Study finds integrated digital marketing is crucial to success

A new study carried out by experts at Oxford Economics indicates that poorly integrated web services cost online retailers in the UK £500 million annually.
Morrisons has lost more than £300 million due to a poor digital strategy
The study suggests that web design and other digital services need to offer a personalised user experience and should be integrated across multiple platforms.

These findings come as no surprise to us as we’ve often pushed for a digital marketing mix that is integrated.  One of our favourite analogies is comparing digital marketing to a boiling pot.  Every bubble represents another aspect of an online marketing strategy: websites, social media, mobile apps, email, etc. While some bubbles may be larger at times or may boil more rapidly than others, they all work together to form a whole.

The study’s findings agree.  The research shows that bad web design does not keep the visitor experience in mind, resulting in difficult to navigate websites where users miss out on various pages or products they may be interested in.

Additionally, the study determined that retailers who created mobile apps to assist customers while they were shopping were likely to see an increase in business.

Personalising an online shopping experience through recommendations, and including functionality that allows people to continue shopping across various platforms, also helps retailers improve sales.

Out of the 100 UK retailers studied, Morrisons has lost the most money, £314 million from 2007-2010 because of their lack of an e-commerce site and a poor digital marketing strategy.

We’re excited by these findings as they reconfirm what we’ve been saying for years but also because the study has helped get a dialogue going in mainstream news sites like The Guardian and The Independent.

If you want to stay ahead of the curve, contact us today to learn about our web design, e-commerce, app development, and online marketing services.

 

*Photo from The London Evening Standard