Digital Marketing Blog

Email ROI still impressive, but falling

Figures released by the US Direct Marketing Association show email marketing is still delivering impressive ROI despite falls over the past two years.

According to the data, marketers will have spent around $500m (£244m) on email marketing to drive $23bn (£11.2bn) in sales by the end of 2007. That equates to $48.56 (£23.60) for every dollar spent.

by Graham Charlton 25 October 2007 13:25pm 0 comments

High profile sites hit by PageRank fall

A number of popular blogs and news sites have seen a sudden drop in their Google PageRank scores, with speculation suggesting that they are being punished by Google for paid linking.

The drops have hit blogs like Engadget and Search Engine Guide, as well as news sites including Forbes.com and the Washington Post.

by Graham Charlton 25 October 2007 13:08pm 2 comments

WPP buys another digital agency

WPP Group has acquired Blast Radius, an interactive agency based in Canada, for an undisclosed sum.

Blast Radius, which employs 400 staff with offices in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Amsterdam and London, has experience in building ad campaigns for social networks. It will be aligned with WPP's Wunderman network.

by Graham Charlton 25 October 2007 11:58am 0 comments

Facebook gets into bed with Microsoft

Microsoft has bought a 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240m - a deal that values the yet-to-be-profitable online hangout at $15bn and will not provide great reading for the founders of YouTube and MySpace.

The move will see an expansion of Microsoft’s existing ad partnership with the social networking site, through which it sells banner ads in the US.

by Richard Maven 25 October 2007 09:13am 1 comment

Google to buy Nielsen data for TV ads

Google has attempted to boost its ability to target TV ads by striking a deal to use detailed demographic data about TV audiences from Nielsen.

Nielsen's data covers TV viewers' ages, gender and marital status, and will be added to the information Google already gleans from set top boxes.

by Graham Charlton 25 October 2007 07:59am 0 comments

Guardian launches US offering

The Guardian has launched a US-focused website in a bid to capitalise on the popularity of Guardian Unlimited across the Atlantic.

by Graham Charlton 24 October 2007 13:34pm 0 comments

Email open rates drop 3%

MailerMailer's latest Email Marketing Metrics Report (pdf) takes a look at open and clickthrough rates, the best days of the week to send emails and how personalisation and subject lines can affect open rates.

It finds that emails with subject lines of 35 characters or less are 28% more likely to be opened, and that open rates have declined overall so far this year.

by Graham Charlton 24 October 2007 13:32pm 1 comment

Interview with Philips online sales VP Gilles Domartini

Consumer electronics giant Philips has just launched a major redesign of its consumer website to improve usability and help shoppers “fully experience and interact with products as though they were right in front of them.”

The firm says it’s its biggest upgrade for three years. New features include a Google Maps mashup showing the location of retailers' outlets, as well as tools to allow greater interactivity on product pages. Philips also deployed technology to improve communication with retailers about stock availability and lead generation.

We spoke to Gilles Domartini, Philips Consumer Electronics’ VP & GM of online sales and marketing, to find out a bit more about how the company's e-commerce strategy is changing as brands seek to interact more closely with consumers.

by Richard Maven 24 October 2007 12:29pm 2 comments

Online returns processes could be improved - study

A quarter of online retailers could be affecting their customers' loyalty by failing to provide information about how they can return unwanted purchases, according to a new study.

E-commerce solution provider Snow Valley assessed 70 UK e-commerce companies and found that a sizeable minority didn’t provide decent directions about how to send purchases back.

by Richard Maven 24 October 2007 11:44am 0 comments

Adsense coming to Facebook?

Google is apparently looking to tap into the Facebook widget ‘phenomenon’ by serving Adsense ads on third-party applications created for the site.

Steve Rubel has linked to an article in AdAge that quotes Google CEO Eric Schmidt as saying: