This week’s digital marketing stats include news about social media ad spend, data privacy, NPS scores, and lots more.
As always, you can head on over to the Internet Statistics Database for further stats and insight.
Social media overtakes print to become third largest ad channel
Zenith’s ‘Advertising Expenditure Forecasts’ report has revealed that social media ad spend has overtaken print for the first time, making it the third largest ad channel.
Spend on social media is set to rise 20% this year to reach $84bn, accounting for 13% of all global ad spend; in contrast, spend on print is set to fall 6% to $69bn. TV claims the largest share, accounting for 29% of ad spend, while paid search ranks second with 17%.
Zenith says that it expects total global ad spend growth to remain steady at 4.4% a year to 2021, which is down on the 4.6% forecast made in June. Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at Zenith said: ”We have slightly downgraded our expectations for 2019 amid a marginally weaker trading environment, but growth should then remain steady out to 2021, powered by the robust US ad market.”
US consumers less willing to share data even for a personalised experience
A recent survey from the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) found that US consumers are now more concerned about personal information than they were in 2018.
In a survey of 1,105 US adults, respondents were this year less likely to share information including gender, race, marital status, employment status, sexual orientation, and citizenship status. For example, 33% are willing to share their partner’s first and last name, down from 41% last year. Similarly, 54% are now willing to share their email address compared to 61% in 2018.
Interestingly, the knowledge that they would receive a personalised experience in exchange for their personal information did not make a difference in what respondents were willing to share. In fact, a large percentage were less willing to share their data if it resulted in ads being tailored to them.
18% of young people have deleted social media apps as a result of negative impact
Young people are taking practical measures against the negative impact of social media. This is according to new findings from Mediacom’s 2019 ‘’ report.
In a survey of 1,200 8-19 year olds in the UK, 18% of respondents said they have removed certain social apps from their devices as a result of negativity. Meanwhile, 17% said they have limited their screen time, and 13% have cut down their social media usage.
Interestingly, 24% of teens said they now have more than one Instagram account. Known as ‘finstas’, these secondary accounts allow users to post whatever they want without being judged by others.
Despite the negative effects, Mediacom’s survey found that young people still believe there are more positives about social media. 49% of teen girls in the survey said that social media makes them feel less lonely, while 59% of teens said social media helps them to avoid missing out.
Only 10% of UK brands have an NPS score of 40 or more
A new study by Bain and Company, , has revealed that just 10% of brands in the UK have a net promoter score (NPS) of 40 or more. NPS is a metric for measuring customer satisfaction, which calculates how likely a customer is to recommend a business to a friend or family member.
The insurance company, NFU Mutual, was found to have the highest NPS in the UK, with a score of 70. This was followed by First Direct, Volvo, and Netflix respectively. In terms of categories, technology had the highest average NPS of 36, followed by automotive with 31. On the other end of the spectrum, energy and logistics had the lowest NPS with an average score of -10 and -13 respectively.
Overall, the study suggests that the highest scoring companies tend to invest in saving time for customers and simplifying the experience. In contrast, the lowest scoring display a lack of communication and an inability to manage perceptions.
87% of marketers recognise the transformative benefits of customer-led journeys
New research conducted by Marketing Week in association with Thunderhead suggests that companies who enable customer-led journeys will see transformative benefits in terms of conversion, long-term customer relationships, and overall business performance.
In a survey of 477 UK marketers, 87% said they recognise this fact, which is particularly important given that long-term thinking is sorely needed. Despite the pre-purchase and purchase stages of a customer’s journey being well catered for, just 35% of marketers think their brands give enough attention to the post-purchase phase.
The research also found that many marketers are not investing enough to keep pace with expectations. 39% of marketers say customer experience budgets are due to rise more than 10%, but 37% say they are frozen or falling.
Consequently,, marketers believe there needs to be a realignment of organisational functions to ensure their business is customer-led from the very top. 46% of marketers say the marketing team needs to change a great deal or quite a lot, while 59% say the same thing about the wider business.
APAC consumers are more favourable towards environmentally-friendly brands
APAC consumers are becoming more concerned about the environmental impact of the ecommerce brands they buy from, this is according to a survey of 7,000 consumers from across the region.
The survey – commissioned by Adobe and YouGov – found that 44% of respondents believe it’s important for retailers to be transparent about where their products are sourced. What’s more, 34% are more receptive to retailers who minimise their use of packaging, and just under a third are more receptive to retailers who donate towards environmental causes.
Elsewhere, the study found that APAC consumers also want a seamless CX when shopping online. 31% of respondents said an ecommerce website should be easy to use and navigate, 32% said the website or in-app experience should be great, and 39% said that the website should work well on smartphones.