Travel and Affiliate Marketing

My friends at CJ Affiliate have just released a new benchmarking study for the travel industry, and many of the findings are rather fascinating. 

The study is the latest in an annual series produced by CJ, providing the industry's most comprehensive benchmarking for:

• Clicks

• Bookings

• Average Booking Value

• Rate of Consumption

To create the CJ Affiliate Travel Benchmarks report they focused on measuring the growth of the primary actions that travel advertisers track in the CJ Network—airline ticket sales, car rentals and hotel room bookings. This report looked at all network advertisers who reported sales of these actions in 2012 and 2013. The performance was aggregated for four key metrics and then averaged to achieve a category average for each quarter of the calendar year. To address outliers in the category, they used trimmed averages which exclude the top and bottom 2.5 percentile. 

Check out this great report now, at no cost, by visiting our Insights and Ideas section on the Conversant website. 

Would You Like to Get Better Results From Cross Device?

The typical consumer now uses just over three different devices to access the web. Given that, cross-device capabilities are critical to the success of today’s digital campaigns. But while many marketers are aware of “what works” in cross-device, something is often lost between conception and execution of cross-device campaigns. In the rush to get programs up and running on “Internet Time,” cross-device efforts frequently fall short of best practices. Keep the following strategies in mind as you architect your next cross-device campaign.

First, don’t think in screen silos and don’t think about cross-device solely in context of media delivery. To truly succeed in cross-device, your approach must be all-encompassing. This means that data, delivery, and insights gathering must all be considered when you are devising your cross-device strategy.

• Cross-Device Data: According to comScore, consumers now spend 60% of their online time on mobile devices. And consumer behavior can vary greatly from device to device. As such, to attain a 360 degree view of a consumer, you must incorporate unique learnings from all of a consumer’s interactions, across screens. These learnings collectively create a richer consumer profile that will significantly improve targeting capabilities, for both multi- and even single-device programs.
• Cross-Device Delivery: Leverage the best media in order to reach, connect and convert as the consumer migrates from device to device throughout the day. Right screen. Right place. Right time. Right message.
• Cross-Device Measurement: Every consumer action, regardless of the device it occurs on, sheds some light on the motivations and inclinations of that user. Leverage the individual and interconnected value of these insights to help shed light on the role each channel plays in a given user’s decisions.

Second, identify an app strategy. Four out of five mobile interactions take place in apps versus on the mobile web. With so much time being spent in-app, stakeholders must find ways to navigate the gaps in reporting and optimization that in-app engagement presents. It’s harder to measure marketing activity in apps, but no longer impossible. Luckily, new solutions now exist to bridge these gaps. These solutions are the key to unlocking the value of a consumer’s in-app activity. The resulting insights can be used to eliminate waste while driving greater optimization and scale.

Finally, consider the individual strengths of each type of device when developing and implementing your creative. To connect with consumers as they migrate between devices, you must make sure to deliver media that is optimized for whatever device it is being viewed on. Your strategy and execution should reflect a recognition of each device’s individual strengths:

• Smartphone Viewers should be engaged with messages that keep their out-and-about nature in mind. Examples: Motivate and facilitate action using store finders and discount offers.
• Tablet Users can be thoroughly engaged with attractive product visuals and other rich media experiences.
• PC Browsers have the easiest time entering data, so use these contacts to quickly link consumers to online purchase options.

There is no question that cross-device presents a wealth of opportunities for marketers and their brands. Take the time to identify these opportunities while devising your cross-device programs so that you may take full advantage of them.

Thanks to iMedia Connection for publishing this first. 

Perspectives and Swear Jars

Buzzword Bingo can be a rather frustrating thing for marketers trying to master every essential aspect of digital. Because personalization is such a hot topic, my boss Scott Eagle, CMO of Conversant, has issued his own take on what "personalized marketing" really means.

There are so many companies promulgating self-serving definitions that Scott decided to put a stake in the ground and put forward a comprehensive definition. This impassioned argument is provocatively titled "What the *!X&! does "personalized marketing really mean?" It's enough for me to put a quarter in the swear jar! ;-) But it's all to make an important point. 

In order to get maximum benefit from one-to-one marketing, we need to be vigilant in ensuring that whatever solution we choose truly delivers on the promise of personalization. That's what this paper is all about. 

Its a good and thought provoking read. Find the paper on SlideShare or our website. 

New Conversant Whitepaper on Cross-Device

One of the reasons why I so appreciate working at Conversant is the company's commitment to providing valuable, non-selly content to hep buyers at agencies and brand direct alike to make better decisions on the critical topics that can make a huge difference to their success.

Digital is or can seem mindbogglingly complicated, so inasmuch as Conversant, Inc. has strong expertise in the many technologies and innovations, we can help the industry make better decisions. Whether or not you buy from us, though of course I very much hope that you do. Cross-device is one of the topics where getting better information out to decision makers can make a big difference.

Conversant has just published a new paper on cross device that offers six simple tips or things to look for as you  contemplate your options. All of our content is free for download. You can do so on SlideShare or on the increasingly massive Insights and Ideas section of our website.