INFOGRAPHICS

Mission-Critical
Marketing

2017

The State of
Infographics
INTRODUCTION

With the entirety of human history and knowledge at our very fingertips,
there is no piece of information, no data point, no argument beyond the
reach of our understanding.

Today’s consumers face a nonstop barrage of So we have a question for you: Is your business using
stimulation — advertising and sales, news and infographics as a central part of your messaging
information, social media, entertainment. It’s difficult strategy? If not — what are you waiting for?
for people to focus, and it’s difficult for businesses to
Working with our in-house data scientist/statistician
break through.
Michael DeHart, we surveyed decision-makers at 100
And despite that constant stimulation, still businesses and more than 1,000 consumers about
consumers crave information. They want to know. the state of Infographics.
They want to learn. They want to be entertained. They
want to be convinced.
S
 o now it's OUR turn to arm
At IGW, we’ve known that for a long time. We started
YOU with knowledge.
building infographics nearly a decade ago at a time
when almost nobody even knew what an infographic
was. But we knew then the power that infographics
can have to deepen the well of knowledge and to
arm consumers with the force of that knowledge.

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing i

CONTENTS
Use of Infographics in Media and Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . 1–2

Value in Spreading Understanding of Concepts . . . . . . . . . . 3–4

Familiarity With Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Devices Used to View Infographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–7

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing ii

INFOGRAPHICS ARE A VITAL
TOOL FOR MARKETING AND
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The state of communications
today is visual.

Outpacing video, blogs, articles and podcasts, visual

communication is by far the most common delivery
method of advertising and marketing messages today.

In fact, nearly three-quarters of marketers rely on

visuals in their social media messaging.(1)

56% 84%

Companies that use Companies using

infographics infographics that
believed them to
be effective

Our research found almost 60% of businesses have

used infographics, mostly for marketing and sales
74% Marketers who rely on visuals in
their social media messaging (1)
purposes. And of those who used infographics in the
past year, nearly all of them found infographics to
be effective.

Among businesses that used infographics in the

past year, most believe infographics are an essential
business tool that they will continue relying on.

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 1

 REASONS FOR USING
INFOGRAPHICS
84%
Marketing

70% Sales

59% Internal presentations/

communications

43% Internal trainings

INFOGRAPHIC USE
IN THE FUTURE

Infographics essential business tool

76%
Infographics part of sales and
marketing strategy
65%
Company will use infographics
in the next year
58%

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 2

INFOGRAPHICS HELP PEOPLE LEARN
INFORMATION OR UNDERSTAND
COMPLEX CONCEPTS
It’s no wonder that the state of communication today
is visual. That’s because the human brain is hardwired Many consumers even told
to process visual information faster and retain the us an infographic could make
information it gleans from visuals longer. And thanks them change their opinion.
to our modern lives, today’s average attention span is In these divisive times, that’s
much shorter than for previous generations. really saying a lot.

Our research found that consumers prefer

infographics over commercials, presentations,
articles and blog posts and that they find
infographics to be a far superior way to understand
and retain information.

And this shouldn’t be a surprise. Neurological research

has long held that humans are highly visual animals
who can absorb information faster when it’s paired with
corresponding visuals. We forget what we’ve read, but 90% of information transmitted
we remember what we’ve seen.(3) to the brain is visual(2)

Humans are visual animals. We:(3)

• Have shorter attention spans
thanks to smartphones

Visuals have been known to improve

• Absorb information faster with
learning and retention by 400%. corresponding graphics
• Forget what we’ve read but
remember what we’ve seen
• Tend to be triggered emotionally
by images

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 3

 EFFECTIVENESS IN
LEARNING AND RETAINING
INFORMATION

61% Infographics

55% Commercials

48% PowerPoints

46% Articles with images

38% Articles with text only

36% Blog posts

ACTIVITIES INFOGRAPHICS
HAVE INFLUENCED

Think deeply about a subject 57%

$
Consider purchasing a product or service 46%
Discuss a topic with friends or family
43%
Change an opinion 43%
Change personal lifestyle
27%

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 4

INFOGRAPHICS ARE POPULAR,
BUT THEY’RE NOT A HOUSEHOLD
NAME — YET
While many business professionals know what This lack of an entrenched view about infographics
infographics are and have used them, consumers presents a challenge and an opportunity.
are mostly unfamiliar with the term. Still, only a tiny
fraction of consumers have a negative view
of infographics. As we’ve seen, most people
who are familiar with the
Less than half of respondents overall said they
term find infographics
were familiar with infographics (48% for business
satisfying and effective.
respondents and just 34% for consumers). But despite
We just have to reach them.
their unfamiliarity, half of consumers like infographics.

58% 58%
50% 49%
44% 44%

? ?

Percentage Percentage Of those who Consumers Consumers Businesses

of consumers of consumers are aware of who are unfamiliar unfamiliar
who view who enjoy infographics, “neutral” with with
infographics viewing 58% believe about infographics infographics
favorably infographics they have seen infographics
one in the
past year.

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 5

DESKTOP STILL LEADS THE PACK,
BUT MOBILE IS CLOSE BEHIND
The death of desktop is somewhat exaggerated,
though mobile is gaining ground, both in overall web PERCENTAGE OF
usage and platforms used to view infographics. ANNUAL PAGE
Just over half the web traffic in the world (50.3%)
VIEWS FROM MOBILE
comes from mobile phones, making 2017 the first year
PHONES (2009-17) 4 50.3%

mobile has cracked the 50% mark — just barely. 4

43.6%

35.1%

But when it comes to viewing 27.1%

infographics, desktop still

leads the way (63% desktop
16.2%
vs. 53% mobile), likely driven
by messages that target 10.7%
people at work.
6.1%

2.9%
It’s also notable that users tend to stay on webpages
longer when they are viewing on desktop vs. mobile,
0.7%
meaning they might stay longer to view a well-crafted
infographic.5
9

6
3

5
2

17
11
0

1
0

0
2

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 6

 DEVICES INFOGRAPHICS ARE VIEWED ON

63% 53% 39% 28%

PC Smartphones TV Tablet

PERCENTAGE OF OVERALL
WEB BROWSING TIME BY This shows that while more
PLATFORM 5 people use their phones to
find content, they tend to
spend more time with content
when on a computer.

40%

Mobile

60%

Desktop

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 7

CONCLUSIONS
If you have a story to tell or a product to In short, infographics are a critical means to inform
promote, infographics are uniquely positioned and energize consumers. You simply cannot afford
to give consumers and decision-makers a deep not to overlook them as a central force in your
understanding of that story or service. Speaking to messaging and campaigns.
the visual part of the human brain, infographics make
data understandable and memorable in way that
virtually no other media can. Contact us today to learn
more about how we can
help tell your story through
infographics.

INFOGRAPHIC WORLD
www.infographicworld.com
[email protected]
(800) 621-6210

Additional sources
1
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/wp-content/
uploads/2016/05/SocialMediaMarketingIndustryReport2016.pdf

2
h ttp://info.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/350326/studies-
confirm-the-power-of-visuals-in-elearning

About the survey h ttps://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/08/02/

3

use-infographics-to-boost-your-credibility-and-
Surveys conducted online. 1,009 U.S. consumers traffic/#1c42b4ae247a
(15-minute survey); 100 U.S. businesses (12-minute 4
h ttps://www.statista.com/statistics/241462/global-mobile-
survey). All results reported at the 95% confidence level. phone-website-traffic-share/
This report was created by Lauren Carter, 5
h ttps://www.stonetemple.com/mobile-vs-desktop-usage-
Michael DeHart, Jennifer Gaskin and Laura Golben. mobile-grows-but-desktop-still-a-big-player/

Infographics: Mission-Critical Marketing 8