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Should Digital Audience Growth Objective be Quantity or Quality?
by Jack Loechner, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 6:15 AM
According to ExactTarget, who published the 2009 Email List Growth Study, an in-depth examination of marketers’ top subscriber growth tactics, direct digital marketing has expanded far
beyond email to include previously untapped channels like mobile and social media. The current study and report updates the findings about the strategies and tactics of successful audience
development. The Audience Growth Survey looks at audience growth across email, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, and mobile app marketing. A total of 395 digital markters completed the survey
between April and August, 2013, with jurisdiction in email, social media, mobile and executive oversight. Marketing Areas Involved On A Regular BasisInvolvement% of
Respondents Email 91% Social Media
66% Mobile 37%
Executive Oversight 28% Source: Exact Target
Audience Growth Survey, November 2013 When assessing their own priorities for growing new digital audiences across email, social media, and mobile
channels, marketers tended to rate quality as more important than quantity when acquiring new audiences. As shown in the chart below, email and mobile channels highlight
the importance of ROI as another important measure of effectiveness. For email marketers, overall ROI and quality of subscribers rated as equally important measurements. In the
two mobile channels studied, SMS and mobile apps, overall ROI, not quality, was the most important gauge of audience growth effectiveness. This preference for ROI could demonstrate that
mobile marketers are relying on more measurable tactics to determine the value of these newer channels. Most Important Measurement to Gauge Effectiveness (% of Respondents) ChannelQuality Of Audience Members AddedQuantity Of Audience Members Added Overall ROI Email 41% 12% 41%
Facebook 38% 28% 22% Twitter 43% 27% 17% SMS 28% 19% 32%
Mobile App 21% 27% 34% Source: Exact Target Audience Growth Survey, November 2013
Reviewing tactics for cross-channel audience growth, the elusive “silver bullet” never materialized, says the report. There is no guaranteed, one-size-fits- all tactic to grow the
size, quality, and ROI of the audience. 91% of survey respondents reported being involved with email marketing on a regular basis. More marketers prioritize selling as a primary objective
for email marketing than for social media and mobile channels. As selling is tied to overall ROI, this is consistent with the 41% of email marketers who identify overall ROI as the most
important measurement to gauge effectiveness of their email program. In addition to using email to drive sales, email marketers understand the channel’s ability to prime
subscribers for future purchases by generating leads and driving brand awareness, demonstrated in the 41% of email marketers who also identify the quality of subscribers as their most
important gauge of email subscriber growth effectiveness. Top Email Marketing
ObjectivesObjective% of Respondents
Sell products/services 64% Generate leads 52
Drive site traffic 51 Drive brand awareness 51 Gain customer insight/improve retention 34 Provide service/support 16 Source: Exact Target Audience Growth Survey,
November 2013 The All Tactics Considered: Email chart demonstrates the complexity of defining the “best” email subscriber growth
tactics. If a tactic is popular among marketers, but its reported effectiveness is mediocre or low, can it be considered a “top” tactic, asks the report. Alternately, if a tactic
receives a high effectiveness rating but few marketers actually use it, can it be considered one of the best? Some of the most popular tactics for subscriber growth
don’t have the highest effectiveness ratings, but rather may be widely used because they’re so easy to implement. These subscriber growth tactics may not drive vast amounts of
high quality leads, but they don’t require much time or money, says the report. These tactics include:
- General email sign-up form on website (74% use, 42% rate
effective)
- Sign-up requests specific to different sections on website (52% use, 45% rate effective)
- Email capture via Facebook (45% use, 31% rate effective)
Tactics such as inbound call center requests and in-store loyalty program acquisition are high in reported effectiveness, but are used by a relatively small group of marketers because
they require a call center or brick-and-mortar location that not all brands have. In this offline category, these are the top performers that drive email subscriber growth:
- Capture email during inbound sales calls (23% use, 71% rate effective) and service calls (23% use, 63% rate effective)
- Acquire email for loyalty program registration
in-store (18% use, 67% rate effective)
- Sales associate requests email during check-out process (20% use, 57% rate effective)
- Email acquisition tied to emailed receipt or
ticket delivery (13% use, 55% rate effective)
All Tactics
Considered (% of Email Marketers)
Tactic% Using % Report Effective Require email to create an account on website 57%
70% Sign-up requests specific to different sections on website 52 45 Registration with immediate incentive 50 63 Email capture via Facebook 45 31 Promote content via social media that requires email registration to
access39 59 Drive online loyalty
program registration requiring email 35 58 Paid
search advertisement that drives to landing page with email opt-in 27 50
Capture email during inbound sales calls 23 71
Capture email during inbound customer service calls 23 63
Sales associates request email as part of check-out process 20 57 Email acquisition tied to loyalty program registration promoted in-store 18
57 Require email to register mobile app 13 55 Email acquisition tied to emailed receipt or ticket delivery 13 55 Option to opt into email when viewing content on mobile app
12 59 Paid mobile ads 12 41
Source: Exact Target Audience Growth Survey,
November 2013 70% of marketers surveyed reported being involved with social media marketing on a regular basis. When we polled these social media
marketers on the importance of various social channels to their overall marketing strategy, Facebook was rated as slightly more important:
- 60% of social media marketers
rank Facebook as important to their overall marketing.
- 52% of social media marketers rank Twitter as important to their overall marketing.
Both Facebook and
Twitter are first and foremost brand awareness tools. Social media marketers don’t prioritize selling and generating leads as much as driving brand awareness and site traffic. 38%
of Facebook marketers and 43% of Twitter marketers say that adding quality fans and followers, respectively, are the most important measures of effectiveness for their audience growth
efforts.
Top Social Media Marketing ObjectivesObjectiveFacebookTwitter
Drive brand awareness 77% 70% Drive site traffic
55 58 Gain customer insight/ improve retention 44 28 Generate leads 36 35 Provide service/support 22
22 Sell products/services 26 19
Source: Exact Target Audience Growth Survey, November 2013 The two most
commonly used Facebook tactics are not overwhelmingly effective, according to Facebook marketers. These tactics are:
- Including a Facebook Like button or link on a
company’s website/blog (93% use, 46% rate effective) or
- On emails/newsletters (70% use, 35% rate effective)
Community involvement tactics capitalize on
Facebook’s interactive nature and are found to be highly effective, though fewer Facebook marketers employ these tactics. The best-performing community involvement
Facebook tactics are:
- Organic growth (58% use, 67% rate effective)
- Working with influencers/bloggers (33% use, 56% rate effective)
- Facebook contests
requiring fans to submit their own content/ creative entry (36% use, 54% rate effective)
Other underutilized tactics with reports of high effectiveness may provide great
opportunities for growing the fan base:
- Facebook ads: display ads (non-Sponsored Stories) (30% use, 52% rate effective)
- Answering customer service questions on
Facebook (34% use, 69% rate effective)
- Directing people to Facebook for customer support (17% use, 50% rate effective)
- Regularly offering FAQs and how-tos in Facebook
content (29% use, 50% rate effective) The “likes” have it. When marketers directly request a “like” as part of a giveaway or contest, they report much greater
effectiveness in fan growth:
- Product/prize giveaways with required “like” (39% use, 70% rate effective)
- Product/prize giveaways with no “like”
required (31% use, 46% rate effective)
Facebook marketers reported the fan growth tactics they used and whether they found the tactics effective. Comparing both the use and
effectiveness of a tactic provides a holistic perspective on the “best” methods of fan growth. Some tactics may be popular, but only result in moderate effectiveness, while others may
be reported as largely effective but only among a small number of marketers. The Audience Growth Survey report concludes by noting that, though there are a myriad of ways to grow the
proprietary audiences available, the question is, which tactics work best for both your brand and target audience? The data in this summary should spark some ideas, says the report, but
ultimately, audience growth is a matter of testing what tactics will get your brand the largest, most responsive audience possible. For more
information from Exact Target, and access to the PDF Audience Growth Survey, please visit here.