NEW DELHI: Customer acquisition will be the primary focus for marketing activities to be carried out in 2016 for 58 per cent of Indian marketers, a study shows.
The study by Octane Research shows that Social Media (66 per cent) topped the list of marketing activities planned for 2016.
Email marketing was not far behind, with a 53 per cent share of Indian marketers. What’s more, according to the study, more than 50 per cent of marketers are planning to increase investment in all these activities.
Social media updates are the top choice for achieving maximum customer engagement (46 per cent), followed by email campaigns (28 per cent). SMS marketing was the least preferred (eight per cent).
A total of 64 per cent of Indian marketers believe that social media helps in improving brand reputation and increasing awareness. Social media also helps in extending the reach of email content to new markets and accelerating the growth of subscribers.
As per the study, around 80 per cent of Indian marketers believe that integrated campaigns (email, social and mobile) can result in a moderate to significant increase in conversion rates.
About 85 per cent of the Indian marketers are tracking revenues generated through e-marketing activities. A total 50 per cent of respondents shared that e-marketing activities are contributing to more than 10 per cent share of their revenues.
Email marketing proved effective for over half of the respondents, as 53 per cent of marketers found email marketing “effective” or “very effective.”
Reaching out to target audience (54 per cent votes) and acquiring new email addresses (50 per cent) surfaced as the top challenges faced by Indian marketers in 2015. Increasing the conversion rates was also a challenge faced by 35 per cent of marketers.
For the 2016 issue of this annual state of online marketing in India study, India’s leading industry associations – Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Retailers Association of India, Direct Marketing Association of India and Digital Defynd extended their support to Octane Research resulting in an active participation from 450+ Indian marketers from 400+ Brands.
Referring to the Annual Industry Report, Octane marketing director and co-founder Punit Modhgil said, “2015 was the year that digital firmly established in India. With more than 400 million India consumers on the internet now, India CMOs have dialled up their investments in digital marketing. In terms of impact, Indian marketers have recorded Social and Email Marketing to be the top performing online marketing channels.”
