BIA/Kelsey: 55% of SMBs Use or Plan to Use Customer Loyalty Programs
In its latest Local Commerce Monitor tracking survey, BIA/Kelsey found that more than half of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) currently utilize or plan to utilize customer loyalty programs.
The survey also found that less than 15 percent of SMBs say they have a mobile website.
According to Wave 16 (Q3 2012) of the Local Commerce Monitor, SMBs report spending an average of $1,190 in the past 12 months on websites and other Web properties (e.g., social networks, mobile-optimized sites). This is up 35.8 percent from the $876 SMBs spent, on average, on websites and Web properties in Wave 15 (Q4 2011).
Total annual spending on advertising and promotion for the previous 12 months for SMBs was $2,948, down slightly from $3,041 in Wave 15. “From Web presence and mobile websites to social media, small businesses are building deeper and broader engagement with customers across a range of digital presence platforms,” according to Steve Marshall, director of research for BIA/Kelsey.
The survey also found that 63 percent of SMBs say they use social media, with Facebook becoming a “core medium for SMB advertising and promotion.”
BIA/Kelsey notes that in Wave 15, just 8.7 percent of responding SMBs said they had a mobile website. In Wave 16, 14.7 percent of responding SMBs say they have a mobile website, while another 22 percent say they plan to add one within the next 12 months.
The growing emphasis on mobile websites is a good thing for SMBs, as a recent Google survey of mobile users found that 72 percent of them said having a mobile-friendly website is important. Additionally, 74 percent of mobile users said they’re more likely to revisit mobile-friendly sites.
The Google survey also found that 67 percent of respondents said a mobile-friendly website makes them more likely to buy a product or use a service. Also, 61 percent said if they don’t see what they’re looking for right away on a mobile site, they quickly move on to another one.
Going back to BIA/Kelsey’s report, 55.3 percent of SMBs say they use customer loyalty programs (34 percent) or plan to use them (21.3 percent). The survey defined customer loyalty programs as “offering discounts or special promotions to frequent customers.”
In a separate forecast, BIA/Kelsey notes that it expects U.S. mobile advertising revenues will grow from $664 million in 2011 to $5.8 billion in 2016, which would reflect a compound annual growth rate of 54.2 percent.
However, recent findings from MediaBrix offer a warning to businesses that are considering the use of social and mobile advertising. According to MediaBrix, 62 percent of consumers who saw promoted tweets said they had a negative or neutral effect on their perception of the brand being advertised; this response was 72 percent for Facebook sponsored stories and 85 percent for sponsored video ads.
By Jason Hahn
