Archive for the ‘economic downturn’ Category

  • Is the Click-through in Trouble? (Are you kidding me?)

    By: Raquel Hirsch
    Date: October 11th, 2009

    In a surprising (at least for me, anyway) article published in eMarketer this week entitled “More Trouble for the Click-Through”, the author describes the click-through as “a metric in decline”. This reminded me of Mark Twain’s retort that “Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Continue Reading

    Posted in: Marketing metrics | Online Advertising | best practices | economic downturn

  • 2009 Tech Predictions Include Growth in Conversion Optimization

    By: Raquel Hirsch
    Date: January 7th, 2009

    With thanks to my Twitter-buddy “zenofbass” (I don’t know who you are but I read pretty much everything you tweet about) who alerted me to TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld writing “2009 Tech Prediction Faceoff: J.P Morgan Vs. Barclays Capital”

    In the article, Schonfeld presents the predictions of J.P. Morgan’s Imran Khan and Barclays’ Doug Anmuth, both heavy hitters Wall Street analysts.

    Now here is a really interesting prediction for us, marketers interested in Conversion Rate Optimization:

    According to Schonfeld, “Both analysts believe that performance-based advertising will continue to rise in importance.”

    (This, of course, made me stop and do a little High Five with self.)

    Continue Reading

    Posted in: conversion rate optimization | economic downturn

  • Search Ad Spending: Maximizing ROAS Through Analytics and Conversion Optimization

    By: Raquel Hirsch
    Date: January 6th, 2009

    We all know that the economic downturn is shrinking the growth of all ad spending, including Search. But Search remains the “shining media” it has always been – it is simply not growing as quickly as it has in previous years.

    eMarketer estimates that while the rate of search ad spending growth was down in 2008, search still grew 21% over 2007. “In fact, the rate of growth will fall over the next three years—but search ad spending growth will continue to be positive, in double digits every year—until 2012 when it will rise to nearly 14%.”

    Search, it seems, is “recession-resistant.”

    Smart Marketers will continue to spend increasing budgets on Search – and rightfully so, if they want to continue to make their ROAS (Return on Advertising Spend) accountable.

    But are marketers managing and measuring ROAS properly?

    Maybe not. Continue Reading

    Posted in: Search Engine Marketing | best practices | economic downturn

  • eCommerce Sales 2008: Bad News or Not-So-Bad News? (Is there an opportunity for you here?)

    By: Raquel Hirsch
    Date: January 1st, 2009

    News of a drop in holiday sales comes as no surprise this year. Overall holiday retail sales were down 5.5% in the month of November, and 8% in December up to the day before Christmas, compared to the same periods in 2007, according to MasterCard Advisors, a subsidiary of MasterCard Worldwide.

    But wait! eCommerce sales were not down by as much as overall retail sales.

    ComScore’s end-of-season online sales figures put the tally at $25.5 billion, down “only” 3% from a year ago. And MasterCard Advisors’ report says overall ecommerce sales ended the season with a decline of “only” 2.3% (the emphasis is mine).

    But wait! Unique visitors to eCommerce sites were actually up.
    Continue Reading

    Posted in: Ecommerce | State of the Market | conversion rate optimization | economic downturn | website optimization

  • That Time of Year: Making Marketing Predictions

    By: Raquel Hirsch
    Date: December 26th, 2008

    Go ahead: Google < “marketing predictions” 2008> and you will get 17,200 results. Then go back and Google < “marketing predictions” 2009> and you will get only 10,200 results.

    In other words, just 5 days before the start of 2009, marketers are becoming significantly more cautious about guessing.

    Personally, I think this is good news. Us marketers tend to be very opinionated (who? me?) and historically have relied on gut feel and aesthetic preferences to make decisions. But no longer. Continue Reading

    Posted in: best practices | economic downturn

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