The current state of social, mobile & email integration.

EMAIL SURVEY RESULTS:

The currenT sTaTe of social, mobile & email inTegraTion.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 2

THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE & EMAIL INTEGRATION

Email, social networks and mobile devices have all become a staple in most of our lives.

Here are a few quick facts about the three landscapes here the US.

• 97% of US households use email (e-Dialog, 2010)

• 75% of internet connected homes use social networks

(61.5% of all US Households) (Nielsen, 2010)

• 91% of the US population uses a mobile device (CTIA, 2010)

• 23% use a smart phone (Frank N. Magid Associates, 2010)

Observation makes it apparent that not only are all three media being widely used, but

many are using a combination of all three –email on mobile devices, email within social

networks and social networks on mobile devices. Knowing that the opportunity to provide a

truly, integrated customer experience exists using these media, eROI wondered if the

general marketing community was taking advantage of it. And if they weren’t, were there

any simple changes that could be made to their marketing plans so that they could do so?

THE STUDY

In April of 2010 we conducted a study of more than 500 marketers. An online survey was

distributed via the eROI in-house e-mail list, Twitter, Facebook and all associated reposts,

retweets and forwards. The respondent profile was nearly equal parts B2B marketers (39%),

B2C marketers (31%), and those who are both B2B and B2C marketers (30%).

In the first portion of the survey, we asked marketers to look at the impact of mobile mar-

keting on their overall marketing strategy and specifically how it influences their email and

web marketing programs.

In the second portion, we asked those same marketers to identify the importance and

impact of social networks in relation to their email and web marketing efforts.

Once we had the results of the survey, and a good understanding of how marketers were

using email, mobile and social, we were able to identify some options that marketers can

incorporate into their planning to make the most of these integrated opportunities.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 3

NOT SURE

IMPORTANT

NOT IMPORTANT

STILL TESTING

31.6%

29.0%

24.6%

14.8%

THE FINDINGS

MOBILE MARkETING

Mobile marketing is often a forgotten media by online marketers. We found that overall,

mobile marketing integration into email and online programs is relatively low, with less than

one-third putting much value and importance on the channel. But with the ever-increasing

adoption rates of mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Kin, Droid, etc.) how long

can this channel be ignored? Now that the corporate road warrior is not the only person

with a mobile device and they are widely in the hands of the general consumer, marketers

must be prepared to adopt mobile or lose mindshare.

THE ImporTaNcE oF INTEGraTING mobIlE (To markETErS)

There are more than 285 million mobile devices in the United States and there are just over

70 million smart phones (e.g., Blackberry, iPhone, Android, Windows). When marketers

were asked about the importance of digital marketing experiences and the importance of

an optimized mobile experience, only 31.6% said that mobile-optimized experiences

matter for their audiences. Another one-quarter said that they are currently testing to

determine the answer; 29% said that they are not sure; and 14.9% said that an optimized

mobile experience doesn’t matter.

When asked if their companies were measuring the use or prevalence of mobile devices

for their email subscribers, nearly two-thirds (63%) of marketers said no and another 11.5%

were not sure.

Breakdown: Based on audience, the importance of optimizing digital

marketing for mobile.

© 2010 eROI, Inc.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 4

How markETErS arE cUrrENTlY INTEGraTING mobIlE markETING

With approximately two-thirds of marketers unaware of their customer/subscriber

audience usage patterns, as it related to mobile, it is no wonder that 77% of marketers are

not offering, or are unaware of, mobile versions of their websites and/or landing

pages. Of those that are offering mobile-optimized websites, we found that 68% are

providing limited versions of their websites and 32% are offering their entire website in a

web-optimized format. Slightly more marketers (25% as opposed to 23%) are however

offering mobile optimized versions of their email marketing messages.

USING

NOT USING

NOT SURE

67.6%

23.0%

9.4%

68.0%

ONLY HAS CONTENT FOR MOBILE AUDIENCE

32.0%MIRRORS FULL SITE

Breakdown: Companies using mobile versions of websites/landing pages.

Breakdown: Mobile sites that mirror a full site vs. those that

only include content most relevant to a mobile audience.

USING

NOT USING

NOT SURE

67.6%

23.0%

9.4%

68.0%

ONLY HAS CONTENT FOR MOBILE AUDIENCE

32.0%MIRRORS FULL SITE

© 2010 eROI, Inc.

© 2010 eROI, Inc.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 5

SOCIAL MEdIA

There are two interesting facts when it comes to social networks and marketing initiatives:

(1) Social media has been adopted by nearly two-thirds of the United States population

and (2) nearly three-quarters (73.7%) of marketers feel that social media is having a

positive impact on their marketing efforts.

How ImporTaNT To markETErS IS INTEGraTING SocIal mEDIa?

With consumers’ high adoption of social networking, it is not surprising that marketers see

an importance in connecting with them through those channels. What is surprising,

however, is our finding that 59.5% of organizations assign less than five hours per week to

social-media-management-related tasks. This puts social media as one of the least

involved marketing programs from an organization standpoint.

When we asked marketers what metrics pertaining to social media they measure, 65.5%

said increase/decrease of friends and followers; 59.5% said traffic from social networks to

their site; 39% said mentions. Lower on the list of what is tracked and measured were new

leads (35.7% ) and sales (28.5%).

Although nearly two-thirds responded that they don’t currently know if their customers/

subscribers are using mobile devices, when asked about geo-location data more than 50%

said that, if made available to them, they would take advantage of the information.

Breakdown: Social media metrics tracked.

INCREASE/DECREASE IN FRIENDS/FOLLOWERS/FANS

SITE TRAFFIC DRIVEN BY SOCIAL

MENTIONS

NEW LEADS GENERATED

SALES

KEY INFLUENCERS AND REACH OF MESSAGING

DURATION OF ENGAGEMENT OF PERIOD OF TIME

65.5%59.5%

39.0%35.7%

28.5%25.7%

21.6%© 2010 eROI, Inc.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 6

40.6%

1.8%IMPROVE CRM DATA

BRAND AWARENESS7.2%LEARN MORE ABOUT BEHAVIOR

10.3%TIE MULTIPLE MEDIA

CHANNELS TO ENGAGEMENT

11.3%CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

13.8%DRIVE AN INCREASE IN SALES

15.0%INCREASE LEADS

Below you can see how companies are gauging the success of their social media

marketing programs.

Breakdown: Primary goal for social media efforts this year.

How arE markETErS cUrrENTlY INTEGraTING SocIal mEDIa?

Implementing social media with email marketing is much more prevalent than that of

mobile. Nearly two-thirds of marketers responded that they are integrating social media

with their email marketing efforts and 59.1% are integrating “Share With Your Network”

links. When respondents who weren’t integrating social media into their email campaigns

were asked why, they cited lack of resources and knowledge ( 35.2% and 21.4%,

respectively)— the same reasons given for not using mobile.

© 2010 eROI, Inc.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 7

Breakdown: Social networks/tools integrated into

email marketing efforts.

Of those who are implementing social network links and tools into their email marketing

programs, there are four major networks that are part of their programs with a handful of

second-tier networks being represented.

91.0%

48.0%

34.1%

14.6%

12.7%

11.5%

3.7%

3.4%

9.9%

83.9%

OTHER

© 2010 eROI, Inc.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 8

wHaT arE THE opporTUNITIES To bETTEr INTEGraTE mobIlE aND SocIal?

Adoption of any marketing channel is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. It is hard to

justify applying resources to a channel before there is a high adoption rate, but without

applying the resources, the adoption rate won’t increase. Consumers do not adopt new

technology without a positive user experience and relevant content offerings (think

BetaMAX, LaserDisc, the beginning of the internet, mp3 before iPod, etc.), but it takes

time and budget to provide those things. Once a good user experience and relevant

content are present, consumer adoption is accelerated and, as history has shown,

companies that are first to offer these things in untapped mediums typically benefit the

most from them (think amazon.com, Apple, AOL, Yahoo).

The best way to begin understanding the mobile web and the type of resources your

company should invest in it is to look at website analytics. The most popular web analytics

solutions report mobile usage statistics. Once you understand your audience’s usage

patterns, you can begin to develop a program that matters specifically to them. It is

important to tailor a mobile strategy to your users, and not just a set of general

recommendations. Providing the right content in the appropriate context is the crux of

marketing. For example, those that provide a limited function mobile website often do

so taking into consideration what people are doing on their site with mobile devices and

make those experiences as optimal as possible.

The opportunities for mobile marketing are continuously expanding. For instance,

marketers have been trained to think that to do mobile right, you need an application.

With the acceleration of web standards however, we are now seeing a big rise in the use

of mobile web over applications. Geo-location is another element that is bringing forth an

entirely new set of opportunities for mobile marketing and the extent of those opportuni-

ties are still being discovered.

When it comes to social media, marketers have adopted its use much faster than that of

mobile. This could be because they are trying to create a brand relationship with a

younger audience or just because it is more familiar territory. Although social media has

been embraced, many marketers and organizations still have some learning to do before

they can be truly successful with it.

Currently, many organizations are not willing to put forth the resources to fully develop

social media marketing programs. In fact, one-fifth of the marketers we surveyed said that

they are unable make a business case for additional resources. In these cases, marketers

should start small and do what they can, but do it well.

eroi.com © 2010 eROI, Inc. THE CURRENT STATE OF SOCIAL, MOBILE AND EMAIL INTEGRATION 9

No matter how small they start, marketers should start tracking and measuring their

social media efforts (currently one-fifth of respondents said they don’t track anything).

We encourage marketers to work with their organizations to determine what metrics their

campaigns should be judged on and ask that resources be allocated to support its growth,

similar to what is often done for research and development.

Now is the time, if they haven’t already, for marketers to start experimenting with mobile

and social to find what works best for their organizations. They must remember however,

that whatever they do to experiment should be a relevant, positive user experience;

because if they can’t provide that then it’s better to provide no experience at all.

ABOUT EROI, INC.

eROI is a digital relationship marketing company, focused on helping our clients establish

and enhance their online presence. Through strategy, integrated campaigns, compelling

interactive websites and innovative email marketing, we find fresh ways for brands to

connect, communicate and achieve continued success. Clients include Banfield Pet

Hospital, CBS, Icebreaker, OHSU Healthcare, Papa Murphy’s, Travel Oregon, Travelocity

Business, Wacom Technologies, and Zinio.

Website: www.eroi.com | Phone: 503.221.6200 | Email: [email protected]

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