30+ fascinating stats from Econsultancy's Q3 2013 reports

It's nearing the end of Q3 so I thought it time to round up some of the brilliant reports that our research team has produced in the past three months.

The topics include search engine marketing, user experience, cross-channel marketing, Facebook ads and the increased investment in display.

To see more great statistics from Econsultancy reports check out our round ups from way back in Q1 and Q2.

So, here are the stats...

Agencies offer a full range of services

• According to the UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, published in association with NetBooster, agencies are moving towards a fuller service offering to cater for the increased demand for a holistic approach to marketing and data.
• More than half (52%) of agencies said they offered 'a full range of digital marketing services', an increase from 45% in 2012 and 42% in 2011.
• This compares to just 12% of agencies specialising only in SEO and 7% focused exclusively on paid search. A further 10% of agencies carry out both SEO and paid search.
• Looking at the demand side (i.e. in-company responses), 91% of responding companies carry out SEO, 81% carry out analytics (81%), 78% practise paid search marketing and the same proportion (78%) do social media marketing.
• The survey, carried out in the spring of 2013, is based on a survey of more than 750 companies and agencies, making this the most authoritative report on the UK SEM marketplace.

What area is your main focus as an agency?

Australians struggle with cross-channel marketing

• The Australia Cross-Channel Marketing Survey Report, published by Econsultancy in partnership with Experian Marketing Services, found that only a quarter of businesses (26%) rated the online cross-channel customer experience delivered by their own or their clients' organisations as 'excellent' (2%) or 'good' (24%).
• Nearly half of responding businesses (48%) said they take a short-term, campaign-centric approach without a view to longer term strategy.
• On average, only 51% of Australian marketing campaigns are run across channels with integrated messaging, creative and offer.
• The report report is based on a survey of nearly 200 Australian businesses to an online survey carried out during May and June 2013.

Companies understand the importance of the user experience

• User experience (UX) is not a new concept within digital marketing, but it is becoming a growing priority for business according to the Australia User Experience Report, published by Econsultancy in association with Macquarie Telecom.
• The survey shows that three-quarters (74%) of respondents say their companies are committed to delivering the best possible online user experience, including 17% who say they are seriously committed.
• More than half of survey respondents (52%) said that developing the user experience was 'very important' to their company, and only 1% said it was not important at all.
• In addition, 96% of respondents agree that user experience must lead all marketing and ecommerce efforts, including 54% who strongly agree.

How committed is your organisation / are your clients to delivering the best possible online user experience?

Companies realise they need to focus more on building relationships

• The second annual Cross-Channel Marketing Report, published by Econsultancy in association with Responsys, shows that companies recognise the importance of building value for and from their customers as part of an on-going relationship.
• Almost three-quarters of responding companies (70%) agree with the statement that "it is cheaper to retain than acquire a customer", and just under half (49%) agree that "pound for pound, we achieve better ROI by investing in relationship over acquisition marketing".
• However, just 30% of companies say they are "very committed" to relationship marketing, with 22% conducting no relationship marketing at all.
• The research is based on a 2013 survey of nearly 900 companies and agencies.

Digital captures a significant share of Asian marketing dollars

• Two in five (42%) companies surveyed in the State of Digital in Asia Report plan to increase their overall marketing investment over the next 12 months (down from 49% in 2012), while two-thirds (66%) report increases for their digital budgets this year.
• For comparison, just under a fifth (19%) of responding companies plan to increase their traditional (offline) budgets.
• Compared to last year, the proportion of client-side marketers saying their organisations will increase their digital budgets by more than 50% has tripled (from 4% in 2012 to 13% this year).
• The report, published in association with Campaign Asia-Pacific, is based on a survey of almost 400 company and agency marketers carried out in June and July 2013.

Facebook remains king of social ads

• There are a huge number of social networks vying for marketers' attention, yet Facebook remains the most attractive according to the Econsultancy/Adobe Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing.
• Facebook newsfeed ads proved to be the most popular channel among business respondents (66%), followed by Facebook marketplace ads (45%) and Promoted Tweets (40%).
• The agency perspective is even more favourable, with the majority (84%) of respondents saying that newsfeed ads are most popular among their clients.
• The report, entitled Optimising Paid Media, is based on a survey of more than 600 Econsultancy and Adobe subscribers.

Strong investment from advertisers in online display advertising

• The third Online Advertisers Survey Report, published in association with Rubicon Project, found that spending across online advertising channels has increased in the last year, which builds on the growth highlighted by our last online advertising survey carried out in 2011.
• In the case of display advertising, the proportion of advertisers citing an increase in spend has risen from 57% in 2009 to 64% in 2013.
• The growing investment in display has led to an increase in pricing, with almost half (48%) of the advertisers surveyed having witnessed an increase in prices in the last year. A further 41% of buy-side survey respondents say that prices have remained the same.
• Online display appears to be particularly buoyant in France, where 88% of advertisers cited an increase in spend over the last year. Advertisers in Germany are least likely to have increased their spend in the last year, with 33% having decreased investment in display.
• The report is based on a survey of more than 650 advertisers and agencies. The findings are presented globally, with key charts broken down for the UK, US, France, Germany and Asia Pacific.