Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Adobe Named Leader for 6th Year in Gartner MQ for Web Content Management
On behalf of the entire Adobe team, and our partners and customers who have been with us for many years, I am proud to announce that Adobe has been recognized — for the sixth year in a row — as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant (MQ) for Web Content Management (WCM).
Web content management is one of the most critical parts of an overall digital experience platform. A 2015 survey, with 912 respondents from various brands, found that desktop and mobile website touchpoints were considered central parts of the customer experience (see image below).
Source: eConsultancy Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing
A new study from Adobe, released last month, shows that internet traffic has reached its peak, meaning the net number of people who will ever access the web are already online. The study found that, for 6 out of 10 sites, traffic is growing, while the remaining are either slowing down or holding steady. No longer can brands rely on just showing up with a web presence. Websites must be active listeners and great conversationalists.
Results From Our Customers
Adobe’s continued investment in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) has made it a cutting edge technology. Many brands already realize this, which is why AEM has been one of the fastest-growing content management solutions in the industry throughout the last six years:
- T-Mobile has increased the value of customer orders by over 56 percent with the help of AEM sites.
- MasterCard credits design simplicity for engaging audiences and improving website traffic by 30 percent in only two weeks!
- Philips’s ability to test and optimize its webpages led to a 20 percent improvement in customer click-through rates.
Manuel Niess, head of digital channels for UBS, noted “Our top three requirements were an intuitive user interface, the ability to create or modify existing pages with ease, and scalability. Adobe Experience Manager met all of these criteria.”
“The Best Way to Predict Your Future Is to Create It.” — Abraham Lincoln
The Gartner MQ for WCM is a snapshot in time. We believe we have achieved leadership to date because of our continued focus on investing in the future.
What excites me currently is the amazing work coming from Adobe Research on content intelligence — machine learning that not only delivers greater insights about the meaning of content, but also predictive insights regarding how each piece of content may make us feel. This year’s Livefyre acquisition also provides authors within AEM unprecedented access to curated streams of rich user-generated content. Studies have shown a 28 percent boost in engagement when brand and user-generated content are used in combination. Finally, innovations in progressive web apps and in-venue screens (i.e., digital signage) bring new possibilities to the level of engagement that can be delivered by AEM’s digital-experience platform.
Our innovation extends beyond the technology to the skills people actually need to use AEM and optimize it for their particular business models. We continue to invest in training and learning opportunities both on demand and in person. And, we just announced a Digital Marketing Accelerator Series: a two-day, truly immersive experience for emerging marketing leaders.
“I Do Not Know Anyone Who Has Got to the Top Without Hard Work.” — Margaret Thatcher
While being recognized as a leader is a great honor, I am most proud of the Adobe team and our customers and partners who have been on this journey of digital transformation with us. The ultimate measure is not a dot on a four-sector square; it is found in the many conversations I have had — sharing both successes and feedback for improvement. Leaders and champions are not created on stages or in analyst ratings. Rather, they are created when engineers strive to build better products, digital marketers recognize good is not good enough, or when people decide to work extra hours to ensure experiences delight every customer.
During the last Olympics, a truly inspirational moment for me was watching this video about Michael Phelps that was produced by Under Armour. In addition to being a powerful video, this phrase really struck home: “It’s what you do in the dark that puts you in the light.”
The post Adobe Named Leader for 6th Year in Gartner MQ for Web Content Management appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.
from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/web-experience/adobe-named-leader-6th-year-gartner-mq-web-content-management/
Monday, October 3, 2016
Adobe Think Tank: The Future of Digital Experiences
The post Adobe Think Tank: The Future of Digital Experiences appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.
from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/advertising/adobe-think-tank-future-digital-experiences/
Email — Still the Alpha Channel
Nearly half of us can’t even use the bathroom without checking email. This is just one of the surprising — or not — findings from Adobe Campaign’s second annual consumer email survey released today. The report surveyed more than 1,000 white-collar workers in the United States to glean insights related to the good, the bad, and the awkward when it comes to personal and work email habits. In sum, Americans are addicted to email.
Compared to last year’s survey results, respondents now spend even more time checking email, despite the growing popularity of Snapchat, Slack, and other communication platforms. As a society, we are multitasking on the go and have started to accept email intrusions on our personal and work conversations. Here are some key findings from this year’s survey, along with insights on how to maximize what can only be called the “Alpha Channel” in cross-channel marketing success.
We’re Addicted to Email—At Home, Work, and Play
It’s no surprise that Americans are still completely tied to email, constantly looking at both personal and work email 24/7, on the go. Year-over-year, time spent checking email has increased 17 percent, with smartphones overtaking computers as the preferred device for sending and receiving email.
We love to multitask with email. Survey respondents say they check email while watching TV or while watching a movie (69 percent), in bed (57 percent), and on vacation (79 percent). Percentages increase across the board for millennials (ages 18-34), with a disturbing 20 percent more checking email while driving. A quarter of Americans report checking email regularly right up until they go to bed, with three percent actually getting up in the middle of the night to check messages!
While this is great news for email marketers, this also points toward an increase in email received. The growing volume of email highlights the need for marketers to think even more strategically about what is being sent and when, and that less is more likely to mean more impact. Smart brands must offer consumers highly personalized, mobile-optimized, contextually relevant experiences – or risk people moving on to competitors. Determining when people open or engage with email is the first step toward improving open rates, clicks and conversations. With more noise in all of our inboxes, strategic marketers recognize the importance of analyzing their entire email program in the context of the bigger picture of how consumers engage with their brand.
An “Always On,” Informal Email Culture Has Emerged in Business
Almost half of survey respondents said they expect a response to work email in less than an hour. Expectations are even higher with millennials: more than a quarter of those surveyed expect responses within a few minutes! The “always on” email work culture persists on the weekend — with people sending an average of 19 emails and reading 29 work emails. What’s more, 79 percent admit to checking email while on vacation.
Seventy percent of respondents said text messages impact how they communicate via other channels, making emails less formal (38 percent) and shorter (30 percent). And emoji use is on fleek at work. More than half of 25-34 year olds have used an emoji in a work email, with 42 percent using the “thumbs-up” emoji. But should B2B marketers use emojis in email campaigns? Consider how you want your brand to be portrayed and experiment to find the balance between risk and reward. Some would argue that people are more willing to read a subject line that includes an emoji and, when used tactfully, it can communicate tone or feelings more effectively than words alone. This all maps back to personalization.
Email Interruption is Acceptable
One thing that really stood out to me is that only 9 percent of respondents reported annoyance when a friend or family member checks email during a face-to-face conversation. Apparently email that interrupts is becoming the norm. However, Pokémon Go players beware: playing games was cited as the most annoying thing someone can do during a conversation!
The good news for marketers is that nearly 50 percent of consumers prefer to receive marketing offers via email followed by direct mail at 22 percent and social media at 9 percent. Receiving email too often is most likely to annoy people (47 percent), followed by wordy offers (25 percent) and emails containing inaccurate personal data (23 percent).
The Takeaway
Email is still the number one most effective one-to-one communication channel for marketers, even though there is more noise in all of our inboxes, and despite growth in mobile apps, social media, and text. Savvy marketers see these statistics as evidence to support an integrated cross-channel marketing strategy that continues to rely on email as the “Alpha Channel.” Power rests in being close to the data to help determine the right email message and when to deliver it. Highly successful emails are relevant and timely, and delivering the message when people are most likely to open or engage with email is the key to driving more revenue with the email channel.
The post Email — Still the Alpha Channel appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.
from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/email/email-still-alpha-channel/
How The Container Store Bridges the Gap Between Offline and Online Marketing Channels
In today’s digital world, it’s not uncommon for offline channels to be labeled as the marketing channels of the past. Offline channels may not have the allure of wearable devices and smartphones, but their efficacy as integral parts of the customer journey — especially when merged with online touchpoints — cannot be denied.
Just ask The Container Store. The brand that believes life is better when you’re organized is tackling its marketing campaigns with the same values, creating online digital experiences to empower offline channels that may have been previously abandoned.
The Container Store gave an impressive presentation at Adobe Summit, detailing the ways in which the brand is breaking down online and offline barriers to deliver seamless customer experiences. Let’s take a look at the ways the company is knocking online and offline marketing integration out of the park.
Thinking Outside the Box
Consider the way your company views offline channels; most of us consider the typical offline touchpoint to be something like a postcard, catalog, billboard, or coupon. However, The Container Store looks at offline a little bit differently.
When integrating their offline and online marketing channels, The Container Store started with a data-driven loyalty program called Perfectly Organized Perks (POP!). POP’s enrollment process begins on a tablet that is set up in-store. Customers are prompted to sign up with their email addresses, phone numbers, names, and mailing addresses, helping the company build insightful new customer profiles after a single visit.
This is where things get interesting. The Container Store occasionally offers discounts, but that’s not where the focus of its integrated marketing campaign lies. Instead, the company decided to kick coupons to the curb while working toward building memorable offline experiences.
One way it accomplishes this is by offering in-store free gifts to select customers. By engaging customers via email (and across other online channels), The Container Store is digitally driving customers to its stores to pick up free gifts.
This integration not only gives customers reasons to be excited about visiting their nearest stores, but also gives store employees opportunities to connect with these high-value customers and further explain the benefits of the free products. This integrated engagement — prompted online and completed in-store — could drive future sales of that free product and enhance the overall customer experience in the process.
Finding What Works
Remaining innovative and brainstorming new ways to link online and offline channels is what keeps successful brands ahead of the curve. The Container Store continues to test new experiences to discover which services best resonate with its customers.
For example, the company recently tested an integrated concierge experience that helps new customers navigate its stores. First, an email informs new customers of this service. Then, when customers call the store before visiting, they are greeted by their very own concierge who helps them throughout the store.
While this service isn’t currently offered as a regular benefit, the company has the right mindset for continued integrated marketing success — test, measure, and improve to create the best possible experiences for customers. If your business goals include winning the hearts and affinity of customers, your brand must be willing to try new things, too.
In Closing
Don’t abandon your offline marketing channels. Instead, empower them by thinking of ways your brand can integrate your online and offline channels to enhance the customer experience. Are you sending direct-mail messages without following up with emails? If you are, then it’s time to get started on your email follow-up creative. Is your enterprise allocating your entire marketing budget to digital channels without considering the in-store customer experience? If it is, maybe it’s time to identify and address some potential offline pain points.
Work toward breaking down barriers that are keeping your company from building a single view of the customer, and you’ll be on your way toward an organized and integrated marketing strategy.
The post How The Container Store Bridges the Gap Between Offline and Online Marketing Channels appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.
from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/digital-marketing/container-store-bridges-gap-offline-online-marketing-channels/
Supercharge your Retargeting Campaigns with Dynamic Creative
Forty-six percent of major brands have set aside budgets just for retargeting campaigns. Retargeting allows brands to reconnect with users that have previously visited their website as they peruse content across the web. These site visitors have already shown interest in the brand by visiting the website, and show intent with actions such as visiting product pages, filling a shopping cart, or interacting with content, but they have not converted. Retargeting gives the brand a second chance at driving a conversion.
Retargeting is a popular display advertising tactic, which is not surprising when you consider that retargeted visitors are 70 percent more likely to convert on your website, according to CMO.com. However, what if your retargeting campaigns could deliver more relevant and personalized ads? Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) is the catalyst to supercharge your retargeting campaigns.
The Data Feed Powers DCO Personalization
DCO can boost ad efficiency and effectiveness across all verticals, and has benefits for any advertiser with granular audience data used for personalization. Retargeting requires an advertiser to maintain a data feed that houses the dynamic outputs that populate the dynamic ad. I’m often asked how the data feeds works to personalize a DCO ad, so let’s take a look at examples for the most common verticals: retail and travel.
In the retail vertical, DCO is a key element for effective site retargeting. A unique product ID, such as a SKU, is captured by a pixel on the product page and added to a user profile. The SKU will act as the dynamic trigger for content in the advertiser’s data feed. Geo-location and audience segments identified with a data management platform (DMP) or analytics solution are other elements that can trigger dynamic ad elements.
When the demand-side platform (DSP) buys the user impression, the SKU in their profile is cross-referenced with a file on the backend that tells DCO the product name, its description, what product image to pull, price, promotional copy, and any other relevant information. The dynamic ad is assembled and delivered using the content in the data feed in real-time. Anything that’s captured with a pixel can be used to trigger content from a feed.
For travel and hospitality, the concept is the same. However, instead of a product SKU, the dynamic trigger could be a hotel property ID or origination and destination travel city:
The Results Speak for Themselves
Lower funnel tactics like retargeting with DCO can drive a significant lift in performance for an advertiser. As we move down the funnel, we know more about the audiences and the targeting gets more specific, resulting in higher click-through and conversion rates. For example, for one advertiser we work with, retargeting individual property pages using DCO resulted in a lift in CTR of 71%.
DCO and Retargeting, A Powerful Combination
When planning your next display campaign, consider the power of retargeting with DCO. Display ads get a click-through rate of 0.07%, but retargeted ads get a click-through of 0.7%. The data feed allows for a deep level of personalization, allowing you to deliver more relevant ads, and drive better ad engagement and performance.
This article originally appeared in Business2Community.
The post Supercharge your Retargeting Campaigns with Dynamic Creative appeared first on Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe.
from Digital Marketing Blog by Adobe https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/advertising/supercharge-retargeting-campaigns-dynamic-creative/