Digital marketing statistics influence your marketing strategies and help you evolve more. Read this blog to know more about the digital marketing stats for 2021.
“Digital marketing is ever-changing and dynamic in nature”, there are no constant rules you can follow as a marketer to make sound decisions. With the changing technologies, consumers’ demands, and the outside global and economic scenarios, you must prepare yourself to face the challenges and come out as victorious. But how can you survive such challenges and make important decisions to form strategies?
One way is to be aware of all the key marketing statistics that can help you make effective strategies. Read further to know about digital marketing trends for the current and upcoming years.
DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES OF 2020 :
The pandemic has undoubtedly led us to question many of the strategies which we made before this situation. Almost all of our strategies faced a failure and gave us a check to be ready for the challenges ahead. Marketers left with no option to deal with the consumers in person, and everything went virtual right from conferences to demos.
As a marketer, you must have gone through challenges such as capitalizing new opportunities or maybe you were struggling with survival to enhance your sales. Nonetheless, all these challenges pushed you towards striving for the best and adapting the best technological advancements to meet the consumers’ needs.
The year 2020 formed a foundation for the upcoming years. It forced us to make the necessary digital marketing changes, whether it is content marketing, social media marketing and sales strategy. Considering everything, we have pooled some of the key statistics that could inspire us to make great marketing strategies in 2021.
What are the Key Digital Marketing Statistics For 2021
Virtual marketing has replaced in-person marketing, so the marketers are supposed to focus more on Voice-based shopping, and internet traffic is shifting from content marketing to video marketing strategies massively.
Read further to know more about such key statistics. Below are statistics that could pull you to reach more sales opportunities.
5. Human-centric content :
With the pandemic’s outbreak, many of the marketers faced huge challenges regarding budget constraints. As per a survey during the pandemic, around 42% of respondents saw budget cuts as the most challenging factor. It would directly affect targeting the audience, but the main concern lies around the budget cuts.
In such a scenario, marketers are shifting their message approaches. They are focusing now on the more emotional and human-centric content rather than the logical one. The product-based content has diminished, and more focus is now on social content.
Therefore, the webinars and videos saw a rise in around 50 percent, more than 40 percent of the marketers shift their events to online in virtual formats.
2. Voice-based shopping :
Amazon is the pioneer in the arena of voice shopping. It is still in the development stages, and countries like the US & UK are making purchases via speakers. Voice shopping has seen a significant upsurge on Amazon in terms of grocery or non-grocery shopping.
Voice shopping has become an effective medium as a sales channel, although it limits the browsing experience. But if a consumer knows what he wants to buy, it is a good strategy to wage on.
Voice commerce can help you achieve many goals for your business, such as reducing costs on customer surveys,collecting customer data through CRM and engaging users in spontaneous purchases.
3.Voice search keywords :
Voice shopping differs from content marketing. Therefore the keywords searches also differ. There are shorter keywords in content marketing, but there are long-tail keyword searches in voice search shopping.
Voice searches are more natural and have longer keywords than content marketing. But that does not mean, you have to optimize thousands of pages around thousands of similar voice search terms. You have to focus on getting ranked in featured snippets for Google home and Alexa search results.
4. B2B Content consumption :
According to the Path Factory, the engagement rates for digital content increased massively after the lockdownlockdown period. Earlier people used to google search for the near-buy stores, whereas the pandemic raised digital content value.
As a result, more than 60 percent of the marketers began engaging the customers with e-books, webinars, videos and reports. People evoked more interest in reading brochures, infographics and guides. Consequently, the cost per assets decreased by 30 percent.
5.Video marketing :
Marketers began employing the “Video marketing tool” as a strategy to enhance sales. The statistics clearly show the increase in the use of this tool from 2016 to the current year. In 2016, only 60 percent of businesses used the tool, and in 2020 it increased to more than 90 percent.
As per the marketers, it is an essential tool for an effective marketing strategy. The tool includes social media videos, a sales video, advertisements etc. which has drastically changed online sales growth.
Note: The video marketing increases the understanding of the users towards the product.
6.Youtube marketing :
Although many social media platforms enable you to boost video marketing strategies such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, youtube’s laudable features have made it stand apart from the other channels. The fact that it focuses mainly on streaming the longer videos as well as the shorts.
More than 89 percent marketers are including Youtube in marketing strategies, and the trend is going to continue in 2021 also.
Apart from Youtube, around 70 percent of the marketers plan to include Instagram and link in their video marketing strategies.
7.Virtual sales strategy:
The year 2020 has taken a shift to virtual sales strategies. Marketers started making reports and strategies regarding: what challenges they can face and what factors will influence the purchasing decisions.
Many software tools and apps backed up their decisions, such as the appointment scheduling software saw an enormous rise (350 percent )during the pandemic in the telemedicine sector.
Other tools, such as the following helped in leading the sales process :
- Remote desktop (281)
- Zoom (674 percent)
- Amazon chime (107 percent)
- Live chat (194 percent )
- Video platforms (327 percent)
8.Zoom Video communications :
Despite the security and privacy concerns, the Zoom platform saw an upsurge in the beginning of the pandemic only. It saw a peak of 50 percent rise in this application’s use during March to April. Companies, schools, and even marketers joined the queue and used it to conduct business meetings and webinars and saw a growth in sales by more than 60 percent.
Zoom Video communications will keep on maintaining this position in 2021 also.
9.Social media marketing :
The trend of live videos on social media platforms increased to insane statistics. There was a large increase in the number of live video viewers, which gave the marketers the confidence to put forward their brands more in front of the public.
Due to the social distancing, the live streaming hours increased on the social media platforms by 45 percent. The brands that focused on influencer marketing saw an upsurge in their sales as the followers increased. It is estimated that the live video viewers stats will cross 150 million in 2021.
10.Purchases through social media :
According to the webinar conducted by Deloitte, consumer behavior trends have changed tremendously due to pandemic. There was an extreme shift in the purchase of certain products. The users are using different touchpoints to complete the journey- Many consumers started purchasing through social media platforms. They prefer more effective communication from the other departments within the company.
In such scenarios, companies who have already adopted the omnichannel marketing strategies and marketing automation tool saw minimal issues than the other companies.
A personalized approach is the need of the hour and will continue to be in the upcoming years.
11.Social media for brand awareness :
The budget spending on social media has considerably increased and will continue to do by more than 25 percent post the pandemic period. As people are spending more time on social media, marketers’ strategy has shifted from customer acquisition to retaining them. The main goal is now to build brand value and awareness.
According to B2C marketers, social media specifically for brand awareness enhanced during the year 2020 by more than 85 percent. Simultaneously, its use for customer retention was enhanced by 55 percent.
12.Marketing and sales alignment :
Marketers have been trying to bring sales and marketing on the same page since ages. Both have different values, and each one of them has a clear objective around it. But the main focus is to provide a customer with a wholesome and integrated experience.
As per a survey, more than 85 percent marketers believe that both are crucial for the business growth. It is an excellent opportunity to improve business performance. Also, there shall be alignment in your strategy, content and messaging. All-in-all if you have everything in alignment, your customers would have a positive experience.
13. Adapting integration tools :
Your customers are omnipresent, and they are using many mediums and channels at one point of time. It becomes crucial for you to provide them with an integrated experience. It eventually includes the transformation of the company. If you are not growing technically, you cannot be in the priority list of the customers. Due to this fact the marketers shall focus on IT developments.
As the company’s focus will shift towards the IT departments, the IT budgets are likely to increase by more than 10 to 20 percent. It will help in providing customers with a wholesome experience.
14. Spendings on search ads :
The budgets on the search ads predicted to grow by 15 percent till 2024. But due to the whole pandemic scenario, the travel industry saw a halt. As consumer e-commerce spendings are increasing virtually, the search ad spendings are viewing a change. It could now go beyond the expectations and predictions. The budget could increase by 100 million dollars by 2022 and in the upcoming years.
15) SEO Statistics :
More than 75 percent of marketers believe in creating effective SEO practices and creating great content.
Creating a great content strategy is essential; it is more important to have an efficient SEO strategy. Get higher rankings on your search engines to make consumers aware of your brand.
As per the Internet Live stats survey, more than 70,000 of people use google per day. That means there are more than millions and trillions of searches within a year. Therefore, your SEO strategies must align with Google to gain more organic traffic.
16) Email Marketing statistics :
Although Email Marketing has been the most primitive method to reach out to consumers, many marketers believe it is now obsolete. But contrary to this, the current stats showcase a different picture altogether.
In 2018 alone, around 200 million emails were sent and received every day. This number may increase to 350 million by 2022. It shows that email marketing is and will continue to be an effective marketing medium.
17) Welcome mail open rates :
The open rates for welcome emails are more than 82 % This clearly defines the increase in click-through rates as both are directly related to each other. If your users are interested in reading mails, there will be more chances to engage with your products.
Also, personalized emails tend to have higher response rates than non-personalized emails. It makes email marketing more effective than any other tool to enhance your brand value.
18) Sales reps through social media:
Your potential customers spent more than half of a day on social media. Therefore it is easy to pick up their behaviour and engage them with better sales techniques. Connect with your potential clients and customers on social media to build a rapport with them.
According to research, more than 90 percent of the sales representatives who have more than 4000 connections on social media platforms such as LinkedIn can easily engross more people.
19) Website personalization :
Your website reflects your brand. According to the research conducted by Yieldify, the companies which adopted website personalization as a strategy came out victorious. They successfully retained more than 55 percent of the customers and acquired more than 45 percent of customers.
Also, companies who use AI-driven segments saw more than 50 percent of business growth by 2022.
20 ) Mobile commerce statistics :
More than 90 % of the world” s population use mobile devices for the shopping experience. Moreover, people like to have a good website browsing experience first, if they do not get it. There are lesser chances for them to buy from the website. It becomes quite apparent to make your website mobile responsive.
More than 50 % of customers use mobile devices to buy their favourite products and brands.
It calls for improving the mobile experience for the users and making it more user friendly.
21) Conversational marketing :
More than 67 percent of the buyers are likely to interact with the businesses in real-time. More than 70 % of consumers want businesses to understand their needs and demands. Customers prefer more contextualized engagement. You could engage them based on their purchase history and other demographic information.
More than 80 percent of consumers like getting personalized content. Personalization is yet another way of conversing with the customers. It could help in building a long-lasting relationship with the customers.
22) Social Proof Statistics :
If your customers are retaining with you, there are higher chances of them recommending your product to others. Social proof is a psychological process where a person tells their experiences to their friends, relatives, and your brand presence improves. There are many ways you can improve your brand visibility, such as referral marketing, Word of mouth marketing and so on.
Below are some of the statistics which show the social proof :
- More than 80 percent of people buy when their friends and relatives recommend them.
- Online reviews influence around 90 percent of people to purchase products.
- The testimonials and case studies are the most effective form of content marketing to convince people to buy your products.
23) Lead Nurturing Statistics :
Your job as a marketer does not stop at lead generation only. You need to nurture them to retain them for a longer period of time.
Many of the B2B marketers follow these statistics :
- According to Databox, more than 40 % of businesses send emails to their leads per week to keep them engaging.
- Around 30 % of marketers create lead nurturing strategy to pull leads through the funnel.
- More than 40 % believe that webinar can help in generating leads.
- According to Invesp, companies which can generate leads enhance their sales by more than 50 %.
24) Email Subject line Statistics :
Just like your website, your email line must also have a touch of personalization. As per the Business community, the personalized subject lines gain more than 25 % of open rates. Also, more than 70 % of the marketers believe that the emails sent by the person attain better open rates than the mails sent by the brand
25) Conversion Rate Optimization Statistics :
Optimizing your conversion rates is the most important factor in determining the success of your campaigns. You can optimize the conversion rates by fetching more and more website visitors to your sites, and acting on your campaigns such as signing up for your services, purchasing a product, etc.
Below are some of the robust statistics that can influence your CRO strategies :
- Videos shall be an essential part of a content marketing specifically on landing pages; it can improve the conversion rates.
- Personalized CTAs can convert visitors by more than 40 %
26) Inbound marketing statistics :
The shift from traditional marketing to Inbound marketing is quite evident in the success the businesses earn in terms of brand value, more CROs.
- Inbound marketing proves to be more cost-effective (60 % less) than traditional marketing.
- More than 80 % of people search for products online.
- Companies are generating more traffic and acquiring more customers through their blogs.
27) FOMO Statistics :
FOMO stands for fear of missing out; digital marketers create their strategies in such a way that invokes an urgency in consumers’ minds. Your customers cannot choose to miss out the rewarding experiences.
- As per Mashable, around 27 % of people check their social media when they wake up and immediately perform actions on urgent offers.
- More than 60 % of people are afraid that they will miss out if they cannot catch up with what’s happening on social media.
28) Online shopping statistics :
The online shopping statistics shed light on the habits and behaviour of the website visitors. It, in turn, helps you in creating better engagement strategies.
- According to KPMG, men spend 70 percent more online than women.
- More than 2 billion people shop online every year.
- More than 50 % of customers believe that live chats are the most effective way to contact a business.
29) Infographics statistics :
Infographics are the graphical visual representations of information, data and knowledge through which people can easily grasp the information.
Graphics prompts the psychological stimuli in the minds of customers” to view the patterns and trends.
As per the below statistics, you may know how important they are :
- More than 60 % of marketers are creating infographics.
- Marketers share infographics 4 times more than any other visual content.
- Around 42 % of the marketers state that visuals are the most promising form of content.
30 ) Instagram Marketing Statistics :
Social media platforms have been continuously in the trends since their arrival. For marketing purposes, they have skyrocketed benefits. Instagram is the highest-grossing marketing platform after Facebook. It is becoming more popular than Facebook.
Users can easily buy products that they see in their feeds, and Instagram stories are the best way to promote your brands.B2C industries are taking advantage of this platform.
- More than 60 % of adults between the age group of 18 to 29 are using Instagram.
- Instagram proves to have 84 times more engagement rates than other social media platforms.
- The Instagram followers have an order value of approximately 65 dollars as compared to 55 dollars of Facebook.
31) Twitter queries statistics :
Twitter is not much known for driving sales but it helps marketers keep the customers updated about the vital information. Also, it solves the customers’ inquiries at hand; marketers use this platform to strengthen their relationship with the customers.
- Around 40 % of all Twitter users browse through their Twitter accounts daily.
- More than 80 % of users access Twitter from their mobile phones.
- Marketers have seen more than 10 % of improvement in their brand value by using Twitter.
32) Conversational intelligence :
Conversational intelligence helps the marketers to have clear insights about the consumers so that they can form more effective decisions. In turn, it improves business efficiency, improves the productivity of the employees and helps in the integration with the existing systems.
33) Reliance on internal data :
After the outbreak of the Cambridge Analytics scandal and data privacy regulations such as GDPR, more than 80 % of marketers are thinking about data privacy concerns. Hence, more than 20% of marketers are planning to increase the use of first-party data. Internal data is more secure in terms of informing targeting and personalization.
34) Phone call conversions :
The past year’s pandemic has turned the whole digital marketing scenario, where phone calls conversion again took the lead. More than 40 % of the organizations have reported more than 25 % increase in phone call rates during the period. The consumers are calling with higher intentions to purchase a product. The calls’ volume and sales volume both have increased during the lockdown period.
35) Video thumbnails :
The video thumbnails are the reduced versions of videos that have got the name origin from human thumbnails’ size. If a viewer is interested to see the full video, they can click on the thumbnail and view the fuller picture. They give control to the users over what they exactly want to view. These video thumbnails can double your traffic.
36) Location-specific ad campaigns :
It is relevant to segment your users and then target them for attaining better results. One of the essential factors is to target users based on their location. Traditional banner ads have certainly gone obsolete with the emergence of push notifications, web banners. Location-specific ad campaigns are 20 times more effective than traditional banner ads.
37) Email automation statistics :
We have already discussed earlier in the blog about the importance of email marketing. Email auto responder and automation tools have acted as a back-up in improving the business’s efficiency by automating the regular tasks. Email auto responders (follow-up series) help in engaging customers better and much quicker. That’s why more than 50 % of the businesses use Email automation to get effective results.
38) Blogging statistics :
Statistics say if you have blogs on your website, you tend to fetch more visitors than a regular website. Therefore, the conclusion is that the blogs with images get more views than the blogs which have only plain text. Recently, blogs with podcasts have gained more popularity, and therefore organic search results for such blogs have turned up by more than 150 %
39) Organic SEO vs paid search ads :
As per the statistics, organic search is 5 to 6 times better than paid search ads. But if you do not have enough time to invest in SEO, you can go for paid search ads. Both the processes generate equal amounts of traffic with organic search having a bit of upper hand.
40) Custom content :
Customized content works better than irrelevant content, even if you send irrelevant push messages to the subscribers. They are more likely to skip it and unsubscribe from your services. Therefore more than 78 % of the marketers are heading towards a custom content.
41) Affiliate marketing :
Affiliate marketing plays a vital role in the expansion of revenues and your business. It has been predicted that the revenue will increase by more than 10 percent in 2021 if you invest in affiliate marketing. This industry has seen a crazy shift since 2015 and will continue to reach more than 10 billion by 2022.
42) Long-tail keywords :
As we have discussed the effective SEO practices, Long Tail keywords preferably cover more than 80 percent of the web searches and help you attain more than 40 % of conversion rates as per the SEARCH ENGINE WATCH.
43) World-wide display advertising :
Advertisers enhanced the spending on digital ads more than 20 percent last year, and the trend will continue in 2021 as the growth will be predicted to upsurge by 25 percent in 2021. Also, tablets saw a drop off of 35 % during the first half of 2020 and mobile devices saw an increase. Display advertising revenue is expected to shoot up by the next year.
The above digital marketing statistics clearly define video marketing, social media marketing or voice search marketing. Each plays a vital role in influencing the marketers’ decisions and helps you gain adequate results in conversions and revenues.
