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90% of agencies say clients expect more work for less money

Almost 90% of digital and design agencies believe their clients now expect more work for less money, according to a new survey.

The Design Industry Voices report, which interviewed 500 agency staff, found that 80% said client budgets have been reduced and more than two-thirds (70%) said clients expect more work in pitches for free.

The survey by Fairley & Associates, Gabriele Skelton and On Pointe Marketing is now in its fourth year and suggests that digital and design agencies are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn.

This is despite the fact that the Econsultancy and Experian Marketing Budgets 2012 Report showed increasing levels of investment across a range of digital channels and disciplines.

Infinite scrolling: pros and cons

It’s not exactly new, but you probably encountered far more sites with infinite scrolling functionality in 2012 than you did in 2011, and there’s a good chance you’ll come across even more in 2013.

With popular services like Twitter and Pinterest bringing infinite scrolling into the mainstream, it’s no surprise that more and more designers and publishers are considering doing away with old school pagination.

But is infinite scrolling a good trend or will it soon become a design worst practice?

Tackling Twitter and Pinterest in 2013

While we have seen Twitter gradually embraced by most companies over the past five years, newcomer Pinterest didn’t even exist that long ago and now we are basing strategies on it.

With our shift in attitude toward the effectiveness and importance of social media to marketers and comsumers alike, we are ever looking to the future of these platforms.

With Twitter’s release of Vine (and the resurgence of animated gifs everywhere) and their flipflop in openness with their APIs, it’s important to stay one step ahead of the game.

Personalisation and tablets will dominate changes to ecommerce in 2013

At the end of 2012, we saw record numbers in online shopping over the holidays and that is only going to increase as our ecommerce experiences improve.

This will only happen if we increase personalisation and make our shopping experience more relevant. 

Also as we increase to use new devices in our day to day lives, those retailers and companies who ensure their sites and shopping experiences extend into tablets and mobiles will be ahead.

This year may see more of this especially when it comes specifically to tablets.

Social media in 2013: the year we finally go “beyond the like”

Social media is not the new kid on the block anymore but it’s still a growing channel and 2013 will see a number of changes – or so our industry experts think. Brands are starting to realise the importance of this channel and are looking for real numbers to back up the claims of agencies and social media experts.

The continued growth of content will affect how people use and interact with social media and the beands using it. And now that we can collect more specific and individual data through social media, this content will become even more effective.

The big three: Google, Microsoft, and Apple in 2013

Throughout the year, the news is punctuated with the latest changes in the big three: Google, Microsoft and Apple. 

But what can we expect from them in the year coming up? New products? New software? New directions? And how will these changes potentially affect the marketplace?

The face of retail in 2013

With the UK being rocked by the closure of major retail chains such as video rental chain Blockbuster and music store, HMV, it’s an important for us all around the globe to look at what the face of retail will be in 2013 and how shopping needs to continue to change with technology.

Some retailers like Nordstrom are already aware of the need to innovate. Major retailers can’t sit back any longer and watch their competitors crumble without thinking they could be next.

The future of tag management

Tag management has been on everyone’s lips in 2012 so it’s no surprise that the conversations are continuing into 2013. It’s important for companies to better manage their websites and the information of their own and that of their customers that they are sharing.

Better site performance is expected by customers especially for ecommerce sites. Tag management is the way to make this happen and will be utilized by more and more companies throughout the year.

10 ways to encourage customer reviews online

Customer reviews are a hugely important in ecommerce for improving your conversion rate, and can lead to an uplift of 18% in sales.

Research has shown that 61% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase decision and 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase from a site that has user reviews.

Annoyingly though, customers generally can’t be bothered to leave their feedback. As such you need to find ways of encouraging your customers to leave their feedback without coming across as desperate.

It’s a topic we’ve previously touched on in posts looking at how to organise ecommerce product reviews and how to optimise reviews for higher conversion rates.

And here are 10 tips to help you drive up the number of reviews on your site…

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