While The Pandemic Created Urgency for Location-Based Businesses to Lean Into Digital, Overall Local Digital Marketing Maturity Is Still Lagging
DETROIT, Nov. 1, 2022 – Uberall, a global provider of hybrid customer experience (CX) solutions, today released its Benchmark for Local Digital Marketing, which examines how well multi-location businesses are adapting to a digital-first customer journey. The study – which surveyed more than 450 businesses worldwide and 244 businesses in North America – measures digital maturity along the customer journey from discovery, to purchase, to loyalty.
According to the report, the average local digital marketing maturity score in North America is 53 out of 100, leaving ample opportunity for improvement. The survey revealed that while the majority of North American multi-location businesses have the basics covered like local business directories (83%) and local social pages (76%), most are not fully leveraging these tools for online discovery, engagement and conversion.
“While most multi-location businesses understand the importance of digital marketing, this new research reveals untapped opportunity at the local level,” said Florian Hubner, Founder and CEO of Uberall. “Many businesses spend heavily on digital marketing campaigns and broad brand awareness, but under-resource on local digital marketing to influence nearby customers in their moment of need. However, in the current economic climate, gaining an edge is more important than ever. A solid local digital marketing strategy is key to achieve that.”
Local Digital Marketing Maturity Declines Throughout Customer Journey
While the report found that a slight majority of the North American businesses (57%) have a moderately mature approach to make themselves found online, customer experience declines when it comes to optimizing for conversion (53%) and driving loyalty (50%).
The local marketing maturity decline in loyalty is attributed to businesses failing to incorporate essential tools and strategies for this part of the customer journey. The study found that 62% of businesses globally don’t analyze sentiment or have customer loyalty programs, while 65% of businesses don’t use review management tools.
Although businesses had slightly stronger maturity approaches for the Get Found and Be Chosen stages, there are improvements that can be made on both fronts. In fact, 17% of multi-location businesses in North America say they do not use business listings at all. Furthermore, 39% do not include a list of local stores on their website and nearly half (48%) do not provide local web pages for each local store, making it more difficult to get found by potential customers.
When it comes to being chosen, 42% of North American businesses polled don’t respond to reviews frequently and 69% lack a customer referral program. Improvements in these areas can not only increase brand discoverability, but also consideration and online-to-offline conversion rates.
Overall Maturity Among US Businesses Nearly Equals Global Average
The report found that US and Canadian businesses have much higher maturity than their European counterparts at 49% and 63% respectively. Of European countries surveyed, UK businesses came in the highest at 47%, French companies averaged 42% and German businesses came in with the lowest score at 36%.
The study also found that every country, with the exception of Canada, had subpar maturity levels in the areas of being chosen and driving loyalty – helping to contribute to an overall poor global average maturity.
“In the current economic climate, settling for average puts brands at a disadvantage,” said Hübner. “It’s a certainty that consumers continue leveraging digital channels with nearly every purchase decision they make. Hence location-based businesses can only win if they create seamless experiences that bridge the digital and real world. For businesses worldwide to gain and keep customers they need to put more resources into local digital marketing so they can influence high-intent buyers closer to the point of purchase.”
Financial and Retail Sectors Register Strongest Maturity Levels
The report finds that globally the financial services industry is the most mature (54%), followed closely by the retail sector (52%). On the other hand, the verticals for gas or EV service stations and convenience stores (46%), as well as restaurants, food, and beverage (46%), are slightly below the global average (48%). Businesses in hospitality, tourism, and leisure lag behind with an overall maturity of only 40%.
To learn more about Uberall’s Benchmark for Local Digital Marketing, the global findings can be found here.
About Uberall, Inc.
Uberall helps the world’s most innovative brick and mortar businesses stay relevant, competitive, and profitable, by using digital technology to win clicks online and feet offline. Uberall CoreX, our hybrid customer experience platform, powers the entire customer journey from online discovery, to store visit, to recommendation and repeat purchase. Uberall makes sure businesses are not only found, but attract and delight customers on every corner, across the globe – driving revenue and customer lifetime value, at scale.
Uberall, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, has more than 400 employees and services over 1,850 multi-location businesses across 170 countries.
For further information visit www.uberall.com | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter