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E-COMMERCE
Alibaba and eBay taking shots at Amazon at the same time
Alibaba and eBay are both set to take a shot at Amazon, with the companies attacking from two different fronts.
eBay is set to launch its own fulfillment service called Managed Delivery, which will provide end-to-end packaging and deliveries to its sellers and compete with Amazon’s Fulfilled by Amazon service.
Managed Delivery will be launched in the US by next year and will use a network of third-party partners for warehousing, packing, and delivery services.
Sellers on eBay currently send around 1.5M packages in the US every day, and around 40-50% of the items listed on its site will qualify for Managed Delivery.
So far, eBay has maintained a hands off approach to how sellers deliver their products, but the new fulfilment platform should help solve this problem.
At the same time, Alibaba has announced its plans to enter the B2B e-commerce market in the US by opening up its platform to small manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors.
The US B2B e-commerce market is expected to hit $1.8Tn by 2023, and it accounts for 17% of all B2B sales.
By allowing these smaller companies to sell their products on Alibaba, it will give 30M SMBs in the US a new online marketplace to sell their wares.
Alibaba has already set the ball rolling by selecting a few pilot sellers and two major anchor sellers, but the eventual goal is to make waves in the US marketplace by bringing a host of SMBs to its platform.
While it may be marketing this as a move to help US B2B SMB’s reach a global audience, Amazon’s success in selling products from third-party sellers on its marketplace could well have been one of the driving forces behind Alibaba’s new initiative.
Zoom In
We know what you’re thinking: Dropshipping Alibaba goods with American suppliers.
But this is Alibaba for now and no mention of anything like AliExpress integration as well. In other words, good step but just to keep an eye out for it”
We don’t want to get your hopes up, because at the moment this is just a plan and it doesn’t involve AliExpress. But, let’s all keep our fingers crossed!
Two new feature launches on Google
Google has released two interesting new features on its Search platform. The first one will send more traffic to your website, while the other will keep users on Google’s platform but hopefully result in more leads for your business.
What do you prefer? Leads or traffic?
“Swipe to Visit” for Images
Just a couple of days ago, we discussed how you can bring about a 30% increase in customers to your website by using Google Images.
Well, consider that 40%, 50% or maybe even more with this update.
A new Swipe-to-Visit feature has been rolled out to Google images, which displays a preview of an AMP-enabled website after a user selects a particular image result.
A simple swipe up on the preview then loads the full website.
How is this helpful?
Visual search is on the rise and shows no sign of slowing down, especially for visually oriented niches. So, use high-quality images and optimize them for search and the result could be a bunch of new users on your website.
PS: As a site owner, you will also be able to see traffic data from AMP in Google Images in your Search Console performance report in a few weeks.
Bear in mind that only those websites that support AMP are eligible for this at the moment.
“Get a Quote” for business listings
A new call-to-action button allowing users to “Request a Quote” has been rolled out for business listings in the search results.
Google has automatically added this button to all eligible business listings, and it appears on both desktop and mobile.
Which listings are eligible for this?
Only those listings that have opted into the Google My Business messaging feature are eligible for this.
How can you make your listings eligible?
Turn on messaging for your business listing. Here’s how:
- Open the Google My Business app.
- Open the location you’d like to manage.
- Tap Customers.
- Tap Messages.
- Tap Turn on.
You can then view and respond to these messages right within the Google My Business app.
How is this helpful?
Well, it does keep people on Google rather than sending traffic to websites; something that Google has been criticized for doing recently.
However, the button is big and noticeable, and it certainly has the potential to generate more leads for your business. Being able to request quotes from businesses without visiting their website takes friction out of the funnel.
So, would you prefer more traffic or more leads?
SPONSORED
🤩 Guess where The WTAFF Crew and 2.7k+ affiliates are going this September?
Oh, you didn’t know? We’re all going to India Affiliate Summit that takes place on 26th and 27th September this year.
Where? At the Leela Ambience in Gurugram, India. The Affiliate Street is where 2.7k+ attendees will network and find new business avenues in this dynamic industry!
There are only 34 booths left right now from a total of 95 available so the sooner you book your booth, the better. The prices are also going to increase starting 1st August! You still have time to get the early-bird price now.
Every booth on the Affiliate Street Package includes:
- One 6’x2.5’ draped table and 2 chairs.
- 2 Gold passes for the Summit
- Your company logo, URL, profile and contact details on the website
- Invitation for you and your colleagues to the exclusive Partners and Exhibitors dinner on 25th September
- Branding and networking with 2.7k+ affiliates in one of the biggest markets in the world!
The price for this right now starts at $1.25k – check out all the available options here.
You can contact Vivek Sheth directly at [email protected] if you have any questions about booking a booth!
That’s not all! The WTAFF Crew is heading there too! Manu Cinca will be a keynote speaker and he’ll be revealing some of the secrets to sending consistently engaging emails like this one right here. If you do e-commerce, own a blog, do lead generation or use email in any way, we highly suggest you check it out!
He won’t be heading there alone! Nikhil, one of the people who brings you this piece of daily magic is also joining so you can meet more than one member of The WTAFF Crew 😉
Get your passes here and we’ll see you there!
CONTENT MARKETING
Double survey technique: +843% Website traffic
Do you run a website or affiliate blog and want to grow that traffic? Of course you do!
GrowthBadger shared a strategy that helped them bring 843% more visitors to their blog, and it only took one post.
The strategy is dubbed the “Double Survey technique”.
Let’s be honest – All the possible content you can create has already been written and shared countless times. You can change the style, the angle and the words, but the juice stays the same.
But this strategy allows you to grab your visitors’ attention in an entirely different way.
Basically, it involves running a survey, compiling the results, and then running another survey asking industry experts about the results from the previous survey.
It looks complicated, but if you follow this article it’s actually much easier than it first appears. Plus, the results are very promising!
Good luck!
Multiple LLAs test. Will it work? FB shows no flaws
This targeting method is working with CBO, will you give it a try? Facebook shared its Q2 report, and despite the huge fine the figures actually look positive.
Have you already tested this CBO targeting strategy?
There’s always something new to test. Always. This is especially true with FB thanks to the countless options in terms of targeting, ad formats, objectives etc.
This Friday, we’re bringing you a targeting approach shared by Andrei Lunev. He claims that this strategy worked amazingly well with CBO, so it’s worth considering.
Let’s have a look at it:
- Create Lookalike Audiences from 0 to 10% with a 2% range. (0-2%, 2-4%. 4-6%, etc.) Do this for your Catalogue events and other events such as Purchase, Add to Cart, Initiate Check out and TOP 25% visitors based on time spent on your website.
- Create multiple LLAs for each range. For instance, an Audience that includes: 0-2% Purchases LLA, 0-2% Initiate Checkout etc. Then another multiple LLA that includes 2-4%, Purchases LLA, 2-4% Initiate Checkout etc. Continue this process until you reach 8-10% with all the events.
- Create a CBO campaign with 5 ad sets. Each one will include a different Multiple LLA: Multiple LLA 0-2%, Multiple LLA 2-4%, Multiple LLA 2-4%, etc.
- Test it and find a working one.
That’s all. One additional note: If you country is small then you can use a 3% range to create the LLAs. So, for example: 0-3%, 3-6%, 6-9% etc.
Happy testing!
Q2’19 Earnings report
Facebook shared its Q2 report and the future looks bright. It’s good news for us advertisers as well.
You can have a look at the whole report here, but we’ll highlight some interesting stats here:
- Ad revenue went up by 28% on a year after year basis. Even better, this increase reaches 30% when narrowed down to North America and APAC areas.
- Daily active users grew up to 1.59B, an 8% growth on a yearly basis. The increase was led by growth in India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
- Monthly active users grew up to 2.59B. Again, an 8% yearly growth.
- Ad prices decreased 4%. Happy, uh?
- Ad impressions served increased by 33%. This growth is driven by Instagram Stories ads.
Our Take
Despite all the talk out there, the beast isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Advertisers are using FB more and more, and that’s a clear sign that it’s working. Users are still growing too, and while it isn’t a huge increase, growth is growth after all!
Anyway, what caught our attention is the advertiser shift to Instagram Stories Ads. This is a trend that caused a growth in ad impressions and pushed down costs.
Were you worried about FB? Well, it doesn’t look like there is any reason to be.
Create campaigns on the go with these tools
Pinterest has launched Mobile Ad Tools to allow advertisers to create campaigns on their mobile devices.
Using your business profile, you can choose a Pin, create a campaign for it, select automated or custom targeting options, add daily budget rules, choose the duration of the campaign and much more.
For your creatives (Pins), you can include a video, a carousel or a standard Pin format.
You will also be able to track campaign data such as ad spend, impressions, clicks, CTRs and saves.
All that without ever having to access your account from a desktop.
Mobile Ad Tools are available for all US businesses and are currently being rolled out globally.
“Stories About You”
Instagram is testing a new notification tool called Stories About You.
It will feature all the Stories in which a user has been @mentioned or tagged by the Story creator, keeping these notifications separate from your general notifications section.
When rolled out, this will be a helpful feature for those high profile users and influencers who receive a lot of mentions on a daily basis.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
This is why some members of the WTAFF Crew are quitting
If you’re tired of spying on ads, dealing with FB bans, testing new angles and analyzing data, BUT YOU STILL WANT TO DRIVE A LAMBO, we’ve got you!
There’s one condition though: you have to move to Dubai.
It’s a new job title we hadn’t heard of before: Supercar Scout!
What would be your job description? Wandering around the United Arab Emirates in search of abandoned super cars and then acquiring them.
Who’s the employer? It’s HushHush, a luxury marketplace.
So, you find the abandoned supercars. They sell them on their website.
Sorry, we’re not sure you’ll be allowed to drive them, but you can still take a photo next to it and share it on Insta!
Besides taking your IG game to the next level, you’ll get a $38k annual wage, accommodation in Dubai, living allowances and travel expenses.
Oh, plus a commission for every car you find.
Isn’t it everybody’s dream job? Apply here!