QR Codes Most Popular with Marketers

73% of barcodes in Q4 2011 were 2D codes, with ID codes accounting for the remaining 27%. Although current use of 2D barcodes by 100 independent marketers that ScanLife surveyed stands at 50%, 86% of those marketers said they plan to use 2D barcodes in the future.

A full 8% of magazine ads in December 2011 included action codes (including quick-response or QR codes), up from 3.6% in January. That according to mobile technology provider Nellymoser, and reported in Adweek.

If you want your email to be memorable, possibly even to go viral, AWeber suggests a simple trick: use a cute animal as part of the art. "But you can’t just slap a random picture of a kitty in your design," the post advises. "It looks out of place, and a little desperate. The key is to use images that work with the flow of your email."

Data from “MarketPulse: Key Trends” indicates that 39% of shoppers reported downloading coupons from manufacturer websites in Q4 2011, up from 37% in Q3 and 35% in Q2. The next-most popular usage of digital media for CPG shopping in Q4 was downloading coupons from retailer websites (37%), followed by downloading coupons from couponing sites (35%). 27% of shoppers reported researching products on websites, up 12.5% from 24% in Q2, while 23% reported visiting online deal sites such as Groupon.

Emails that include social sharing buttons have a click-through rate 115% higher than those do not (5.6% vs. 2.6%)

Retailers relied more on email marketing during the holiday season, especially early and late. Email volume continued to increase at above average rates during the holiday season, growing 20% during November and December compared to the same time period in 2010.

For the third year in a row, email marketing and social media marketing remain the top targets for increased spend. For the 2011 holiday shopping season, email marketers plan to focus on cross/upsell offers and promotion of in-store events.

Almost all US and European online marketing professionals believe it is very important (68.4%) or important (28.1%) to send targeted and personalized email marketing campaigns, although only 1 in 5 actively personalize their email marketing content across all campaigns, according to a survey released in December 2011 by Emailvision. In fact, the proportion personalizing content across all platforms is almost matched by the percentage not personalizing any of their email marketing (18.5%).

In order to develop a revenue-generating email strategy, marketers need real-time specific data on when and where subscribers are reading emails. By combining data from engagements, such as opens and conversions, savvy marketers can create the ultimate email strategy with huge returns in the coming year.

80% of consumers say that coupons, promotions, and discounts are their most preferred type of content to receive from brands, ahead of brand news (8%), answers to questions (5%), how-to’s (5%), and interviews (2%). Brand news (34%) ranks as the least preferred type of content to receive from brands, with answers to questions (27%) and how-to’s (25%) not far behind. Just 11% cite coupons, promotions, and discounts as their least preferred type of content.