Report Shows Social Media Drives Just Three Percent of Retail Website Visits

LONDON, February 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- ...Findings indicate retailers shouldn't give short shrift to tried-and-tested online marketing tactics in favour of newer media...

ForeSee Results has today released new research showing that social media interactions are a primary influence for just three percent of visitors to e-retail websites in the UK. Interestingly, the findings indicated that more traditional marketing techniques are better drivers to retailers' web sites, with search engine results influencing 13 percent of visitors and promotional emails influencing 10 percent.

As part of a study of nearly 10,000 visitors to the biggest e-retail websites in the UK (determined by traffic, according to IMRG), customer experience analytics firm ForeSee Results used a patented methodology created at the University of Michigan to examine how social media trends could have year-long implications. Similar research was also released today based on U.S. social media trends, and both reports are available as free downloads on http://www.ForeSeeResults.com.

Key findings of the report released today include:

    
    - Familiarity with the site, company or brand is the most
      common influencer of a website visit (46% of site visitors).This highly
      influential group of visitors are also the most satisfied (75 on a 100-
      point scale), most likely to purchase (75) and most likely to recommend
      (76).
    - The least satisfied customers (64) are those who have
      visited a retailer's site after receiving a message directly from the
      company on a social network.
    - In terms of how respondents wanted to hear from retailers,
      nearly one-fifth said that they didn't want to hear from retailers at
      all; the other 80 percent had definite opinions on what channel they
      liked best:
        - The most preferred method for communication was promotional
          emails with 62 percent
        - Social media scored just two percent of the vote
        - In last place was radio outreach and mobile communications
          with one percent each.
    - Of the two percent who preferred communicating through
      social media, 33 percent said Facebook was the first-choice platform.

"Every retailer should know how many customers are influenced by promotional emails, advertising on Facebook or word-of-mouth recommendations, and furthermore, they should know which group are most likely to buy," said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results and author of today's report. "They should also know how people want to hear from them and how well they're doing when it comes to communicating through those channels. Serious thought needs to be given to finding out whether social media is worth the investment for their business, and then if the answer is yes, they need to make the most of it by making sure that interactions on social media meet the needs and expectations of customers. Otherwise, the effort is wasted and could even be detrimental to the business."

Today's report is available on ForeSee Results' website: http://www.foreseeresults.com/research-white-papers/social-media-marketing-2011-form.shtml

About ForeSee Results

As the leader in customer satisfaction measurement, ForeSee Results captures and analyses voice of customer data to help organisations increase loyalty, recommendations and marketing value. Using a patented, scientific methodology developed at the University of Michigan, ForeSee Results identifies improvements across all channels and touch points that drive customer satisfaction. With over 58 million survey responses collected to date and benchmarks across dozens of industries, ForeSee Results offers unparalleled expertise in customer satisfaction measurement and management around the globe.

ForeSee Results can be found online at http://www.ForeSeeResults.com.

CONTACT: Nikki Alvey, +44-797-335-4706, nikki.alvey@theprnetwork.co.uk