Advertising will not crumble as new tools are in the mix

As Google’s deprecation of third-party cookies becomes a reality in 2024, UK businesses are taking action. 

A new survey conducted by Capterra, a software and services marketplace, has found that despite 61% of marketers expressing concerns about how the cookie discontinuation may impact their company, nearly half (49%) of all the respondents said their company felt “well prepared” and 44% are “moderately” so. 

In fact, for many, the change is perceived as...

16 February 2024 | Advertising

‘Bullish’ marketing industry plans to boost spending power in 2024

UK marketing leaders are gearing up for a ‘bullish’ 2024, with more than 70% planning to boost digital budgets this year, new data shows.  

Following four years of economic flatlining and commercial pressures for many of the UK’s top marketers, 2024 is expected to see a resurgence in industry optimism, with increased investment being directed in key growth areas including AI, websites, SEO, broadcast and podcasts, as well as email and content...

12 February 2024 | Automation

Bot clicks and fake traffic set to cost advertisers over $71bn in 2024

With ad spend growth slowing to 5.3%, new research reveals an emerging threat to dwindling budgets - invalid traffic (IVT).

In 2024, advertisers are set to waste over $71bn (£59bn)* on traffic generated by invalid activity, including bots and automated scripts -  an increase of 33% from 2022.

Conducted by leading marketing efficiency platform Lunio, the research analysed 2.6bn paid ad clicks and 104bn impressions from 60,000 ad accounts across the platform’s...

29 January 2024 | Advertising

63% of marketers lack a clear plan for cookieless personalisation

Despite Google’s announcement that it will begin phasing out support for third-party cookies in Chrome at the beginning of 2024, 63% of marketers still have no clear strategy for cookieless personalisation.

That’s according to a survey from Optimizely that highlights the urgent need for marketers to reassess their personalisation strategies for 2024.

The research, which surveyed 100 UK marketing professionals across the UK, found that more than half (54%) also...

20 December 2023 | Personalised Marketing

A quarter of companies believe their web platforms stifle sales

A quarter of respondents believe their company websites are costing them business.

This is according to a cross-sector survey conducted by Danebury Research and sponsored by Umbraco.

More than half of the survey participants said they need to extend website functionality by connecting to new technologies that enable analytics, personalisation and transactions. Almost a third (30%) report that their companies are paying for CMS features that will never be...

23 January 2023 | E-Commerce

Less than half of UK businesses respond to online reviews

Smiley faces with a tick next to a happy face.

Just 44% of UK business respond to online reviews, according to a cross-category online brand reputation study of more than 500 organisations.

Moreover, 38% do not have local branch pages, and less than half (42%) employ UTM performance marketing tracking.

The study, conducted by digital performance marketing agency DAC Group, audited businesses across seven categories - automotive, fashion, finance, health & fitness, food & beverage, land & property and...

13 July 2022 | Best Practice

CHILI publish raises €10 million to help firms scale on-brand graphic production

A bundle of red chilli peppers.

CHILI publish, a creative automation software specialist, has raised €10 million to accelerate solution and community development, attract new talent, and boost the company's go-to-market and sales operations in Europe and the US.

The cash injection was led by Connected Capital with participation from existing investors Group MC, Pamica and PMV.

CHILI publisher is a cloud-based Creative Automation platform that enables brands and agencies to create, edit, and share...

30 March 2022 | Branding

Nearly half of customers are abandoning financial services websites

A pile of notes in different currencies.

Just under half (47%) of visitors to financial services websites leave after seeing only one page of content. This figure is even higher for those visiting websites from a mobile device (51%).

That is according to the latest report from digital experience analytics company, Contentsquare, titled The Fate of Finance report. The study provides insights into future-proofing digital customer experiences, incorporates some of the recent findings from Contentsquare’s 2021 Digital...

3 February 2022 | Customer Experience

Half of top websites fail to meet Google’s user experience requirements

Someone using Goolge on a laptop.

Around 50% of the top 100 most visible websites on Google.com still fail to deliver a ‘good’ page experience on desktop as defined in the search engine’s Core Web Vitals update which finished rolling out in August 2021. 

And 44% of the top 100 websites fail on mobile, according to research by research from Searchmetrics.

As of October, Walmart.com, Target.com and Tripadvisor.com as well as social sites such as Facebook.com, Instagram.com and Pinterest.com were...

1 December 2021 | Best Practice

Consumers are being driven to competitors by outdated site search

A telescope by a lake.

There has been a serious failure by businesses in communicating accurate and up to date information with consumers. 

Particularly during the pandemic, digital services have been vital to connecting consumers with brands online. Recent online research conducted by YouGov on behalf of AI search firm Yext found that 58% of UK adults use site search at least weekly, and that 88% of respondents using site search agree it is an important tool in providing them with accurate and up...

17 June 2021 | E-Commerce