As technoliogy develops apace, Experian has listed the 5 biggest trends in digital marketing for 2013, including the rise of search engines as portals, social metrics, and updating emails from within the recipients’ inbox.
Experian’s new Digital Trends 2013 report provides an analysis of how data and technology will impact the digital marketing environment in 2013 and the key digital trends for marketers to watch.
With a foreword by the Prime Minister’s Ambassador to TechCity and leading internet technologist, Ben Hammersley, the report sets out Experian’s key predictions for 2013 across social, search, mobile and email, as well as the next developments for Big Data, and how the digital revolution has impacted on consumer behaviour.
Key trends highlighted in the report include:
Social
Blindly chasing fans or followers has rightly lost credence as brands realise that social sharing and referring has the biggest impact. As a result, simpler and more effective tools to measure social sharing will allow brands to refocus on creating meaningful social media campaigns.
Search
Search engines are becoming more like content portals and less like navigational tools. Consequently consumer queries from currency exchange rates to weather forecasts to celebrity appearances are being answered by search engines without the need for the user to click through to a website. This shift is set to increase consumers’ dependence on search even further this year.
Mobile
Only a third of websites are currently optimised for mobile, yet in 2013 not having a mobile optimised site will not be an option as consumers increasingly shift to mobile applications.
Email
Creating personalised experiences based on data and real-time insight will be key in 2013. Added to this will be the ability to update email content once it is in the inbox – essential as consumers become increasingly used to real-time engagement with brands.
Data
Big Data will continue to be a buzzword in 2013 and will be pivotal in digital marketing. Digital linkage across email addresses, mobile numbers, cookies, and device IDs will enable data to work to improve marketing effectiveness and engagement regardless of channel.
Jon Buss, Managing Director, Digital, Experian Marketing Services commented: “It’s clear that online and offline communications will continue to blur in 2013 as cross-channel marketing becomes the norm. Thanks to digital channels we’ve moved from a one-way flow of information to a two-way conversation. Omnichannel marketing is the next step, creating a seamless consumer experience across all channels by using real-time data to truly understand who a customer is.”
Read the full report here (PDF)
