News roundup

‘Digital pill’ gets FDA approval

Proteus Digital Health scored a big victory this week when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the company’s “ingestible sensor” invention. The 1 square millimeter device – roughly the size of a grain of sand – can relay information about your insides to you, and if you choose, to your doctor or nurse.

CNN

Facebook tablet ads get more views, less recall

An online tracking study from July found that while US participants were more likely to view and dwell on ads on tablets than on the desktop web, ad recall was lower. Given Facebook (and most observers) are convinced mobile needs to be a key part of the company’s future growth, these findings indicate new mobile ad formats are essential for Facebook’s ongoing success.

Also from eMarketer:

eMarketer

Mango Health aims to gamify adherence with mobile apps

Mango Health, founded by former executives of mobile gaming company Ngmoco, raised $1.45 million in venture capital funding to bring a range of consumer-focused mobile health apps to market. The first app, entering beta testing this month, focuses on adherence, and uses gamification mechanics to encourage users to monitor information related to medication use.

GigaOm

7 tips to maximize push notifications

Marketing Profs has developed a helpful list of 7 key guidelines to ensure you’re using push notifications in your mobile app, as effectively as possible:

Let users customize timing for notifications
Make sure all messaging is relevant to the individual
Let users have control over which notifications they receive, and why
Be consistent with your brand tone
Deliver an entertaining and engaging experience
Constantly test response to notifications
Adapt to user activity, such as app usage or location

Marketing Profs

75% of physicians say EHR results in better care

A CDC survey of Electronic Health Record adoption had some enlightening findings, both in terms of uptake, and results:

EHR adoption reached 55% of physician offices in 2011
75% of physicians surveyed who use EHR say it results in better care
86% of practices with 11 or more physicians use EHR, with only 29% of solo practices adopting the technology
64% of physicians under 50 use and EHR system
77% of EHR users meet ‘meaningful use’ criteria that determine federal bonuses for adoption

AMA News

Datalogix and TiVo target online ads based on TV habits

Bridging the gap between digital and traditional, analytics company Datalogix is teaming up with TiVo to allow online targeting based on television viewing habits. While the targeting isn’t exact, the system compares 50 million cookies collected by Datalogix with TV viewing data from 4 million homes to determine consumer behavior.

By combining these data sets, integrated campaigns can more accurately hit the right target – essentially taking retargeting to a cross-platform extreme.

Ad Age

Longer subject lines get more clicks in B2C

Counter-intuitive it may be, but a July 2012 survey of 932 million emails sent over six months indicates that B2C email marketing messages with subject lines of 60 to 150 characters outperform those with shorter subject lines. Some further stats:

140 character subject lines received 82.7% above the average click rate
The peak click-to-open rate (94.7% above average) was reached with a 150 character subject line
Peak email opens, at 24.6% above average, occured with a 20 character subject line

Marketing Charts