E-COMMERCE
Google <3 BigCommerce. Microsoft <3 Shopify
If you’re an ad network and a huge chunk of your revenue comes from e-commerce, what is one thing you try to do? Make it easier for people to spend money, of course. This is what Google and Microsoft did with their BigCommerce and Shopify integrations yesterday.
Google announced yesterday that all BigCommerce merchants will be able to list their products on Google for free and create ad campaigns directly from their BigCommerce store.
Microsoft also announced that Shopify merchants in the US and Canada will be able to reach people more easily on Microsoft’s Search and Audience network by using their Channel app on the Shopify App Store.
Why we care: If something is easy to do, you’re more likely to do it. The whole point of these integrations is to make it easier to create a Google or Microsoft campaign…and finally see if that crazy-looking t-shirt you just made will actually sell.
Facebook introduces new ways to interact with your customers
Facebook > your phone. At least, that’s what Facebook seems to think with these updates.
The company has introduced several new ways to interact with your customers:
- Video and audio calling on Messenger. If you thought angry Messenger texts were bad, wait till you hear people yelling (on video). Customers will now be able to communicate with businesses via audio and video through Facebook Messenger.
- Live audio rooms. Businesses can now gather customers in Clubhouse-like audio rooms on Facebook. This can be useful for live product announcements.
- Appointment booking: Facebook is expanding Appointment bookings globally to all businesses. You know that small blue “Book now” button you see on many Facebook pages? Now you can use it on your own page.
Availability: For now, video/audio calling is available to select small businesses. There are no such limits with appointment booking.
Why Facebook is creating these features: Keep users within your ecosystem. That’s been Facebook’s mantra ever since Apple released its privacy updates.
No need for people to call you when they can use live Messenger audio. No need for people to go to a website and book when they can use Facebook appointment booking.
This way, Facebook gathers important data on important actions people take so they can further optimize their ad platform and show more relevant ads to more people.
It’s all about the money, baby!
SPONSORED BY MISO ROBOTICS
The robots are already here and you can invest in them until November 18
People like to joke that there’s no money in flipping burgers… But they are wrong. There’s money to make if you’re a Miso Robotics investor and invest in their autonomous robotic kitchen assistants, who can (among many other things) flip burgers!
Flippy, the robotic kitchen assistant that has fried over 175k lbs of food already, is in use at select White Castle locations.
The Automatic Beverage Dispenser will revolutionize the quick-serve drink dispensing, in partnership with Lancer Worldwide.
And CookRight, an AI-powered sensor, and data platform that increases holistic kitchen efficiency will soon announce its exciting partners.
We’ll say it again: The robots are already here, and you can invest in Miso Robotics to take a piece of the returns. There are over 1.6M jobs open in the hospitality industry in the US – with such a surge in demand and a big labor shortage, robots are already in high demand.
Miso Robotics already works with 10 of the top 25 QSR industry brands with dozens of pilot programs underway.
You have until November 18th, 2021 to invest in Miso Robotics. Don’t miss the chance, step into the future.
ADVERTISING
Pushing down those Facebook Ads CPMs
Facebook’s rising CPMs are eating up the profits of every advertiser.
And we all know the reasons: The competition is growing and iOS14 stripped Facebook of its targeting power.
Not all is lost though and you can still lower that CPM.
Having audaciously good creatives is the first step. But Brett McHale reported more ways to lower your FB Ads cost in this WordStream article.
Let’s start:
- Run different campaigns types: If you’re running conversion campaigns to generate leads, you can test Lead Ads. If you’re seeing rising costs on your sale campaigns, try building full-funnel campaigns.
- Broaden your audience: The smaller the audience, the higher the competition. The higher the competition, the higher the CPM. Moreover, a large audience gives the algorithm more room to optimize.
- Lower the budget on ad set level and launch new ones to test new audiences.
- Enable all placements: As for the previous point, this gives Facebook more optimization opportunities.
- Implement CAPIs: Chances are you’ve already done this, but if you haven’t, implement Facebook Conversion API. This allows a server-to-server tracking between Facebook and your website so you don’t need to rely on cookies.
- Avoid waste: Audience overlaps, wrong bidding strategies, ad fatigues, poorly made creatives… These mistakes burn your budget. Avoid them.
And last, but not least, don’t lose your patience: Many advertisers will lower their spending on Facebook because of the increased complexity.
If you’re amongst the ones that make it work despite the struggle and stay on the platform, you’ll benefit from fewer competitors.
SPONSORED BY INSIGHTS
Here are 100 pages of marketing insights, straight from our deep dives, for free
Seven months ago, we launched Insights.
We now have 8 full deep dives on brands like Snow, Morning Brew, PEEL, Huckberry, SIMULATE, Pete & Pedro, Goli, and LadyBoss. That’s 1,000 pages of insights about paid social, SEO, content, email marketing, and more.
Anyone can read over 100 pages from these deep dives for free right here.
Want the full 1,000 pages? Join Insights risk-free with our 24-hour money-back guarantee.
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
3 email tactics to blow up your revenue during BFCM
This Q4, you can either make a boatload of money. Or lose it…
To lean toward the first, here are three email marketing tactics shared by Chase Dimond to supercharge your BFCM revenue:
1) Change the copy of your pop-ups: Instead of giving them a discount, tell them to not buy yet and instead subscribe to your list to enter the biggest sale of the year.
2) Don’t use the first email of your welcome flow to give them a discount. Instead, ask them to move your email to the primary tab so they will see all the subsequent emails you’ll send them.
3) Make your abandonment flows much more aggressive: Set up checkout, cart, browse, and website abandonment flows:
- If they abandon you at the browsing or website level, they’re likely going to check your competitors’ prices. Send them an abandonment email 15 minutes after they leave. And 2-4 hours later, send them an offer.
- If they leave at checkout or cart level, they’re unsatisfied with the price. Five or ten minutes after they leave, offer them free shipping.
You still have time to get this ready before BFCM.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
ADVERTISING: Get the credit you need to scale your successful campaigns. If you buy ads, you must check out Divvy. The perfect combination of software that helps you manage your spending across all your business, and credit lines to scale right when you need it. Try it for free.*
GOOGLE: Three strikes and you’re out. Here are more details on Google Ads’ 3-strike system that they’ll be introducing later this month.
PAYMENTS: Pay-by-bank could become a thing in 2022. Plaid has taken the first steps toward this goal.
MOBILE: What are the most popular marketing channels for mobile apps? Here’s a data-driven answer.
ADVERTISING: There’s a gap between ad spending and consumer consumption online. This opens up some interesting opportunities.
PINTEREST: You’ve heard the rumors? PayPal wants to acquire Pinterest. What would life be like if these companies merged? According to Eric Seufert, it’s pretty interesting.
ADVERTISING: Your ads may be too big. Or not compressed. Or have too many pixels. According to this study, 1 out of every 40 ads belongs to these categories.
FACEBOOK: Augmented reality is coming to Facebook Messenger, creating interesting possibilities for social e-commerce.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
I have forests but no trees. I have lakes but no water. I have roads but no cars.
What am I?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Playboy is entering the NFT space
If there’s one animal we associate with NFTs, it’s apes.
Playboy wants to change things up by making NFT collectibles with cute rabbits. The company plans to release 11,953 3D rabbit characters that it calls “Rabbitars”.
Rabb..what? Each Rabbitar will have a unique combination of 175+ traits, including apparel, fur, ears, and of course, occupation.
Each trait will be inspired by Playboy’s unique art and editorial history. The goal is for you to “own a piece of Playboy’s history” (and get some bragging rights amongst your guy friends).