30 Seconds or Less

How Modern Marketers Engage the Distracted Consumer

1
30 seconds or less:
How Modern Marketers
engage the distracted
consumer
Introduction
30 seconds or less. This is the average length of time that consumers spend reading or listening to online market-
ing communications1. Consumers watch TV, surf the Internet, and check new emails simultaneously, which means
marketers are dealing with increasingly distracted consumers.

The results included in this report may seem discouraging for marketers who arent confident in their abilities to
compete in an always-on environment. However, Modern Marketers are now equipped with the strategies and
technologies to better capture the consumers attention. To do this, they need to personalise customer experiences
across the digital channels by reaching the customer on whatever device they happen to be on, with the most rele-
vant offer for that particular moment.

Read on for a statistical profile of todays distracted consumer, followed by actionable tips for effectively communi-
cating with this new type of consumer and converting.

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http://www.responsys.com/land/download-how-marketers-can-reach-the-distracted-consumer 2
Summary of the Findings
30 seconds or less
A consumer survey conducted by YouGov discovered that UK consumers are on average spending 30 seconds or
less reading or listening to online marketing communications, leaving brands with a very limited amount of time to
capture their attention.

The online survey polled over 2,000 UK adults about their perceptions of marketing today and how they engage
with content from brands across a variety of online channels, including email, mobile, and social media platforms.
The survey found that, as a result of the proliferation of tablet devices, smartphones, and new media platforms, the
practice of dual screening is becoming an increasingly prevalent habit for todays modern consumer.

In fact, 44 per cent of those polled engage in the practice at least once a week. 2534 year-olds are the age group
most likely to dual screen, with 26 per cent of those in this age bracket admitting to doing this every day.

Unsurprisingly, the older the consumer, the less likely they are to dual screen64 per cent of 55+ year-olds stated
they have never participated in this modern habit.

Todays digital natives are clearly setting the agenda for future marketing practices. As connected devices become
the norm, and consumers expect to be in constant contact with friends, family, and their favourite brands at the
click of a button, the methods brands are using to engage with consumers are beginning to shift. US author Mark
Prensky has predicted that by 2020, people across the globe will be plugged into the AORTA (Always On Real-Time
Access)2a term coined by Mark Anderson, the chief of Strategic News Service. This future will see consumers
constantly able to access information and news from anywhere on the planet. With this in mind, the way consum-
ers engage digitally with any organisationbe it a retailer, a government organisation, or otherwisewill transform
in line with this expectation.

Given the influx of digital information and access to multiple devices, consumers are becoming more selective
about which messages they pay attention to from brands. As a result, mass marketing techniques will no longer
pay off. Consumers are looking for quick, digestible content that is highly relevant to their wants and needs and is
delivered across their preferred digital channels. The challenge for marketers now is finding out how to engage with
consumers and retain their attention while they hop from one device to another, in such a short space of time.

Diminishing Attention Spans for Web, Email, Text, and Social

With consumers increasingly engaging in the practice of dual screening and moving from Twitter to online shopping
to the TV, how does this affect the channels they use to consume marketing content? As consumer attention is
distracted away from reading marketing content from brands, the channels that brands are using to engage with
consumers can make or break the success of a campaign.

Concentration spans are significantly impacted by this new habit, meaning that some channels naturally receive
more attention than others, depending on the individual consumer. Perhaps surprisingly to some, the channel on
which consumers spend the longest time interacting with marketing messages is email50 per cent of consumers
spend on average between 5 and 30 seconds on incoming marketing emails. This suggests that the unobtrusive,
opt-in nature of email continues to reign supreme. Only 32 per cent of consumers spend the same amount of
time on marketing SMS texts, demonstrating that as a marketing channel, mobile continues to be challenging as a

2
CNN, What does it mean to be a digital native?: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/04/business/digital-native-prensky 3
method for distributing marketing content. Incoming social posts from brands are even less likely to be read. Only
27 per cent of consumers spend 5 to 30 seconds reading Tweets, Facebook posts, or content posted on other social
channels. This is perhaps surprising, considering the popularity of social media as a means to provide feedback or
complaints directly to brands.

Rising Customer Expectations

As a result of the increasing number of digital touch points available and the ability to engage with brands instantly
at the touch of a button, consumers have more options and higher expectations in the way they interact with com-
panies. The main communications channelsweb, mobile, social, and emailare in use practically simultaneously
by consumers. This has a major impact on the customer journey and how and when consumers expect brands to
deliver on their promises.

When looking at customer expectations and the complexity they can cause for brands, experts in the industry
refer to a trend that has been building for some time called the expectation economy. In the expectation economy,
consumers have a long list of high expectations they apply to each interaction or experience they have with a retailer
be it price point, customer service, product quality, or interaction with staff. These expectations have been formed
through a mix of the consumers own shopping experiences and have been amplified by the new media age, made
up of readily available information sources and social platforms. Together these factors enable the distracted con-
sumer to hunt down and expect the best of the best from their favourite brands.

This urgency of service and high expectation was also reflected in our research: a third of consumers (33 per cent)
expect brands to contact them with relevant incentives and discounts within a day of registration or subscription to
a website or service. To the consumer, this isnt an unrealistic expectationthey are savvy to the fact that marketers
collect data on them. They expect this to be used to provide quick, highly relevant discounts, services, and products
based on the behaviours they have shared with the brand. Effective use of customer data on a data management
platform (DMP) with data activation will only become more increasingly crucial to the success or failure of marketing
campaigns.

Profile of the Distracted Consumer

Nearly half of respondents (49 per cent) receive between 210 emails per day from all brands to which
they actively subscribe.

Almost one-fifth (19 per cent) of consumers receive 11 or more marketing emails per day.

Only 8 per cent of consumers are reading every marketing email they receive, compared to 43 per cent
who are reading less than half of emails sent by marketers.

Consumers are most likely to look at or read marketing content from brands on weekdays, between
5 p.m. and 11 p.m. (23 per cent).

32 per cent of consumers have liked a brand on Facebook, while just 12 per cent claim to follow a brand
on Twitter.

4
Melissa is into fashion. She spends most of her
free time checking out the latest trends so she
can stay on the cutting edge. While shopping
on the street, she sees a poster for the retailer
Jaxon, advertising their new line of shoes with a
call to action that says, Text SAVE15 to 12345
to get 15% off.

Melissa texts in her Melissa decides she After rushing back to

email address and wants to redeem her the store and making
the keyword SAVE15 coupon today, so she her purchase, Melissa
to 12345 to opt in to texts in her postcode gets a text asking her to
to find the nearest rate her experience 1-5.
receive Jaxons digital
Jaxon location. Melissa is now a fan,
offers. and texts back 5 for
She immediately gets She finds just the
a text back to confirm shoes shes looking outstanding.
that she would like to for. Unfortunately
receive promotional theyre out of her size.
offers from Jaxon, as Two days later Melissa
well as a short link that gets a text notifying
takes her to an online her that her size is in
coupon for 15% off. stock.

The Opportunity for Marketers

Using different devices for different stages of the purchase journey, the distracted consumer is undoubtedly
complex. So how can marketers make sense of it all? Here are some actionable tips to capture attention and
increase conversions:

1 / Get to know your customers

Gathering customer data gives marketers the foundation to centre their marketing around customer behaviours and
preferences.

This process starts with the capture of customer permission, contact information, and preferences across multiple
channels. One such way to get this data is to create a set of compelling offers that are scheduled to go to a wide
audience over a short period of time. This time-bound marketing generates valuable insights into individual con-
sumer interests and preferences.

For Vouchercodes.co.uk, the leading shopping and money-saving website, a key focus over the last year has
been to increase customer engagement and retention through more effective segmentation of the user base,
creation of targeted alerts for specific customer segments, and improvement of email design. By doing this,

5
every Vouchercodes.co.uk customer received more relevant content, which increased engagement and helped
Vouchercodes.co.uk to retain customers for a longer period of time. In addition, Vouchercodes.co.uk has seen open
and click-to-open rates far in excess of those for less targeted mailings.

2 / Deliver individualised experiences

Research shows that 61 per cent of consumers feel more positive about a brand when marketing messages are
personalised, while 53 per cent are more likely to purchase when a brand personalises digital communications3.

Designing experiences optimised to individual behaviour and preferences can be achieved with the right tools.
For example:

MetLife, a leading global provider of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programmes, found that the suc-
cess rate achieved by customer service agents was proving difficult to replicate via other channels. MetLife chose
to mimic the high-touch and personalised experience of its agents using Oracle Marketing Cloud. This campaign
distributed timely email and display messages across online, email, social, mobile, and display.

The messages were perfectly timed and tailored based on a customers observed channel behaviour and declared
preferences in the profile centre. For example, customers received a targeted display adsuch as a reminder to
complete an insurance applicationif they werent being responsive to email. The same reminder could be deliv-
ered via mobile if the customer had opted-in to receive SMS messages.

This personal yet automated approach to engagement increased MetLifes net promoter scores to +38, and wid-
ened the pool of customers who prefer to engage with MetLife across the digital channels versus an agent.

What this all means is that marketers must personalise messages for each individual consumer, based on their
profile data and preferences. This is the new path to developing long-term relationships and increasing ROI.

Send Show Send Wait

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program
email
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in your favorite
display ad
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message 5 purchased?
categories. package deal.
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Heres a coupon. days
no yes
add customer to add customer to
at risk segment engaged segment

Show
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3
Responsys Power of Personalisation survey 2013: http://responsys.com/land/get-personal-in-the-relationship-era 6
3 / Draw on the power of brand advocates
Those who forward and share email promotions to their friends are the same customers who will return to pur-
chase time and time again. Looking after your existing customers can reap massive rewards. In fact, marketers
in the United States and Europe must bring in five and seven shoppers, respectively, to equal the revenue of one
repeat purchaser.

Believing that the future of marketing is primarily digital, B&Q decided to re-invent its loyalty programme by obtain-
ing a single customer profile across all digital channels. Once this was in place, the next step was to make its loyalty
programme even more intelligent. The 100% digital loyalty schemeB&Q Clubwas initially focused on commu-
nications via owned channels like email and mobile apps, however as B&Q Club membership grew, the retailer
included new paid channels like Facebook custom audience advertising to reach the expanding fan base. This pro-
cess revealed the power of brand advocates. Rather than chasing after too many one-time followers, B&Q continues
to put its efforts into a loyalty scheme that focuses on high quality, long-term relationships with fans.

4 / Look for the anomalies

Understanding individual customers and their browsing, searching, and purchasing habits should alert marketers
when something is out of place. These anomalies in customer behaviour can present the biggest opportunities for
conversion if acted on quickly.

For example, a customer who is searching for a bikini in winter is likely to have a stronger intent to purchase than
a casual browser. By personalising emails, texts, or social media messages based on discrete areas of interest,
a retailer has the ability to capture the attention of the distracted consumer. Picking out the smaller, out of place
results from huge data sets will often yield greater returns.

Conclusion
As evidenced through the survey results, marketers are faced with communicating to consumers who are not only
receiving messages across multiple channels and devices, but also becoming increasingly selective about what
they tune into and for how long. To cut through the noise, marketers must remember that turning up the volume on
mass marketing is not the answer. Rather, Modern Marketers must begin to personalise individual interactions with
customers based on their profile data and preferences. With the right technology, they can do it at massive scale.

7
About Oracle Marketing Cloud
Modern Marketers choose Oracle Marketing Cloud solutions to create ideal customers and increase revenue.
Integrated information from cross-channel, content, and social marketing with data management and activation
along with hundreds of app and data partners enables them to target, engage, convert, analyse, and use award-
winning marketing technology and expertise to deliver personalised customer experiences at every interaction.

Visit oracle.com/marketingcloud.

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