13 delightful digital marketing stats we’ve seen this week

econsultancy.com

American author H Jackson Brown Jnr once said, ‘The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best to read the weekly Econsultancy digital marketing stats round-up.’

That is a fact, which means it’s true. 

But let’s not start Googling what Jackson Brown Jnr really said and accusing me of making things up. Just relax and take a look at this fine set of digital marketing stats.


This week we’re covering influencers, mobile shopping, multichannel, the growth of social and much more. 

57% of fashion & beauty brands have an influencer marketing strategy

Almost three quarters of fashion and beauty brands are already carrying out influencer marketing, while a further 21% plan to invest in it over the next 12 months. 

This is according to a new Fashion & Beauty Monitor report in partnership with Econsultancy, The Rise of Influencers, which explores the role influencers play in the fashion and beauty industry.

Q: Do you currently use influencer marketing as part of your marketing strategy?

One in five expect more than 50% of overall spend to be via mobile

People are increasingly comfortable using their mobile to shop online, with almost three quarters (69%) now browsing or buying this way, a 10% increase since 2013, according to new figures from BuzzCity. 

The main reasons people choose to chop via mobile are the variety of products available (18%), the experience of discovery (16%) and the speed of delivery (14%).

Emirates becomes first airline to gain 1m Instagram followers

Recently named the world’s most valuable airline brand, Emirates launched its Instagram channel in November 2013. 

In less than three years, the airline’s Instagram content has generated over 5.8m likes and comments.

It has also become the first airline in the world to achieve a seven-figure follower count on the image-sharing network.  

Mobile commerce set to rise by 68% in 2016

The number of purchases made via mobile will rise by almost 70% this year, according to new research by Connexity. 

Other key findings include:

• Nearly half (42%) of all online orders during Christmas 2016 may be made on a mobile device.
• Up to a third (33%) of all online purchases will be made on a smartphone this year.
• Purchases on tablets are expected to stagnate or slightly decline.

Like-for-like growth for over 80% of retailers, largely thanks to online

80% of UK retailers and leisure operators have registered positive like for like (LFL) annual growth, with 50% delivering LFL growth in excess of 4% year on year, according to JLL’s annual Christmas Trading Update. 

As you can see from the chart below, online predominantly drove that growth for many retailers. 

57% of IT security workers don't know where payment data is stored or located

More than half of IT security practitioners say their company has had a security or data breach involving payment data an average of four times in the past two years, according to a new survey by Gemalto.

Other key findings include:

• 56% say payment data security is not a top-five security priority for their company.
• Only one third (30%) feels their company allocates enough resources to protecting payment data.
• Less than half (43%) feel their security personnel has the expertise to effectively protect payment data.
• Two thirds (66%) of UK respondents say their companies are either not fully PCI DSS compliant or are only partially compliant. 

Retailers failing to offer the omnichannel experience consumers want

59% of Brits are not downloading retail apps because they do not complement and match up to the in-store and website shopping experience, according to new research by Apadmi.

Other key findings include:

• Only 11% of consumers are interacting with their favourite retailers across all channels, including its store, website, and mobile app.
• Nearly a quarter (22%) of consumers only shop in store, 8% solely use a retailer’s website, and 2% use its website and app without visiting the store. Only 1% use a retail app on its own, and 1% go to store and use the mobile app to shop.
• For Brits who use retail mobile apps, the majority (65%) tend to use them at home. Just 31% use them while shopping in-store.

Mobile share of visits to UK retail sites increases to 65%

On average, 64.54% of visits to all ecommerce sites in the UK last year were via mobile phones, compared to 35.46% for desktop, according to new figures from SimilarWeb.

Top UK retail sites’ average monthly mobile share by visits in 2015:

1. Amazon – 64%
2. eBay – 59%
3. Argos – 76%
4. Tesco – 71%
5. Next – 72%
6. Asos – 62%
7. John Lewis – 60%
8. M&S – 62%
9. Currys – 70%
10. Boots – 75% 

79% of Brits would uninstall ad blockers given more choice over ads

Almost four fifths of adult UK ad-blockers – 9.5m people – would consider getting rid of the software if they had more choice over ads, according to a new report by Teads.

Other key findings include:

• Intrusive adverts (72%) and the impact of ads on site performance (62%) were the main motivators for installing a blocker.
• 71% of ad blockers are installed on mobile.
• Users would consider uninstalling their blockers if they could skip ads at will (57%) and they were more relevant (38%).

There are now 2.31bn social media users worldwide

Almost one-third of the world’s population now uses social media, according to We Are Social’s new Digital in 2016 report.

Other key findings include:

• Social media users are up by 10% YoY, an increase of 219m.
• Taiwan is the ‘most social’ country, with 77% of its total population using Facebook in the past 30 days.
• WhatsApp has grown a massive 50% in the last year.
• Mobile social media users leapt 17%, adding 283m new users.
• South Korea tops rankings for mobile social media usage.

80% choose Facebook for social login

Facebook is by far the most trusted social network when it comes to website authentication, according to a new infographic by Gigya. 

Check out the infographic below for more stats:

Digital subscriptions sector registers highest chargeback rates

Nearly a quarter of all UK digital subscriptions result in a chargeback – the return of funds to a consumer that are forcibly initiated by the issuing bank as the instrument used by a consumer to settle a debt – according to new data from Global Risk Technologies.

This is double the rate of the diet, health and beauty and women’s products sector.

One in four UK shoppers uses a smartphone to buy groceries

A quarter of Brits use their mobile to do food shopping, according to Shoppercentric’s new grocery retail index. 

Other key findings include:

• Wrong items delivered annoys 39% of online shoppers, paying for delivery 36%. Misleading or wrong promotional details were also a cause of frustration (35%). 
• 20% of shoppers now use price comparison sites and 30% look up and use deal/voucher websites. 41% still collect and use vouchers from magazines or flyers that come through the door.  

Timely and vaguely relevant stat of the week…

On this day in 1999, the US Senate delivered subpoenas for Monica Lewinsky – who you may have heard speaking at the Festival of Marketing 2015 – and two presidential advisers for private, videotaped testimony in the impeachment trial.

How The Internet Of Things Will Change In 2016

biznology.com

There is one thing for certain when it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT) for this coming year: the numbers of online products and consumer goods will be increasing. It seems they could be increasing exponentially from here on out. According to Gartner Inc.’s forecasts, 5.5 million new “things” will get connected every day in 2016, with a total of 6.4 billion connected things in use worldwide during 2016. This is a 30 per cent increase from 2015. Gartner’s prediction also says that the number of connected devices and products will reach 20.8 billion by 2020.

Internet of Things Categories

The Internet of Things crosses through different categories, not just tech devices and computers. There are a number of areas, including consumer devices, merchandising, and IoT services that will all see growth because of the expansion of IoT technologies and reach. We will see an increase in all areas related to IoT, but one of the areas to focus on is IoT services, which can be the real driver of value in IoT. Consider the following two tables from Gartner with statistics on the Internet of Things categories.

Table 1: Internet of Things Units Installed Base by Category (Millions of Units)

Category	2014	2015	2016	2020
Consumer	2,277	3,023	4,024	13,509
Business: Cross-Industry	632	815	1,092	4,408
Business: Vertical-Specific	898	1,065	1,276	2,880
Grand Total	3,807	4,902	6,392	20,797

Source: Gartner (November 2015)

Table 2: Internet of Things Endpoint Spending by Category (Billions of Dollars)

Category	2014	2015	2016	2020
Consumer	257	416	546	1,534
Business: Cross-Industry	115	155	201	566
Business: Vertical-Specific	567	612	667	911
Grand Total	939	1,183	1,414	3,010

Source: Gartner (November 2015)

The Internet of Things Ecosystem

Business Insider explains how The Internet of Things will have such an impact on products and the way we do business that it is the next Industrial Revolution. “It will change the way all businesses, governments, and consumers interact with the physical world.” The components of the IoT ecosystem include devices, analytics, networks, and security. Business Insider has composed a report on the Internet of Things with an analysis and predictions for growth. According to this analysis, IoT numbers will be much larger than those initially forecasted by Gartner. Here are five key points from the report:

1. In total, Business Insider projects there will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020, up from 10 billion in 2015. IoT devices will account for 24 billion, while traditional computing devices (e.g. smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc.) will comprise 10 billion.
2. Nearly $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years.
3. Businesses will be the top adopter of IoT solutions. They see three ways the IoT can improve their bottom line by 1) lowering operating costs; 2) increasing productivity; and 3) expanding to new markets or developing new product offerings.
4. Governments are focused on increasing productivity, decreasing costs, and improving their citizens’ quality of life. We believe they will be the second-largest adopters of IoT ecosystems.
5. Consumers will lag behind businesses and governments in IoT adoption. Still, they will purchase a massive number of devices and invest a significant amount of money in IoT ecosystems.

Internet of Things Trends to Watch

As the Internet of Things expands and grows, as always, there are trends to watch. Consumers might be slower to adopt IoT devices than businesses, but as more consumer products hit the market and innovate the way we live, IoT consumer goods will become more and more prevalent. At present, wearables make up a big part of the IoT consumer goods market. The area of fitness is a big consumer goods area that will continue to see growth and adoption. Smart home technology is one of the areas that will also see the most growth in the IoT market. MediaPost details that 70% of consumers who bought their first smart home product are more likely to buy another one. Smart home technology products include security options, temperature controls, lighting, and safety. In addition to wearables and smart home technology, other IoT consumer products to look for in 2016 include:

• Bowflex — Smart dumbbells with technology designed to guide users through each exercise while tracking reps and weight lifted
• Edyn – A smart irrigation controller for plants
• Keyssa – Smart glasses for cyclists
• Whirlpool — Smart French Door Refrigerator uses space more efficiently so families can fit and find it all
• Livall – A smart bike and helmet
• Beddit – A sleep tracker that makes any bed a smart bed
• Master Lock — Bluetooth Smart Padlocks, turns a smart device into a key
• Moff — The Moff Band, a smart wearable for kids
• Osram Sylvania — Smart connected LIGHTIFY portfolio, including the LIGHTIFY Switch and Outdoor Flex RGBW strips
• ZoZbot — Consumer robot made for Robo-Gaming
• Nortek Security & Control — GoControl water control and monitoring devices including a smart flood detector
• Schlage – The Schlage Control Smart Locks and the Sense Smart deadbolt
• Lumo Bodytech — Lumo Run smart shorts
• NXT-ID – The Wocket Smart Wallet
• Telepathy — AR smart-glasses
• Zuli — A smart plug that enables a home to adapt to personal preferences, such as lighting and temperature
• Oco — Smart camera for monitoring a home with a self-learning motion and noise detection system
• McGraw-Hill Education — A tablet-optimized version of SmartBook, an adaptive reading product
• Osterhout Design Group — Augmented Reality company to smart glasses
• Petnet – The SmartBowl for pets
• Icontrol Networks – Piper smart home security system
• RIF6 — The Cube, a pocket-sized projector that can turn a smartphone, tablet or laptop display into a 120-inch projection
• Roost — The Roost Smart Battery, which transforms existing home smoke and CO alarms into smart alarms
• Slendertone — The Slendertone Connect Abs, a smart device that actively tones your abs
• Tablo — Tablo apps for Apple TV and LG webOS-powered Smart TVs

List Source: MediaPost

5 Ways the Internet of Things Will Change the Way We Work

In many ways, the future is here and now. IoT has finally brought science fiction from the screen into reality with technology that we will see implemented in 2016. Many of the new things that consumers will purchase moving forward from cars to appliances will be “smart” or connected in some way. For businesses, IoT can mean big savings, new techniques and tactics, and better offerings for employees.MAR Services outlines the following 5 ways that IoT will change the work place in 2016:

1. LED Savings and Security: New LED lighting is now available and is equipped with motion sensor technology. This means that energy resources are only in use when necessary and also means that a big business can keep track of where everyone is. It is an added security benefit that might make it seem like big brother is watching, but in reality the devices bring enhanced security measures in addition to maximising productivity and decreasing waste.
2. Health Benefits: Now that wearable fitness devices have been on the market for a few years, there is enough data to support the fact that wearing fitness monitors helps people stay fit and healthy. Employers know that fit and healthy employees miss less work and are more productive, so giving out fitness devices will be a great way to give employees a benefit while also gaining a healthier workforce.
3. Never Lose Anything Again: Especially in large offices, important items can be misplaced or lost all the time. RFID (radio frequency identification) can ensure that important folders, documents, drives, and computer devices are never misplaced or lost again.
4. Self-Repairing Technology: Smart devices now have the ability to diagnose and fix problems in software and hardware.
5. Glasses to Help Find Your Way: For years glasses have been helping us see clearly. Now, technology has improved so that we can actually find things, like RFIDs and even project data onto Google Glasses and the like.

Mobile banking continues to evolve

www.mobilepaymentstoday.com

The recent announcement by Bank of America that it plans to triple its invest in digital banking this year to enhance its online and mobile portals shows how important those areas have become to financial institutions worldwide.

As today's connected consumers demand mobile access to their favorite brands, banks are in a position to respond with apps that are rich with features and provide some services that used to require a branch visit, such as account opening.

For the most part, financial institutions are meeting the needs of their mobile-savvy customers. But the question now becomes how banks and credit unions can differentiate their mobile banking apps to keep their customers and members engaged and provide them with an experience similar to using apps from Amazon, Starbucks and Uber, just to name a few.  

"We're at a relative point of saturation [with mobile banking apps]," Robb Gaynor, a cofounder of mobile and online banking software developer Malauzai Software, said in a recent interview with Mobile Payments Today. "Everyone has an app and they're all kind of the same.

"The days of mobile 'me too' are over and now people are looking for differentiation [with their mobile banking apps]."

Gaynor believes banks today need to keep two things in mind when it comes to the mobile experience: app design and features.

If banks want a blueprint for how best to meet Gaynor's parameters for mobile banking success, USAA might have the just what they're looking for, due to its unique position in the market.

Mobile everything

USAA is forced to think differently about its mobile banking experience because of types of members it serves — some 12 million U.S. military members, veterans and their families. While the San Antonio-based FI has what it calls financial centers in 10 states and Washington, D.C., most of its members are scattered worldwide on military bases and active warzone outposts.

If a soldier in Afghanistan needs to open a new line of credit for whatever reason, they can do it from USAA's mobile app.

"By the very nature of our members' jobs and their mobile lifestyles, providing exceptional experiences through mobile devices — and now wearables — is key to meeting our members' needs," Melissa Ehresman, assistant vice president of digital experience delivery for USAA Bank, told Mobile Payments Today in an email. "It allows them to continue to interact in their channel of choice with a great experience."

USAA can claim a lot of "firsts" when it comes to mobile banking.

In 2009, it became the first major FI to allow check deposits via a smartphone as the iPhone surged in popularity with consumers. Last year it became the first U.S. financial institution to offer facial and voice recognition on a mobile banking app as added protection against fraud and identity theft.

In addition to these features, USAA has incorporated conveniences such as Touch ID recognition for iOS device users; a budgeting tool within the mobile app; and account opening capability.

"In its infancy, the mobile channel was often a replica of capabilities in other channels," Ehresman said. "We've focused on finding ways to add more value to our members' mobile app with new functionality such as our Deposit@Mobile upgrade that enables members to deposit up to 10 checks in the same session to different USAA accounts using video capture on the USAA app for iPad, iPhone and Android."

In a market where new features and app design are key, banks and software developers can borrow ideas from others such as USAA and add their own spin.

That's what Malauzai has done, mimicking USAA's mobile app PIN login for some of its customers.

"These are small things, but they're a big deal," Gaynor said. "It's a new feature, it's different, but it makes it easier for everyone to bank. USAA has probably done the best job of finding features that allow them to differentiate [from others]."

Malauzai takes this approach with community banks and credit unions in order to "out-innovate the big banks in the mobile space," according to Gaynor.

The company helped several client banks launch an Apple Watch app on the first day the device was available for purchase. Many major financial institutions couldn't make the same claim.

Just this week, Bank of America announced the addition of a lock/unlock feature in the event a customer loses a debit card; five of Maluazai's partners already have that capability.

Gaynor's mantra for mobile banking app features and design is simple: "Let's do something that someone else isn't doing."

Which that brings us to the question of how payment capability can further the evolution of mobile banking app.

The payments question

One of the biggest challenges facing banks today is how to approach mobile payments, and it's a topic that's top-of-mind with executives.

During a panel at the Consumer Electronics Show this month, Rich Clow, Citi's head of head of global payments said the FI needs to define its role in mobile payments outside of relationships with the major third-party wallet providers.

"If mobile payments and digital payments are going to scale, it's really more about what's required to accelerate and we need to figure out what our role is in that acceleration," he said during a CES panel about mobile payments.

And at least one card network agrees.

"They absolutely need to have the option of putting their cards into the Pays, but we absolutely believe they need their own offering because they have incredibly valuable assets [to provide and protect]," James Anderson, group executive for platforms in MasterCard's emerging payments division, said during the same panel.

So, what's stopping them?

One issue is that host card emulation, which is available on Android devices running operating system version 4.4 or higher, is still a relatively new technology for banks. Banks initially hesitated to explore HCE based on security concerns. But this is no longer the case as financial institutions such as Capital One, RBC and others worldwide have integrated payments into their Android mobile banking apps using HCE.

Whether Apple will ever open the NFC chip on its devices to third parties remains to be seen, but at least one industry observer believes that banks can drive mobile payments in the long run.

"FIs already have an existing digital relationship with their customer that's growing," Michael Carter, cofounder and chief marketing officer of Prairie Cloudware Inc., told Mobile Payments Today in an interview. "The question which we debate around here, is will the banks deploy their own branded mobile wallet, or [add payment capability] to their mobile banking app."

The answer might be both.

Chase left many industry folks scratching their heads when it announced Chase Pay at the annual Money 20/20 conference in October. The real kicker was this: The much-maligned Merchant Customer Exchange is Chase Pay's premier partner.

But Chase's decision to enter the mobile payments market with a product outside of its affiliation with the 'Pays' gives us a glimpse into how banks view their role in today’s current environment.

"I think [Chase Pay] is an indication that if you're going to play in this game, you can't do it through a third party and you have to get out in front," Carter said. "What I tell banks is that you're not late to the party, but you could get late really quick. You want to control this. I think the consumers are waiting for you to step up."

Malauzai's Gaynor believes that another way banks can get involved with mobile payments is to help small businesses develop, publish and sponsor apps that incorporate payment capability similar to Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks.

"The banks can play in that wallet and that's what we see happening," Gaynor said. He expects to see regional banks and merchants come together on this in 2016.

Going forward

As for what to expect from mobile banking apps in the future, it'll vary from institution to institution.

USAA recently released a new version of its app that focuses on personalizing the member experience by using menus with cards tailored to what is most relevant to the member, according to Ehresman.

"We see personalization as an important element going forward," she said.

USAA also has big plans for its virtual mobile assistant.

"Members can use voice commands to navigate and complete common banking transactions on the USAA mobile app for iPhone," Ehresman said. "With approximately 200 commands, the new capability will make it faster and simpler to manage basic banking transactions such as viewing bank transaction history, filing an auto claim or transferring funds between accounts."

Carter and Gaynor both believe that mobile account opening will be a vital feature as more banks streamline physical branches, or eliminate them altogether.

Whatever banks decide to do in the future, it's almost certain that mobile banking apps will play a leading role in their overall strategy to retain existing customers and attract new ones

Automation and Analytics Emerge as Key Internet of Things Use Cases

biztechmagazine.com

IoT and machine-to-machine solutions are helping businesses capture, share and analyze data to improve processes and create value.

For years, IT leaders have been tantalized by predictions of a world powered by the Internet of Things, where a smart refrigerator would tell a person’s connected car to buy milk when passing a convenience store.

While some IoT solutions, such as health and activity trackers, have hit the consumer markets, the Internet of Things is still largely the stuff of science fiction for many people. But behind the scenes, a number of enterprises have quietly been making IoT technologies an integral part of their operations, and these solutions will likely become more pervasive as the cost of sensors and connectivity drops over time.

“Since it’s kind of an unknown, a lot of companies are looking at the Internet of Things and saying, ‘What does this mean to me?’ ” says John Byrne, a senior principal analyst at IHS Technology. “They’ll start with a pilot, and the pilots tend to be pretty conservative, and it takes a year to get the results. It tends to be an incremental thing.”

“Most of the time, when a company tries an IoT solution out, they do see efficiencies that end up paying for the deployment,” Byrne adds. “It takes a while to build momentum, but we are seeing slow and steady progress toward more and more IoT deployments.”

IoT Applies to Consumer and Business Worlds

The term Internet of Things refers to a network of objects in the physical world that are linked to the Internet via wireless and wired connections, through sensors embedded in or attached to the items. These sensors are part of a device category called microelectromechanical systems, and they can be attached to countless objects, ranging from agricultural machinery to insulin pumps. The sensors are paired with an application-specific integrated circuit, and the data collected by the objects is then transmitted to data-processing applications.

At the consumer level, many IoT use cases are simple to understand. For example, a homeowner may take control of systems such as a thermostat or home security remotely through the use of a mobile application. The homeowner can be alerted by sensors on these systems when a home’s temperature rises or when a window is opened.

Such uses are intuitive, but business use cases can be more difficult for a layperson to understand, in part because many of the most prominent IoT business applications exist in highly specialized fields such as gas and oil. In fact, these industries have long relied on connected objects, in the form of machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity, and are, therefore, best positioned to see the value and efficiencies that can be created via IoT technologies.

“That’s where the demand is right now,” says Mike Fratto, principal analyst at Current Analysis. “Where you’re seeing IoT deployed, many of these companies have already had sensor networks. They’ve been doing things similar to IoT for 20 or 30 years. Now they’re connecting via IP.”

While both M2M and IoT solutions give users remote device access, machine-to-machine systems typically allow a device to interact with only a single, specific application. Internet of Things objects, by contrast, can be integrated with a number of different enterprise applications.

10%

The boost in profitability by 2025 predicted for organizations that extensively use IoT technologies in their products and operations

SOURCE: Verizon, “State of the Market: The Internet of Things 2015,” February 2015

Emerging Use Cases

RJ Mahadev, Cisco Systems’ lead for IoT Service Solutions, says that companies are primarily using IoT solutions in one of four ways: automation, tracking, collaboration and analytics. In a single factory, for example, sensors might be used to automate processes around maintenance and upkeep, eliminating the need for frequent inspections. Sensors might also be used to track items in order to ensure that no production time is lost searching for raw materials.

If a problem arises on a production line, sensors can track the position of workers and pull in a relevant expert to help them troubleshoot, facilitating collaboration. And data from sensors throughout the factory can be run through analytics programs in order to help the company find new efficiencies.

Mahadev calls analytics the “holy grail” of the Internet of Things, but says that these solutions remain too expensive for many companies, often making sense only in cases where they can prevent hugely expensive downtime. “If you have a $25,000-a-minute [downtime] problem, we can help you solve that,” he says. “But if you have a several-hundred-dollar-a-minute problem, we don’t have [an economical] solution for that.”

“The benefits that apply to larger companies also apply to smaller companies,” Byrne says. “There isn’t a use case that you can come up with where you couldn’t deploy connected sensors and make your operations more efficient. The challenge is, for a smaller company, those questions about return on investment are more difficult to answer.”

In addition to monitoring gas and oil equipment, other significant IoT uses include connected local government infrastructure, buildings, jet engines and heavy machinery, Byrne says.

Because jet engines and equipment such as farm machinery are so expensive to build and maintain, Byrne says, the proactive maintenance made possible by IoT monitoring is often worth the investment. “You can fix problems before they happen and eliminate downtime, but you’re also making things more economical because you’re not fixing things that aren’t broken,” he says.

Cities are also making investments in IoT to help them better manage infrastructure such as parking and lighting, Byrne says. And, while it is costly to retrofit old buildings with smart lighting and energy systems, Byrne says that many new buildings are being constructed with these IoT systems.

“Turning off lights when no one’s there, turning heat down if there’s no activity — when you’re looking at a 100-story building, that translates into really substantial savings,” Byrne says. “There are benefits to the environment also, so you’re being a good corporate citizen, and you also end up with more money in your pocket.”

IoT Cost Challenges

While the cost of sensors and connectivity are almost certain to continue to go down, enterprises must overcome hurdles other than money if they wish to take advantage of IoT technology. For one, standards are still emerging, and not all IoT systems are able to “talk” to each other.

Mahadev notes that a company such as Uber could not have existed even a decade ago, because certain underlying conditions (for example, widespread access to smartphones and wireless connectivity) were not yet in place. He suggests that, similarly, a number of different components will have to be put in place before an “Uber of IoT” capable of delivering affordable, off-the-shelf solutions can emerge.

Additionally, IoT deployments require enterprises to plan carefully around data management and security. Monitoring systems, for example, must be designed in a way that only “alarm” signals (rather than all “normal” signals) are transmitted to a company’s data center, to avoid overloading the network. And organizations must ensure that new connections do not open up new vulnerabilities in their networks.

“When things like your heating and air-conditioning systems connect to your network, all those are points for potential security breaches,” says Jennifer Blatnik, vice president for cloud marketing at Juniper Networks. “You’re exponentially increasing the number of connections.”

7 trends for app store optimization

thenextweb.com

While App Store Optimization (ASO) continues to be a fundamental acquisition strategy, are we starting to see trends that point to it moving away from keywords to more elaborate strategies such as retention and app indexing?

With both Google and Apple getting more sophisticated with their ranking algorithm, developers can no longer rely on simply keyword stuffing their app name and description.

As ASO continues to evolve, I reached out to several experts in app marketing, and have also drawn on my own expertise, to bring you this list of future trends we expect to see in ASO for the new year.

1. App indexing will have a strong impact on ASO

According to Robi Ganguly, CEO and cofounder of Apptentive, the reaches of deep linking are just beginning to unfold. Ganguly points out:

We’ve only just begun to see how deep linking will affect the mobile marketing ecosystem.

One huge mobile change introduced by deep linking is app indexing, a system that allows people to click from listings in Google’s search results into apps on their Android and iOS smartphones and tablets through deep links. The change means that search results within mobile apps are beginning to replace mobile web results, which turns the way marketers have approached web search on its head as they transition into mobile.

This means app indexing will strongly influence app store optimization and app marketing in general. Search engine optimization will become more directly tied to ASO, and developers should start taking more advantage of the potentials of indexing their apps.

2. Reputation management will become more crucial

Liam Oliver, product manager at Total Loyalty Solutions, recommends merchants should start paying more attention to reputation management.

Ratings affect the likelihood of a user downloading the app once it is found. Today app ratings do not have a huge impact on app store search results. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if they begin to play a bigger role in 2016. It’s my recommendation that app marketers develop a strategy to drive positive reviews.

This means, most likely, an increase in the utilization of paid app review services, but there should also be more innovative ways of driving app store reviews for mobile titles.

Using a tool like Sensor Tower or LaunchKit to mine your app store reviews will help you with user feedback and find relevant keywords to target in ASO.

3. Real-time mobile analytics will evolve

Serving customers better requires understanding what makes them tick. While the availability and general adoption of mobile real-time analytics tools might show a gap, Ganguly predicts that 2016 will see an evolution in the “expectations, ease of integration, and detailed reporting in real-time analytics tools.”

This evolution will make it easier to see what ASO techniques are working, and which ones aren’t. Through this knowledge, developers can better custom-tailor their keywords and long-tail phrases to what consumers are actually looking for.

Oliver suggests that more marketers will leverage app analytics platforms, such as AppAnnie and Sensor Tower, spending more time researching keywords and analyzing their competitors’ strategies.

4. An increase in ASO-savvy agencies and service providers

Oliver also believes that marketers from legacy non-technical backgrounds will begin to understand that the importance of ASO is just as crucial as SEO is for websites.

He expects to see an increase in the number of agencies and specialists offering app store optimization services, which should help app developers take advantage of the crucial strategies to drive downloads.

While ASO is something that any marketer can learn and execute, full service agencies such as Gummicube and ours can help you leverage ASO as you scale your apps. There’s also a free ASO course that shows you step-by-step on how we increased downloads for our paid app by 277 percent.

5. More real-time A/B testing on mobile

The Web has seen A/B testing for years, but it’s only recently taken off in the mobile app realm. Ganguly suggests that “There is still plenty of room to define the future standards of mobile A/B testing, and 2016 will likely be the year the standard is set.”

Many Android developers are already conducting this A/B testing through Google Experiments, which enables real-time examination of how icons, descriptions, and keyword sets affect the traffic to a particular Android app.

iOS developers can leverage tools such as Apptimize and Taplytics to conduct their own A/B testing.

Companies, through becoming masters of A/B testing on mobile, will be able to optimize their ASO strategies just as successfully as they’ve maximized their SEO techniques.

6. The app description will become more crucial for ASO than ever before

Tiana Crump, from Buildbox Games, believes that Apple might begin to follow Google’s lead in 2016. The keyword density and quality in the app’s description will become as crucial for ASO as the submitted keyword list and app name, so developers will need to be more dedicated to providing descriptions that actually explain what the title does.

Developers will need to spend more time writing detailed, ASO-friendly app descriptions while still making it easy for the user to digest. Remember that Apple and Google want readability above all other factors so be sure to write good app descriptions and be careful about keyword stuffing.

The Calm app is an example of a great app description. The first two lines use relevant keywords and immediately show social proof by mentioning features in the New York Times and Lifehacker. In fact, I counted 10 mentions of “meditation” within the app description.

7. In-app engagement and personalization will become more sophisticated

Advertisements might be important, since they help with acquisition and drive downloads, but in-app engagement and personalization are going to become more sophisticated and valuable, according to Ganguly.

He explains, “[I]t is cheaper, the brand has more control over the message, and most importantly, they have the ability to engage their customers who are already invested in their brand, and using their product.”

As the app stores become more and more crowded, a great emphasis will be put on user retention as a factor in how well an app is ranked.

Features such as virtual currency, push notifications and additional characters all lend to increasing engagement in your app.