Almost three-quarters of web marketing campaigns are hindered by website failures, a new report 
claims. The UK website testing firm Scivisum says 14 percent of the failures are so severe, they
prevented the campaign reaching its objective. A lack of technical knowledge and a breakdown in 
communication between IT and Marketing departments have been blamed for the high failure rate.

Astoundingly, a quarter of marketing departments said they didn't inform the IT section of an 
impending campaign, with two thirds of them unaware of how many transactions the site can handle
at once, leading to website crashes and overloads. A mere 22 percent kept the IT department 
involved in web campaigns.

The study revealed more than a third of web failures preventing users from completing 
transactions. Surprisingly, 51 percent of marketing personnel weren't interested in finding 
out why users were abandoning transactions. Of the 49 percent who did make the effort to 
investigate, almost half came up against a brick wall, with IT departments claiming it was too 
complicated or that the investigation failed to yield conclusive results.

"Online campaigns provide a cost-effective mechanism to attract and retain customers and are 
now fundamental to the marketing mix," said Deri Jones, CEO of Scivisum. He warned that 
marketeers needed to bridge the gap with their IT departments, or risk destroying customer 
confidence in e-commerce and damaging their own reputations.

Interactive TV advertising grows

Interactive TV advertising is becoming increasingly important for branding campaigns, a study 
into the new medium has revealed.

The research was carried out by IDS, the interactive digital sales division of Flextech 
Television. The company represents a number of TV channels that are currently available on 
digital services in Ireland, including Living TV, Bravo, Challenge and the UKTV channels. Three 
quarters of respondents said they would use the medium again, compared to 61 per cent in 2004.

Dedicated advertiser locations (DALs) have emerged as the format that most advertisers and 
agencies were satisfied with; 29 percent said DALs achieved the best results.

The survey also highlighted creativity as a growing concern this year, with a common demand for 
creative agencies to get involved.

However, there are some barriers to the medium. Costs were cited as one factor that could limit 
access to the medium, with the general feeling being that more competition to Sky is needed. 
Respondents also requested cheaper testing opportunities for new interactive campaigns.

Online ads set to double

Internet advertising is set to soar, with search engine advertising replacing the traditional 
display ad as the format of choice. That's according to a new report from Jupiter Research, 
sales in the digital medium are predicted to almost double over the next five years. By 2010, 
it will be worth USD18.9 billion, compared to 2004's USD9.3 billion.

The one to watch over the coming years is web search marketing, says the report, which is 
expected to rise by 12 percent over the next five years. Banner advertising is lagging behind 
somewhat, with a predicted growth of 7 percent. Classified advertising will also be a star 
performer, with 10 percent growth boosting it to USD4.1 billion by 2010.

Source: http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9630370.html1