Digital American Newsletter

Over one quarter of Americans use ad blockers today. That’s projected to increase to one third in 2017. While blocking software is more prevalent on laptops than mobiles, 83% say they want to install it on their smartphone.

Millennials are more likely than others to block ads, with 63% having eliminated marketing from at least one device. That includes 31% who have installed ad blocking software on their mobile.

What’s driving this trend? Bluntly, consumers hate digital ads. 92% assert ads have become more disruptive, 87% believe they see more ads, and 79% are worried about their privacy due to retargeting ads.

More than half of Americans complain that digital ads are unprofessional. About the same percentage say they insult consumers’ intelligence. OUCH.

The most disliked digital ads are pop-ups (they irritate 73% of the population), followed closely by retargeting ads, and videos that auto play. For comparison, only 36% of consumers say they dislike TV ads.

There are a few glimmers of hope for marketers. Social media and display ads are seen by many consumers as useful and not too intrusive.

Sources: eMarketer 2016, Hubspot 2016, Marketing Charts 2016, Wall Street Journal 2016

55% of American consumers start their ecommerce shopping by searching Amazon. That’s up 11 percentage points from last year. Search engines and retail sites come in a distant second and third at 28% and 16% respectively. Both lost share to Amazon over the past 12 months, continuing a longer-term trend.

When consumers find a product they like on a retail site, almost three quarters often or always follow-up by searching for it on Amazon. Only half as many discover an item they want to buy on Amazon and then look for it on a retail site.

While shoppers may spend hours or days searching for products, they often end up buying something they uncovered in their very first search. That gives Amazon even more power.

Why is Amazon becoming so dominant? Consumers give Amazon very high marks for its user experience. Over half think its search and product filtering capabilities are better than other sites’. Plus, 50% of US consumers now have Amazon Prime, and free shipping is like catnip to shoppers.

Sources: BloomReach 2016, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 2016, Marketing Charts 2016

Online grocery’s time has finally come, and Hispanics—especially Hispanic Millennials— are leading the charge.

Research from IRI shows that Hispanics plan to increase their online grocery shopping more than any other demographic. In fact, Latinos say they will spend an extra 40% on grocery items on Amazon this year.

Hispanics are more impressed than other demographics with the ease and convenience of online grocery shopping. They gravitate towards multi-channel retailers, and engage with click and collect (shop online, pick up in store) at higher than average rates.

Latinos also do more digital pre-shopping than the general population. 38% look for sales and promotions before buying. They are more likely to read online reviews, search for brand information on websites, respond to mobile advertising and be influenced by what they learn in social media.

18% of the US population is Hispanic and 60% of Hispanics are Millennials. Their 2015 spending power was $1.5 Trillion. They buy significantly more per grocery trip and their basket size is increasing faster than the US average.

Sources: IRI 2016, Minonline 2016, Progressive Grocer 2016

We are so busy engaging with consumers on social media, we tend to overlook one key issue: the social networks own those connections. We don’t. We have no way to keep in touch with our audience (read: potential buyers) except via a platform someone else controls.

That’s a big problem. It means our marketing effectiveness is at the mercy of businesses trying to monetize their services and algorithms that change.

Over the summer, Instagram modified how it orders users’ feeds. Many brands hate the new approach because fewer followers see their posts. But, there is little they can do. They are using another company’s platform, for free.

What’s the solution? Brands need to be active on social because that’s where consumers are. But, we need to dramatically increase our focus on moving those relationships to channels we control: our email list and website.

That means we need compelling mechanisms to gather emails from social followers. Engaging ways to convince our social audience to visit our website. And, valuable website content that incentivizes potential buyers to connect directly with us.

Sources: Content Marketing Institute 2016

Roughly 80% of social media users unfollowed a brand on Facebook or Twitter this past year.

Why?

The number one reason is they were embarrassed to be associated with the company. They didn’t want their friends to see the connection.

When you dig a little deeper, it is clear that fans cut ties with brands that are overly promotional, share irrelevant content, or are trying too hard.

Almost half of all social users have unfollowed a brand because it shared too many promotions. Some of these were probably discounts. Most were likely self-promotional posts, which are death to social connections.

Over a third of followers have broken up with a brand because it was trying too hard—awkwardly using slang, attempting to create a hip image, or “being funny” and failing.

It’s a tricky balance. Almost the same number of fans have dropped a brand because it didn’t have enough personality.

Using hastags poorly and not replying to consumers’ posts also spark unfollows.

Consumers’ favorite industries on social media are retail, CPG, and media. Their least liked are government, financial services, and marketing/advertising.

Sources: BuzzStream 2015, HubSpot 2015, Sprout Social 2016