Paradysz Research Blog

Do you mail to anyone under 50? You’re crazy.

Posted on May 10, 2012 by John Ernst

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Albert Einstein:

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

I thought of this quote often this past week as I worked through updated audience profile studies for a number of our clients.

We’ve done dozens of these analyses over the last year across our nonprofit and publishing client base. One overwhelming theme continues to emerge with each one– current direct mail strategies are driving responders who are old… and getting older at a rapid rate. A recent analysis gives a good picture of the response differences we have been seeing across the board:

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Posted in Direct Mail | Leave a comment

3 Trends Shaping Offline Media and Why It Matters

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Dennis Erickson

Offline media such as print and insert is changing rapidly. Unfortunately, marketers are too quick to place the “traditional” label on these media as they centralize focus and resources around digital media. The result in many cases is a channel centric media mix that ignores opportunity and the ability for offline and online to work together.

The reality is that offline media and consumers use of it, are changing at a faster pace than marketing strategies. The gap needs to be closed which starts with a deeper understanding of the changes taking place within the media landscape.

Here are a few trends marketers need to take note of.

1. Consumers increasing shift to Digital Media

At an increasing rate, consumers are seeking their news and entertainment from online sources. Digital newspapers now have over 100 million viewers on a monthly basis. Subscription revenue from online magazines is expected to grow from $4 million in 2010 to $611 million in 2015. Rapid growth of tablets and tablet content from publishers is fueling this growth along with our desire to be armed with instant information.

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Integrated Marketing: It’s All the Rage

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Chris Paradysz

I had the good fortune to make two speeches in the past few weeks and the theme at the heart of both was integrated marketing (click here to view video). I always thought “multi-channel marketing” was way past cliché and only an interim fix for consumers’ frustrations, but integrated marketing gets at the problem of building brand awareness and converting it into action…ultimately, delivering what the consumer wants and expects which is a seamless brand experience. Whether in a catalog, at a store, online, or in an email, people want to connect in a way that’s not disjointed.

Multi-channel marketing is mostly still multiple channels operating simultaneously. While it may provide some brand consistency, it is not fully integrated within and between channels or fully embedded in the brand voice or offer copy. With all channels now having the technology to support an integrated approach, there is significant potential to leverage marketing dollars.

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Posted in Offline Marketing, Online Marketing | Leave a comment

Rewind Paid Search Index Released for January 2012

Posted on February 28, 2012 by PM Digital Research

Paid search growth continued in January for internet retailers, driven by consumers in the mood for post-holiday bargains early in the month. PM Digital’s January 2012 Rewind Index, which measures monthly U.S. paid search performance for online retail clients, found that paid search revenue in January was 21% higher than one year ago. In general, sales were front-loaded during January’s first two weeks. The two peak days for the month were both Mondays, 1/2 and Martin Luther King Day (1/16). The unseasonable warmth across most of the U.S. may be partially responsible for order volume being lower in the latter half of the month as sales of winter merchandise lagged. Online retail clients continue to increase their paid search spend, mainly because clicks were up 15% year-over-year, although CPCs also inched up 2%. Average order values remained flat, but revenue growth outpaced spend and click growth anyway as conversion rates improved by a healthy 6%.

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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Rewind Paid Search Performance Index: November 2011

Posted on December 9, 2011 by PM Digital Research

The online holiday shopping season so far brings glad tidings, with a strong kickoff in late November marked by solid year-over-year growth. Not surprisingly, growth was driven by several key days around Thanksgiving, including Cyber Monday and Black Friday, but there’s more to the story. Cyber Monday was the month’s top paid search sales day by volume, for yet another year, by a huge margin. Conversion rates on Cyber Monday, already strong, improved significantly vs. last year and drove that day’s revenue growth. However, growth metrics for revenue, order and clicks were actually the highest for the day before, on what might be called “Cyber Sunday.”

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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Rewind Paid Search Index Released for October 2011

Posted on November 21, 2011 by PM Digital Research

Paid search growth trends continue to accelerate for online retailers. As 2011 winds down and the crucial holiday season approaches, October saw even stronger year-over-year growth for revenue, orders, clicks and conversion than September, which itself had outpaced prior months. PM Digital’s October 2011 Rewind Index, which measures monthly U.S. paid search performance for online retail clients, found 53% annual growth in revenue and 33% growth in clicks—the largest monthly increases in both metrics all year. Average orders also saw a healthy 7% increase, an indication of a positive mood among online consumers. PM Digital retail clients increased total spend by an average 40%, mainly due to a boost in clicks rather than CPCs.