1300 490 147Where is the market heading this year? Rather than recap the year that was, this year we decided to think about the year ahead.
What are the biggest opportunities for our clients in 2020. We asked our team of marketers, designers & analysts what they believe were the most likely trends & the biggest opportunities in digital marketing in 2020.
Mark M.
Co-Founder, Head of Paid
True data driven decisions
‘Data Driven’ is a catch phrase that has become more popular in recent years. It’s the idea that account optimisation techniques & decisions should be based on actual campaign data rather than a hunch or gut feeling.
We’re seeing many agencies start to use this terminology, yet how they are data driven is not clear. The transparency into what techniques they are using or case studies to show this is still not where it should be.
In 2020 I predict that agencies will be more accountable to how they are presenting themselves as data driven agencies.
At One Egg we have invested heavily in AB testing & experimentation frameworks, Machine Learning Tools, In-house attribution modelling techniques & data visualisation tools expertise. We take pride in being a truly data driven agency, which you can read more about here.
I believe that one of the biggest opportunities this year for our clients will be in leverage machine learning tools and experts that are able to make better decisions based on data!
Ilan
Co-Founder, Head of SEO
SEO Goals for 2020
All of the changes made by Google during the last year have a common purpose: improving search results by providing users with a faster, credible and a more accurate solution.
As an agency, we closely watch this and address how our clients can take advantage of this.
Faster – Google has been emphasising the importance of fast website loading times for years and claims that they won’t show users slow-loading websites in the search results. Here are 2 instances in which show Google is focusing heavily on page speed:
- Google’s announcement that Chrome will label slow websites.
- Google Search Console added a speed report that shows more information about page speed
Speed isn’t just about loading times. Google has also invested in speeding up the processes of displaying results and retrieving answers straight from the search pages without the need to click on the search results (Featured Snippets).
As SEO’s we must adapt to this new reality and need to ensure our web pages are well structured. It’s important to include the necessary formatting (headings, tables etc.) and include schema markup for products, ratings, FAQ’s and so on. This will improve the chance that Google will show this information on the search result page.
Credible – Google continuously improves their algorithms for assessing website credibility, author reputation, and domain strength to ensure users get the best answers to their questions. Whether your goal is to reach position zero or the top of the normal organic results, credibility is a necessary condition to rank on Google. This means that you should keep doing the following;
- Building quality links from authoritative sources
- Invest in high-quality content (duh!)
- Improve your website visually to create more trust
- Write strong headlines and metadata to improve CTR
- Social proof (user ratings & testimonials)
- Include references and credible evidence
Accuracy – Google keeps investing in developing AI algorithms and integrates them as a key part of the search results. The recent BERT update is evidence of that. BERT’s purpose is to deliver a more accurate analysis of complex texts in search queries.
The use of voice search and personal assistants is becoming more popular, and users realise they can ask Google longer and unique questions. Thus Google needs to be able to better analyse the content.
If you want to increase your presence for complex search queries you should divide your site into very focused topics and sub-topics by implementing a precise hierarchic design and structural division into pages, each targeting a focused sub-topic.
Michal
PPC & Analytics Specialist
Get back to basics
While I strongly believe that Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and will only grow, In 2020 I suggest getting back to basics.
What do I mean? I have 3 things in mind:
Firstly, improving the quality of your products or services. This obviously goes without saying. High quality products equals happy customers and happy customers equals more sales. This is the first element of your business growth in 2020.
Second is strengthening your offer. And I don’t necessarily mean low prices. Rather, the offer that you present in front of potential customers has to scream value.
The intrinsic value of the offer has to be higher than the price your customers are going to pay.
The third piece is your sales platform, such as your website or landing page. While not as fundamental as the above 2 points, it is important that your sales engine is tightly relevant with your product/service and the offer you are promoting.
Mark K.
Search Specialist
Automation on the rise
I strongly believe that automation will be the biggest trend for PPC in 2020. The key for PPC specialists will be how to use these new features and tools provided by Google in order to increase overall performance. The days of tweaking bids are gone. Using tools and features like responsive search ads, dynamic search ads or smart bidding strategies like Target CPA, Target ROI or Maximise Conversion Bidding helps to run PPC accounts more efficiently. Google pushes PPC specialists toward automation and minimized transparency as we can see when they launched Responsive Search Ads. However, I think Google continues to take away control from advertisers in favour of ‘better targeting & intent’. Automation will be used to enhance performance of PPC campaigns in the following ways:- Calculate best bidding strategy for different goals
- Setting bids to get as many conversions as possible at a set target CPA
- Stop low-performing ads and prioritize the ones generating the best results
- Identify performance issues within an account
- Dynamically generate ads based on user behavior and website content
- Create and optimize ad copy based on data feeds using Google Scripts
- Generating ad performance reports automatically
- Automatically enhance CPCs by looking for ad auctions that are more likely to generate conversions
Simon
SEO & Email Marketing Specialist
The Resurrection Of Email Marketing
In 2019, many websites reported huge decreases in organic traffic due to Google algorithm updates. That’s why in 2020, we’ll see the most successful businesses try to diversify their sources of traffic in earnest.
Email marketing remains one of the best ways of doing this. Done right, it’s extremely cost-effective and a great way of scaling any enterprise. AppSumo proved this by building an 8-figure business off the back of their email list.
You might think that email marketing is old hat, but it’s surprising how many businesses don’t have a prominent lead magnet on their website. Even if they do, many don’t send out regular emails to their list. Or they use the same templates that everybody else is using.
We predict this is set to change in 2020.
Search Volume Will Become Largely Irrelevant
The reason we all love organic traffic is because it’s free. There’s also a repeatable process you can use to get it. And perhaps the most important part of this process is keyword research.
Since the early days of SEO, the way to do this was by comparing the average monthly search traffic against the estimated level of competition. In 2020, this no longer holds true.
Google has steadily increased the number of search features into the SERPS like “Featured Snippets” and “People Also Ask” boxes. This means searches queries are answered without having to click through to third-party websites.
This new trend will make “Search Volume” largely irrelevant. Instead, smart SEOs will focus on “Clicks-per-search”. They’ll also plan and structure their content to win the most search features.
Jessica Xu
Search Specialist
Social Media E-commerce Will Accelerate in the B2C Market
Have you ever followed a consumer brand on Instagram and noticed how easy it is to tap on a picture and instantly see price and product specifications?
In recent years, Facebook Inc has shown strong intention to make their key platforms transaction-friendly: in the form of Facebook Marketplace, Checkout for Instagram and Catalog for Whatsapp.
My prediction for 2020, and the years to follow, is that we will see these social media platforms transformed from “a place to share photos and news within your network / stalk someone” to clout-driven marketplaces.
Social reach and engagement will be more important than ever, potentially eclipsing the importance of your main website. Why do I think this?
Because social media is more user friendly than a website.
It’s a more natural environment to “hang out” in, particularly for Millenials and Gen Z.
People are on social media a lot, and by their own choice.
It’s a fun place, built for engagement and decreasing attention spans.
You can tag your friends, you can comment and discuss, you can save products for later, and you have access to any public profile that exists in the world. It makes sharing, learning, and comparing easy in a way that websites cannot hope to match.
And let’s not forget, it allows brands to build hype around their products. Your entire profile feed is a highly-accessible and visually appealing record of social proof.
If you sell consumer products and have not yet crafted a social media presence or explored social media ecommerce, now is the time.
James Howson
Web Developer
Ultra Simplified Web Design
Although this isn’t a new trend, in 2020 we predict we’ll see even more value put on keeping it simple, taking simplicity in web design to new levels. The emphasis on simplicity is being driven by the amount of time users are willing to spend finding what they need on a website continuing to reduce. In 2020, if users can’t find what they’re looking for in less than 10 seconds, they are highly likely to go elsewhere. For most industries the average website session duration is only between 2-3 minutes. If your website contains an excessive amount of information, a complicated navigation and overwhelming layout/design, you’ll be more likely to overwhelm the user and drive them away. We’re noticing websites valuing simplicity highly achieve much lower bounce rates. These are the key areas we expect to see further gains made in website simplification:- Delivery of relevant information in as few words as possible
- Website main navigations being reduced to just 3-4 key items
- Bigger, bolder headings to quickly identify relevant sections of the page
- Restrained colour palettes and a minimalistic approach to overall design
