SMX East hosted their 2015 Search Marketing Expo in New York last week at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. As the largest search engine
marketing (SEM) expo in the world, digital marketing leaders from all over the country came together and shared game-changing statistics that will help shed light on your current digital marketing strategies.
1. 50% of Search Queries are 4 Words or Longer
Long tail key words, or search queries of at least 3 or more words, have been the growing focus of search strategies. Casie Gillette, Director of Online Marketing at Ko Marketing, explained that many marketers today narrow their strategies to only keyword optimization, and are missing out on opportunities to increase traffic by simply not communicating enough with their support team. “Your support team is the direct line to your customers,” Gillete says. “They field questions that aren’t on your website.”
Ask your support team to write down frequently asked questions from the customers they are in contact with. This feedback will begin to shape your long-tail keyword strategies.
2. You Lose 97% of Leads on Leaky Landing Pages
This is an incredibly interesting statistic, and in some cases, it doesn’t make sense based on what we’ve heard about the direction of where our society is headed. How many times have we heard from a colleague, friend, or family member that no one picks up the phone to call anymore. Instead, they ignore a call and respond with a text. However, Larry Kim, Founder of WordStream, is telling us otherwise.
Larry Kim says that the fewer steps it takes to get someone to take action within your conversion funnel, the better. In this case, immediate satisfaction takes precedence over avoiding a conversation. New click-to-call features that have become increasingly popular on Facebook, Twitter, and Google AdWords which allow consumers viewing your advertisement to call you directly from the ad.
Rework your lead generation strategy so that it focuses on clicks-to-calls rather than clicks-to-websites. It is +3x more effective and based on stat #3 below, the strategy is already being quickly adopted.
3. Click-to-Call Commerce Will Reach $1 Trillion in 2015 and Double by 2019
By 2019, BIA/Kelsey, a leading research and advisory company focused on local advertising and marketing, expects 162 Billion phone calls from mobile phones to businesses. This and John Busby from Marchex’s findings on click-to-calls reaching $2 trillion by 2019, supports Larry’s statistic mentioned above.
Make sure your tracking your click-to-calls so you can understand the value that your lead generation campaign brings to your business.
4. It’s 2X as Hard to Get Your Ad Seen on the Mobile SERPs
There are two solutions to making sure your advertisement is seen on mobile. If financial resources are not a concern, bid up your mobile strategy. Of course, for many of us, this is not an option so PPC Community Manager for WordStream, Erin Sagin, suggests that you focus on high purchase intent long-tail keyword searches such as “buy” and “discount.”
Save your low performing, low intent keyword searches for your desktop search strategy and push your purchase-intent keyword strategies through mobile to increase overall visibility of your ads.
5. More than 86% of Time on Your Phone is Spent Within an App
Although creating a mobile friendly site will show Google that you’re working hard to increase domain authority, this statistic will tell you that you need to spend more time focusing on creating and/or optimizing your business’s mobile app. Bitly’s Product Marketing Manager, Samantha Yeh, also shared that apps are supposed to drive $5.6 billion in revenue in 2015.
Reallocate your resources towards building a mobile app to increase your business’s retention rate and customer loyalty.
6. 51% of People Want Location-Based Coupons When Searching
Aaron Levi from Elite SEM shared a client’s case study on introducing mobile discounts for in-store purchases. The client found that there was a 9916% lift in incremental mobile revenue. I realized that this makes complete sense because in my own experience, I always forget to bring my coupon to the store when I print it out at home and as a result, I waste paper and time.
Bottom line: use in-store coupons and deals through mobile to increase sales. It takes fewer steps than printing out a coupon and bringing it into the store.
7. 72% of Consumers Who Did a Local Search Visited a Store within 5 Miles
This statistic makes sense and it is not surprising. However, it’s another supporting statistic that, as a business, you most definitely need to do local advertising. Your customers want to know who you are before taking the time to come to your store.
8. 43% of Consumers Do Research in the Store
I can attest to this statistic. On multiple occasions I’ve gone into a store and looked up the product to either compare pricing or read product reviews.
Your consumers are informed. Make sure it’s easy for them to access on-the-go.
