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BOT MARKETING
Do Messenger Ads and Chatbots work: A $1k Experiment
Messenger Ads and Chatbots – Do they really work, and if so what’s the best way to leverage them?
AdEspresso conducted a $1k experiment to answer these burning questions!
Experiment’s Primary Goal: Number of new webinar signups.
Experiment’s Secondary Goal: Number of new messenger subscribers.
Key Metric: Cost per email lead.
They tested 4 different approaches to see which one would work best.
- Approach 1: A messenger ad directly promoting the webinar, which then provides the user with a link to the landing page for registration.
- Approach 2: A messenger ad promoting a blog post, to warm up the audience with some engaging content before giving them a chance to discover more about the topic by signing up for the webinar.
- Approach 3: A Quiz, to engage the users with some questions before offering them a chance to find out more by signing up for the webinar.
- Approach 4: Regular FB Ad with Traffic as campaign objective, which takes people directly to the webinar registration page.
Setup Details
- Audience: US-based 2% LLAs (lookalikes) of purchasers of AdEspresso subscriptions.
- Age: 18-65.
- Size: 4.2M
- Budget: $250/day for a 7-day experiment.
- Placements: Desktop and mobile newsfeed.
- Campaign structure: 1 ad per ad set.
- Bid strategy: Lowest cost without cap.
- Optimization: The first 3 approaches were optimized for replies, while the 4th was optimized for landing page views.
Experiment Results
Conclusion
- $3.33 for a messenger subscriber is nearly half the price of getting an email lead with a webinar ($6.58). So, it’s cheaper to build a messenger list.
- You can’t expect to get both email addresses and messenger subscribers cheaply at the same time. It’s best to pick one goal and optimize around that.
- Messenger ads require a new approach. Traditional Facebook ads and funnels won’t give the best results here.
As we always say, you should test, analyze, iterate, and refine your campaigns all the time. Testing out all possible approaches using Messenger bots can reduce the costs, but you have to put the work in!
Want to learn how to setup a chatbot and more details from this experiment, head here.
SNAPCHAT
Snapchat joins the e-comm rush
We’ve already talked a lot about how affiliate marketers are leveraging Snapchat to make it rain…
However, Snapchat is expanding, and it’s now trying to attract more e-commerce businesses by implementing some new features.
Let’s have a quick look at them.
Some influencers and content creators already have access to one new feature, which allows users to swipe-up on snaps and buy products directly within the app.
As per the new update, some specially selected accounts will have the ability to include an e-commerce store right there within Snapchat itself.
The native checkout feature is limited to Snapchat users in the U.S., while international users are directed to a mobile website. This is due to privacy reasons.
The accounts that have access to this new update are: Kylie Jenner (Kylie Cosmetics); Kim Kardashian (KKW Beauty); Shay Mitchell (Béis); Spencer Pratt (Pratt Daddy Crystals); Bhad Bhabie (BHADgoods). So, if you want to have a look at how it works in action, you can head over to their accounts.
Snapchat plans to release this option to more publishers later this year.
Interestingly, for now at least, the company isn’t taking any cut from the transactions.
However, there are some concerns around the data side of things: Snapchat only shares users’ contact information (phone number and email address) to a merchant if they complete a purchase. Unfortunately, this means that Shopify store owners won’t be able to target users who abandoned the checkout process.
So, while Snapchat isn’t taking a cut on transactions, this advantage is balanced out by the limited data sharing…Swings and roundabouts!
Zoom In
In theory, whenever you cut a click out from the conversion path, the conversion rate increases. This new feature, therefore, should result in more sales on Snapchat.
Snapchat may have joined the e-commerce rush, but they’re still way behind the rapidly expanding Instagram in this regard.
Still, this update does make Snapchat more appealing to businesses and creators. It will probably attract stores that are already on Instagram, but also want to target the unique audience that you can only find on Snapchat.
What about you? Will you take advantage?
SPONSORED
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And your job gets featured in WTAFF for a month from the moment you put it up on Jobs in Digital Marketing! Here’s what you have to do:
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Your job will then get listed in the FEATURED JOBS section below for the whole listing period. As you might guess, there’s limited space available there so it’s first come, first served for this offer!
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Sneak peek at some unofficial FB updates
Is Facebook looking to compete with Shopify? New Server-Side Events API to optimize outcomes that are initiated outside of the browser.
How FB will help e-commerce
Facebook is always looking for ways to expand, and they aren’t stopping at selling ads. They want a piece of the e-comm pie too.
A quick shoutout to Depesh Mandalia for sharing these updates.
Word on the street is that FB is launching Commerce Manager, a feature that will make it easier to sell across Facebook and Instagram.
This new feature will be located in Business Manager, and Facebook is relocating some of the tools that sit within the Manage Shop tab in Pages to this new surface.
The new Commerce Manager interface will have the same functionality as the Manage Shop tab. Here are the three ways to sell right within Facebook and Instagram:
- Direct API integration.
- Integration with one of our platform partners.
- Using Facebook’s internal tools.
Not only that, but Commerce Manager will have new features such as the ability to assign different permissions and account access based on tasks performed. Plus, improved tax settings and the ability to set default fulfillment locations for tax calculation.
The Commerce Manager interface will come into play from June 21.
Zoom In
With this update, Facebook is moving the Manage Shop tab to the Business Manager and making it more centralized.
This suggests that FB’s long term goal is to penetrate the e-commerce industry. Not just by selling ads and features, but by providing an interface for businesses to sell directly within social platforms, just like Shopify and WooCommerce already do.
Obviously, this will all take time, and Facebook should probably focus on fixing existing flaws in Business Manager and Ads Manager before taking on huge new projects like this.
For now, these are just ambitions. We’ll all eagerly wait and watch how this pans out. Though, these moves do give an insight into What’s on FB’s mind.
Server-Side Events API
VK, one of our readers, shared some updates that were recently revealed at a Facebook event.
Short but interesting: Server-Side Events API.
What is it about? “API that provides the ability to measure, target and optimize for business outcomes that aren’t the direct result of a browser-initiated action”
That’s all we know about it so far.
It seems you’ll be able to track the result of actions that are initiated by users outside of their web browser.
Given that not every conversion path starts from a browser, or even online, a Server-Side Events API will help you measure and optimize outcomes of such actions.
By the looks of it, this API is still in the beta test phase, so we’re best off waiting for FB to shed some more light on it.
MARKETING
Augmented Reality for Marketing: IAB Playbook
What’s been going on with Augmented Reality lately?
Well, it’s been quietly growing in popularity among consumers, and is now widely available to marketers as a creative channel to reach their audiences.
All your audience needs is a mobile device with a camera and your application.
It can seem like a big step to use AR in your own efforts though, right? Here’s some help though: The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released Augmented Reality for Marketing, a Playbook for marketers looking to integrate AR into their marketing strategies.
It contains a framework, explores different options and dives into specific use cases with real examples from several major brands.
Here’s what the IAB Playbook covers:
- A comprehensive view of the AR space to help you quickly identify, create, buy and measure numerous AR options.
- Things to consider before getting started with AR campaigns to ensure maximum impact.
- Use cases of AR on Facebook, Instagram, Sncapchat, especially for gaming and retail, with specific examples on deploying AR across ad units, app sponsorship, website enhancement and branded content.
- Helpful examples of how AR experiences are activated via a phone camera, an AR-enabled app, AR in-feed or even via a head-mounted display.
- Case studies that show how AR experiences can be used to increase both retention and consideration among consumers of all ages.
- How AR campaigns can also help increase your brand recognition, engagement, conversion/sales.
- Guidance on 5-key considerations for brands seeking to get started with AR.
- Impact of interactivity offered by the camera view.
- Measuring new ways to interact beyond traditional clicks.
- Redefining your brand impact and embracing a new era of earned impact propelled by these extremely engaging experiences.
AR is expected to reach 1B users by 2020, with an expected ad spend of $2.6B by 2022.
Players like Apple, Amazon, Snap, Google and Facebook have already launched AR software developer kits (SDKs) in the past 18 months. 95% of iPhone users already have devices supporting AR through Apple’s ARKit.
If you haven’t considered how your marketing efforts can incorporate AR in the near future, the time to start is now. This technology’s growth is showing no signs of slowing down, and we don’t want you to be left behind!
We hope this Playbook provides the information that you need to help evaluate and, hopefully, adopt today’s Augmented Reality options for marketing success.
You can download the Playbook right here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
A smile worth $265M 🙂
Who invented the smiley face? When? Why?
Smiley faces have existed as a concept for over 250 years, with the first known instance being Czech monk Bernard Hennet working one into his signature in 1741.
However, the first time a smiley face was actually attached to something was in 1963.
Overwhelming historical evidence points towards American graphic designer Harvey Ball being the initial black-on-yellow creator, he was paid $45 ($495, or £380, today) in 1963 to design a cheery little face to put on buttons and badges and stuff, to gee up the staff of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company during a hostile takeover.
However, Harvey Ball never trademarked the design.
Franklin Loufrani was the first to make the smart move of trademarking the ‘Smiley’ in 1971. It’s safe to say that this was probably the smartest move of his life.
Soon, smiley faces started popping up everywhere. Later, in the ‘90s, the son of Loufrani joined him in the smiley-face business.
And he made a fortune: SmileyWorld Ltd now owns the rights to the logo in over 80 countries and turns over $265M every year.
Have you ever heard the saying that your smile is precious? Well, we doubt your smile is quite as precious as this one!
We hope you enjoyed this important history lesson… Something our children should read about in school books someday… #sarcasm
If you want to know more about the history of smiley faces and the future plans of SmileyWorld Ltd, have a look at the article here.
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