â–¶ Big Losses for Customer Service: As PR becomes tied to customer service even more with social media, a study of consumers evaluating the cost of poor customer service by Genesys, Greenfield Online and Datamonitor/Ovum finds that enterprises lose an estimated $83 billion each year due to abandoned purchases resulting from poor customer service experiences. Other analysis includes:
• 90% of all transactions initiated over the Web are abandoned before any transaction is completed;
• 86.4% of consumers would welcome extended offers or help during self-service transactions; and,
• 71% of consumers have ended a relationship with a company due to a poor customer service experience.
Source: Genesys, Greenfield Online and Datamonitor/Ovum
▶ Metrics Vex Marketers: Feeling somewhat like their PR brethren when it comes to the trickiness of online measurement, marketers aren’t totally confident in their metrics for tracking online marketing performance. In a survey of marketing executives and managers by Coremetrics and Bloomberg BusinessWeek Research, only 38% of marketing executives and managers polled are totally confident in the metrics; 50% are somewhat confident; and 12% aren’t so confident. Other findings include:
• When asked what the keys were for marketing accountability, 45% say it’s about effectiveness; 41% say optimization; 39% say it’s about setting strategy; and 34% say execution.
• Respondents say the top challenges in online marketing are “obtaining an integrated view of customers across online marketing touch points†(45%); “understanding the influence of a marketing campaign beyond acquisition and conversion to include the influence of each interaction†(45%); and “interpreting data to make business decisions†(41%).
• 79% say their organization’s investment in technology to support online marketing efforts is excellent to good; 21% say fair to poor.
Source: Coremetrics and Bloomberg BusinessWeek Research
▶ Social Media and Journalists: According to a national survey of editors and reporters by Cision and George Washington University, 15% of journalists say social media are “important†to them as potential sources when researching a story, and 40% say it’s somewhat important (for more concerning this survey, read the Tip Sheet by GWU’s Don Bates on pg. 8). Other findings include:
• 84% said social media sources were “slightly less†reliable or “much less†reliable that traditional media; 49% said social media suffers from lack of fact checking, verification and reporting standards.
• 89% of journalists polled use blogs for their online research.
• 44% of editors and reporters surveyed say they depend on PR professionals for “interviews and access to sources and expertsâ€; 23% say that they depend on them for “answers to questions and targeted informationâ€; and 17% for “perspective, information in context, and background information.â€
Source: Cision, George Washington University
▶ Business Leaders’ Use of Professional Networks: A survey of business leaders on their use of online professional networks shows that 52% use those networks to keep track of peers and colleagues; 44% use them for access to thought leadership/information not provided elsewhere; and 43% use them to showcase themselves or their company. The study, by Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) fellows Don Bulmer and Vanessa DiMauro, involved 356 participants, a quarter of them CEOs. Other survey highlights include:
• 48% say they lightly rely on professional networks for data/advice/insight to support business decisions; 25% say heavily; 23% say little; and 4% say not at all.
• The top online networks used by professionals: LinkedIn, 92%; Facebook, 51%; Twitter, 41%; and Plaxo, 13%.
• Of the top online steps used to inform decision making, 75% say to conduct research via search engines; 73% to visit the company Web site; and 42% to seek peer referral.
• Just 14% strongly trust online information. The majority of respondents (69%) say they “somewhat†trust it. PRN
Source: SNCR