It's that time of year again, people. And this year, we have a different spooky story to share with you. Below are 13 terrifying marketing statistics for any business owner or marketer. Some may scare you, and some may shock you. But remember, it's not always doom and gloom. There are some lessons to be learned and some statistics to be cautious of.
75% of people never scroll past the first page of search results. This is a scarily high figure and shows how important getting high on the search results page is. However, just because Google listing is free - don't forget the work involved in getting there requires investment. So, it's worth evaluating the pros and cons of investing in an SEO strategy. If you're looking for an overnight result, it may be best to look to utilise a PPC strategy.
67% of all clicks go to the first five organic search results. As if it wasn't already hard enough to get on the first page of search results, the majority of people won't even get past the first five results! With the addition of rich snippets like images, maps and answer boxes, the organic listings are being pushed lower down the page.
If your website takes 1 to 5 seconds to load, the probability of a bounce increases by 90%. Even though this stat only counts for mobile site visitors, this is still a large figure. Make sure you check and optimise your load times otherwise, you could be losing a lot of potential customers.
80% of new leads never translate into new sales. This statistic is quite a disappointing one, especially after all the hard work you put into gaining those leads. But this alarming statistic can help you realise the importance of lead nurturing which is a crucial part of any integrated sales and marketing strategy.
42.7% of people using the internet worldwide use an adblocker online. This one poses a significant threat to digital marketing and may put you off paying for ads. But don't let this scare you; it's reported that usage has been declining in the past few years. Good news for the marketing world!
80% of people ignore Google-sponsored ads. Although this is a large number at first, there's still plenty of people on the internet who will see your ads. There are 3.5 billion searches per day, which means there are still around 700 million people (which is HUGE) who won't ignore sponsored ads.
81% of consumers need to trust a brand before buying from them. Building trust with consumers is a time-consuming and tricky process. Nevertheless, it is crucial to the success of your brand. With a foundation of trust, you can build strong relationships, and consumers will reward you. You will be making a grave mistake if this is not a focus of yours.
32% of customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience. Damn… this one will definitely sting a bit, especially if you put time and effort into building relationships with your customers. Sometimes this may not be avoidable, but our advice would be to take on constructive criticism and learn from your mistakes. As with a band review online, ownership and accountability go a long way.
88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. And again with the consequences of a bad experience. At least this time, it will be easier to find the cause of the problem since it's related to the user experience on your website. Making use of website analytics will help out a lot.
89% of social media messages to brands go ignored. This one may not be directly scary to you, but regardless it is still frightfully high. It may be seemingly impossible to respond to everyone, especially with limited time and resources. However, it is still important to respond to everyone you can. This will only improve your relationship and your brand reputation.
Less than 0.5% of Facebook fans engage with brands they're fans of. This might be quite a distressing statistic to hear and understandably put you off using Facebook. Still, it's not all doom and gloom. Facebook is still one of the most valuable tools for marketing, and average engagement rates throughout social media have never been that high. Remember, the key is to use the social channels that your target audience are most engaged with.
The average click-through rate (CTR) for online display ads is 0.5% (roughly five clicks per one thousand views). Just like the previous statistic, this one seems woefully low and might make display ads quite off-putting. However, just because they may not get you many clicks and conversions does not mean they don't benefit you. They do a great job of increasing brand awareness and are often low-cost.
92% of consumers will believe what they read about you online. This one can be a blessing or a curse depending on how much control you have over this. Brands with a positive reputation will benefit from this, whilst ones with a negative reputation will suffer. Try and use this to your advantage by persuading your customers to leave reviews for you. The more, the better.
Whether you've been spooked by these stats or have learned something new, we do hope you have a spooky and entertaining Halloween.
If you have any other questions or concerns or would like more help with where your business should start, feel free to get in touch with us today.
Looking for more spooky stories to fulfil your Halloween needs? Check our other Halloween blog from last year for another fun and scary read!