Consumers share personal data, but marketers don’t make good use of it; paid search and mobile search show strong growth; tablets play a growing role in the classroom; and more

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Most consumers think retailers don’t effectively leverage their personal data

Some 88% of U.S. consumers share their personal information online with retailers, according to a new survey by Infosys, but 72% don’t think they’re being rewarded with online promotions that are targeted to their own needs and interests.

The study revealed other insights into how consumers feel about sharing their personal data with retailers:
• 75% will share data while making an online purchase
• Only 13% will share their social media profile data
It also showed how retailers can use that data to connect better with consumers, who said:
• 78% would buy again from a retailer that markets to their personal interests
• 71% are more likely to buy from a retailer that could provide location-based offers

Paid search and mobile search driving more traffic and better results

Paid search traffic is outdoing organic search in several key categories, according to a mid-year report by MarketLive, and mobile search is making a real impact. Here are some highlights on the growth of paid search:

• 33% of ecommerce site visits came through paid search in 1H 2013, up from 26% in 1H 2012.
• 44% of all SEM revenue comes from paid search, up from 40% last year

• Paid search visits that ended in conversions were up 2.6%; organic grew 1.9%

• Average order value from paid search visits was $113; organic was $106.99Mobile’s growing role in online search was also measured in the report.

Here are some notable findings for the first half of this year:

• Tablets accounted for 33% of search traffic going to ecommerce sites

• Tablet search traffic grew 3X faster than smartphones; tablet search revenue grew 8X faster

• Smartphone conversions improved 24% and are 4X greater than desktop conversions

The report advised online retailers to create stronger search strategies aimed at smartphone and tablet shoppers, along with these pointers:

• Think beyond the homepage when creating mobile-friendly experiences

• Make it easy for consumers to convert with fewer clicks

• Build in quality content suited for mobile devices

Tablets are playing a larger role in kids’ education

Kids love to use mobile devices at home and at school, says a new report by Nielsen, and their parents are supporting it. According to a survey conducted in the first quarter of this year:

• 78% of tablet owning parents let their children under age 11 use tablets at home

• 54% of those parents said their under-11 kids use tablets for educational purposes

Many schools are replacing textbooks with tablets that young students can use in class and at home, said the report, and 71% of students say they prefer to access textbook content that way.

Here are the top educational activities that students ages 13 and up perform on tablets in class:

• 51% -- searching the Web

• 42% -- reading books

• 40% -- taking notes

• 30% -- finishing homework

• 25% -- social networking

CMO optimism up, but social ROI a challenge

CMOs showed growing confidence in the future of their markets but cited measuring the ROI of social advertising as a leading challenge in The CMO Survey conducted in August by Duke University.

The 410 leading marketing executives who were surveyed reported their highest level of optimism for the U.S. economy in four years. They scored 65.7 points on a 100-point scale (with 0 being the least optimistic).

That’s 20 points higher than the same survey taken in 2009. Other CMO survey findings showed:

• 50% are more optimistic about their prospects for the rest of the year

• 50% are more optimistic about the overall U.S. economy , vs. 14.9% in 2009

• 13.2% are less optimistic, compared to 59% in 2009

On the social front, CMOs said they expected to more than double their spending on social advertising from 6.6% of their budgets to 15.8% by 2018. However, most CMOs don’t really know the ROI they’re getting from social advertising, according to the survey:

• 49% said they can’t show that their social initiatives have made an impact

• 35% said they had a general sense of ROI, but no qualitative results

• 15% said they have proven qualitative impact of their social spending