Hello there, Performance Max experiments
For your campaigns to be the best, more ads you must test.
That’s right, padawan, Google is slowly rolling out its experiments feature to the most powerful tool of them all: Performance Max campaigns.
Enter the lab: Users have started seeing new experiments on the “Overview” sidebar in the Ads Manager, under the “Performance Max experiments” menu. Right now you have two options:
- Test uplift from Performance Max.
- Test vs. Shopping Campaign.
Basically it allows you to draft a test campaign and run it with a fraction of the original campaign’s traffic and budget for a specific testing period.
… A feature advertisers have long been hoping for.
Oh, and don’t forget: Google will sunset Campaign Manager 360 v3.5 API on February 20, so you should migrate to the current version.
Don’t drag your feet, because Google says all requests made to the old API version will fail. So… you’ve been warned.
Why we care: The addition of Performance Max Experiments could be a big upgrade to your ad performance.
By combining efficient automation and even more efficient testing, you can find some angles and opportunities that you didn’t even know existed. And that does sound exciting.
E-COMMERCE
Resale is winning in retail, and TikTok Ads are winning youngsters
Like surprises? Then how’s this one: Your secondhand jeans are more first-hand, shall we say, when it comes to retail growth.
The resale market has grown by 24% in 2022 as more and more consumers turn their heads towards thrift shopping.
Gonna pop some tags: Experts forecast that the industry could hit $300B in revenue over the next decade, with the US secondhand market likely to double by 2026, reaching $82M.
There are several reasons for the thrift mania, including bargain hunting due to the recession, eco-awareness… and a rising interest in pre-owned luxury goods.
Experts see an opportunity here, saying that “adding secondhand items to your retailer offer can help drive traffic to stores and websites and sales of new items.” Noted!
And here’s another surprising trend: Just because youngsters don’t own the wallet doesn’t mean they don’t own the power. And TikTok Ads are capitalizing on that.
Turns out more than half of youngsters have bought or asked for something they’ve seen advertised on TikTok.
So while YouTube remains the go-to platform for kids in the US, TikTok is slowly becoming more influential – and apparently more persuasive.
Why we care: Tides are shifting in e-commerce. Customers are becoming more picky and more product aware, which opens more challenges but also more opportunities – like resale.
Also, it seems like TikTok Ads are becoming more and more effective among younger generations, which can be valuable info if you sell relevant products.
SPONSORED BY STACKED MARKETER PRO
How two college students grew a business newsletter from 0 to over 1,000,000 subscribers
Back in 2015, two college students started a light-hearted finance newsletter called “The Market Corner.”
… And they grew it successfully to mid eight figure revenues.
How? By using a mix of acquisition strategies, rebranding, referral tactics, Twitter hacks, and Facebook Ads.
If you haven’t guessed, “The Market Corner” is now the multidimensional media operation we know as “Morning Brew.”
And in our in-depth growth report, you’ll learn:
- Morning Brew’s main ad placements and estimated pricing.
- The three phases of their branding and positioning.
- How they built a high-performing referral system.
- And subscriber growth per marketing channel.
This report is a masterclass in growing an audience from zero to one million subscribers.
And that’s not all: In addition to gaining the details of Morning Brew’s success, you’ll gain access to more than 20 other reports inside Stacked Marketer Pro.
Try Stacked Marketer Pro now for just $7.
APP STORE OPTIMIZATION
Avoid this App Store mistake if you want more downloads
The App Store is a place where the small can outrank the big with a little bit of optimization.
Ariel from AppFigures recently shared an interesting finding: apps that try to “keep their name clean” on the App Store are making one of the biggest ASO mistakes.
And by clean we mean not using a keyword in the app name on the Store.
Here’s why this is one of the biggest technical mistakes…
Ariel analyzed apps that rank for the keyword “loan.” It has a high popularity score and almost 1M downloads a month. Huge competition, so you’d expect heavy optimization…
But the first-placed app only has 22 new ratings in the past month. The app in second place has 30 new ratings, while the third-placed app has 4.7k new ratings.
How on earth is that possible?
It’s all about optimization. The two top-ranking apps have a pretty low score so you can presume they aren’t the best of the bunch, which explains low ratings frequency.
But they have the common sense to include “loan” and “loans” keywords in their name.
You don’t see that same keyword in the names of any other app below them.
Despite having thousands of rankings and a higher average ranking, the quality apps are still a few rows lower than the lesser quality apps.
So what can you do? First, start researching Keyword Inspector for relevant keywords and check how the results page looks.
If you see an opportunity like this—where most competitors aren’t placing keywords in their names—grab it with both hands.
You’ll help App Store’s algorithm understand your app and in return, it will place you better.
Long story short – there’s no spring cleaning in the App Store. Instead, “mess things up” by adding relevant keywords and watch your app outrank some of the big players.
Try to hop on this while it’s working and you may reap the ranks… and rewards.
SPONSORED BY GROWTH SPRINTS
Want to win in SaaS marketing? Then subscribe to the Growing Up Newsletter to build a career you’re proud of
Growing Up is the free weekly newsletter that cuts through the noise and helps you build your career in SaaS marketing.
It’s where marketers share how they’re getting more customers and growing their career.
You can expect insights like:
- Successfully scaling startups.
- Brand marketing—is it really a waste of money?
- Choosing the right vendor.
- The best articles on AI and GPT-3.
Want to build a marketing career you are proud of?
THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
Improving Quality Score part 2: expected click-through rate
Welcome back to our Quality Score mini series, where we break down each component of Quality Score, and tell you exactly how to improve it.
Although Quality Score isn’t the only metric that impacts your ads, it does a good job of explaining why your ads are performing the way they do.
In today’s segment, let’s talk about expected click-through rate (CTR).
CTR measures how often people click on your ad after seeing it. A higher CTR typically indicates that your ad is relevant to the searcher, which means your product or service fixes their problem or is exactly what they’re looking for.
So, how can you improve your expected CTR? Here are three tips:
- Use ad extensions. Ad extensions allow you to include additional information in your ad, like your business address or phone number. This can be especially helpful if you’re targeting local customers, because it helps to make your ad more relevant to their search.
- Add unique selling points. Once someone’s eyes are on your ad, you need to show exactly why your product or service holds the answer to their search query.
- Add calls to action (CTAs). Adding CTAs like “buy now” and “shop now” to the descriptions of your ads is the tiny push that will get users to click on the ad.
There you have it: Three simple steps to lower cost-per-clicks, and higher ad ranks.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
BUSINESS: Looking for a business newsletter that hits hard while having fun? The Daily Upside shares the most engaging stories in business in a crisp five minute read. You’re guaranteed to learn something new everyday. Sign up for free today.*
LINKEDIN: If you’ve ever wondered how big LinkedIn actually is… well, here are some stats, straight from the platform’s mouth. 850M members, $5B annual ad revenue, and more. Sweet numbers. So, are you using it yet?
INSTAGRAM: Shhh, it’s busy time! Instagram launched Quiet Mode, a new feature that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies when someone sends you a direct message (DM) so you can focus on important stuff. Guess the sound off button isn’t enough anymore.
GOOGLE: For the first time, Google announced a posting restrictions policy, allowing you to turn off posts about your business during a short or a long period. Now you can avoid publishing harmful, offensive, and spammy content during particular times… which is cool.
TWITTER: Blue for Android is here. And just like for iOS, it costs $11—$3 more than for web users. Twitter says the higher price is to offset Google’s commission and give you features like the “verified” blue tick and edit tweets.
E-COMMERCE: Do you value feedback? Well, according to research, your customers may not feel the same way. So try to build brand loyalty without being too annoying, because 21% of shoppers would prefer not to hear from you. Urgh…
*This is a sponsored post
BRAIN TEASER
What has many teeth but cannot bite?
You can find the answer here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
The guide to tipping you didn’t know you needed
Maybe you’re a happy tipper.
Or maybe you’re like Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs and you “just don’t believe in tipping.”
But if you’re “stuck in the middle”—like most of us—you know that tipping is a complex endeavor. Like… how much should you tip? Should you tip at all?
Hmm… Luckily, you may not need to ask that question again thanks to this tipping guide.
Now you know that if you’re ever in Prague, service workers expect 10%. But in Toronto, make sure you have at least 15–20% extra.
And if you’re in Tokyo, try to tip and see what happens.
If you ever visit The Crew in Vienna, let us do the tipping. We’re cool like that.