Released at the beginning of 2016 let’s take a look at some of the highlights of a research done on online marketing in India. The annual research has been carried out by Octane.in, which says it was collaborated upon by India’s leading industry associations – IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India), RAI (Retailers Association of India), DMAi (Direct Marketing Association of India) and Digital Defynd along with the responses of 450+ Indian Marketers from 400+ Brands.
For customer acquisition, engaging customers through social media works best, Email campaigns work second best and SMS campaigns are the least preferred. However only about 10% of revenue is attributed to online marketing.
More from the research: - Customer Acquisition is the primary focus for marketing activities to be carried out in 2016 for a majority (58%) of Indian Marketers.
- 85% of Marketers are tracking revenues generated through e-Marketing activities.
- 50% of respondents share that e-Marketing activities are contributing to more than 10% share of their revenues.
- Social Media (66%) topped the list of marketing activities planned for 2016. Email Marketing was not left behind, with a 53% share of Marketers. More than 50% of Marketers are planning to increase investment in all these activities.
- Social Media updates was the top choice for achieving maximum customer engagement (46%), followed by email campaigns (28%). SMS Marketing was the least preferred (8% of votes).
- 64% of India 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.
- 80% of India Marketers believe that integrated campaigns (Email, Social and Mobile) can result in a moderate to significant increase in conversion rates.
- Email Marketing proved effective for over half of the respondents, as 53% of marketers found email marketing “effective” or “very effective”.
- Reaching out to target audiences (54% votes) and acquiring new email addresses (50% votes) surfaced as the top challenges faced by marketers in 2015. Increasing the conversion rates was also a challenge faced by 35% of marketers.
Commenting on the release of this Annual Industry Report, Punit Modhgil, Director & Co-founder, Octane Marketing (Octane.in) said, “2015 was the year that Digital firmly established in India. With more than 400 million Indian consumers on the internet now, India’s CMOs have dialled up their investments in digital marketing. In terms of impact, India’s Marketers have recorded Social and Email Marketing to be the top performing online marketing channels.”
Octane.in is India’s first multichannel platform for integrated Digital 1:1 marketing campaigns on Email & SMS. Marketers can send integrated campaigns on a clean, spam-free marketing platform; built on intelligent software which is available on demand. In 2013, Octane got on board Snapdeal to help with a comprehensive Email campaign targeting by segmentation.
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
