Digital American Newsletter

Live video streaming apps look like the next big thing in social media. Here are 10 key facts about app-based mobile broadcasting.

1. Periscope and Meerkat are the leading live video streaming apps. Both make it easy to live stream a video from your smartphone to Twitter.
2. These apps let you interact in real-time with your followers during each video session.
3. Periscope allows watchers to replay videos within the first 24 hours, Meerkat does not.
4. Ellen DeGeneres, Hillary Clinton and Jamie Oliver are already using these apps.
5. 50% of Millennials say they use/plan to use mobile broadcasting apps.
6. Consumers believe they will use live video streaming to share life events and to keep current with world events.
7. Experts project live video streaming apps could revolutionize news, entertainment and sports.
8. Lawyers anticipate a huge new revenue stream from this novel way to infringe on copyrights.
9. Consumers are divided about whether marketers should participate. Younger Americans are much more open than older ones to brand storytelling via live video streaming.
10. This trend is still in its infancy. Periscope and Meerkat both launched in early 2015.

What are the implications for your business?

• How could you leverage live streaming video to connect with your consumers?
• When can you run a small scale, low risk test?

For help developing powerful digital strategies that work, compelling marketing strategies that drive results, strategic plans that deliver growth, or new products that consumers love, contact Brandology at 925-417-2253 or Maura@Brandology.com.

Sources: Horizon Media 2015, Marie Clare 2015, Social Media Examiner 2015, Time 2015

33% of consumers* are interested in having their ecommerce purchases delivered by drone. Getting packages faster—ideally in an hour or less—is the biggest attraction. Shoppers are also intrigued by the promise of reduced shipping fees and the potential to receive packages wherever they are. Buyers are more comfortable with drones delivering books, CDs, and DVDs than more expensive items.

Retailers — especially Amazon — are aggressively pursuing drone delivery. They see drones as a way to make 1 hour delivery a reality for the masses. Currently, Amazon’s 1 hour delivery service covers just 15% of the US population. With drones, they could increase that to 50%. What’s more, drones can significantly reduce shipping costs, the #1 reason consumers abandon online shopping carts

Amazon is testing its drone program, dubbed Amazon Prime Air, in Canada. Its current capabilities are quite limited. The drones fly very short distances and only carry packages of 5 lbs or less.

Consumers, retailers, and manufacturers are excited about the potential of drones. The FAA is less enthused. They are proceeding very cautiously, and only recently gave the green light for Amazon to run a small test.

What are the implications for your business?

• How will mass access to 1 hour delivery change how consumers view your product/service?

For help developing powerful digital strategies that work, compelling marketing strategies that drive results, strategic plans that deliver growth, or new products that consumers love, contact Brandology at 925-417-2253 or Maura@Brandology.com.

Sources: Business Insider 2015, Internet Retailer 2015, PR Newswire 2015, Techcrunch 2015

* Full disclosure. The survey referenced was done in the UK. But, even though they say tomato funny and mix up the letters in the word, “theater,” I think Britons’ attitudes towards drones are probably close to Americans’.

Personalized digital marketing is touted by experts as the best way for brands to establish deep connections with consumers.

Not so fast, Americans say. They see a fine line between communications that are personalized and those that are inauthentic or downright creepy. Unfortunately, businesses are in danger of crossing the line.

Virtually all consumers — 95% — are turned off by emails that greet them by name, and then include content that is irrelevant. They judge the senders as fake and trying too hard.

Personalization based on location tracking is unnerving to most people. The idea of store associates being able to greet them by name is creepy. In-store dynamic pricing based on individuals’ past purchases is also disliked. And, absolutely nobody is a fan of ads that follow them around the web long after the impulse to buy an item has passed.

Any type of personalization based on facial recognition is characterized as horrifying. Absolutely horrifying.

Shoppers do like personalized messages and tools that help them find exactly what they want. Recommendations based on their purchase history — delivered in store or online — are appreciated. Help navigating brick and mortar stores to locate what they are looking for is also well received.

What are the implications for your business?

• Are you personalizing your marketing in a way that is compelling and not creepy?

For help developing powerful digital strategies that work, compelling marketing strategies that drive results, strategic plans that deliver growth, or new products that consumers love, contact Brandology at 925-417-2253 or Maura@Brandology.com.

Sources: Marketing Profs 2015, RichRelevence 2015

It’s true. 30% of men who shop online do so weekly, versus only 18% of women.

These 2015 numbers are significantly different from 2014, when 25% of both genders made online purchases weekly.

It’s not clear why men are buying online more frequently and women are not. But, it could be because males are 30% more likely than females to say they wish they could do all their shopping online. As ecommerce continues to evolve and expand, that becomes increasingly feasible.

There are other gender differences in online purchase habits. Men spend more time researching items before buying. Plus, males are more likely than females to make purchases using their mobile device.

On the other hand, women are twice as likely as men to admit what they buy is influenced by social media. And, while being able to buy online and return in store is important to everyone, it is significantly more compelling to women.

What are the implications for your business?

• Are your ecommerce efforts equally targeted to both genders? Should you put more emphasis on men?
• How easy is it to buy your products via a mobile device?

For help developing powerful digital strategies that work, compelling marketing strategies that drive results, strategic plans that deliver growth, or new products that consumers love, contact Brandology at 925-417-2253 or Maura@Brandology.com.

Sources: Bronto Software 2015, Business Insider 2014, The Future of Commerce 2014, Retail Trends 2015

63% of the time Prime members shop Amazon.com, they buy, according to Millward Brown Digital. That contrasts starkly with the 5% conversion rate for Walmart.com and 2% for Target.com shoppers. It is also dramatically higher than the 13% of non-Prime members that purchase when they visit Amazon.

Once consumers pay the initial $99 and get “hooked” by Amazon Prime, they virtually stop cross shopping other retailers. Less than 1% of Prime members visit other mass merchandise sites in the same session that they shop Amazon.

The number of Amazon site visits by Prime members increased over 300% in the past year. Prime members now visit the retailer twice as often as everyone else. What’s more, Prime members spend an average of $1,500 annually on Amazon, while non-Prime members shell out roughly $625.

As of January 2015, approximately 40 million consumers were Amazon Prime members. More than 10 million are relatively new, joining during Q4 2014. Macquarie Group projects that by 2020, over half of all US families will be Amazon Prime members.

What are the implications for your business?

• Have you maximized your brand’s presence on Amazon?
• What can you learn from Amazon Prime about how to increase your consumers’ commitment to you?

For help developing powerful digital strategies that work, compelling marketing strategies that drive results, strategic plans that deliver growth, or new products that consumers love, contact Brandology at 925-417-2253 or Maura@Brandology.com.

Sources: CIRP 2015, Forbes 2015, Internet Retailer 2015, Millward Brown Digital 2015