20% of Canadian shoppers exhibit “showrooming” behaviour. These shoppers enter a store to try out a product, but when it comes time to buy — they purchase online. Showroomers sound like a retailer’s worst nightmare. In a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 33% of them use their smartphones right inside the store to look up the best deals on a product. In Canada, 44% of product research carried out from a mobile device took place inside retail stores. .....

As the number of Smartphone users continues to grow, Google plans to roll out new ranking changes targeting website not optimized for mobile devices. Some of the common issues that you might be penalized for include faulty redirects (i.e. when a desktop page redirects a mobile visitor to an irrelevant page on the mobile-optimized website), or webpage that includes content not available for mobile. This update will most likely affect North American websites first, and Europe after. .....

A style guide outlines the correct portrayal of your brand in written and visual communications including your website, printed documents, email, marketing materials, and more. These materials represent your company and are the first point-of-contact most potential customers and partners will have with your business. Why do you need a style guide? .....

39% of CMOs say they are unprepared to meet their marketing objectives, according to a report from Accenture. Marketing Profs published an infographic of key stats from the report, including the fact that 1 in 5 CMOs is below average in quantifying return on investment and that only 7% feel they are leading edge in digital focus, despite 65% feeling digital is important throughout their companies. .....

No matter how much promotion and marketing you do, if your web pages are not convincing you will fail to convert visitors into customers and leads. Part of conversion optimization is great web design, but what does the most to turn your prospects into customers is compelling copy. This includes your page titles, headlines, body copy, buttons, forms, call-outs, and any other text on the page. .....

Email is not dead. Although marketers sometimes forget about the original digital communications channel in favour of newer platforms, a new census from Econsultancy and Adestra found that 55% of companies attribute 10% or more of their sales to email marketing, while 66% say the channel delivers 'excellent' or 'good' ROI. .....

The Mobile Marketing Association has released the results of their six-month Mobile Marketing Economic Impact Study . The report found that US marketers currently spend $6.7 billion on mobile marketing, and projects that number to reach $20 billion by 2015. The researchers also note that the reach of mobile is expanding as devices improve and adoption rates soar, and found a Marketing Impact Ratio of $20.77 per dollar spent in 2012. .....

20% of all web searches now occur on a mobile device, and 73% of these searches drive valuable actions for businesses. Because mobile users are searching on a smaller screen and are generally on-the-go, it’s critical your site rank among the first few listings if you want it to be found by mobile searchers. In order to do so, you need to make sure your site is mobile-search optimized. .....

Canadian retailers who don't offer quality e-commerce shopping are losing out to US businesses with better online options and prices, says a recent report by Forrester Research. The Globe and Mail reports that the study, which surveyed 1,103 Canadian online shoppers, found 25 percent of Canadian online spending already goes to international sellers, and that number is likely to increase. Frustrations with local sellers included higher prices, lack of selection, and shipping policies. .....

Twitter has opened its self-serve ads platform to all US users, it announced yesterday via its Advertising Blog . Businesses who previously had to request an invite to gain access to the promoted tweets platform can now simply sign up and go. In spite of the increase in advertisers that will surely result, Adweek reports that there will be no increase in the frequency of ads delivered to Twitter users. .....