design & Development channel one) is to learn from the successes and failures of
(wsm.co/desdevdigest) provides an excellent start- others and the aims and objectives of the finished
ing point for those in the process of determining if the product. Even if the processes seem to be somewhat
redevelopment of a digital property makes sense. over-the-top, it is important for those ultimately
While there will undoubtedly be companies satis- responsible for a redesign project to do what they
fied with the current look and function of their website, can to understand the scope of the project and the
redesigns often end up being necessary. For example, expectations for it. Conducting interviews with key
savvy Web workers know that faster load times means stakeholders (discover several possible questions for a
lower bounce rates, but the only way to achieve better design-related interview at wsm.co/redesqs), devel-
oping detailed project briefs, performing competitive
Quality
Content
Checklist
By Amberly Dressler, Managing Editor
It can be challenging to know definitively what In the digital decades past, marketing and advertis-
the driver of conversion or engagement events ing as well as user experience (UX) initiatives lacked
are on a digital property, but it is becoming the finite measurability that allowed those responsible
much less complicated thanks to the increas- (the campaign managers) to determine return accu-
ing experience of Web professionals and the rately. Most professionals are familiar with the famous
powerful technologies supporting them. John Wanamaker quote, Half the money I spend on
advertising is wasted; the trouble is I dont know which
What the digital realm makes possible is to know what half. Fortunately, this clever phrase is quickly becom-
strategic efforts, promotional initiatives and design ex- ing irrelevant.
periences are most effective, providing an opportunity The good news for todays enterprises is that the
over time to identify the elements that encourage users digital realm is incredibly data-driven. In addition to
to engage and those that prevent greater levels of suc- the nature of track-ability inherent in digital, there is
cess in general. an abundance of solutions available that provide im-
The insights that can be gathered from the vast pool of pression and conversion costs included at their core,
available data today, not only informs brands about where and that has made it easier than ever before for Web
their resources are best invested to acquire new custom- businesses to determine the return so many desperately
ers, but how to plan and project for future growth (and rely on, providing access to the data and insights re-
revenue) as well. quired to drive growth.
In this months edition of Website Magazine, explore
TRUST THE DATA Visit Website Magazines Analytics Insider channel to learn
Master the Complexities of Analytics more about current trends and important developments about
There are some significant challenges facing those inter- leveraging Web and mobile data at wsm.co/affiliate16.
ested in understanding more about the performance of
their promotional and optimization initiatives. Todays
digital experience, for example, is incredibly fragmented lead, bounce rate, average page views per visit, average
users are on multiple devices, visit different channels cost per page views, average time on site, rate of retuning
with regularity and hop between these experiences fre- visitors); and yes, of course, revenue metrics (return on
quently. That creates a terrible mish-mash of data that investment and the cost to acquire a customer).
is almost impossible to make sense of and measure at For those just getting started with analytics, review
least for the uninitiated. Website Magazines Guide to Getting Started with Digital
What makes matters even worse is that even as com- Analytics at wsm.co/startics. Those with more a more
panies are investing in analytics most simply do not advanced expectation of analytics, however, have plenty
trust the data (and insights) they discover. In fact, only to concentrate their efforts upon.
38 percent of respondents, according to a survey by
KPMG and Forrester Consulting, have a high level of GET IN THE USERS MIND
confidence in the insights they gather, and only one- Know Every Audience Segment with Analytics
third trust the analytics they generate from their busi- In terms of user experience, analytics makes it possible
ness operations. That, of course, does not change the for brands to become hyper-aware of behavioral triggers
fact that brands are aware of the importance of analytics from something as simple as a click to something deeper
and are actively using it. Half of those surveyed, in fact, such as loyalty.
reported using data and analytics tools to understand While many Web workers will be content to measure
their existing customers, 48 percent reporting using website traffic, engagement and conversions (and there is al-
them to find new customers, and another 47 percent most always a sufficient amount of data to do so), its also pos-
use them to develop new products and services. sible to analyze website visitors. Fortunately, there is plenty
As analytics increasingly drive the decisions that of information that professionals can gather from even the
affect us as individuals, as businesses and as societ- briefest glance and many analytics solutions makes it incred-
ies, there must be a heightened focus on ensuring the ibly easy to do so, providing insights for example on the ge-
highest level of trust in the data, the analytics and the ography, demographics, interests, technology, behavior, and
controls that generate desired outcomes, said Christian level of engagement of an audience or customer base.
Rast, the global head of data and analytics and a partner Customers dont have identical characteristics and they
with KPMG in Germany, in a statement. Organizations most certainly dont behave in the same way. As marketers
that continue to invest in D&A without determining increasingly employ different marketing tactics for each
its effectiveness could likely make decisions based on group, however, segmenting should be a core practice in
inaccurate models, which would perpetuate a cycle of their digital strategy.
mistrust in the insights. While its actually quite common for some basic seg-
Success with anything requires a plan and in the realm mentation to occur, the abundance of data today makes
of analytics the same holds true. And when enterprises it possible to move beyond the traditional (age, gender,
know their audience and their preferences, it becomes etc.) to a far more sophisticated break down of audiences.
easier to turn data into dollars. Thats a good thing for ROI-hungry Web workers.
At Adobe Summit, Adobe introduced Segment IQ
START WITH THE ANALYTICS ESSENTIALS and is now announcing the first live feature within that
Those enterprises that are content to only measure the category: Segment Comparison for Analysis Work-
basics, confident in their ability to spot both macro and space. In what is expected to be a first in a series of
micro-level insights on their own without much digging, audience analysis and discovery tools within Segment
have a long list of metrics to monitor on an ongoing basis IQ, the new capability essentially makes it possible to
including: those related to traffic generation (overall site discover the differences between sets of target audience
traffic, traffic sources, mobile traffic, click-through rate segments through automated analysis of all known met-
and cost-per-click); conversion (conversion rate, cost per rics and dimensions.
In speaking with customers, we saw analysts spend- monly, analytics platforms crunch a bunch of data and
ing an incredible amount of time comparing various then spit out pages and pages of reports, making the user
segments with each other in order to understand the determine what they should do. We redesigned Compass
actionable differences between them, wrote Trevor to bring together data from every consumer interaction to
Paulsen of Adobes Analytics team. Segments often one place, and give digital merchandisers and site-expe-
overlap with each other or have non-obvious differences rience managers a prioritized list of opportunities to ac-
lurking deep within the data, and uncovering these in- complish their goals.
sights is like picking a needle out of a haystack sifting
through these cascades of data manually to find the most Bridge Conversion Gaps with Analytics
significant differences is often impossible. The overarching trend for those in e-commerce/retail is to
explore analytics to find answers to user-experience ques-
Use Analytics to Prioritize Business Opportunities tions, retention problems and conversion issues.
Empowering marketers is the name of the game for many Magento merchants, for example, will soon be able to
of todays technology platforms, whether it is the ability to analyze their retail businesses better thanks to the com-
make changes on the fly with minimal or no IT support or panys acquisition of RJMetrics, which was picked up for
a way to transform data into actual strategy. an undisclosed amount. Types of information that can be
The latter is exactly what a new product from Bright- gleaned from RJMetrics include improved segmentation
Edge hopes to provide, particularly when it comes to cre- and personalization abilities, better insights into merchan-
ating content that matters to individuals in their moment dising decisions (like promotion, placement), customer
of need like when they are searching for answers. lifetime value info, churn analytics and more.
BrightEdges DataMind is a deep-learning engine that iden- For the latter, as more retailers look to take advan-
tifies important search trends, competitive threats and market tage of a subscription economy they can identify when
shifts in real-time and works with other BrightEdge products a shopper is ready to cancel their membership leading
(like the recently announced Content IQ and Intelligence Ex- retailers to miss out on that valuable recurring revenue.
periences solutions) to provide accurate and actionable insights Not only are subscription-born companies like Stitch Fix,
to drive better content strategies and avoid guesswork to iden- Fabletics and others leveraging monthly programs, but
tify potential content topics with high demand. also retailers like Amazon and Target for items shoppers
Personalization platform Bloomreach announced im- purchase on a regular basis (e.g., household goods, baby
provements to its Compass application as well that are items, beauty products).
worth a closer look for digital merchandisers. The Bloom-
reach innovations leverage algorithmic intelligence, which The Simplification of Analytics
prioritizes content opportunities while predicting the im- One of the reasons there are not more digital analysts
pact on revenue. available to do much of what is described above is
Digital merchandisers can face hundreds if not thou- because it is very complex and involved but that is
sands of content and product decisions daily; what Com- starting to change thanks to the trend toward the sim-
pass now provides is insights and suggestions into what plification of analytics solutions.
they should do with their products, categories, navigation Google, for example, rolled out a new Google Analyt-
and site-search queries, and even ranks the opportunities ics app (iOS and Android) that offers machine-learning
by their potential monthly revenue impact. powered insights that will be very attractive to brands. The
Compass represents a market shift toward role-based insights can point out the good (e.g., increases in sales or
analytics that are immediately actionable, said Raj De new users) and the bad (like decreases in average session
Datta, co-founder and CEO of BloomReach. All too com- duration or conversion rate). Thats a big step up from
analytics solutions of the past, but there are still other pro-
viders that are also doing much of the analysis on their end
to the benefit of Net professionals.
measured, there party tools like Google and Adobe
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Guide to Creating
Shareable Content
FREE WHITEPAPER
Sponsored by Red Door Interactive
PRESENTED BY
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Net
ADVERTISING
2017
Digital
Advertising
Trends
By Daniel Bornstein, Demand Media
The digital advertising space is complex way to the desired location will fuel heated debate and,
and oftentimes opaque. Its functionary, for the first time, action in 2017.
ad tech, is a conduit intended to drive There are several things that are likely to happen:
transactions within milliseconds, provide (1) demand-side platforms and supply-side platforms
valuable data, and piece together a nu- will become more transparent in their pricing; (2)
anced Web of prospective partners and SSPs will have to lower their take rates to compete;
technologies. Things move fast and are (3) rates will start to shift from percentages to flat rates
always changing. per transaction; and (4) larger platforms will consoli-
date smaller niche players within the value chain and
The New Year will usher in its own set of trends, provide all-inclusive offerings that are priced more ag-
not least of which will be a move back to principled gressively. Both advertisers and publishers will stand to
1:1 relationships between advertisers and publishers gain when the moat separating them recedes.
using the strongest, most reliable and credible part-
ners. With that as a barometer, lets unpack a few Ad Blocking and Page Speed
trends likely to be salient in 2017. This was the year the topic of ad blocking hit fever
pitch. The common sentiment seemed to find all
Opaque Transactions, players in the ecosystem guilty of degrading the user
Take Rates and Middlemen experience. Its important to note that publishers are
PWC and the IAB teamed up to analyze the ineffi- not the only ones to blame; an influx of vendors sepa-
ciency in digital advertising spend. The subsequent rating advertisers and publishers have heralded in too
report they published posits that only 45 cents of many pixels that cause latency resulting in overbur-
every dollar spent makes its way to a publisher, the dened advertising experiences.
entity that actually owns the assets. The above illustra- According to eMarketer, more than 15 million
tion from Ad Tech player AppNexus clearly illustrates more Americans are expected to layer on blockers in
the issue. While this is not a new concern, revelations 2017. Even more alarming is that according to Page-
from influencers such as Hamish Nicklin (CRO of the Fair, 22 percent of the worlds smartphone owners are
Guardian) that as little as 30 percent of spend sees its blocking ads. At the same time, consumers, by in large,
Header Bidding
gins will be small relative to the data-based rigor theyll
provide in this particular instance they will add value An Update on
For the uninitiated, header bidding is a snippet of code
placed within the header of a publishers site that allows
by further uniting the respective parties directly.
Click Fraud
multiple demand sources to compete for an impression
simultaneously (also known as pre-bidding), thus serv- Daniel Bornstein is the senior vice president of media mon- See how much of your
ing the highest priced bid and enabling the publisher to
etization and operations for Demand Media, which owns traffic is fake at
and operates a host of content-rich sites like eHow and
realize the true value of its inventory. LIVESTRONG.com. wsm.co/clickfake.
Conversion
CORNER
The site owner provides potential answers in the sites Have funnel-focused plans
pages the user arrives, asks their questions and de- Many sites lose out because they are built solely for
cides when the conversation ends. people who are ready to convert. Thats a terrible ap-
Exactly when that dialogue stops depends on sev- proach, and one that is likely to make the user want to
eral factors: leave if he or she is in the research phase. A site should
have educational content for top-of-the-funnel visitors
Maybe the user has converted, and bought something and sale-optimized pages for those in the bottom-of-
from the site. the-funnel.
Maybe the site just isnt right for a particular visitor. Know high-conversion terms
This is tougher to see now that Google blocks visibility
BOTH HAPPEN ALL THE TIME into organic search engine traffic, but marketers need
There is, however, a third possible outcome: a visitor to check Google Webmaster Tools for very specific
who teeters in between those two states, neither con- product searches and AdWords for sale-leaning terms
verting nor wanting to end the conversation then and that lead to their site.
there. That can happen for a lot of reasons. The user Not all conversations have the same shot at con-
may like the websites offer, but still wants to compare versions, and brands need to be able to identify which
prices. The visitor may almost be ready to buy, but conversations are likely to end in a win.
will only decide after one last round of research. Most
websites are unprepared for this in-between state, and FIX LOW-HANGING ENDERS
basically give up on the sale. If there was any doubt, If a marketer is ready for the different types of conver-
that cant be you. sations and is collecting data about which ones tend
December is here, and the long- motions and events with ever-increasing volume of teaser
awaited holiday season is upon us at emails. They should steadily increase the cadence of these
last. This month represents the busiest messagesfrom once a week early in the month, to every
time of year for promotions and the big- day of the week while the promotion runsto generate
gest sales season for many retailers. hype early on and keep the momentum going through-
out an email campaign. Even after the holiday promo-
Its also the last month of the financial year for retail busi- tion has passed, marketers must maintain a regular flow
nesses operating on an annual fiscal calendarmeaning of content to customers so they are used to seeing the
its their last chance to turn their bottom line from nega- messages in their inboxes and engaging with the brand.
tive to positive and close out the year on a high note.
In these final weeks of the year, retail marketers Shift to suggestions for last-minute shoppers
should fine-tune their email marketing tactics with Many holiday shoppers aim to have their gift-getting
some last-minute modifications to wrap up the holi- done well in advance of the holidays, but those plans
day season. Consider the following tips to be a holiday often go awry as the holidays sneak up. Retailers can
giftone that will help retailers achieve email market- make it easy for last-minute shoppers to give great gifts
ing success through the holidays and into 2017. by focusing promotions on items that can be down-
loaded or shipped quickly. The closer the holiday is,
Test and tweak for standout subject lines the more the content should highlight giftswhether
Toy manufacturers dont ship new holiday toys to e-books that can be downloaded or hardcover novels
children without testing them for product faults and that can be shipped next-daythat will arrive in time
market interest first. Nor should retail marketers send for the holidays.
holiday campaigns to their subscriber base without first
testing elements of the email messages. Shoppers will be Simplify the purchase process
receiving a larger than usual amount of email during the Consumers can have long holiday shopping lists and
holiday season, so marketers should use whatever tac- may be overwhelmed with their holiday preparations.
tics will give them an edge. A/B split testing, for exam- Marketers should make the purchase process as quick
ple, can help determine which subject lines, email body and easy as possible so customers can cross off shopping
content and images will be best received by customers. from their lists and move onto their holiday planning.
Marketers can also test subject line emojis and person- If possible, they should implement buy now buttons
alization tactics to determine what helps messages stand or one-click purchasing into their email marketing con-
out in customers crowded inboxes. tent so shoppers can take action and purchase products
Inbox Spirit Drum up interest for ongoing interaction
without even leaving their inboxes.
If marketers remember these best practices in
Learn how non-retail The next few weeks will be filled with holiday event af- the last few weeks of the holiday season, they will
ter holiday event, and retailers certainly dont want cus- wrap up the sales year with cheer. Not only will a
brands send holiday tomers to miss theirs because it slipped off their radar. strong December help marketers finish strong in
email campaigns at Throughout the month of December, marketers should 2016, but it will also prepare them to hit the ground
wsm.co/inboxspirit. build awareness of and excitement for their holiday pro- running in the New Year.
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Mobile
MATTERS
There are 2.2 million apps in the Google To help their users, developers must pay close
Play Store. Apples App Store features 2 attention to their apps onboarding steps. A well-
million of its own. With more than 4 mil- planned onboarding process gives the user a solid
lion products between Android and iOS understanding of an app right from the start. After
alone, there are some great apps out that, the app should be simple enough to use to avoid
there and some really bad ones, too. frustration and deletion.
Weve all experienced bad apps like ones that never BUILD YOUR BUSINESS
load properly, or are difficult to use because of the MODEL ON LOTS OF ADS
many built-in ads that interfere, are poorly designed Its OK if some ads appear in an app. Its not OK
or try to do too much. when they start overwhelming the app itself.
Mobile app development is a competitive indus- Advertisers usually pay mobile app developers
try, which means users are not quick to forgive apps per view or click. Each time someone who uses an
that dont meet their standards. To make your app app and views or clicks on an ad, thats money that
one of the greats, steer it away from these pitfalls. comes to the development company. If a brand is
thinking its a good idea to include as many ads as
THE MORE COMPLEX, THE MORE FUN possible, theyll want to resist that impulse. Being too
A developer has an idea for an amazing adventure game, trigger-happy with ads could result in them becom-
and he knows bigger equals better. He decides to throw ing intrusive and irritating to the user, which means
in every feature he can think of and a few most users will fewer views and clicks and less ad revenue.
have never seen before. It will be so much fun for users Rather, developers will want to tastefully integrate
to explore every aspect of the app, right? ads into their app. They can do so by thinking about
Think again. Complexity is more likely to lead the ads design and placement and not making it obvi-
to frustration than fun. There are fewer things more ous that ads are ads by looking into native advertising.
frustrating than taking the time to download an app As a rule of thumb, app builders will want to
only to find it difficult to use. The most popular apps focus on quality over quantity when it comes to
are typically the easiest ones to use. in-app advertising.
How to Sell Affiliate and reported that 72 percent responded they were likely
or extremely likely to increase their spend on the affiliate
channel in the years to come.
The affiliate channel has a few characteristics no other
Marketing to Your Peers channel can claim. Within any well-managed affiliate pro-
gram exists tremendous expertise, experience and years of
demonstrated success. Its the only channel that offers this
breadth and depth of experience. It is also proven to be
By Jamie Birch, CEO of JEBCommerce cost-effective and targeted, so lets look at five steps to get
its rightful seat at the table.
Whether youve been managing market-
ing efforts for a decade or are new to the EDUCATE
scene, odds are youve personally experi- As with any channel, education within an organization
enced the frustration of being left out of is key. The other departments and channel managers
key decisions within your enterprise. need to know what it does, how it does it, how it helps
the company achieve its goals and how it can help them
The affiliate channel has experienced just this prob- achieve theirs. Too many times emerging channels, as well
lem for the entirety of its existence, with a repu- as long standing ones like affiliate, refrain from shouting
tation that precedes it. Since the early days of the their successes within the organization. Leaders of these
Internet, affiliate marketing has always been a part channels need to inform and educate across the board.
of the marketing mix. Its biggest selling point, on the
side of the affiliate publisher, has been the low bar- SCRUTINIZE
rier to entry. Create a website, post links, build traffic Affiliate programs need to be measured with the same
and the checks will come. To this day that hope of a metrics in mind as the other marketing channels. Too
full-time check with part-time work is still a highly often the channel is grouped together as one entity,
cited promise. but each partnership needs to be evaluated on its own
merits. One bad apple really should be one bad apple,
THE ARGUMENTS not a bad channel.
That strength quickly turned into one of the main weak-
nesses of the channel, however. Along with the solid BOAST
business plans and strategies came an onslaught of poorly The affiliate channel does a horrible job of sharing each
designed websites that did nothing more than annoy the others successes as an industry. When it is done, data is
channel managers and create more work to turn them limited and a theme of protecting ones secret to success
away. Add to that the history of many bad apples over- is always apparent. For any digital channel to be viewed
writing other affiliate publishers commissions, dropping in the proper light, our broader industry must be able to
cookies on advertisers other campaigns (in effect taking see real successes.
credit for sales that wouldnt otherwise be attributed) and
using additional nefarious means to earn commissions, COOPERATE
and its easy to see why many have viewed affiliate mar- All too often digital marketers get isolated within silos, and
keting with a skeptical eye. the affiliate channel is no different. This breeds a hesitance
Theres another trend in the affiliate channel that to work with other departments in an organization. This
lowers its likelihood to be considered a top channel, and isolation leads to misunderstanding of the channel, its
One bad thats the tendency among different players in the space strengths and weaknesses and is a huge part of why it is
apple really to consider the channel as unique and somehow above marginalized within many organizations.
should be one
bad apple,
not a bad
channel.
the scrutiny advertisers place elsewhere. This sort of ar-
rogance hasnt helped the affiliate industry earn its rightful
place among the many digital marketing options.
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8 Habits of Highly
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Web
COMMENTARY
Critical Takeaways
scratch may not match that scale but every element
counts in the broader scope of delivering product to
stakeholders and, more importantly, providing value
1.800.817.1518 | | info@websitemagazine.com
*Quad Graphics, 2016
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