We’ve been online for a long time. But rarely have we lived so much of our lives in the digital landscape. Even in the veterinary industry, the way we work and connect with others (from business partners to team members and clients) has changed. Which means that our approach to digital marketing must change, too.
Data can tell this story a bit more clearly. We looked into the impact of the vast contingent of at-home-and-online workers on digital marketing trends. Specifically, website traffic, cost per click, e-commerce, and veterinary services. And of course, what it means for veterinary marketers.
Check it out.
Top Marketing Trends in Website Traffic
From pageview growth to declines in content publishing, here are some of the top digital marketing trends we’re seeing in business-to-business (B2B) website traffic.
People have turned to online content for help navigating this crisis.
In the first 3 months of this year, B2B companies (excluding healthcare) saw an overall increase of 27% in organic pageviews per published web article (year-over-year). B2B companies also experienced 11% growth in overall pageviews during the same time period. Facing uncertainty and tough decisions, people have turned to online content for guidance. This pageview growth is fueled in part by a +65% growth in search traffic per article, particularly in the business services and consulting industry.
Businesses maintaining a strong content strategy now stand to benefit later.
People are actively searching for information, but the B2B industry is publishing less. In the first quarter of 2020, the deepest decline in monthly content publishing was seen in the B2B industry. It’s likely that search traffic will be slow to stabilize in Q2 as a result.
Businesses that didn’t stop publishing good content will likely see better search traffic results in Q2.
Ultimately, a stable content strategy and publishing cadence will support B2B companies in Q2 and beyond as search traffic normalizes.
Consumers and businesses alike search online for news and up-to-date information.
Overall, the media sector (ie, all news and media outlets across industries) has seen a +30% increase in website traffic as consumers and businesses alike search for up-to-date information.
We’ve seen a similar traffic surge for cliniciansbrief.com. A snapshot of the last week of April revealed pageviews were up 8.29% YOY.
In March, the number of visitors to cliniciansbrief.com was up 14.84% YOY. This growth is largely a result of the COVID-19 Resource Center and our increased online CE offerings. Especially in March and April, veterinarians were looking for guidance on the current crisis as well as remote CE opportunities to replace their normal live learning.
Cost Per Click & Digital Marketing Opportunities
Return on advertising spending (ROAS) is significantly higher than usual, according to a report from Influencer Marketing Hub. This increase is fueled by cost per click (CPC) prices trending flat. And, in some cases, trending down. Combine that with declining cost per 1,000 impressions (CPMs) across web CPC platforms and that looks like good news for marketers.
Let’s dig a little deeper into CPC. And of course, take a quick look at trends in click through rates (CTR) and conversion rates (CVR).
CPC drops to $0.32 on Facebook
In December 2019, the average Facebook CPC was $0.64. In March, it fell to $0.32 because of a spike in usage.
CPC trends are fueled by the availability of impressions. Therefore, when sites like Facebook experience high volumes of visitors, the supply of impressions increases. In times like these, the advertiser demand for impressions has decreased—resulting in significantly lower CPC rates.
Wordstream reports industry-specific fluctuations in CPC on Google. The average Google Search CPC is landing at $2.76 on average. Industries experiencing increased search traffic competition, and thus higher CPCs, are mostly B2B professional services, real estate, legal, and the health and medical markets.
Average CTRs and CVRs on Google Search increase by almost 6%
Since February, average overall CTRs on Google Search have increased by 5.9%. Similarly, average CVRs from Google Search have increased by 5.63%.
Companies that employ CPC as part of their marketing strategy are taking a critical look at their digital calls to action while the cost to acquire conversions is significantly lower.
Optimize your copy, refresh your design, and test!
E-Commerce Data
Despite the persistence of global supply chain concerns, e-commerce is doing well. In a climate of restricted mobility, consumers look to the internet as a short-term shopping solution.
The Common Thread Collective reports US e-commerce spending was up 36% YOY from March 12 – March 15. That’s almost double the trending growth rate for e-commerce earlier this year.
A recent pet industry growth report, focused on pet industry retailers, indicates that the pet market has experienced disproportionate success in e-commerce market share. Pet owners are largely buying online. Considering that digital natives (eg, millennials) represent the largest share of US pet owners (35%), this is relatively unsurprising. Overall, the industry has seen a 55.96% increase in e-commerce consumer sales.
Trends in Veterinary Services
The VetSuccess Veterinary Industry Impact Tracker reveals that overall service-based revenue is only down 0.16% for all of 2020 when compared YOY to 2019.
According to the calculator, March 1 – May 1 accounted for 4.69% of the service-based decline in the market.
Despite a slight decline in service-based revenue nationally, overall YOY revenue is up 0.74% when compared to the same time period in 2019.
Moving Forward
Many B2B companies in the veterinary space are evaluating their digital strategy moving forward. If you’re up for it, do a deep dive into your own data and look at global digital marketing trends to map your path forward.