13 Digital Marketing Myths, Debunked

MYTH #10: Low Mobile Traffic Means You Should Focus Your Attention Elsewhere

A fairly new marketing channel, mobile technology is growing quickly. In the last quarter of 2013, roughly 65 percent of marketing emails were opened on a tablet or smartphone, according to Mobile Marketing Watch—that's a 4 percent increase from Q3. With its promising potential, the mobile channel presents a bankable opportunity to companies, but many are disappointed to see that mobile interactions account for just a small portion of overall traffic. That, however, is not a reason to give up on it, Dolan says.

"If mobile traffic is holding steady and generating ten percent or less of overall traffic, that's an indicator that the content and strategy needs to be improved, not abandoned," he explains. Most brands struggle to optimize content for mobile devices, forcing viewers to digest information that has been designed for a computer; typically, there's too much text, not enough images, and a lack of mobile-friendly navigational tools.

For The Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit think tank, the challenge was effectively organizing its library of more than 50,000 pieces of content including video and multimedia, and offering consistent experiences on all devices. Velir teamed up with Sitecore to build Brookings' new site, and used Akamai's content delivery network to improve deliverability and speed. "For the video and audio content, we used Brightcove's solutions, and to improve the site's search capability, we implemented Coveo. We also used a variety of responsive design techniques to make the site experience uniform," Dolan explains. After the full Web site redesign, The Brookings Institution saw a 10 percent increase in site visitors, a 65 percent decrease in page load times, and a 16 percent decrease in its bounce rate for mobile traffic. "Mobile is ripe with marketing potential," Dolan says. "All that's missing is mobile-ready content."

MYTH #11: Marketing Influences a Small Percentage of the Sales Pipeline

A costly misconception, this claim is "just plain wrong," Dolan says. While marketing may not be initially responsible for attracting all of the prospects into the pipeline, every lead that converts has been exposed to some marketing content, Dolan explains, citing the standard order confirmation email as an example of marketing content that every customer who makes a purchase receives. "Marketing content absolutely influences 100 percent of the pipeline," he says.

MYTH #12: The Best Time to Send an Email Is Tuesday Morning

"This myth originated during a time when most email was opened on a computer," Jao says. Marketers noticed that at-work productivity was at its peak during this time, and decided that it would be the optimal moment to send an email, according to Jao. Smartphones and tablets have made customers less predictable and have forced companies to rethink their emails, timing them with customer behavior idiosyncrasies in mind.

Chrome Industries, a company that manufactures messenger bags, fell victim to this myth, and was surprised to find its customers followed a completely different pattern. "We've all been hearing this: Never send emails on Mondays or Fridays. Mondays you're inundated, Fridays you're checked out. Send them Tuesday...probably early in the morning, so everyone can get to them," Kyle Duford, director of e-commerce for Chrome Industries, told the Best Techie site last year. "We were way off the mark. Our customer is literally 180 degrees from what best practices tell you," he said.

After using Retention Science's Customer Profiling Engine, which analyzes customer data to pinpoint the best email delivery time for each of its subscribers, Chrome noticed a boost in click-through rates, on-site activity, and campaign revenue. "They were sending all their emails out in the morning," Jao says, "but most of their customers checked their email at night." Once Chrome made an adjustment, open rates became five times higher, and the company experienced a 125 percent lift in on-site activity, as well as a 78 percent rise in campaign revenue.

MYTH #13: New Customers Are More Valuable than Existing Customers

It's hard to argue with numbers–on average, existing customers spend 30 to 35 percent more than new customers, according to Jao. "Retention Science has worked with a variety of companies in different industries. Many of the people we work with are excited about attracting new customers and bringing in new prospects, but they need to spend more money and dedicate more efforts on cultivating relationships with existing customers, and reinvigorating dormant relationships," he says. Return on investment is typically five times higher for existing customers, Jao says, and ultimately, existing customers are "just worth more."

Consider these myths busted, and take one last piece of advice: There's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to digital marketing. What works for one business may not work for another, so when it comes to these marketing myths, trust Public Enemy and don't believe the hype.

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Associate Editor Maria Minsker can be reached at mminsker@infotoday.com.

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