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2011 trends according to Adviso
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2011 trends according to Adviso

  • TECHNICAL LEVEL
Business Strategy

Like every year, Adviso makes its annual predictions and this year we have identified  6 major trends for 2011 .

 

1. MOBILE WILL BE ON EVERY MARKETER'S LIPS

The mobile versions of the websites will develop further and will model the ergonomics of the applications. Immediately budget for a mobile version when you redesign your site. It is expected that one billion dollars will be spent in 2011 in the United States  , a growth of 48%. Mobile video will take over 79% increase.

The application market will continue to grow. In 2010, 69% of Americans with a smart phone would have downloaded an application . According to Distimo , there were 3,000,000 daily mobile application downloads in the United States in December 2010 of which approximately 10% were paid applications. In addition, application business models are becoming more refined. We often see versioning offers (paid, lite and HD for iPad), cross or additional promotions (upsell) within the application and this market is booming: a 600% increase in revenue generated from the same the app in 2011 . In fact, the dilemma of many marketers will be to create a mobile site and/or an application.   

2. WE WILL RELY MORE ON GEO-TARGETED STRATEGIES

The word geolocation will be the buzzword of 2011. With the refinement of the Google algorithm giving more importance to the location of the user during local searches, more efforts will be made to be well positioned in an increasingly radius accurate. The reorganization of the SERPs focusing on local gives less and less room for PPC ads for local results , unless the Google Places account is linked to the advertiser's AdWords account. In summary, companies will have to bet on organic SEO strategies when targeting a local market or bet more on a keyword buying campaign for a regional or national market.   

We will see an increase in marketing actions on geosocial sites thanks to Facebook Places, which will democratize their use and their offers will be refined to leave more room for advertisers. Initiatives like Shopkick will take off. Based on geofencing, a technique that sends you advertising messages when you enter a virtual perimeter, you receive points when you enter the shops of participating advertisers, scan products or invite friends. It is only available in the United States at this time.  

3. BEHAVIORAL CHANGE AMID FEAR OF A TECH BUBBLE 2.0 FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

That's it, the majority of companies have their presence on social media. After millions of articles, case studies and research written on their value, no one doubts their effectiveness. However, the trial period is over: marketers will have to justify every dollar invested in their strategy .  with convincing results. This demand will put pressure on these unifying sites to develop adequate and comprehensive performance measurement tools. These tools will have to integrate financial data in the same way as Adwords to convince companies that are still reluctant to invest in social media. At the behavioral level, the syndrome of excessive sharing caused by the intelligent mobile: what I eat (foodspotting), what I see (instagram), what I drink (social grapes), where I am (Foursquare) will be better managed; the user will understand that he creates unnecessary noise when he synchronizes with the more general platforms (Twitter and Facebook) and will filter what he shares.

We fear a technology bubble 2.0 : Facebook is now capitalized at 50 billion, or a quarter of the value of Google with revenues estimated at 2 billion. Groupon turned down a 6 billion offer from Google and Twitter is capitalized at 4.1 billion with no revenue model. Profits are hypothetical and one wonders how long it will take before the investment market gets impatient and demands results.  

4. EVEN MORE ADVERTISING INVESTMENT WILL BE SHIFTED TO GROUP BUYING AND FLASH SALES

Group buying breathes new life into local promotion. Any local cafe, spa or restaurant can attract a critical mass of potential customers with little investment. Although still marginal in Quebec, supply far exceeds demand. We often see the same promotions for the same types of services, but national brands ( like the promotion of Gap in the United States) will soon take advantage of offers that will drive up promotional costs. There will be a focus on players signing deals with national brands and offering exclusive deals. In addition, they will have to develop better tactics for segmenting their target customers, for example, avoiding promoting a pole dancing offer to men, otherwise they will lose credibility and relevance.

Flash sales focus more on exclusive offers from luxury or high-end brands over a short period of time. You cannot be registered by invitation, reinforcing the perception of exclusivity of the offers. HauteLook, Beyond the Rack, Gilt, Jack Threads, Jet setter generated more than 900 million in revenue in 2010 and national brands will not hesitate to invest more in this type of offer.  

5. THE MATURITY OF THE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

Measurement tools are ubiquitous in all spheres of business. Managers are overwhelmed by a ton of data from multiple sources, they will want their web performance measurement solution to be linked to corporate databases in order to consolidate their data sources. The specialists try to target the right performance indicators and adapt the presentation of the dashboards according to the style of management. Education is now done on the main metrics, the important thing for managers is now understanding the situation. We will have to explain the situation with data instead of just presenting tables of data.  Less data, more stories .

The market for varied tests (multivariate and A/B) took off in 2010 and several tools are now available and their use has literally become more democratic. No need for a technical background, everyone can conduct a test in a short time and without effort. With the arrival of Visual Website Optimizer and Optimizely including easy-to-use interfaces, Google Website Optimizer is obviously no longer in the race. Will Google follow, buy a solution or better integrate A/B testing into Google Analytics?    

6. THE DEVELOPMENT OF WEB OFFERS IS BECOMING MORE COMPLEX

The proliferation of platforms and functionalities makes development more complex and companies will need expert support. It is a transformation of our industry. The web is no longer just on a computer screen, but can be found on our mobiles, our tablets, our televisions or interactive terminals. The interfaces will have to respect the new standards of each medium, the languages ​​too. Strategists, ergonomists, designers and programmers should keep in mind that their development is cross-platform. This will impact the technological choices. The transition from Flash to HTML 5 will continue to accommodate the vagaries of Apple products. Adobe even showed off a prototype to do the conversion, a sign of a possible changing of the guard.  

In conclusion, we are in a pivotal period in the evolution of the web and its functionalities. We are witnessing both a maturation phase with social media and performance measurement and a phase of change with mobile strategies, the proliferation of platforms, geolocation and group purchases. Looking forward to 2011, a year that promises to be exciting for all professionals working in the web industry.