Statistics Archives - MiHiDigital https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/tag/statistics/ Just another WordPress site Fri, 16 Jun 2023 16:49:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q2 of 2023 https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/south-west-tourism-sector-q2-23/ Fri, 16 Jun 2023 15:55:30 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=12463 Working with more than 100 accommodation and hospitality providers across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, as well as some of the country’s best-known visitor attractions gives us a front row seat to the overall trends impacting the Westcountry tourism market. So, if you’re wondering if you’re on trend, behind or perhaps even a little ahead of the curve, here are our Managing Director’s thoughts on how the South West Tourism Sector has been shaping up in the second quarter of this year… When are we now comparing to? You’ll be familiar with the saying you want to be comparing ‘apples with apples’ or ‘oranges with oranges’. It’s certainly no different with website data; you want to be comparing like for like, season with season, year with year. However, Covid has obviously made that very difficult; if you compare 2021 with 2020, you’ll likely be filled with a warm fuzzy feeling. Compare 2019 with 2020 and you’re likely to be brought out in lockdown sweats. But when should you be comparing to? Up until the start of this year, I had been a strong advocate of comparing your data back to 2019. It was the last year of ‘normality’ and a decent gauge of where you stood against that stasis. However, far too much water is now under the bridge, so it’s time to move that comparison forward and reflect on where you stand against the same period last year. Although there are of course variances to take into consideration, we can factor those into our own thoughts and feelings on overall performance. Let’s take a look at the average performance against last year…. Bookings are still being made late I highlighted at the start of the year that people were making booking decisions a lot closer to the date of arrival. This trend has continued throughout the second quarter of the year, with those looking forward in their booking calendars still seeing gaps where they’d usually not. But, when looking back, thinking to themselves that performance on the whole has certainly not been as bad as they would have anticipated. Late bookings are an obvious breeding ground for uncertainty and nervousness. However, with website traffic starting to rally, my belief is that bookings should pick up from here, although they will be made later, even as we head into the school summer holidays in some cases (read on for more on that!). The exception to any late booking rule is repeat bookers; they will always book earlier and more regularly, so if you aren’t already putting in place methods to woo people that have already been with you, then now is the time to get moving. Your cash flow will look better as will your booking calendar. Website traffic has strengthened through May The first four months of the year represented a 10 – 20% drop in traffic for most websites when compared to last year. That kind of makes sense; they’re booking later, so they won’t be looking earlier! However, May was the first month that we saw most sites rally above their 2022 traffic levels; sometimes only marginally but some are up by 10 – 15%. These are certainly encouraging signs for those still looking to fill the months ahead and do buck the trend of lower traffic often seen on bank holidays (if you’ve forgotten, May was rammed full of them!). Further evidence of the late booking culture is the level of traffic seen during school holidays; this is riding higher than usual and does suggest that some are looking for a holiday during the actual period of the school holiday. Very last minute indeed. The July and August divide Funny one this; if I tell you that people are booking later, then logic would suggest that July is booked before August. Not the case for many; several of our clients are busier in August than they are in July. If I cast the data net wider, that’s not necessarily uncommon and we’ve often seen a trend of August booking before July in the past. However, if you’re reading this and thinking you’re the opposite, then you’re also not alone! Several of our other clients are seeing strong July performance with a more hollow August. The only common denominator here is that there are still gaps in these school summer holiday months when there are usually not. Remember though, later bookings suggest that not all is lost here. Deals aren’t gaining traction We’ve seen a poor response to deals and offers. Why might that be? It’s important to remember that a deal or special offer is there to nudge someone over the line; it won’t change their mind completely. What I mean by this is that if someone is wanting to stay during July, when they can get time off work or it’s during school holidays, offering them a discount for June is not going to work. Having an offer that makes your price competitive for when they are staying will. But what I would say there is that that is more about price than the offer itself. We’re undoubtedly in a strange pricing stage; we had Covid and the resulting period where prices went up purely because demand was so high. Since then, the input costs for you as a business have soared, so the temptation is to now rise again. That’s understandable but getting your pricing right now will mean you’ll gain more than any deal or special offer you have to resort to down the line. Our overall feeling? Reasonably optimistic. We’ve had a slow start to the year and all indicators are suggesting that the late booking trend will continue into the busiest part of the year. The growth in traffic during May and into June gives definite hope that demand is picking back up (although there is still too much in the way of supply on the market), so getting your pricing and proposition right now will stand you in good […]

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q2 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Working with more than 100 accommodation and hospitality providers across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, as well as some of the country’s best-known visitor attractions gives us a front row seat to the overall trends impacting the Westcountry tourism market.

So, if you’re wondering if you’re on trend, behind or perhaps even a little ahead of the curve, here are our Managing Director’s thoughts on how the South West Tourism Sector has been shaping up in the second quarter of this year…

When are we now comparing to?

You’ll be familiar with the saying you want to be comparing ‘apples with apples’ or ‘oranges with oranges’. It’s certainly no different with website data; you want to be comparing like for like, season with season, year with year. However, Covid has obviously made that very difficult; if you compare 2021 with 2020, you’ll likely be filled with a warm fuzzy feeling. Compare 2019 with 2020 and you’re likely to be brought out in lockdown sweats.

But when should you be comparing to? Up until the start of this year, I had been a strong advocate of comparing your data back to 2019. It was the last year of ‘normality’ and a decent gauge of where you stood against that stasis. However, far too much water is now under the bridge, so it’s time to move that comparison forward and reflect on where you stand against the same period last year.

Although there are of course variances to take into consideration, we can factor those into our own thoughts and feelings on overall performance.

Let’s take a look at the average performance against last year….

Bookings are still being made late

I highlighted at the start of the year that people were making booking decisions a lot closer to the date of arrival. This trend has continued throughout the second quarter of the year, with those looking forward in their booking calendars still seeing gaps where they’d usually not. But, when looking back, thinking to themselves that performance on the whole has certainly not been as bad as they would have anticipated.

Late bookings are an obvious breeding ground for uncertainty and nervousness. However, with website traffic starting to rally, my belief is that bookings should pick up from here, although they will be made later, even as we head into the school summer holidays in some cases (read on for more on that!).

The exception to any late booking rule is repeat bookers; they will always book earlier and more regularly, so if you aren’t already putting in place methods to woo people that have already been with you, then now is the time to get moving.

Your cash flow will look better as will your booking calendar.

Website traffic has strengthened through May

The first four months of the year represented a 10 – 20% drop in traffic for most websites when compared to last year. That kind of makes sense; they’re booking later, so they won’t be looking earlier!

However, May was the first month that we saw most sites rally above their 2022 traffic levels; sometimes only marginally but some are up by 10 – 15%. These are certainly encouraging signs for those still looking to fill the months ahead and do buck the trend of lower traffic often seen on bank holidays (if you’ve forgotten, May was rammed full of them!).

Further evidence of the late booking culture is the level of traffic seen during school holidays; this is riding higher than usual and does suggest that some are looking for a holiday during the actual period of the school holiday. Very last minute indeed.

The July and August divide

Funny one this; if I tell you that people are booking later, then logic would suggest that July is booked before August. Not the case for many; several of our clients are busier in August than they are in July. If I cast the data net wider, that’s not necessarily uncommon and we’ve often seen a trend of August booking before July in the past.

However, if you’re reading this and thinking you’re the opposite, then you’re also not alone! Several of our other clients are seeing strong July performance with a more hollow August.

The only common denominator here is that there are still gaps in these school summer holiday months when there are usually not. Remember though, later bookings suggest that not all is lost here.

Deals aren’t gaining traction

We’ve seen a poor response to deals and offers. Why might that be? It’s important to remember that a deal or special offer is there to nudge someone over the line; it won’t change their mind completely. What I mean by this is that if someone is wanting to stay during July, when they can get time off work or it’s during school holidays, offering them a discount for June is not going to work. Having an offer that makes your price competitive for when they are staying will.

But what I would say there is that that is more about price than the offer itself. We’re undoubtedly in a strange pricing stage; we had Covid and the resulting period where prices went up purely because demand was so high. Since then, the input costs for you as a business have soared, so the temptation is to now rise again. That’s understandable but getting your pricing right now will mean you’ll gain more than any deal or special offer you have to resort to down the line.

Our overall feeling?

Reasonably optimistic. We’ve had a slow start to the year and all indicators are suggesting that the late booking trend will continue into the busiest part of the year. The growth in traffic during May and into June gives definite hope that demand is picking back up (although there is still too much in the way of supply on the market), so getting your pricing and proposition right now will stand you in good stead for what’s to come.

If you’re a business in the tourism industry that needs help from experts in the field, then get in touch with the team. 

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q2 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q1 of 2023 https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/south-west-tourism-sector-q1-2023/ Thu, 23 Mar 2023 13:32:06 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=12388 Where does time go? We’re almost at the end of the first quarter of the year and that means we’ve now got more than enough data to draw some early conclusions on how this year is shaping up for businesses in the South West Tourism Industry.  Because we work with more than 100 accommodation and hospitality providers in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, as well as some of the major destinations, we’re fortunate to have a front row seat to overall trends in the industry in this part of the world is seeing.  Here’s what we’ve noticed…. A drop in early traffic levels during the year Many sites within the South West Tourism Industry have seen year-on-year traffic for Q1 drop by somewhere between 5 – 25%. There are two core reasons for this: January of last year was at the back end of the post-Covid traffic surge of 2021 (brought about by a lack of international travel and people seeking their first opportunity to get out after lockdowns). This means that figures were artificially higher last year, and you would expect to have some drop off this year. However, there has been a noticeable drop in demand since last year, which has been exacerbated by people booking closer and closer to the date of their arrival. This means, as an example, that traffic that would commonly be booking for the summer may currently be booking for Easter. As a result of that summer booking traffic levels (which are often higher) are being pushed to later in the year. In terms of good news, the majority of the 5 – 25% drop is usually found in January, with February and March traffic levels rallying against and sometimes above last year’s numbers. My overall feeling is a lot more positive now than it was at the start of the year. Uncertainty leads to a delay in decision making and bookings  We’ve mentioned that people are booking closer and closer to the time of arrival, but why are they doing that? As humans we like certainty, and many people need it when planning. Over recent months we’ve faced what seemed like a long winter, economic difficulties, a cost of living crisis, a war in Europe….the list goes on and on…. All those factors bring uncertainty and that in turn delays decision making. For you, it means their booking comes into your booking engine closer to when they’ll be joining you. That in turn brings you uncertainty, as you look at your calendar and feel that it’s not as full as it usually would be by now  My view on this is that bookings will come, but they will come later; I’ve every expectation that if your marketing is right, booking revenue this year shouldn’t be dropping by any large amount. The importance of repeat trade There’s one thing that trumps the trend above (of people booking later) and that is the beauty of repeat guests; they book earlier, they come more often and they’ll also tell people about you too!  There’s never been a more important time to be on your game when it comes to getting people back to your property than now; if you’re not doing it then you’re going to be paying more for new guests (see my next point) and you’re going to have the stress of them booking later.  Levels of supply are still high  Another factor affecting the market is the level of supply. During the Covid period, and just after, the number of cottages on the market through platforms such as Airbnb soared. That wasn’t a problem when supply was also soaring and there was a limited amount of international travel.  However, there has been a drop in demand and because supply is still high in South West Tourism, it means that demand is spread across a wider range of options. Just like spreading jam on a loaf of toast rather than a slice, it means that booking coverage is being stretched and effective marketing to a defined audience is becoming more important. If you don’t market, you’re likely to find yourself often being the ones with the gap. My summary:  Traffic to sites was down in January but has begun to rally. Levels of supply are still very high, and demand has dropped slightly. People are generally booking later. A focus on repeat trade can insulate cottage owners from market fluctuations. if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team! Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q1 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Where does time go? We’re almost at the end of the first quarter of the year and that means we’ve now got more than enough data to draw some early conclusions on how this year is shaping up for businesses in the South West Tourism Industry. 

Because we work with more than 100 accommodation and hospitality providers in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, as well as some of the major destinations, we’re fortunate to have a front row seat to overall trends in the industry in this part of the world is seeing. 

Here’s what we’ve noticed….

A drop in early traffic levels during the year

Many sites within the South West Tourism Industry have seen year-on-year traffic for Q1 drop by somewhere between 5 – 25%.

There are two core reasons for this:

  • January of last year was at the back end of the post-Covid traffic surge of 2021 (brought about by a lack of international travel and people seeking their first opportunity to get out after lockdowns). This means that figures were artificially higher last year, and you would expect to have some drop off this year.
  • However, there has been a noticeable drop in demand since last year, which has been exacerbated by people booking closer and closer to the date of their arrival. This means, as an example, that traffic that would commonly be booking for the summer may currently be booking for Easter. As a result of that summer booking traffic levels (which are often higher) are being pushed to later in the year.

In terms of good news, the majority of the 5 – 25% drop is usually found in January, with February and March traffic levels rallying against and sometimes above last year’s numbers.

My overall feeling is a lot more positive now than it was at the start of the year.

Uncertainty leads to a delay in decision making and bookings 

We’ve mentioned that people are booking closer and closer to the time of arrival, but why are they doing that? As humans we like certainty, and many people need it when planning. Over recent months we’ve faced what seemed like a long winter, economic difficulties, a cost of living crisis, a war in Europe….the list goes on and on….

All those factors bring uncertainty and that in turn delays decision making. For you, it means their booking comes into your booking engine closer to when they’ll be joining you. That in turn brings you uncertainty, as you look at your calendar and feel that it’s not as full as it usually would be by now 

My view on this is that bookings will come, but they will come later; I’ve every expectation that if your marketing is right, booking revenue this year shouldn’t be dropping by any large amount.

The importance of repeat trade

There’s one thing that trumps the trend above (of people booking later) and that is the beauty of repeat guests; they book earlier, they come more often and they’ll also tell people about you too! 

There’s never been a more important time to be on your game when it comes to getting people back to your property than now; if you’re not doing it then you’re going to be paying more for new guests (see my next point) and you’re going to have the stress of them booking later. 

Levels of supply are still high 

Another factor affecting the market is the level of supply. During the Covid period, and just after, the number of cottages on the market through platforms such as Airbnb soared. That wasn’t a problem when supply was also soaring and there was a limited amount of international travel. 

However, there has been a drop in demand and because supply is still high in South West Tourism, it means that demand is spread across a wider range of options. Just like spreading jam on a loaf of toast rather than a slice, it means that booking coverage is being stretched and effective marketing to a defined audience is becoming more important. If you don’t market, you’re likely to find yourself often being the ones with the gap.

My summary: 
  • Traffic to sites was down in January but has begun to rally.
  • Levels of supply are still very high, and demand has dropped slightly.
  • People are generally booking later.
  • A focus on repeat trade can insulate cottage owners from market fluctuations.

if you want to know more about how MiHi Digital can help your business grow, then get in touch with the team!

Call us on 01566 232323 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk.

The post Our Overview of the South West Tourism Sector During Q1 of 2023 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Facebook Facts – The Average User https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/facebook-facts-average-user/ Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:26:34 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=3853 We’ve put together a few facts and figures, taken from Facebook themselves to help give you an idea of the sheer scale and size of the social network and who is using it. Loads of Users There are 24 million Facebook users in the UK – that’s around 38% of the population.  Take a moment to think about that, one in every three people in this country are on Facebook, a social network that is less than ten years old. We are big fans in the UK; we have the second highest usage in the world! They keep coming back If you are one of those 38% of people in the UK with a Facebook account, how often do you go on, even that quick look on your mobile? The average user will visit their Facebook account 40 times in any given month.  That equates to nearly 500 times in a year! Every other person on Facebook will login on a daily basis! It’s young but ageing The demographic is still highest between the ages of 18 – 29 but it’s getting older.  It only makes sense that those people that first signed up when they were 21 years old are now around 28 or 29 years of age. Facebook has also had greater penetration with older demographics in recent years.  A person when asked why he had left Facebook on television quipped that a deciding factor was “when he realized his mum had signed up!” Getting older The point we have made is wider than just that one person; the 45- to 54-year-old age bracket has seen 46% growth since year-end 2012. Gender neutral There is a slight Facebook skew towards men but it is reasonably gender neutral. How many friends? The average person has 130 friends – some have more, some have fewer – don’t panic! It is a social network! As a business it is still important to remember that Facebook is a social network! Quite an obvious point you may think but when compared to a network like Twitter, where there is more of a skew to businesses, Facebook remains for people and their peers.  They essentially need to opt-in to correspondence from your business (aside from advertising) and the success a business is able to derive from Facebook will hang on their ability to connect with their customers on this social level. For more information on how we can grow and expand your Facebook presence through training and support please give us a call on 01566 784860 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Facebook Facts – The Average User appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> We’ve put together a few facts and figures, taken from Facebook themselves to help give you an idea of the sheer scale and size of the social network and who is using it.

Loads of Users

There are 24 million Facebook users in the UK – that’s around 38% of the population.  Take a moment to think about that, one in every three people in this country are on Facebook, a social network that is less than ten years old.

We are big fans in the UK; we have the second highest usage in the world!

They keep coming back

If you are one of those 38% of people in the UK with a Facebook account, how often do you go on, even that quick look on your mobile?

The average user will visit their Facebook account 40 times in any given month.  That equates to nearly 500 times in a year!

Every other person on Facebook will login on a daily basis!

It’s young but ageing

The demographic is still highest between the ages of 18 – 29 but it’s getting older.  It only makes sense that those people that first signed up when they were 21 years old are now around 28 or 29 years of age.

Facebook has also had greater penetration with older demographics in recent years.  A person when asked why he had left Facebook on television quipped that a deciding factor was “when he realized his mum had signed up!”

Getting older

The point we have made is wider than just that one person; the 45- to 54-year-old age bracket has seen 46% growth since year-end 2012.

Gender neutral

There is a slight Facebook skew towards men but it is reasonably gender neutral.

How many friends?

The average person has 130 friends – some have more, some have fewer – don’t panic!

It is a social network!

As a business it is still important to remember that Facebook is a social network!

Quite an obvious point you may think but when compared to a network like Twitter, where there is more of a skew to businesses, Facebook remains for people and their peers.  They essentially need to opt-in to correspondence from your business (aside from advertising) and the success a business is able to derive from Facebook will hang on their ability to connect with their customers on this social level.

For more information on how we can grow and expand your Facebook presence through training and support please give us a call on 01566 784860 or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Facebook Facts – The Average User appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Christmas Statistics – Online Shopping Continues to Soar https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/christmas-statistics-online-shopping-continues-to-soar/ Tue, 10 Dec 2013 09:14:47 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=3354 With us all frantically buying Christmas presents we thought it would be a good day to share some of the incredible figures that online retailers achieve over the Christmas period… An estimated 84 million visits are made to retail sites on Christmas Eve (972 per second) Once the turkey is eaten and the presents are opened an estimated 107 million of us will make a visit to an online retailer (1,238 per second) Boxing day, the traditional day for sales shopping, sees the largest day for online retail with a massive 113 million visits.  This accounts for 1,308 per second and 4.7 million every hour! Amazon has leapfrogged eBay as the most visited site during the Christmas period, raking in approximately 12% of visitor market share.  That means an estimated 36.5 million visitors will visit the Amazon website over three days, accounting for 141 visits per second! Despite Amazon’s impressive figures the Next Sale continues to be the most popular searched for sale on Google More than one in three visits made to retails sites over the Christmas period now come from a mobile. So where will you be doing your shopping?  Is it online or the high street, or a combination of both? Does it depend on price? Are your purchases and visits made from your mobile device? We’d love to hear! Have a very merry Christmas!

The post Christmas Statistics – Online Shopping Continues to Soar appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> With us all frantically buying Christmas presents we thought it would be a good day to share some of the incredible figures that online retailers achieve over the Christmas period…

  • An estimated 84 million visits are made to retail sites on Christmas Eve (972 per second)
  • Once the turkey is eaten and the presents are opened an estimated 107 million of us will make a visit to an online retailer (1,238 per second)
  • Boxing day, the traditional day for sales shopping, sees the largest day for online retail with a massive 113 million visits.  This accounts for 1,308 per second and 4.7 million every hour!
  • Amazon has leapfrogged eBay as the most visited site during the Christmas period, raking in approximately 12% of visitor market share.  That means an estimated 36.5 million visitors will visit the Amazon website over three days, accounting for 141 visits per second!
  • Despite Amazon’s impressive figures the Next Sale continues to be the most popular searched for sale on Google
  • More than one in three visits made to retails sites over the Christmas period now come from a mobile.

So where will you be doing your shopping?  Is it online or the high street, or a combination of both? Does it depend on price? Are your purchases and visits made from your mobile device?

We’d love to hear! Have a very merry Christmas!

The post Christmas Statistics – Online Shopping Continues to Soar appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Google – big numbers, big importance https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/google-big-numbers-big-importance/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 10:53:12 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=2900 These statistics will be a quick reminder to just how big a shop window Google is for your business.  For more information on how we can help improve your performance in Google please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Google – big numbers, big importance appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> These statistics will be a quick reminder to just how big a shop window Google is for your business.  For more information on how we can help improve your performance in Google please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Google – big numbers, big importance appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Email Marketing Statistic – What is the difference between an open rate and a read rate? https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/email-marketing-statistic-what-is-the-difference-between-an-open-rate-and-a-read-rate/ Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:30:41 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=2993 Like much of the online world email marketing is highly measurable.  Each time you send an email campaign you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips from which you can fine tune and improve future performance. One figure that will be of particular interest will be your ‘open rate’.  Now essentially this is the amount of people that open your email when they receive it, but there can be a little more than meets the eye here. The open rate of your email is in fact the amount of people that open your email with images automatically enabled or click to enable the images on your email when opening. This is because each email sent has a 1px X 1px square in the corner that is used to measure an email open.  If this square isn’t opened because the reader has not enabled the images on your email then it will not be registered as an open and therefore contribute to your ‘open rate’. This means that your ‘open rate’ becomes a minimal figure rather than an absolute measure.  You can expect your ‘read rate’ (the amount of people that read your email) to be higher than your ‘open rate’ as some will be reading and viewing your content without enabling images.  As you can imagine this user is still engaging with your content and may click on links without registering as an email open. For this reason it is always worth bearing in mind that your ‘open rate’ should be used and seen as an indicator of performance and not an exact measure.  When conducting A/B testing on subject lines it is for this reason also worth checking which email clients your recipients are using. For example, Microsoft Outloook will default to not enable images when you send email campaigns.  For this reason if there is a disproportionate amount of users in your A segment with clients that do not enable images compared to your B segment you should factor this in to your results, particularly where testing indicates a close or massive difference in performance. The majority of figures gained through your online marketing efforts should be used make better and more informed decisions in the future.  The open rate is no different, just be careful when using it in isolation as a specific measure. For more information on how we can get your email marketing off the ground please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Email Marketing Statistic – What is the difference between an open rate and a read rate? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Like much of the online world email marketing is highly measurable.  Each time you send an email campaign you will have a wealth of information at your fingertips from which you can fine tune and improve future performance.

One figure that will be of particular interest will be your ‘open rate’.  Now essentially this is the amount of people that open your email when they receive it, but there can be a little more than meets the eye here.

The open rate of your email is in fact the amount of people that open your email with images automatically enabled or click to enable the images on your email when opening.

This is because each email sent has a 1px X 1px square in the corner that is used to measure an email open.  If this square isn’t opened because the reader has not enabled the images on your email then it will not be registered as an open and therefore contribute to your ‘open rate’.

This means that your ‘open rate’ becomes a minimal figure rather than an absolute measure.  You can expect your ‘read rate’ (the amount of people that read your email) to be higher than your ‘open rate’ as some will be reading and viewing your content without enabling images.  As you can imagine this user is still engaging with your content and may click on links without registering as an email open.

For this reason it is always worth bearing in mind that your ‘open rate’ should be used and seen as an indicator of performance and not an exact measure.  When conducting A/B testing on subject lines it is for this reason also worth checking which email clients your recipients are using.

For example, Microsoft Outloook will default to not enable images when you send email campaigns.  For this reason if there is a disproportionate amount of users in your A segment with clients that do not enable images compared to your B segment you should factor this in to your results, particularly where testing indicates a close or massive difference in performance.

The majority of figures gained through your online marketing efforts should be used make better and more informed decisions in the future.  The open rate is no different, just be careful when using it in isolation as a specific measure.

For more information on how we can get your email marketing off the ground please give us a call or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Email Marketing Statistic – What is the difference between an open rate and a read rate? appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Halloween Statistics 2013 https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/halloween-statistics-2013/ Mon, 28 Oct 2013 08:49:42 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=3347 Halloween is coming up fast on the horizon so we’ve pulled together a few statistics from across the internet… Americans are big fans of Halloween: they spent nearly $7 billion last year and this figures has continued to rise in recent years It’s a great time to be in the pumpkin trade – 18,952 tonnes of pumpkin will be sold, which is the equivalent of 15,420 Ford Focus’ The top adult costume is a witch, flying away with the win and accounting for 13.4% of answers provided.  A distant second was a pirate, closely followed by a vampire 1 in 3 parents will take their children trick or treating A third of all expenditure throughout Halloween is on sweets 11.5% of those asked got their pets involved by dressing them up for the occasion! We hope you enjoyed our Halloween stats – watch out for our bonanza of Christmas facts and figures coming soon!

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]]> Halloween is coming up fast on the horizon so we’ve pulled together a few statistics from across the internet…

  • Americans are big fans of Halloween: they spent nearly $7 billion last year and this figures has continued to rise in recent years
  • It’s a great time to be in the pumpkin trade – 18,952 tonnes of pumpkin will be sold, which is the equivalent of 15,420 Ford Focus’
  • The top adult costume is a witch, flying away with the win and accounting for 13.4% of answers provided.  A distant second was a pirate, closely followed by a vampire
  • 1 in 3 parents will take their children trick or treating
  • A third of all expenditure throughout Halloween is on sweets
  • 11.5% of those asked got their pets involved by dressing them up for the occasion!

We hope you enjoyed our Halloween stats – watch out for our bonanza of Christmas facts and figures coming soon!

The post Halloween Statistics 2013 appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> Six interesting Instagram Statistics https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/six-interesting-instagram-statistics/ Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:07:01 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=3332 For anyone that isn’t familiar with, or doesn’t use Instagram at all, there is no better way to describe it than in their own words: “Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family.  Take a picture or video, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram — it’s that easy. You can even share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. It’s a new way to see the world. Oh yeah, did we mention it’s free?” (quote from www.instagram.com) So here are six facts that you might not know about Instagram: Instagram has only been around for three years but has already seen 16 billion photos shared. When Facebook bought Instagram for $715m the phone app only had 13 employees. 8,500 photos are shared on average every second on Instagram.  That means that if it takes you two minutes to read this blog post, by the time you have finished another million photos will have been shared! There is an incredible amount of interaction on Instagram with 1,000 comments made every second. The average user spends 257 minutes on Instagram per month – that’s more than an hour a week. When Instagram introduced video the take up was large and quick; five million videos were added within 24 hours. If you would like to discuss if Instagram could be used by your business please give us a call on INSERT or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

The post Six interesting Instagram Statistics appeared first on MiHiDigital.

]]> For anyone that isn’t familiar with, or doesn’t use Instagram at all, there is no better way to describe it than in their own words:

“Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family. 

Take a picture or video, choose a filter to transform its look and feel, then post to Instagram — it’s that easy. You can even share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and more. It’s a new way to see the world.

Oh yeah, did we mention it’s free?” (quote from www.instagram.com)

So here are six facts that you might not know about Instagram:

  • Instagram has only been around for three years but has already seen 16 billion photos shared.
  • When Facebook bought Instagram for $715m the phone app only had 13 employees.
  • 8,500 photos are shared on average every second on Instagram.  That means that if it takes you two minutes to read this blog post, by the time you have finished another million photos will have been shared!
  • There is an incredible amount of interaction on Instagram with 1,000 comments made every second.
  • The average user spends 257 minutes on Instagram per month – that’s more than an hour a week.
  • When Instagram introduced video the take up was large and quick; five million videos were added within 24 hours.

    • If you would like to discuss if Instagram could be used by your business please give us a call on INSERT or email hello@mihidigital.co.uk

    The post Six interesting Instagram Statistics appeared first on MiHiDigital.

    ]]>         Facebook Statistics: Where a lot can happen in a day and a month https://mihidigital.co.uk/blog/facebook-statistics-where-a-lot-can-happen-in-a-day-and-a-month/ Thu, 17 Oct 2013 11:00:40 +0000 https://mihidigital.1c7bfa7d0ad0ed81c314972280bc4e61-10268.sites.k-hosting.co.uk/?p=3335 We’ve taken a look at some interesting Facebook statistics that emphasise just how large the world’s biggest social network is. Here is how the figures shape up for the average Facebook day: One in every seven minutes spent on the internet is devoted to Facebook 699 million Facebook users are active on any given day – that accounts for 64% of the 1.1 billion total users The population of the UK is approximately 63 million.  24 million of those (a staggering 38%) will access their Facebook account during a single day A central element to Facebook is sharing with friends; there are 4.5 billion ‘likes’ per day meaning that the average person will ‘like’ four posts per day.  This has contributed to the overall total of 1.13 trillion ‘likes’ since Facebook launched 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day.  Whilst we’re unsure of how many of these are embarrassing, what we do know is that this works out to be a mind boggling 4,000 per second! How about a month? More people now use their mobile and the Facebook App is incredibly busy; 819 million users access Facebook from their mobile each month Facebook pages, whether for business or for pleasure and interest bring people together around topics; more than a post a day is added to Facebook pages, with the average receiving 36 updates per month Just how much time do we spend on Facebook? In a month the average person will spend more than a full working day on the social network, working out at at 8.4 hours and equating to 201 million hours per day spent in the United Kingdom alone! Do you go on to Facebook every day? If you do then you’re in the majority and not the minority; three out of four users log on at least once a day Addicted to Candy Crush? Built the most productive farm that Farmville has ever seen? You‘re probably not alone as 250 million (around 23% of Facebook users) will play a game on Facebook over the course of a month So if you are a business owner and wondering if Facebook could be an avenue for you to promote your business  then please give us a call or email us on hello@mihidigital.co.uk

    The post Facebook Statistics: Where a lot can happen in a day and a month appeared first on MiHiDigital.

    ]]>     We’ve taken a look at some interesting Facebook statistics that emphasise just how large the world’s biggest social network is.

    Here is how the figures shape up for the average Facebook day:

  • One in every seven minutes spent on the internet is devoted to Facebook
  • 699 million Facebook users are active on any given day – that accounts for 64% of the 1.1 billion total users
  • The population of the UK is approximately 63 million.  24 million of those (a staggering 38%) will access their Facebook account during a single day
  • A central element to Facebook is sharing with friends; there are 4.5 billion ‘likes’ per day meaning that the average person will ‘like’ four posts per day.  This has contributed to the overall total of 1.13 trillion ‘likes’ since Facebook launched
  • 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook each day.  Whilst we’re unsure of how many of these are embarrassing, what we do know is that this works out to be a mind boggling 4,000 per second!

    • How about a month?

  • More people now use their mobile and the Facebook App is incredibly busy; 819 million users access Facebook from their mobile each month
  • Facebook pages, whether for business or for pleasure and interest bring people together around topics; more than a post a day is added to Facebook pages, with the average receiving 36 updates per month
  • Just how much time do we spend on Facebook? In a month the average person will spend more than a full working day on the social network, working out at at 8.4 hours and equating to 201 million hours per day spent in the United Kingdom alone!
  • Do you go on to Facebook every day? If you do then you’re in the majority and not the minority; three out of four users log on at least once a day
  • Addicted to Candy Crush? Built the most productive farm that Farmville has ever seen? You‘re probably not alone as 250 million (around 23% of Facebook users) will play a game on Facebook over the course of a month

    • So if you are a business owner and wondering if Facebook could be an avenue for you to promote your business  then please give us a call or email us on hello@mihidigital.co.uk

    The post Facebook Statistics: Where a lot can happen in a day and a month appeared first on MiHiDigital.

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