Strategy

90% of agencies say clients expect more work for less money

Almost 90% of digital and design agencies believe their clients now expect more work for less money, according to a new survey.

The Design Industry Voices report, which interviewed 500 agency staff, found that 80% said client budgets have been reduced and more than two-thirds (70%) said clients expect more work in pitches for free.

The survey by Fairley & Associates, Gabriele Skelton and On Pointe Marketing is now in its fourth year and suggests that digital and design agencies are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn.

This is despite the fact that the Econsultancy and Experian Marketing Budgets 2012 Report showed increasing levels of investment across a range of digital channels and disciplines.

Infinite scrolling: pros and cons

It’s not exactly new, but you probably encountered far more sites with infinite scrolling functionality in 2012 than you did in 2011, and there’s a good chance you’ll come across even more in 2013.

With popular services like Twitter and Pinterest bringing infinite scrolling into the mainstream, it’s no surprise that more and more designers and publishers are considering doing away with old school pagination.

But is infinite scrolling a good trend or will it soon become a design worst practice?

Personalization key for email in 2013

Though email has been with us for the lifetime of most digital marketers, I think it has the potential to be an exciting space, if marketers are able to look at it as a new and exciting channel just as they think of social media.

Agencies are beginning to merge email and social as they see personalization at the core of the success of both channels. This is one area we’ll see grow in 2013 but what else is in store for us when it comes to email?

The continuing growth of integrated marketing in 2013

With JUMP coming up in New York on January 30, 2013, we’re very interested in what is happening in the world of integrated marketing.

We’re tired of companies working in independent silos and not having the conversations that can save them time and money, as well as create a better customer experience and help grow their business.

The face of retail in 2013

With the UK being rocked by the closure of major retail chains such as video rental chain Blockbuster and music store, HMV, it’s an important for us all around the globe to look at what the face of retail will be in 2013 and how shopping needs to continue to change with technology.

Some retailers like Nordstrom are already aware of the need to innovate. Major retailers can’t sit back any longer and watch their competitors crumble without thinking they could be next.

10 ways to encourage customer reviews online

Customer reviews are a hugely important in ecommerce for improving your conversion rate, and can lead to an uplift of 18% in sales.

Research has shown that 61% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision and 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews.

Annoyingly though, customers generally can’t be bothered to leave their feedback. As such you need to find ways of encouraging your customers to leave their feedback without coming across as desperate.

It’s a topic we’ve previously touched on in posts looking at how to organise ecommerce product reviews and how to optimise reviews for higher conversion rates.

And here are 10 tips to help you drive up the number of reviews on your site…

How Air New Zealand used tag management for attribution

Most ecommerce businesses invest in a range of digital marketing channels, so working out the exact attribution and ROI can be incredibly complex.

For example, the importance of search can often be overstated, as that tends to be the last step on the path to conversion.

To try to develop a better understanding of its marketing attribution, Air New Zealand began using a tag management system two years ago.

The ecommerce team found that the assumptions and investments that it made based on a last-click model were hugely inaccurate, particularly when it came to display.

To find out more about how tag management impacted Air New Zealand’s attribution model, I spoke to UK and continental Europe online channel manager Chris Allison…

FTC: Google search bias is a part of innovation

Has Google altered its algorithm to favor its own properties in vertical search results?

Numerous publishers which now find themselves competing with the search engine they rely on for valuable traffic have accused Google of doing just that. Some in the industry have even petitioned antitrust regulators to look into the matter.

2013: the year of paid content?

Paid content is and has been a big business — if you’re in the right market.

Unfortunately for consumer-oriented news organizations, the right market isn’t their market.

But could that be changing?

Are surveys a thing of the past?

Since the rise of social media, companies have been implored to ‘listen’ to their customers. If you listen, they are told, good things will happen.

The truth, of course, is that most businesses have never been completely deaf to their customers.

Social media has simply created new ways to listen.

The rise of video in 2013

As companies further embrace the need for content, video is becoming a bigger part of editorial calendars and content teams.

Gone are the days of shooting a 10 minute interview and slapping it up on YouTube. Consumers’ tastes have become more sophisticated and short form video content has become our brain candy.

But what will 2013 bring the industry in terms of video?

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