Bullets January/February 2013

Bullets

Business to Business

• 75 percent of business to business companies do not measure or quantify social media engagement. 56 percent of companies that quantify social media engagement only count comments and followers. (http://goo.gl/JTpdC)
• According to Themailhaus.wordpress.com, 47% of U.S. households read catalogs, and only 19% discard them without reading. The amount of customers who trust direct mail over email has actually grown from 29% in 2008 to 36% in 2012. (http://goo.gl/Iv5)
• The digital video audience is growing in both number and time spent viewing content. The latest eMarketer projection shows that by 2014, nearly three-quarters of all US internet users will watch video online at least once per month. Much of the content being viewed is increasingly ad-supported, which puts an ever-greater focus on the metrics used to measure results. (http://goo.gl/IwhBH)
• Shoppers who interact with sales associates are 13% more likely than those who don’t interact to make purchases in-store. (GroupM Next: 314-682-2055)
• Six in 10 consumers (66%) prefer web retailers, and more than four in 10 online shoppers (45%) have bought something online that they wouldn’t buy in person. (mashable.com)
• 59% of consumers are more likely to buy when brands answer the phone in under a minute; 73% are more likely to recommend highly responsive brands to other consumers. (Ifbyphone.com)
• More than six in 10 smartphone users (61%) say that if they don’t find what they want right away on a mobile site, they’ll leave. (MarketingVox.com)
• Gen Y was responsible for 30% of all spending on books in 2011 – knocking baby boomers out of the bibliophilic top spot for the first time in years. The panel of 70,000 book buyers of all ages made 39% of their purchases through online retailers. E-books jumped from 4% to 14% of all book purchases between 2010 and 2011. (publishersweekly.com)
• 50% of Internet users (96 million) listened to music on an Internet radio or on-demand music service in the past three months. More than one-third (37%) of U.S. Internet users listened to music on Pandora and other Internet radio services, while an equal percentage (36%) used an on-demand music service, like YouTube, VEVO, Spotify, MOG, Rhapsody, and Rdio. (npd.com)
• In response to economic challenges, 45 percent of women owned businesses (WOBs) are focused on controlling costs, while 31% are concentrating on increasing sales. Additionally, 56 percent of WOBs owners said social media is “very important” or “important” to their business, and 39 percent increased their involvement in civic, social or school activities to boost their exposure and create value for their communities. (ncrw.org)
• Half of mobile users (50 percent) who opt in to receive text messages from marketers have iPhones. (businesswire.com)
• Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) online adults who read user travel reviews ignore extreme comments (positive or negative) when reading reviews of hotels. (TripAdvisor; 617-670-6300)
• Emails with subject lines of either less than 30 characters, or longer than 90 characters work best in B2B emails. Using 90 characters and upwards produced the highest response rates because more benefits can be communicated by using more characters. Snappier subject lines that used 30 characters or less performed well in the case for transactional or direct-action emails. Shorter subject lines (14 or fewer words) produced considerably higher engagement than longer subject lines. (Adestra)
• More than half of women (54 percent) have sent an email to the wrong person. (Women’s Health; 800-324-1731)

 Brand Strategy

• While marketers may strive to have website visitors fill out a whitepaper download form, or self-identify via the “contact me” button, the reality is that potential buyers are researching your company and products far in advance of their willingness to identify themselves. Studies show that up to 75% of research is done prior to self-identification. (http://goo.gl/TRqdb)
• 22% of online Americans say that they click on search engine ads, finds The Search Agency finds in a survey conducted by Harris Interactive. The results show a fairly significant degree of variation on a geographic level, with the proportion saying they click on search ads far higher in the South (29%) than in the Northeast (20%), West (19%), and Midwest (17%). The study also finds that 18-34-year-olds report being more likely to click on search ads than those aged 35 and older (30% vs. 18%). (http://goo.gl/ScgI4)
• More than three in four consumers say most of the claims that brands make in advertisements are exaggerated, according to a study by Lab42. Specifically, among surveyed consumers, 57.4% say advertising claims are “somewhat exaggerated,” and 19.0% say they are “very exaggerated,” Lab42 reported. Only 2.8% of consumers surveyed say the claims in various ads are very accurate: (http://goo.gl/cmtah)
• Edelman’s 2012 global “goodpurpose” study found a growing number of consumers considered “social purpose,” the leading purchase driver when quality and price were equal. And, increasingly, consumers worldwide didn’t see a contradiction in brands profiting from supporting causes. Seventy-six percent said it was OK for brands to make money as a result of social purpose, a 33% increase from 2008. (http://goo.gl/PtAsi)
• More than a third of consumers (36%) are interested in receiving social media messages from brands about upcoming sales. (pbinsight.com)
• Nearly a quarter of opt-in marketing emails (24%) opened by consumers are opened within the first hour after delivery. (GetResponse 877-362-4547)
• Nearly six in 10 consumers (57%) say they’re buying only what they need. (BIGinsight 614-846-0146)
• 17 million Americans are compulsive shoppers/spenders with men and women affected about equally. (The Shulman Center)
• Three in 10 U.S. mobile app users want retailers to offer mobile apps to save them time when looking for items. And one in four wanted mobile apps to ensure they weren’t missing out on store deals and offers.
  (emarketer.com)
• Approximately 110 million roses, mostly red, will be sold and delivered within the three-day Valentine’s Day time period, 73% purchased by men and 27% purchased by women. On average, men shell out $130 each on candy, cards, jewelry, flowers and dates, which is more than double what women commit to spending. However, 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day and about 3% of pet owners will give a Valentine’s Day gift to their pets. (sheknows.org, itthing.com)
• Some 4 percent of moms say their dream app would remind their husbands to bring flowers. (Meredith Corp.’s Parents Network; 212-315-3710)
• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month; Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube and 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. (youtube.com)
• 70 percent of mobile users utilize their device for searches once a week or more. Sixty-four percent use social media for searches once a week or more. Both platforms outperformed search engines (61 percent) and local-search sites (49 percent). Print [directory] users are the least engaged with the medium; only 27 percent use it once a week or more. (incytemarketing.com)
• Dining out at restaurants (59 percent) and going out for entertainment (49 percent) are the expenses most commonly cut by U.S. consumers. (GfK Roper Reports; 908-875-9844)

Energy

• Small buildings comprise nearly 90 percent of the nation’s commercial buildings and use 50 percent more energy per square foot than larger facilities in part due to inefficiencies, according to the most recent Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (http://goo.gl/0cntL)
• Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money. (fueleconomy.gov)
• Wind power currently supports 75,000 good quality, well-paying jobs. The U.S. Department of Energy found that with the right policies in place, by aiming for 20% of our electricity needs fueled by wind power by 2030, industry could support roughly 500,000 jobs in the U.S., with an annual average of more than 150,000 workers employed directly. (http://goo.gl/5FycK)
• 2012 was the hottest year in history. The average temperature across the contiguous United States in 2012 was 55.3° (3.2° above normal). This ranks as the warmest year since records began in 1895. (http://goo.gl/CkRB2)
• As of January 2013, the Energy Information Administration reports that exports have risen 217% in the last 10 years, most recently rising to nearly three million barrels per day. The amount of products exported amounts to over 16% of what Americans consume every day. (http://goo.gl/WfTqg)
• The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today. Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone. Virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled – thanks to the steel and iron content. Using recycled steel to make new steel saves energy. In fact, the steel industry saves enough energy in one year to electrically power 18 million homes for one year. (ditc-eef.org)
• The average American office worker uses about 500 disposable cups every year. (earth911.com)
• Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste. (Clean Air Council 2009, May Why Plastic Bag Fees Work.)
• The oil from just one oil change is enough to contaminate one million gallons of fresh water. Americans who change their own oil throw away 120 million gallons of reusable oil every year. (cleanair.org)
• Airports and airlines recycle less than 20 percent of the 425,000 tons of passenger-related waste they produce each year. (nrcd.org)
• Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, an extra million tons of waste is generated each week. (cal.recycle.ca.gov)
• The energy economy is the foundation of the U.S. economy. The crude oil and natural gas industry contributes more than $1 trillion annually to the U.S. economy, or more than seven percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. And it supports more than nine million jobs. (Chevron.com)
• An area of the sun’s surface the size of a postage stamp shines with the power of 1,500,000 candles, and all the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the sun burning for a few days. (astronomyworld.com)
• There are approximately 121,446 gas stations in the U.S. and 82.2 percent of them have convenience stores. Gas stations employ close to a million employees (926,792) with an annual payroll of $13 billion. (statisticbrain.com)
• Fracking, while possibly significantly increasing America’s level of energy independence and helping transition us to a lower-carbon future, is included in the second largest sector in terms of greenhouse emissions. One of its major components, methane, is a highly potent greenhouse gas. (journalistresource.org)
• U.S. homes built in 2000 and later consume only 2% more energy on average than homes built prior to 2000, despite being on average 30% larger, according to analysis from EIA’s most recent Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). (eia.gov)

Healthcare

• Employees who exercise three or more times per week earn 6 to 9 percent more money than those who do not exercise. (2012 study by Vasilios Kostease, PhD, Cleveland State University)
• Adults who frequently engage in mentally stimulating activities are 63% less likely to develop dementia than those who rarely do such activities, a New England Journal of Medicine study discovered. A University of Michigan study found that adults who play a mentally challenging game every day for several weeks can dramatically improve their memory. (http://goo.gl/rVS67)
• Job stress is estimated to cost U.S. industry more than $300 billion a year in absenteeism, turnover, diminished productivity and medical, legal and insurance costs. And 52 percent of Americans report that they have considered workplace stress a significant factor when looking for a new job, declining a promotion or leaving a job altogether. (http://goo.gl/G8SdB)
• Researchers found that sedentary people placed on an exercise program voluntarily began smoking less, drinking fewer alcoholic and caffeinated drinks, and eating healthier. They also did more household chores, used their credit cards less often, and kept up more diligently with study and work obligations. (http://goo.gl/HqbYm)
• The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system. (nih.gov)
• 75% of all health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, many of which can be prevented, including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. (cdc.gov)
• There are four times as many health care lobbyists in Washington as there are members of Congress. (sickothemovie.com)
• An estimated seven to 10 million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease. In the United States, as many as one million individuals live with PD, which is more than the combined number of people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Approximately 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, and this number does not reflect the thousands of cases that go undetected. Incidence of Parkinson’s increases with age, but an estimated four percent of people with PD are diagnosed before the age of 50. Statistics have shown that men are slightly more likely to have Parkinson’s disease than women. (Parkinson’s FAQ)
• The flu kills about 36,000 people each year in the US—90% of those who die of the flu are 65 or older. (cdc.gov)
• Almost 90 percent of visits to primary health care providers are due to stress-related problems and stress has been linked to all the leading causes of death, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, accidents and suicide. Nearly one-half of all adults suffer adverse effects from stress and it is estimated that one million Americans miss work due to stress-related complaints. (Drweil.com)
• 34 percent of American adults take at least one prescription drug, 11.5 percent take three or more prescriptions drugs and 6.5 percent take four or more prescription drugs. While drugs are our most effective and cost effective treatment (and prevention) of many leading diseases, they are at times and in large numbers being abused. Those at the highest income levels and those at the lowest, are more likely to be taking prescription drugs than the middle class.  However, it is the lowest income Americans who are most likely to be on 4 or more drugs. (forbes.com)
• Coughing can cause air to move through your windpipe faster than the speed of sound — over a thousand feet per second! (muskurhat.us)
• More than 90 percent of people ages 18-24 said they would trust health information they found on social media channels. Patients are also taking to the Interwebs to talk about the care they received: 44 percent of people said they would share positive or negative experiences of a hospital or medical facility, and 42 percent said they wouldn’t hesitate to post comments about a doctor, nurse or healthcare provider on social media. (mashable.com)
• Half of health care spending is used to treat just five percent of the population. A recent study found that U.S. health care spending is higher than that of other countries most likely because of higher prices and perhaps more readily accessible technology, greater obesity, an older population, and a greater supply of utilization of hospitals and doctors. (physiciansfoundation.org)