New Report on Search Engine Marketing from [x+1] Finds Companies Committed to SEM Despite Down Economy and High-Level of Dissatisfaction with the Results

Posted Thursday, June 18th, 2009 by michael in Media coverage | Press

Use of dynamic landing pages, integrated outbound/inbound system among report’s recommendations.

New York, NY, June 18, 2009 – A new report on search engine marketing from [x+1], http://www.xplusone.com, the leader in predictive marketing, found that while organizations are investing in SEM despite the down economy, they have been unhappy to date with the performance.

The [x+1] report, “Search Engine Marketing in 2009: Reality Not Matching Expectations When it Comes to Performance,” was based on a March online survey of senior-level SEM professionals from a cross-section of industry sectors. To read the SEM report, please click here.

Among the report’s key findings:

• Nearly two-thirds of respondents — 65.4% — said they would spend the same or more on SEM in 2009 than in 2008, with 13.1% looking to increase spending by more than 20%.
• Almost half 48.6% said the economy had no impact on their SEM budget.
• Most respondents (59.8%) said they are using SEM to drive leads more effectively, another 16.8% said they were using it to reduce the overall marketing budget.
• More than half (57%) gave SEM performance in their organization a low ranking (1 or 2 on a scale of 1 to 7). Only 20% gave it a high rating (6 or 7).
• 15.9% said they had not noticed a big difference in conversion rates through use of SEM; only 10.3% said they consistently saw lift rates above 20%.
• Less than one-quarter (21%) were satisfied or very satisfied with their company’s ability to optimize sites for 30-100 keywords and redirect searchers to dynamically created landing pages; 42% were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
• Only 23% were satisfied or very satisfied with their ability to continuously improve the performance of their landing pages in response to keyword searches.

“While search engine marketing is without question a key business strategy for driving the online channel in 2009, our report shows a high level of dissatisfaction among SEM pros in key performance categories,” said Ted Shergalis, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of [x+1]. “To address this performance gap, our report outlines a number of key steps organizations can take to enhance their SEM operations and realize the ROI promise of a truly optimized approach to search.”

Profile of Survey Participants
Just over half of respondents said they have decision-making authority on spending and allocation of search; 35.6% said they were at the director or VP level or above in marketing or advertising. Two-thirds of them came from companies with sales of $100 million or less; 16% reported $1 billion or more in sales.

To read the SEM report from [x+1], click here.

About [x+1]
[x+1], the leader in predictive marketing, maximizes the return on marketing investment (ROI) of websites and digital media using its patented targeting technology. Providing the first end-to-end digital solution for advertisers and agencies, it optimizes engagement rates and lift conversion in both media and on websites. Its predictive marketing solutions enable automated, real-time decision making and personalization so the right advertisement and content is delivered to the right person at the right time. Top companies in financial services, telecommunications, online services and travel have significantly increased the performance of their digital marketing using the services of [x+1]. The company is headquartered in New York City. For more information, please visit www.xplusone.com.