If they’re on their mobile devices, here’s what motivates them to read on:

• Special offers
• Promos + vouchers
• Real-time delivery tracking
• New product launch or information
• Newsletters

Forty-three percent of emails and rising are read via mobile devices.

Despite this, 75 percent of companies do not create mobile friendly emails and continue to lose out on the ROI, according to Email Monks.

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Approximately 2,000 press releases are distributed daily. So how can you prevent yours from getting lost in the mix?

This infographic offers some suggestions, including the following:

• Limit your headline to 65 to 85 characters
• Use the keywords your target audience uses
• Move up the most important information – the main message and keywords
• Link to one or two priority websites, such as the company, product, or campaign site
• Be clear and concise, as always

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According to new research, 72 percent of marketers think that online personalization is important, but are unsure how to implement it.

Online personalization is when companies gather information about their customers – both new and returning – to tailor content, information and offers.

Sixty-six percent of marketers say their motivations for personalizing are improved business performance and customer experience.

Businesses that are personalizing web experiences are seeing an increase in sales of 19 percent.

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This Mother’s Day, consumers are expected to spend approximately $152.52 on gifts for mom – up 8 percent from last year. As we head to Mother’s Day weekend, we surveyed MMC’ers who are quite the shopping enthusiasts to see where they’re getting their gifts. A majority named online retail sites. The list included:

• Gilt
• One Kings Lane for curated sales
• Groupon
• Poppin.com for office supplies
• Gifts.com because of its Personality Profiler to help find the right gift
• Overstock.com
• RedEnvelope.com for personalized items  
• Seat Geek to get her tickets to a country concert or sports game
• A local gardening shop to order gift certificates or plants online
• Flowers online
• Target
• Nordstrom
• Chico’s
• Ann Taylor
• Saks
• Amazon
• Coach
• Teuscher for truffles
• Crabtree & Evelyn for bath products
• Barnes and Noble for gift cards for books for her tablet
• Wherever she tells me, or according to what she tells me she wants…she’s a very particular woman!!

Happy Mother’s Day to all!

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According to this infographic, consumers are making purchase decisions based on the following:

1. Recommendations (90%)
2. User reviews (70%)
3. Price-checking via Facebook (60%)
4. Price-checking via mobile devices (44%)
5. Word of mouth (37%)

Of note, more than half of consumers would delay purchase or buy somewhere else based on number three and four – price point.

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• Nothing but NETFLIX – Whether it’s adding to your queue or watching instantly, Netflix has figured out the formula for success. With more than 2 million new users since the beginning of 2013, Netflix has risen to the top, while bringing the trend of “binge viewing” into the homes of the American public. The online video provider has branched out by creating original content with the launch of its first series “House of Cards.” Netflix also signed a coveted deal with the producers at “Arrested Development” to bring 15 original episodes of the cult comedy back to the small screen to pave the way for a potential movie. Netflix is hot right now, and its lack of commercial content is what makes it stand out from the other big guns of binge viewing. This is a tough nut for brands to crack, but a growing platform with real PR legs if leveraged strategically.   
• Courting Martha Stewart? – America’s favorite homemaker sat down with Matt Lauer last week where she confessed to wanting to try online dating, specifically Match.com. This was obviously music to the ears of the folks at Match.com, who coordinated a follow-up special on TODAY featuring Martha and Matt hunting for her online love. Even if she doesn’t find her soul mate, Match.com certainly took advantage of a golden opportunity.
• Get Your Own Gala Gown – With the Met Gala taking place tonight, celebrities have enlisted the help of their glam teams and famous fashion friends to get prepped. Aside from the Oscars, the Met Gala is arguably the biggest fashion night of the year, and a time to make a real statement. Upscale E-commerce giant and event co-sponsor Moda Operandi has partnered with several of the designers to offer the gowns as soon as they hit the carpet in a live streaming flash sale. Get your credit cards ready gals, these gowns will cost you a pretty penny.
• Seacrest and Paltrow Team Up – PEOPLE’s Most Beautiful and E!’s most profitable have signed on to create a 10 episode web based series on AOL’s On Network. The series entitled “Second Chances” will feature Gwyn and her fitness guru pal Tracy Anderson as they share stories of women who have faced and overcome a variety of obstacles in their lives. The series will roll out over the next couple of months, as Ryan Seacrest Productions continues to focus on digital content.
• Mr. President Goes to Hollywood – President Obama took a break from his day to day duties to join Hollywood’s elite for the 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner. Conan O’Brien took over as host, while delivering some memorable zingers. Not to be outdone, Mr. President had no shortage of one-liners himself; even getting a few laughs while sporting his wife’s buzzed about bangs. Often deemed the “nerd prom,” the annual White House Correspondents Dinner is a collision of two different worlds, but always makes for some good laughs.

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To honor the Boston Marathon events, which occurred just two weeks ago, MMCers brainstormed their Bean Town favorites. Here’s what made the list:

• Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg – they’ve all made it big in Hollywood, but they haven’t forgotten their roots
• Lobster
• Dunkin Donuts
• Boston University College of Communication
• Tufts
• The Celtics
• The accent…pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd!
• The Burren (a bar in Somerville)
• Soundbites (an amazing brunch spot)
• The Citgo sign, a famous Boston landmark
• The first marathon a MMCer ran in Boston in 2003 – that year, Adidas did an inspirational campaign called the “7 stages of marathon”
• Sunset Grill because it has the best nachos, ever :-)
• New Kids on the Block
• Mike’s Pastry (bakery)

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Yesterday, we posted about moms who are researching online before purchasing. They’re not alone. Travelers are also looking online and specifically for others’ opinions before booking trips.

Research shows that 95% of travelers trust reviews, and 78% say they reinforce their booking decisions. They also appreciate when hotel management responds to reviews. It improves their impression of the hotel. Moreover, 80% say reviews for hotels where they stayed are accurate.

On the flip side, half of travelers will not book a hotel with no reviews.

So what do travelers look for on sites with online reviews? Number of reviews, images followed by quality.

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Women, particularly mothers – who represent a $2.4 trillion market – are making about 83-87 percent of purchase decisions in American households.

In March 2013, Mom Central Consulting surveyed 900+ moms to understand the power of peer influence on these purchasing decisions. The results showed the following about moms:

• 99% research products online before purchasing; of which, 87% specifically look for first-person recommendations. Marketers need to engage with consumers to get feedback and address it to maximize positive brand sentiments.   
• 81% read 5+ blogs per week, which confirms the importance of encouraging online influencers to blog about your brand.
• 76% trust social media recommendations for products before purchasing them, and 69% are more likely to purchase if a product is recommended by those they follow on social networking sites.

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According to new data, people are using social media for health-related purposes. In fact, almost half of adult consumers said they did in 2012 and 2011. Are you one of them?

It’s no surprise that that almost half of U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who were surveyed by KPMG said they planned to increase their use of social media with patients.

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