Research round-up: 21st January 2010

Microsoft study: ‘Advertising in print is twice as effective as TV’

Print advertising is more than twice as effective as television advertising for large retailers, according to new data seen by The Times. Every £1 spent on print advertisements yields £5 in revenue, compared with £2.15 for television and £3.44 for online advertising, a study of 26 leading UK retailers found. The anonymous participants of the study, which was carried out by Microsoft Advertising, included large clothing stores, big grocery retailers, fashion retailers and department stores.

Of the firms surveyed, 24 were in the top 100 UK companies in terms of media spend. The study recommended retailers increased online and print advertising budgets by 10 per cent and decreased television budgets by that amount.

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6969081.ece

UK businesses suffer in snow despite preparations

Over half (58%) of senior decision makers in small businesses in Britain admit their business suffered as a result of the winter weather last week, despite 78% saying they thought their company was prepared to cope with the snow chaos, according to a survey of over 500 senior decision makers in small businesses, commissioned by Citrix GoToMyPC and carried out by YouGov.

Some small businesses did take steps to combat the weather conditions and ensure business as usual though, by enabling more staff to work from home (25%) and holding more online meetings (10%). The research does suggest however some small businesses could have done more to prepare for the unexpected, as only 42% said they have a business continuity plan in place.

The impact on small businesses has been widespread, with businesses across Britain reporting problems. A quarter of small businesses decision makers say some staff were late into work, while 26% reported that some staff couldn’t make it into the workplace at all. In addition, 21% found that key suppliers and contacts were not available and 26% had to cancel or postpone business meetings.

However, small businesses also suffered as a result of unexpected disruption caused by widespread school closures and a lack of road salt, with the Federation of Small Business (FSB) this week claiming the government could have helped by being better prepared for the conditions. As many as 74% of British workers were affected by last week’s winter conditions, with 8% forced to stay home due to school closures and 12% not able to work at all, according to a related GoToMyPC study of more than 2,000 adults. When asked about the most annoying aspects of the winter weather, a massive 71% voiced the lack of grit on roads as by far the biggest issue.

For the week beginning 4th January 2009, almost a quarter (24%) of British workers claimed they lost more than five working hours, with the survey showing that as much as 124 million working hours could have been lost last week alone as a result of the weather. This equals £1.35bn in lost productivity.

Andrew Millard, Director of eCommerce, EMEA for Citrix Online’s GoToMyPC, said: “The weather in the first week of 2010 has had a catastrophic effect on UK business, with the FSB estimating the cost to the UK economy to be at least £600m a day. Many businesses thought they were sufficiently prepared to handle the snow, but the sheer scale of the disruption and a lack of planning from the government has taken its toll. With more snow on the way, now is the time to revisit or put in place business continuity plans, but it remains to be seen whether the government will be able to act to protect smaller businesses should the bad weather continue.”

Top Tips

Andrew Millard of Citrix GoToMyPC sets out his top five tips for businesses to stand them in good stead for handling the unexpected:

1. Communicate clearly in advance - with your workers so that they know what they need to do if they can’t get into the office.

2. Equip employees with remote access and Web conferencing technology – which will help them to remain productive even if they can’t get into the office.

3. Communicate with your customers – Phone redirects and remote access software will allow you to work productively away from the office. But if clients or customers are likely to be affected, let them know as early as possible and keep communication channels open.

4. Consider alternatives – Travel to the office or to client meetings may be impossible, but instead of cancelling, conduct the meetings online instead.

5. Put in place a business continuity leader – if the unexpected happens, it’s wise to have one person in your organisation responsible for coordinating efforts and informing all staff of the potential impacts and company policies.

Citrix Online is offering businesses and individuals a 30-day free trial for GoToMyPC, which enables fast, easy and secure access to a desktop from any remote location: www.gotomypc.co.uk ; and a 30-day trial for GoToMeeting, to host online meetings anywhere, anytime: www.gotomeeting.co.uk . Just visit the websites and enter SNOW in the promo code option.

Party leaders failing to fully protect their online reputations

Tamar, a UK natural search conversion agency, has announced the results of its second Political Search Index, which highlights potentially damaging oversights in management of the “personal brands” of Gordon Brown and David Cameron as well as other high-profile party figures.

Its findings indicate that unofficial and highly negative websites bearing the names of the Conservative and Labour leaders (www.davidcameron.com; www.gordonbrown.com) consistently rank high on the first page of Google for people seeking information on them.

The two party leaders have also not moved to protect their “personal brands” by opening a Twitter account in their names, which could be costly in terms of reputation or positive engagement with voters, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling has found. An account has been opened on Twitter in his name that ranks highly on the first page of Google search.

While the Conservative Party has the @Conservatives Twitter account and Gordon Brown’s official office is represented with @DowningStreet, neither rank highly in Google searches for the personalities themselves.

The Liberal Democrats and the Greens have moved more quickly on Twitter, with Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader holding an account and the Greens’ Caroline Lucas joining in November, although neither is highly visible on Google searches.

In George Osborne’s case, the Shadow Chancellor had relevant and controlled information about himself on the www.georgeosborne.co.uk website. This ranked very highly on Google search returns pages when checked in October but in November the site had slipped down the rankings and was returning a “404 – not found” result. Then, a redirect was inserted into the page that pushed the site off the rankings (removed due to duplicate content). While the site is live, showing official information about the politician, it is not ranking at all on the search engine. While a direct search for the address produces a correct result the changes reflect poor SEO practice and effectively killed off a very positive personal brand development.

The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party leadership, in contrast, appear to have full control over their “personal brands”. Official sites for Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, and the Greens’ Caroline Lucas rank consistently at the top of the Google searches. The Greens’ leader also has a Facebook page that ranks in the top ten on the search returns.

Neil Jackson, Director of Search at Tamar, comments: “With the next general election being fought online as well as offline, all parties need to work on the detail of their leadership reputation management, minimising the slanderous and negative views. We’ve seen that Gordon Brown, for example, attracts around 400,000 searches a month on Google –and around 30,000 of those people searching will see the unofficial sites.

“With the explosion of real-time search recently, it’s even more important for the political parties to take both factual and ‘social’ search seriously. Simple actions such as registering the names of key figures, opening Facebook accounts and engaging on Twitter would make a big difference.”

Strong website performance contributes to bumper Christmas for etailers

UK etail websites enjoyed strong availability and fast download speeds over the festive period, contributing significantly to Christmas sales growth in 2009, according to new figures from load testing and website monitoring specialist, Site Confidence, an NCC Group plc company.

Research found that across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2009, UK etailers recorded an average uptime of 99.88 per cent, representing an average downtime of just five minutes and 19 seconds. This was supported by a mean website download time of just 9.9 seconds – well below the sub 11 second target for large online retailers.

Data provided by Retail Decisions for IMRG revealed that Christmas Day 2009 sales were up 29 per cent on the previous year to £132m, with Boxing Day drawing sales of £281m. Consumer data from eDigital Research noted that 41.3 per cent of people predicted to spend more online next Christmas due to a positive online experience this year.

John Lewis was just one of the many winners in the online sales battle over the festive period. Having begun its clearance sale at 6.00pm on Christmas Eve, the company recorded a 23 per cent rise in online sales over the first three days, and, on Boxing Day, saw a record number of visitors to its site. The website enjoyed 100 per cent availability on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, according to Site Confidence.

Now, a number of commentators believe that consumers have become more aware of retailers beginning their sales earlier, and are using the Internet to claim the best bargains. Meanwhile, experts at Site Confidence have praised the UK’s etailers for their rigorous preparation ahead of the lucrative Christmas period and have urged all etailers to carefully consider website capacity and performance to boost sales throughout 2010.

Bob Dowson, director at Site Confidence, said: “Competition at Christmas is fierce in the etail space, and companies know that their websites are essential in gaining competitive advantage. Taking into account the early start for many sales, the VAT rate change and new late delivery functions, online purchases provided a number of benefits for consumers. Etailers responded accordingly; load testing their sites to ensure they could cope with the expected hike in website visitors, while using website monitoring to make sure that user experience remained unaffected by poor performance.

“However, 2010 is likely to continue to be tough on the high street so, for many retailers, their websites will become increasingly important. In turn, etailers should not rest on their laurels and should look to maximise sales in the coming year by continuing to optimise their websites, especially ahead of peak sales periods. Retail website functionality issues affect a company’s revenue and reputation, and send its customers into the open arms of competitors which are only a click away.”

SMEs drop business travel for alternative communication methods

The UK economy is slowly emerging from the recession. Budget cuts, time constraints and environmental concerns have nevertheless led a quarter of UK SMEs to swap overseas business travel with alternative means of communication, according to an independent survey commissioned by Skype.

Although nearly one in four (24%) UK small businesses communicate with international colleagues on a daily basis, over half (54%) confirm that they or their employees had travelled to unnecessary face to face meetings abroad. As a result, they have taken action by exploring alternative ways of engaging with international contacts and cutting out often needless, inefficient, and costly journeys.

The emergence of more sophisticated technologies is having a clear impact on the way that businesses are opting to communicate and do business, with two fifths of the UK SMEs selecting Instant Messagaging (41%) as their number one prefered alternative to business travel. Skype (40%), teleconferencing (34%) and video conferencing (28%) also featured on their prefered lists, with video based communication emerging as the real winner in the face of ongoing travel cuts.  Almost half of SMEs in the UK (49%) are planning to increase the amount it is used for business and 59% confirmed it as a direct replacement for business travel.

Despite an increased willingness to adopt new communication technologies, many SMEs still seem hesitant to break with tradition. Over two thirds (65%) believe that email remains the most effective way of communicating, followed by voice calls (39%), video calls and Skype (29%). Surprisingly, Instant Messaging ranks quite low in the league table of effectiveness in spite of being cited as the prefered communication alternative to business travel.

League table of communication method effectiveness

Whilst the cost and time benefits of cutting out business travel are evident, working remotely is not without its drawbacks. For 38% of those surveyed a key challenge is communicating outside of their local time zones, and over a third (36%) miss having a real picture of the person that they are dealing with. Working remotely has even led to embarrasing scenarios for some. Almost one in 10 SMEs admitted to making an amusing business etiquette or audio/video conference call faux pas with an international client, supplier or colleague. For example, getting caught singing when they thought they were on mute or inadvertently insulting international clients by using British slang.

League table of remote working  business dislikes

 “With the obvious cuts in business travel, companies need to find new ways to communicate, collaborate and compete,” said Stefan Oberg, Vice President of Skype for Business. “Without regular face to face meetings, tools that enable people to build and maintain trusted relationships, save time and money, and keeping companies ahead of the game, are key. It’s no surprise that video based communication is experiencing a meteoric rise. The only thing to watch out for are the simple faux pas most of us have heard of.  Forgetting to mute your microphone or switch off your webcam when working from home in your pyjamas are common blunders we would all rather avoid!” 

Source: www.skype.com

Mobile devices with third party security installed to rise to 77 million globally by 2014

According to Juniper Research’s new report - ‘Endpoint Security for Business: Desktops, Laptops & Mobile Devices 2009-2014’ the value of data on corporate mobile handsets, and the need to protect it, will boost the number of corporate devices using security software to 77.7 million by 2014, even though an anticipated flood of malware that was expected to hit the mobile device has not materialised.

The Security report also found that Europe will dominate the market for mobile security, owing to its thriving smartphone market, followed by US, China and South East Asia. 

 “Improvements to the underlying security of the mobile operating system, shorter replacement cycles and concerted efforts by the mobile industry to avoid the problems seen in the PC world have so far kept the malware threat to the mobile device at bay,” says Anthony Cox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research.

However, the report notes that the increasing value of information held on the mobile device will be a significant factor in driving the uptake of security on the corporate mobile handset.

Further findings from the Endpoint Security research include:

·         Security software manufacturers have focused on the need for Encryption and device locking and remote-wipe features

·         Protection will be higher in developed markets with both Western Europe and North America at the forefront,  largely on the back of companies’ obligations to abide by data protection legislation

·         Corporate mobile device protection levels will rise from 5.6% in 2008 to 18.6% in 2014

The report, which includes major analysis of both mobile and Endpoint security (desktops and laptops) contains comprehensive six year forecasts for key security parameters including Basic antivirus and firewall security; Encryption and advanced authorisation functions; Advanced firewalls, Intrusion detection and prevention, Virtual private networks (VPN); Security policy management, endpoint security updates and provision; Security of corporate mobile devices.

Whitepaper and further details of the study ‘Endpoint Security for Business: Desktops, Laptops & Mobile Devices 2009-2014’ can be freely downloaded from the Juniper Research website.

Brits insist on a room with a review

User feedback now most important source of information when it comes to choosing a holiday

When it comes to booking a holiday, an overwhelming 79% of us are happy to base our choices on the experiences of fellow travellers posted online, according to research from leading accommodation website Hotels.com.

In fact, more than twice as many people strongly agreed that they took recommendations from total strangers on holiday and trip advice websites over and above recommendations made by family and friends, according to the Hotels.com research.

Newspaper and magazine articles were the second most relied on source of information gaining 40% of the vote, while 39% of respondents would base their holiday choice on a guide book.

However, the survey of 800 Hotels.com customers showed that most people will use various sources before making their holiday choice, with only 10% relying solely on a hotel's own website to book.

Alison Couper, Director of Communications at Hotels.com, said: "The ability to read the reviews of other independent travellers who have actually been to a hotel or destination can really help people make up their mind when faced with a mass of options and choices. There are more than 1.8 million reviews on Hotels.com posted by people who have actually stayed in the hotels."

Source: www.Hotels.com

VAT increase doesn’t scare online shoppers

Figures from InvisibleHand, the online real-time price comparison tool, have quashed concerns that the 2010 VAT increase would dampen consumer spend.  The company has noted a surprising overall 27 per cent increase in online shopping activity during the first 10 days of January compared with the 10 days before Christmas.

The research, which takes into account product page views as well as transactions, also highlighted the fact that consumers are willing to spend big.  Over 40 per cent of online shopping activity since the beginning of the new decade has focused on luxury electronic items such as televisions, iPods and gaming technology.  This indicates that, despite a 2.5 per cent hike in tax, consumers are not afraid to shell out for the products they covet, as televisions in particular had an average price tag of over £400.

“Many speculators and soothsayers were convinced that the VAT increase would depress online consumer spending and that we would see shopping figures plummet after 1 January. Our figures show this has simply not been the case. People have continued shopping online regardless of the extra cost of purchases and many retailers will be pleasantly surprised at the sustained spending and browsing that has continued well after the Christmas peak,” said Robin Landy, founder of InvisibleHand.

As well as televisions and games consoles, web savvy consumers have also been looking to bag themselves the latest MP3 players and storage devices, such as hard disk drives,  both. These amounted to 10% of the top 100 products browsed online. These items also had a substantial price tag with an average value of over £150.  DVDs have also been a key favourite for post VAT rise spenders.

“The fact is, the web has become the consumer’s best friend and a small percentage increase in VAT is not going to change things. Where the high-street fails, the internet succeeds; retailers are battling with one another to offer the best prices online first. As long as people shop smart, by ensuring they are monitoring prices in real-time, they will almost certainly still be able to bag themselves a bargain and will continue to shop,” concluded Landy. 

To download Invisible Hand in time for your next online shop go to http://www.getinvisiblehand.com

8m Brits struggle to access sites due to health

Public sector and corporate websites could be turning away almost eight million people (17 per cent of adults)* if they fail to meet the latest accessibility guidelines, reveal new figures from national employment charity Shaw Trust.

The research, conducted for Shaw Trust by YouGov, shows almost one sixth of the population have health conditions, including blindness or visual impairment, colour blindness, hearing impairment, dyslexia or mobility impairment, which make it difficult for them to access and transact on many websites,. With this in mind, public sector and corporate IT, HR and communications managers or directors are today urged to seize the opportunity to review their websites against current website accessibility standards.

Indeed, with the Central Office of Information’s deadline for Delivering Accessible Websites** having come into force for all central government owned websites in December 2009, the clock is ticking.

And a high level of website accessibility is of even more importance given the growing numbers of users of assistive technology such as voice activation software, which enables users to navigate websites using their voice instead of a keyboard or mouse, as well as the increasing amount of rich video content available on some sites.

For those IT or communications managers wanting to learn about the best ways to ensure their website meets accessibility guidelines, Shaw Trust, which has provided website accessibility services to more than 140 corporate and public sector clients, has put together the following tips and considerations:

Those responsible for managing an organisation’s website need to ensure they keep themselves up to date with regular training to make sure their site continues to be accessible to people with disabilities, irrespective of any changes the website has undergone since the original build. Web manager or communications managers may find that, even if a website met accessibility guidelines when it was first developed, those guidelines may now have changed and the site may now not be of the required accessibility standard.

Website managers, or anyone responsible for updating websites, should check that it is possible to use the tab key to go through their website. Sites that are not possible to tab through may present a barrier to those people with mobility impairment or users who do not use a mouse. In addition, sometimes the tabs are invisible, which makes it impossible for some users to know ‘where they are’ on the page.

For blind or visually impaired users, website managers should ensure their website’s headings are in the correct order. Headings are there to signpost users to different parts of a webpage and allow them to navigate through the page, much as headlines in a newspaper allow readers to identify quickly the articles which interest them most. Ideally, headings should be presented in a hierarchical and logical order to enable screenreader users to navigate quickly and efficiently through content.

 Website managers should ensure that edit fields in all the forms on their organisation’s website are labelled clearly. This helps users to know which text needs to be inputted where. For example, an edit field acting as a search field needs to be labelled ‘search’ to enable web users – particularly screen reader users – to add text accurately where required. 

Text transcripts should be available for any video or audio files that are on the website to allow deaf users to read and understand all available content. Captioning is also useful for a variety of web users.

Finally, website managers should give consideration to the colours used on their web site as some colour combinations can have an adverse impact on colour blind, visually impaired or low vision users. For example, there should be a strong colour contrast between the text on the page and the background – pink text on a red background, for example, is almost unreadable. 

Shaw Trust’s Website Accessibility Auditing service tests websites technical compliance, coupled with a full user testing programme undertaken by a team of testers with a range of disabilities including: blindness; visual impairment; colour blindness, deafness; dyslexia, mobility impairment, learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorders.

Most testers are users of assistive technology including voice activated, magnification, screen readers, switch access and keyboard only and they advise on the compatibility of websites with these technologies such as screen reader software which converts text to speech for people with visual impairments.  Clients such as Sky, The Guardian, Coca-Cola, the Red Cross and many government departments and local authorities have been able to experience how assistive technologies are used first hand during visits with the testing team while their sites are undergoing testing.

Cam Nicholl from Shaw Trust said: “People with certain disabilities can find it difficult or even impossible to access, navigate or read the content of a web page if the information isn’t presented correctly.

“It’s really important to remember that it is a legal requirement for public facing websites, intranet and extranets to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and that it also meets the Disability Equality Duty criteria as laid out in the COI’s report ‘Building Inclusive Websites’.

“If you are unsure whether your website complies with the relevant guidelines, Shaw Trust offers a comprehensive testing service where you will be left in no doubt about the standard of accessibility and whether or not your site is compliant.”

http://www.healthyworklife.org.uk/web_accessibility

Four Percent Drop in Market Share  for Microsoft Browsers Across Europe

ADTECH, a leading provider of ad serving technology and part of AOL Advertising, has today issued the findings from its latest research into browser trends across Europe (*according to internal ADTECH ad server data)*. The findings indicate Microsoft's overall browser share fell from 67 to 63 percent within the past six months.  Microsoft's IE 8.x saw an increase to 18 percent from one percent.  IE 7.x market share decreased to 36 percent from 50 percent.

Dirk Freytag, CEO at ADTECH comments: “After its release in March 2009, IE 8 has seen stable growth.  However older Microsoft browsers like IE 7 and IE 6 still continue to be popular.  The market share for the older Microsoft browsers will change slowly – just like we’ve seen in previous years.”

Firefox has increased its browser market share in Europe to 26 from 23 percent in the last six months, according to ADTECH's quarterly survey.  Chrome had taken three percent of the European browser market. iPhones make up for 0.3 percent of European browser usage.

Microsoft browsers continue to lead overall, with 72 percent of UK ad impressions generated through IE 8, 7 and 6.  This marks a significant difference to pan-European numbers.  Growth of IE 8 is stronger in the UK (27 percent in the 4th quarter) than in other European countries like Germany (only 16 percent); the same applies to Google’s Chrome.

“Our research indicates that we will see a new top performer from the Microsoft fold,” continues Freytag.  “We are expecting significant changes in the browser market over the next few months and predict that the majority of UK IE users will switch to the latest version - IE 8 - within the year. Its success is unstoppable as we believe Microsoft browsers have established themselves as an integral part of business IT.”

*Methodology:

The figures are being released from a recent Web survey conducted by ADTECH, based on the analysis of some 165 billion banner queries on their own ad servers in Europe in Q4 2009.

Since 2004, ADTECH has been regularly evaluating browser distribution across Europe and publishing an analysis of key trends and statistics. Browser distribution can vary according to Web site, day of the week and time of day.  ADTECH wants to use its browser analyses to show trends, rather than determine the absolute figures.

Market shares in Europe for 2009 (shown in percent):

Browser distribution for selected countries in Q4 2009 (shown in percent):

Source: www.ADTECH.com

Video: Top 10 marketing predictions for 2010

Leo Burnett Group releases its top ten predictions for 2010. What will continue to drive consumer behaviour? Will we be oh-so-over the recession?  How will marketers appeal to the increasingly value conscious consumer? Will we see a surge in ‘buying local’? How will social media evolve? What are the key trends for 2010?

Find out what 2010 has in-store for brands online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgRO7uY2mxM