Adobe: APAC consumer sentiment still positive in mid-2020

Despite COVID-19-induced lockdown restrictions now being lifted in many parts of the world, the extended time spent confined to the home has had a significant impact on consumers’ shopping habits and their interactions with brands, according to research* released by Adobe released on the sidelines of Adobe Experience Makers Live, a virtual event to help brands adapt to the digital world.

According to the research, COVID-19 has impacted consumers’ everyday lives and habits. Nearly seven in 10 consumers (67%) expressed concern about the overall impact of the pandemic. Chief amongst these concerns are personal health (73%), job vulnerability (40%) and the economy (36%). Millennials (72%) typically expressed greater concern compared to Gen Z (58%), Boomers (62%), and Traditionalists (48%).

Simon Dale, MD, Southeast Asia, Adobe commented, “The outbreak of COVID-19 has accelerated a broad shift in APAC consumer behaviours and attitudes that have been in the making for some time. It is clear from the results of the study that brands that are nimble in pivoting to this digital ‘new norm’ will be able to create deep and enduring brand resonance while helping their customers feel truly supported. Marketers will need to pay close attention to their customers and ensure that they adapt their CX strategy to address different groups with relevant messages, more so now than ever.”

While almost all consumers surveyed (95%) are willing to wait out the continued restrictions, only 61% agree with the continued lockdown measures, signalling an eagerness to resume life per normal. Chinese consumers cited the least disagreement with the continued restrictions. Overall, APAC consumers were more willing to wait out restrictions, in contrast to consumer sentiment in Japan and the US.

The survey found a growing social consciousness reflected in the importance consumers placed on staff treatment (77%). Despite this, brands have some way to go - only slightly over half (54%) of consumers agree that brands are doing enough to ensure staff wellbeing. Among the younger generation, attitudes are polarised on this issue - Gen Z typically ascribed less importance while Millennials ascribed more importance to treatment of staff.

Nearly three in four consumers (73%) found it important for brands to mirror the state of the world in their marketing collaterals in response to COVID-19. China (80%) and India (83%) consumers were more likely to agree with this sentiment. Furthermore, there is a general sense that brands have a duty to proactively offer help or provide special offers to customers at this time. This sense of duty among marketers is strongest in China (94%) and India (94%), and weakest in Australia (82%). In the US, close to four fifths (78%) of marketers surveyed say brands have this duty.

Source: Adobe APAC Consumer Survey (June 2020). Results of responses (n = 4,001) to the question "How, if at all, have you changed your shopping for the following?". Shopping frequency and habits have changed. Groceries, media, books, and health products saw an increase or no change in purchase frequency; in contrast, clothes, home improvements, and dining/delivery faced the steepest decline.

Male consumers were more likely to purchase dining/delivery and media, while female consumers shopped less in all categories except groceries and clothes. Media is defined as movies, games and music.

Younger generations and Indian consumers, specifically, cited increased purchasing across all categories, with the exception of dining/delivery for the latter.

Despite COVID-19, seven in 10 consumers reported a preference for purchasing groceries, health/beauty items and home-improvement solutions in person, while around half also opted for home delivery (47%) - usually for food and books - and 17% relied on curbside pickup. In curbside pickups, the shopper does not enter the store, but takes delivery nearby, outside the store.
Across all product categories, younger generations and urban residents preferred home delivery while the older generation preferred in-person shopping, with the exception of media for the latter. Amongst all countries surveyed, Australian consumers were more likely to favour in-person shopping across all product categories. 

Marketers have done a good job at keeping brand sentiment relatively positive during this time. Over half (55%) of consumers found utility in brand-related COVID-19 updates they were sent, with 69% requesting said updates in the future.

Frequency of messaging and ensuring that specific groups of consumers receive messages they need, when they need them was a crucial part of this. Two-thirds of consumers agree that brands are communicating just the right amount, while interestingly, nearly one in five (16%) believe that brands are not communicating enough. Younger consumers were more likely to unsubscribe from emailers, highlighting the importance of taking a personalised approach to keep different groups engaged.

To respond to these nuances in customer preference, the majority of organisations are transforming their long-term strategy in case this period lasts for more than a year (79%), and are also changing their approach to future marketing efforts (82%). In fact, marketers in APAC organisations indicated a greater inclination to make long-term changes compared to their counterparts in the US. Changes include shifting to different marketing channels (75%), changing prioritised audiences (58%) and reallocating resources across different regions (47%).

The intrinsic value of brands directly addressing COVID-19 in external communications is apparent with over seven in 10 (71%) of marketers report having a COVID-19 task force to manage messaging and campaigns. Those in Australia (55%) and Singapore (67%) are less likely to have a task force, whereas those in China (81%) and India (80%) are more likely to have one.

During the lockdown, 58% of consumers increased their online shopping frequency while three quarters (74%) cited an intention to change their future shopping habits. Indian and Singaporean consumers reported the strongest intentions. Unsurprisingly, younger generations were more likely to cite an intention to change future shopping habits while older generations preferred to maintain the status quo.

Chinese and Indian consumers were most likely to report an increase in online shopping, with Indian and Singaporean consumers reporting the strongest intention to change their future shopping habits.

In contrast, under half of marketers in Japan and the US report having specific teams for this. The positive outcome of aligning closely with a COVID-19 task force is that the vast majority of marketers in APAC feel that organisational marketing and communications have been authentic (94%) and have resonated with customers (92%).

Explore:

Download the reports on the Adobe website – Consumer Report | Marketer Report (PDFs).

*Conducted by research firm Advanis for Adobe, the study surveyed 4,001 consumers in selected Asia Pacific countries – Australia, China, India and Singapore and 1,200 marketers across China, India, Singapore and Australia between 1 – 17 June 2020.

APAC stands for Asia Pacific, and CX for customer experience. 

Age bands are defined as: 18 to 29 years old: Gen Z (23%); 30 to 49 years old Millennials (36%); 50 to 64 years old: Boomers (26%); and 65 years+: Traditionalists (15% ).

Adobe's top four visual trends for 2020

Adobe has identified visual trends for 2020. In a blog post the company shared the top four visual trends that brands should take note of:

All ages welcome 

Mature audiences are not only active but relevant social figures and inspirations – giving rise to the expansion of focus from youth-centric (18-35 years) to wider audiences. Industries have begun to realise the importance of representing mature crowds as relevant figures, full of unique, vibrant, high-energy people, the company said.

Express yourself 

Consumers are eager to see themselves represented authentically – their raw, honest life experiences online and in public — and demanding the same from brands, politicians, and other public figures.

Makeup is not a mask 

Contemporary grooming focuses on celebrating a person’s unique looks and style – one way people are celebrating the genuine is through expressive reimaginings of what “beauty” can be. The use of makeup as a tool for self-exploration and creative experimentation is one facet of this, Adobe said.

From 'me' to 'we'

Consumers of all ages are exercising their growing influence. As such, brands are increasingly finding that images presenting a strong sense of community and meaningful lifestyle choices resonate best.

In 2020, Adobe will also be releasing its inaugural Design Trends and Motion Trends. These will include:

Handmade humanism

Artists are craving a natural touch and creating an emotionally-approachable style that is notable "through its simplicity and handcrafted tone", Adobe stated, predicting that the digital world would see an increase in DIY-influenced elements for the personal touch.

Semi-surreal

Artists will be using new tools and techniques to create the impossible and alter viewers' vision, inspiring creativity with fantastical imagery.

Environmental documentary

The discussion of climate, based on science and real policy ideas, will be a prominent part of many industries’ narratives in 2020. More brands and programmes will be using a documentary film style to portray the challenges and possible future the world faces due to climate change.

Adobe and Microsoft software to work even better together

Adobe today announced new enhancements to Adobe Document Cloud as part of its partnership with Microsoft. The two companies aim to deliver superior digital document experiences to millions of joint customers.

Adobe Sign is now more deeply integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365, providing real-time access to customer details from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and more automated sales processes. And with new PDF integrations, all Office 365 users with a subscription to Adobe Acrobat DC for teams or enterprises will now have the ability to create, manipulate, and view high-quality, secure PDFs from the ribbon in online versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft SharePoint.

“Whether onboarding an employee, signing up a new customer, or completing a critical sales contract, great experiences start where the document does, in Adobe Document Cloud,” said Ashley Still, VP and GM, Digital Media, Adobe.

“As leaders in document and productivity software, Adobe and Microsoft are integrating best-in-class cloud services like Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Adobe Sign and now Adobe Acrobat DC to meet the needs of today’s agile and rapidly evolving workforce.”

“Microsoft and Adobe share a common vision of the workplace of the future—one that is centred on teamwork and collaboration,” said Ron Markezich, Corporate VP, Microsoft Office 365 at Microsoft.

“Building on the initial success of our partnership focused on Adobe Sign, we’re thrilled that Microsoft Office 365 customers now have access to the expansive PDF services from Adobe, right within the tools they use every day.”

Last September Adobe Sign became Microsoft’s preferred e-signature solution for Office 365. It is now integrated across Microsoft’s portfolio, including Microsoft Dynamics 365. Industry response to the partnership has been strong, and Adobe Sign now enables over half of Fortune 100 companies with fast and secure signatures, contributing to the more than 8 billion electronic signature transactions that were processed through Document Cloud in the past year alone. In the coming weeks, Adobe Sign will be live on Azure in the US, with expansion to additional regions expected soon.

Adobe Sign integration with Dynamics 365

Adobe Sign and Microsoft Dynamics are already used by hundreds of joint customers. Now they can leverage a new user interface for quick navigation, and real-time access to customer details from LinkedInSales Navigator to reduce contracting errors and automated sales processes by embedding Adobe Sign into multistep Dynamics 365 workflows.

The 135 million monthly commercial active users of Office 365 have access to e-signatures with Adobe Sign, and PDF services from Adobe. With new PDF services integrations for Office 365, customers can:

·        Access Adobe PDF services directly from the ribbon in online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint to convert documents into high-quality Adobe PDF files that preserve fonts, formatting and layouts. Documents can be password protected.

·        Access Adobe PDF services within SharePoint and OneDrive to create and view high-quality Adobe PDFs that preserve fonts, formatting and layouts and can be password protected.

·       Combine multiple file types into a single PDF for archiving or distribution, and convert PDFs into editable Word, Excel, PowerPoint or RTF files from a mobile device or online.

Microsoft and Adobe introduce free trial of Adobe CC with Surface purchases

Microsoft has announced a new partnership with Adobe to further spark creativity.

Customers who purchase an eligible Surface device will be entitled to an expanded three-month free trial of the new Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) Photography Plan with 1TB of cloud storage, worth US$59, the companies revealed in a blog post.

"There is something magical about the combination of Surface Dial and Surface Pen. When you fold these capabilities in with the Adobe Creative Cloud and the collective power of Surface hardware, artists can create in more intuitive and versatile ways to bring their ideas to life," said Jason Gregory, Microsoft's Surface Product Marketing Director, in the blog post.

Announced at Adobe’s annual MAX conference, the new Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan includes the all-new Lightroom CC and up to 10TB of cloud storage.

Microsoft and Adobe also unveiled new integrations between Surface Dial and Adobe Photoshop. The new Photoshop CC will enable Surface Dial users to easily control some common tasks such as brush manipulation.

Details:

The promotional offer will be available from 18 October 2017 to 18 January 2018*.

Participating Surface markets in Asia Pacific and the Middle East include Australia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, KSA, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and the UAE. The offer excludes China and India.

Offer excludes Windows 10 S devices (i.e. Surface Laptop) since Adobe CC requires Windows 10 Professional.

Source: Microsoft blog. The Surface and the Surface Dial (left) in use together with Adobe CC.

Adobe enhances the PDF

Adobe has unveiled innovations in Adobe Document Cloud that deliver intuitive mobile-first experiences. Document Cloud lets users work across integrated cloud services, mobile and desktop apps. Leading the new lineup are new capabilities in Adobe Sign designed to offer ease of use and mobility, and Adobe Scan, a new free app that turns a mobile device into an intelligent scanning and text-recognition tool.

“Documents are the lifeblood of society, communicating information that spans contracts, textbooks, financial statements and everything in between,” said Abhay Parasnis, CTO, Adobe. “The challenge is unlocking the intelligence that lives in those documents, and extracting meaning that can be searched, analysed and incorporated into digital workflows. Adobe Scan, powered by Adobe Sensei’s intelligent services, represents a critical step toward our broader innovation imperative for Adobe Document Cloud.”

Available on iOS and Android, Adobe Scan turns phones and tablets into scanning tools that automatically recognise text. They can also capture images in a snap and transform them into clear Adobe PDFs. With Adobe Scan you can:

- Scan anything into high-quality PDFs with your mobile device. Powered by Adobe Sensei’s intelligent services, Adobe Scan automates boundary detection, auto-crop and capture, perspective correction and auto-clean, removing shadows and making text crisp and clear.

- Automatically capture a shopping receipt, paper document, business card or whiteboard, or choose an image from your camera roll and have Adobe Scan do the rest.

- Digitise scanned text with free automatic text recognition (OCR). The text can be selected, copied or annotated with Acrobat Reader DC or Acrobat DC, making it searchable and reusable in a secure and reliable Adobe PDF.

- The free Adobe Scan app and a free Adobe Document Cloud account allows users to automatically upload, store, share and access scanned files online.

- Take advantage of new mobile functionality in Adobe Sign to automatically sign and send documents from any device.

“Adobe Scan represents a radical reimagination of how to capture your most important document content,” said Bryan Lamkin, Executive VP and GM, Digital Media at Adobe. “Adobe invented PDF creation for PCs, and with Adobe Scan we’re doing the same for a mobile-first world. As part of Adobe Document Cloud, new apps like Adobe Scan integrate with services in Adobe Sign and Acrobat DC, offering a modern document experience with unprecedented value to our customers.”

Adobe Sign makes it easy to automate tasks in a document workflow, from e-signatures and approvals to filling out forms and certified document delivery. A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Adobe found that companies experienced benefits of US$2 million over three years, with an ROI of 383% when using Adobe Sign, including a significantly reduced environmental impact.

Adobe firsts for the new version of Adobe Sign include:

· Cloud-based digital signatures – Previously offered as a customer preview, Adobe Sign now delivers the world’s first cloud-based digital signatures based on an open standard. Digital signatures are now available in any browser and on any mobile device.

· Cross-device signature capture – Easily capture a handwritten signature electronically, even when a computer is not touch-enabled. Send a text message to a touch enabled mobile device and sign with a finger or a stylus, then finish the job back on the desktop. One tap adds it to a document.

· Customisable email templates – Extend your brand and personalise customer interactions with fully-customisable email templates for requesting and confirming signatures. Give the marketing department full control to use the corporate logo, banner images, custom messages and other visual treatments to create a unique brand experience.

· Business stamps – Improve compliance by letting participants add a visible business stamp to a document or form, such as a 'received' image or a company seal, or a personal identifier such as a Hanko stamp in Japan.

· Integration with ServiceNow - Accelerate onboarding and improve customer service by adding Adobe Sign to ServiceNow workflows. Send contracts, agreements, and new hire forms directly from ServiceNow.

Interested?

Read Forrester's The Total Economic Impact of Adobe Sign

posted from Bloggeroid

Marketers need to align with smartphone use in APAC

- Smartphone traffic in India has increased by 290% since 2014. The Mobile Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) Report forecasts a 46% smartphone share by 2018, up from 18% in 2014.

- Share of smartphone Internet traffic in China is forecast to reach 37% by 2018, up from 18% in 2014.

- Although Malaysia and New Zealand have historically lagged their Asia Pacific (APAC) counterparts, both countries are poised to break 40% smartphone penetration by 2018.

Source: ADI. China will lead the smartphone charge in the APAC region.

The unstoppable momentum of smartphones is almost singlehandedly driving the phenomenal growth in the number of new Internet users globally, the latest Mobile Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) Report has found, with the APAC region responsible for the lion’s share of that growth.

The report, based on the global analysis of 1.7 trillion visits to more than 16,000 websites between January 2014 and January 2017, found that smartphones were the source of 500 million new Internet users globally. India and China combined accounted for 366.3 million new consumers – 268.9 million and 97.4 million respectively, while Indonesia accounted for 15.7 million new Internet visitors.

Nearly all the growth in traffic to the Internet can be attributed to smartphones, according to senior ADI analyst Trevor Jones. He flags China, India, Malaysia and New Zealand as the countries to watch for big growth in smartphone penetration. “These countries are not showing any signs of slowing down over the course of 2017,” he says.

Smartphone traffic in India has increased by 290% since 2014. Desktop traffic is down 6% while tablet traffic is steady at 3% growth. “Desktop and tablet traffic is stagnant or shrinking in the vast majority of APAC countries,” he says. For India, ADI forecasts 46% smartphone share by 2018, up from 18% in 2014.

While mobile growth in China has been relatively slow, Jones observes that “each percentage point brings millions more smartphone users to the Internet”. The ADI Report forecasts share of smartphone Internet traffic in China to reach 37% by 2018, up from 18% in 2014.


Malaysia and New Zealand have historically lagged their APAC counterparts, but both countries are poised to break 40% smartphone penetration by 2018.

“The biggest opportunities lie in India and China, both of which are experiencing huge growth, yet large amounts of their population remain untouched,” he says.

“Every percentage change in share of traffic or traffic growth has a much bigger impact in these countries. India and China still have millions of people that have yet to access the Internet, therefore they are the markets where growth will be the easiest to attain.”

As Asia moves away from tablets in favour of cheaper and more convenient smartphones, Jones believes their increased adoption presents challenges for marketers. “Smartphones are allowing millions of people to access the Internet that otherwise might never have had the opportunity. Developing countries have latched on to smartphones and have caught up and outpaced many affluent countries around the world,” Jones says.

“APAC marketers need to understand that many consumers might never even use a desktop or a tablet and that the smartphone experience needs to be smooth enough to keep people satisfied and engaged.”

When it comes to app installation growth, India leads the pack with a 49% increase since 2014, in contrast to most countries that have experienced a decrease in the use of apps.

“The huge adoption rates of smartphones in developing countries are helping keep app usage steady for now, but countries like the US and UK have seen app installation declines of -9% and -38% respectively since 2014,” Jones says. “These trends are likely a precursor of what will occur in other countries.”

Interested?

View Mobile Adobe Digital Insights (ADI) Report results (Slideshare)

Hashtags: #MWC17, #MWC2017

Digital signatures made easier with Adobe Sign

Building on the work of the Cloud Signature Consortium, announced last June, Adobe has unveiled the first cloud-based digital signature solutions built on an open standard, Adobe Document Cloud and Adobe Sign. A newly-released open standard specification built in collaboration with the Cloud Signature Consortium allow the new technology to enable digital signatures in any browser or on any mobile device.

Adobe Sign lets users work with over 200 providers from the European Union Trust List (EUTL) and Adobe Approved Trust List (AATL). Cloud Signature-compliant digital ID solutions will be available from the following providers over the coming months: Asseco Data Systems, Certinomis (a subsidiary of La Poste Group), D-Trust (a subsidiary of Bundesdruckerei), InfoCert, Intarsys, Intesi Group and Universign.

“Open standards propel entire industries forward, allowing interoperability between otherwise fragmented solutions, and paving the way for widespread adoption,” said Bryan Lamkin, executive VP and GM, Digital Media, Adobe. “Adobe pioneered digital signatures. And as the creator and champion of standards like PDF, we are proud to have once again rallied the industry to develop a new, open standard for digital signatures in the cloud, ensuring a great customer experience.”

Signing and returning printed documents is time-consuming. The Adobe Sign mobile app lets users scan printed pages quickly and then send the scans for signatures from a smartphone or tablet. Viewing documents on a small mobile screen is now easier too. The Adobe Sign mobile app on iOS lets users change the text size and reflow with five different zoom levels.

In addition, Adobe also unveiled new functionality in Adobe Sign that enables users to create end-to-end business workflows that go beyond signing and approvals. Complex workflows like new bank account enrollment, loan applications or managing HR benefits, can now be managed processes digitally. For example, Adobe Sign can facilitate workflow such as using the smartphone to ‘scan’, then routing documents for collaboration or certified electronic delivery, subsequently connecting into software like Microsoft SharePoint. The solution is integrated with SharePoint. By adding Adobe Sign to SharePoint Workflows, users can easily request signatures from others, track their progress and archive documents securely – without ever leaving SharePoint.

With advanced document routing, users can even ask recipients to fill out forms that do not need a signature, like a patient intake form at the doctor. A proof of receipt and delivery feature shows if the recipient both viewed and acknowledged a document such as a legal notification or change of terms (available within 30 days).

“With so many of today’s critical business processes moving to cloud based solutions, it’s imperative that people trust the information they are interacting with,” said Alan Lepofsky, VP and principal analyst at Constellation Research. “Digital signatures play a vital role in that trust, but for them to be successful they must be a frictionless part of the process. Building signatures on an open standard that works across browsers and mobile devices creates the seamless experience that people expect.”

Interested?

The Adobe Sign preview release will be available to customers in the coming weeks.  Adobe customers can contact their customer support manager to join the product preview

The backbreaking work that goes into enhancing customer experience

A recent Adobe and Econsultancy survey of 14,000 marketers which included respondents from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region has found that marketers regard customer experience as the primary way for their organisations to differentiate themselves from competitors in 2017.

While businesses investing in the right technology is crucial, businesses are also recognising the importance of a customer-oriented, agile and collaborative company culture, Adobe said. Over one-fifth (22%) of client-side respondents ranked ‘optimising the customer experience’ as the single most exciting opportunity for the year ahead, slightly ahead of other areas such as ‘creating compelling content for digital experiences’ (16%) and ‘data-driven marketing’ (12%).

With the strong adoption and stickiness of mobile apps in APAC, marketers in the region have prioritised mobile app engagement above their peers in North America and Europe. In some APAC countries social apps are the preferred customer engagement channel – 31% of APAC marketers are more likely to view social media engagement as a top priority compared with 28% in North America and 27% of European respondents.

Adobe notes in the report that there are challenges to effective mobile app engagement:

· Without data, organisations will struggle to better understand their customers. The customer data trail – breadcrumbs left behind from interactions with every possible external touchpoint – is what allows organisations to learn and optimise the customer experience. That said, analytics is further down marketers’ lists of priorities for 2017, a conflict that needs to be addressed.

Separate research has indicated that marketers find manipulating and using outputs from customer data difficult. Even 59% of respondents who would consider their ability to understand the customer journey as 'advanced' or 'intermediate' stated that they had difficulty unifying different data sources.

· The second roadblock is culture. Driving digital transformation, which is intrinsically linked to creating a great customer experience, requires the orchestration of numerous parts. An organisation should be wholly aligned, both in terms of goals and ways of achieving those goals, across every department. 

A third (34%) of respondents believed that this would be difficult to achieve. That said, 13% of respondents actually mentioned that building a cross-team culture that keeps the customer at the heart of all initiatives was actually the easiest task of all. Companies that are smaller and nimbler and/or those born digital have the customer-centric approach embedded in their DNA, while more traditional organisations may struggle.

· The third roadblock is processes (or the lack thereof). Eight in 10 (82%) of organisations value creativity highly and about 75% are investing in design to differentiate their brand. However, about 40% also say they lack the processes to achieve a design advantage – in fact, 36% of respondents say well-designed user journeys that enable clear communication and a seamless transaction are difficult to master.

Understanding data enables a company to refine its customer segments, Adobe noted., and then to produce additional creative content in real time to engage these segments – a concept called 'content velocity'. Design-centric businesses with robust technology will outperform those that have not invested in relevant resources.

Marta DeBellis, VP of Marketing, APAC, Adobe said in a foreword in the report that the results show that the 'era of experience' is definitely here, but that there are key challenges for businesses making the change. "For example, the respondents overwhelmingly claim that customer experience is their most exciting opportunity. Many of them are investing in content and design, looking to create those experiences that will feel personal, compelling and memorable," she stated.

"At the same time, the report shows that investment in analytics is lagging. It seems that many businesses are so excited to get into the experience game that they overextend, neglecting to take care of the basics. But if you want to take design and content to deliver truly personalised experiences, you need a strong foundation of data."

Source: Adobe and Econsultancy report. Respondents were asked what would excite them the most in 2020. 

The report recommends that marketers focus on content and design data to boost the customer experience; foster customer-centric organisational culture; and consider mobile personalisation, artificial intelligence and virtual reality going forward.

Interested?

Read the Adobe blog posts discussing content velocity

Find out more about the Digital Trends Report

Adobe lists some tips for mobile-friendly email campaigns

Email is here to stay, according to Adobe’s annual email survey - at least in the US. The report, which surveyed US white collar workers, found that people constantly check their personal and work email, with smartphones overtaking computers as the device consumers use most regularly to check email. 

This trend is likely to be even stronger in Asia, where mobile device uptake is very high. A report by Experian has found that email continues to come out a top channel for marketers in Singapore, particularly as the biggest driver of online-to-offline conversion.

Adobe’s Kristin Naragon, Director of Email Solutions, has some tips for  designing mobile-friendly email campaigns:

Keep it simple
"This may seem obvious, but the simpler your email, the better your chances are of it displaying properly on mobile devices. When optimising for mobile, think about what offers, links, and images are most important to display," she advises in a blog post.

Optimise for touch
"Remember that customers will be navigating your emails using their fingers — not (mice). Make sure your links and buttons are large enough and have enough space to make them easy to tap," she recommends.

Use images
Naragon adds that screens might be small, and suggests making text "easy to read and to the point". "Remember, an image is worth a thousand words," she says.

Clear call to action.
Naragon also said that it should be obvious what the reader should do as a result of the email. Calls to action are best placed near the top of the email, she recommends. "Don’t force your reader to scroll too much to get to the point," she says.

Leverage technology for testing
Technology can be helpful for editing and testing your email content, especially when there are so many devices, apps and formats available today.

Creative positions rise in corporate pecking orders

The rise of design-led thinking and the incorporation of design approaches into business and strategic problem-solving is having a positive impact on the careers of creatives everywhere.

Adobe’s 2016 Creative Pulse survey of more than 1,700 creatives – including graphic designers, Web designers, artists, Web designers and more – discovered that respondents are creating a bigger impact within their organisations.

More than half (56%) of respondents in Asia Pacific (APAC) feel they are having more impact compared to two years ago, with 89% saying that their businesses are placing more importance on creativity and design thinking.

While this is great news, creatives cannot rest on their laurels. The opportunity to drive greater business value means creatives need to learn new tools and techniques – a statement that 93% of APAC respondents agree to. In fact, creatives now need to be “full stack” in their skillset (Editor's note: to have a comprehensive set of skills). Over the next year, Asia Pacific (APAC) creatives believe the most important skills to acquire will be user experience/user interface (UX/UI) design (27%), app development (16%) and digital storytelling (11%). Looking at just these three alone, the creatives of the future will need to combine skills from the realms of design, user experience, programming and communications.

Despite their increasing importance to business, creatives in APAC still stay up at night with uncertainties, just like the rest of the workforce. One of their main worries is the fear they will lose inspiration and motivation (47%) while increasing their creative skills. Employers need to take note of this, especially since most creatives cited that they are very reliant on desktops (74%) for work. This suggests many creatives are still deskbound, despite the link between creativity and fresh experiences that typically come from mobility and change.

At the same time, the increased speed of business is putting pressure on creatives to deliver more ideas and content faster than ever (43%), but 42% of creatives simultaneously feel that they aren’t being sufficiently trained in all the new skills they need.

Results in Southeast Asia echoed the APAC findings – out of the 220 creatives surveyed, 94% felt that businesses are beginning to place more importance on creativity and design thinking.

	APAC	Southeast Asia
How creatives view the industry
Creativity and design thinking are more important to businesses	89%	94%
Creatives are increasingly working across multiple mediums and disciplines	94%	93%
Creatives are expected to learn new tools and techniques	93%	92%
Technology is enabling creatives to be more in control of their professional destiny	85%	85%
What keeps them up at night
Losing inspiration and motivation	47%	54%
Pressure to deliver more creative ideas and content faster than ever	43%	49%
Not being trained sufficiently in new skills	42%	38%
The top three driving forces behind the changing role of creatives
New technologies that change how creatives do work	63%	67%
The impact of social media on the creative industry	41%	45%
New platforms for reaching the audience	39%	36%
How have mobile devices changed the creative process
They can capture inspiration in the moment and on the go	52%	65%
Work is now accessible to a broader audience	53%	57%
They can create content anywhere	35%	40%
Main motivators at work
Desire to learn new things	72%	81%
Seeing their ideas brought to life in the real world	59%	70%
Doing great work	53%	66%

"We’re an organisation that started out with a mission of enabling creativity, so it is really encouraging for us to see the value of the creative profession really being strongly recognised,” said VR Srivatsan, Managing Director, Adobe Southeast Asia. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen businesses recognize the value of creativity in driving business results. The success of firms like IDEO, which take a design-led approach to problem solving, has shown that creatives deserve a seat in the boardroom. In the coming years, we could expect to see creative drivers taking an even stronger lead in the business conversations.”

“We’ve seen the role of design and creative professionals change rapidly in recent years, and Adobe is at the forefront of this changing creative environment. With the proliferation of mobile devices and new technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), creatives are being challenged to create content more rapidly than ever before. Not only does this mean they need to adapt quickly to the new demands of creating for more platforms and a broader set of customers, it also means that they need to be able to create on-the-go, collaborate with team members across different devices and geographies, and measure the impact of their work on business results. It’s a challenging environment, but also one that empowers creatives of today to make a real difference to the business,” said Janie Lim, Marketing Director, Digital Media, Adobe Asia Pacific.

It seems the best days are yet to come for the creative industry in APAC. Nearly nine in 10 (87%) of respondents believe that there is a bright future for creatives, and equipped with the right tools and skillsets, along with the proliferation of technology, there has never been a better time to be a creative.

“Design used to be the icing on the cake, but today it is the bridge between business, technology and users. It has an essential role in the success of a product, and the world is starting to acknowledge that. Designers are in more demand today than ever before. At the same time, design tools are very accessible and powerful, and the Internet is full of free education. Today, there’s no excuse not to do what you want to do,” said Nina Georgieva, Design Lead, Grab.

Interested?

Download survey report at http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/au/about-adobe/newsroom/2016/Adobe-Creativity-Survey-2016.pdf (PDF)

posted from Bloggeroid

Adobe Symposium 2016 to share significant digital marketing trends

Source: Adobe. Logo for Adobe Symposium 2016.

More than 1,000 digital marketers, publishers, advertisers, content managers, marketing executives and more will gather at Adobe Symposium in Singapore on 28 July 2016 to gain insights into how innovative global brands have embraced digital trends to gain deep insights into their customers, build personalised campaigns and better manage their content and assets.

With more than 50 sessions in four tracks, visitors will see firsthand the latest Adobe Marketing Cloud innovations and hear from some of the region’s most successful marketers, brand and thought leaders from Singapore, Malaysia and around the world, including Globe Telecom, StarHub, Livefyre, Astro Radio, OCBC Bank, Mastercard, and ANZ Banking Group.

“Adobe Symposium is the premier platform for marketing experts and digital leaders to be inspired while engaging with industry peers,” said Paula Parkes, Adobe Director of digital marketing for Asia Pacific. “We see the leading brands in Asia Pacific push the boundaries of digital marketing and advertising by combining creativity, content and data to create amazing customer experiences, and we’re excited to showcase these experiences to a global audience."

An exclusive Partner Briefing will also be held on 29 July, where Adobe Digital Marketing Partners will be updated on innovating with an integrated Adobe Marketing Cloud, delivering success with Partner Program enhancement and growing their  business by aligning with Adobe’s go-to-market strategies and industry solutions.

This year’s lineup of Adobe keynotes include Brad Rencher, Adobe Digital Marketing Executive Vice President & General Manager, Paul Robson, Adobe President of Adobe Asia Pacific and Suresh Vittal, Adobe Vice President of Digital Marketing Strategy.

Interested?

Adobe Symposium 2016

Date: Thursday, 28 July 2016,  8:30am to 6:30pm
Venue: Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre, 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956

Registration is currently open. Secure a ticket or register for Partner Briefing
Watch keynotes and sessions from the 2015 event 
Connect with the Adobe Southeast Asia community on Facebook

Adobe Digital Index ranks Chinese as biggest holiday spenders for 2015

New research from the Adobe Digital Index predicts China will lead the Asia Pacific (APAC) region in online spending this holiday season, with US$150 billion in sales forecast.

China leads with the highest anticipated online spend in the region (55%), Adobe said, with nearly half of the country’s consumers surveyed (49%) predicting an increase in their online spend for the period. The average Chinese Internet user is predicted to spend a total of US$210 online during November and December, driving one-fifth of total online sales for the year.

Japan is expected to see the second highest online spend in the region with US$37 billion in online sales (a 5% growth year-on-year) predicted, followed by Australia at US$7 billion. Fourteen percent of Australians and 16% of Singaporeans anticipate they will increase their total spend this holiday season. 

Across the rest of APAC, consumer spend is expected to remain steady year-on-year. 

Adobe’s global Online Shopping Prediction is based on an analysis of 55 million product SKUs and aggregated and anonymous data of more than one trillion retail websites over the last seven years. The holiday season represents 20% of worldwide online spending – with Austria and the US at the top of the list.

Consumers in APAC are not only shopping online more, they are also becoming increasingly efficient, with 20% or more in each country surveyed saying they expect to spend less time holiday shopping this year compared to last – a saving that could give them more time to spend with their families and friends.

“Holiday shopping is a huge investment and consumers get more sophisticated every year with their online and mobile shopping in order to secure the most popular gifts at the best prices,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal research analyst, Adobe Digital Index.

Gaffney said mobile is playing a significant role in holiday shopping behaviour. “Over the next two months we expect Southeast Asia to lead the charge in mobile shopping with 21% of e-commerce purchases to be transacted via smartphones and around 10% via tablets. Japanese shoppers won’t be too far behind, with 24% of e-commerce purchases predicted to be made via smartphones and 6% via tablets.”

Consumers are also finding online shopping less stressful than heading to the stores. In Australia, almost one-in-five (19%) consumers rated offline shopping as extremely stressful, compared to only 6% who said the same about online shopping. China is the only country in the region where online and offline shopping are seen as equally stressful.

Additional findings include:

· Across APAC, lower prices and good deals are important motivators for consumers to shop online, with free shipping a particularly strong driver for shoppers in Australia and Singapore.

· While online shopping during the holiday season is increasingly attractive, when it comes to logging on, most APAC consumers find shopping via mobile phone more stressful than shopping on their desktop, laptop or tablet device.

· Product reviews are among the top two influencers for shoppers when considering a major purchase, according to 36% of consumers in Australia, 43% in China and 44% in Singapore.

· Consumers in Singapore and China are more likely to leverage social media when they shop, with 41% of Singaporean and 49% of Chinese shoppers saying they consult social media to help make holiday shopping decisions. Interestingly, Australian respondents are far less likely to use social media as a tool for shopping (23%).

Read the WorkSmart Asia blog posts about the 2015 festive season, including:

Singapore Gift Guide 2015, the pleasure edition
Singapore Gift Guide 2015, the tech edition

How Facebook sees mobile redefining the season

Hong Kong's Winter Wonderland experience
The City of Sydney's Christmas programme

Sofitel So Singapore's French fusion Christmas menu
The launch of Casa Ferrero, Ferrero Rocher's popup store
House of Sillage launches the Holiday by House of Sillage fragrance

Digital marketing works well in Southeast Asia

Source: Adobe website.

New research from Adobe confirms that marketers in Southeast Asia are increasingly focused on mobile as a highly effective form of customer interaction and engagement. The research also reveals that the mobile-first business transformation is being led by Asia Pacific.

The Adobe Digital Index Best of the Best Benchmark 2015 compares the overall average versus the top 20% websites as rated on six key performance indicators across eight regions: Southeast Asia* (SEA), Australia and New Zealand, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan and the US. Key performance indicators are smartphone and tablet traffic; stick rate**; visits-per-visitor; time spent; conversion rate; and click-through-rate. The research provides insights to determine how the best digital marketing organisations are performing relative to the average.

“The best digital marketers in Southeast Asia are delivering strong results in some key performance areas,” said Tamara Gaffney, Director, Adobe Digital Index. “Not only did we see the gaps increase for smartphone visits between the best of the best websites and the average websites, we congruently saw the “best of the best” are also moving away from the average in terms of stick rate, indicating the direct correlation between mobile capability and consumer engagement.”

Key findings in the Best of the Best Benchmark for Southeast Asia include:

· SEA saw double-digit increases year-over-year in their share of smartphone visits, with an 18% increase for best of the best websites and 11% increase for average websites

· SEA had among the highest share of traffic from tablets from all regions covered in the research, with a 40% difference between the best of the best websites and average websites

· Loyal return visitors are more prominent in SEA than the US, both from average websites and best of the best websites, which equates to higher loyalty and reduced acquisition costs

· However, some of the weakest conversion rates are from SEA, indicating understanding consumer mobile and desktop activity is lacking and possible friction in the process and experience

· Time spent on websites, which is the best metric for site engagement, and the best of the best websites were 22% higher than the average; all countries in Asia Pacific fared better than the US

· Click-through rate was weak in SEA, showing a lack of alignment between consumer intent and advertising execution

“It’s clear mobile optimisation is no longer an option, and if businesses are under-skilled in mobile development, it will put them at a severe disadvantage,” said Gaffney. “Asia Pacific (APAC) is dominating when it comes to smartphone and tablet visits. We’re seeing the best websites in APAC coming out head of the US, with more than 50% of their visitors coming from smartphones, and increasingly high success rates in areas like consumption and stickiness. The data is telling us that delivering seamless experiences across devices is the key to acquisition and engagement.”

Interested?

The Best of the Best Benchmark is part of Adobe’s strategy to give back to practitioners. To find out where your organisation falls on within the Benchmark take Adobe’s Digital Marketing Maturity Assessment.

*Southeast Asian countries evaluated for this study were Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.

**Stick rate is the percentage of visits that last more than one page.

Trend Micro announces zero day vulnerability for Adobe Flash Player on Windows

Trend Micro has shared a new vulnerability affecting Adobe Flash Player for Windows that allows hackers to take over a victim's system. There is no indication that attackers are targeting Adobe Flash Player on other platforms like Mac or Android, the company added. 

TrendLabs researchers have discovered that attackers found this vulnerability first and have been taking advantage of it for some time, a situation called "zero-day” because defenders have no days in which to provide protection against the vulnerability. 

According to Trend Micro, malware that takes advantage of this vulnerability is being spread using malicious banner ads (malvertisements) that may be displayed on legitimate networks. This particular vulnerability is also being used in the “Angler” exploit kit, which is one of the most commonly used exploit kits today and which can spread attacks widely.

Trend Micro advises businesses to:

· Keep systems and programs up-to-date
· Run a mature, full-featured security package

In zero-day situations the first step will only come into effect once Adobe releases a patch. In the absence of a bulletin from the software vendor affected, Trend Micro advises disabling the software until a fix is released.

Trend Micro's existing solutions are able to detect this threat, but the company also recommends that businesses keep themselves protected with an end-to-end advanced persistent threat (APT) solution. 

Read Trend Micro's blog post on the vulnerability here.

End-year holiday spending to surpass S$4 billion in Singapore this year

Source: Adobe. At least 10% of annual online sales in Australia, mainland China, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Thailand will come from the year-end holiday period.

This holiday season, Singapore shoppers will be reaching for their mobile devices and heading on an online shopping spree, according to the latest Adobe Digital Index Holiday Shopping Prediction*.

Tablets and smartphones are expected to play a key role in the plans of Singapore shoppers and purchases made through the devices are expected to account for 17% of all online sales between now and Christmas.

Adobe says the holiday season, comprising November and December, could account for as much as 20% of annual online sales, showing how vital the Christmas spending spree has become for retailers moving into e-commerce. The market is forecast to reach S$4.4 billion in 2015 in Singapore, four times its value in 2010.

Online sales in Singapore are predicted to peak on December 8 as shoppers hunt down the best deals and place their orders in time for delivery before Christmas. The analysis also predicted that 9% of online shopping transactions will be conducted through tablets, but smartphones are poised to take over as the preferred mobile shopping device as they have risen to account for 8% of transactions.

Stephen Hamill, Adobe Managing Director, Southeast Asia, said the rise of phones as shopping hubs is a signal to retailers that they need to create user-friendly and mobile-optimised digital shop fronts. “With 20% of annual online sales coming during the runup to Christmas as shoppers buy on their mobile devices, it is clear people now see shopping on their phones, tablets and laptops as the norm,” said Hamill.

“People now want to connect and shop from wherever they are and it is becoming easier as phones get bigger screens, better interfaces and mobile data connections continue to improve. Retailers have to keep up with consumer behaviour and they have to be able to do so across a range of devices.”

*The Adobe Digital Index publishes research on digital marketing and other topics of interest to senior marketing and e-commerce executives across industries. Research is based on the analysis of select, anonymous and aggregated data from over 5,000 major companies worldwide that use Adobe Marketing Cloud to obtain actionable data and analysis of activity on their websites. Data was collected from analysis of 4,500 websites, 20 billion visits to e-commerce websites in 2014 and more than 1 trillion visits since 2008.

Adobe’s Holiday Shopping Prediction is based on the analysis of aggregated and anonymous data of more than one trillion visits to 4,500 retail websites over the last six years and 20 billion visits in October 2014 all over the world.