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Wait, wait, wait! Mandatory CBO has to wait
Unless you spent the weekend under a rock, or maybe on a beach with your phone turned off, then you probably already know about this.
The news has been everywhere: CBO is NOT going to be mandatory from this September, as previously planned by Facebook.
In fact, it will roll out globally in February 2020.
But listen to this: If, in the 56 days prior to the CBO release date, 100% of your campaigns are on CBO, then FB will automatically lock your account to CBO.
So, if you still want to use ad set budget optimization (ABO) until February, make sure you’re running ABO campaigns.
This is positive news if you don’t have a good relationship with CBO. You still have the last quarter to squeeze the juice from ABO campaigns.
Cheerio!
E-COMMERCE
Just some more friction in your funnel. OSB™ Strategy for a 13x ROI
Some updates from EU’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) rule. Dim Niko shares a strategy to 10X your e-comm mixing Google, YouTube and FB.
E-commerce getting tougher in Europe?
It was May 29 when we first talked about Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).
This is a rule that will be implemented by the European Union in September with the aim of making online transactions safer.
Do you remember it? European consumers will be required to use 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) to complete online purchases.
Well, there have been some updates:
- Starting September 14, merchants, banks and payment processors will have to implement two-factor verification on all electronic transactions over €30.
- A survey commissioned by Stripe found that Europe could lose €57B in economic activity in the year after these rules come into play.
When we brought this news to you back in May, we weren’t expecting it to result in such a big loss. After all, the regulation should make consumers feel safer when buying online, but the survey certainly looks pretty negative.
This is probably due to the friction added to the payment process, which will slow down conversions.
Well, let’s hope for the best!
YouTube + Google + FB = $91k to $1M per month
Here comes another case study shared by Dim Niko.
He calls it the “OSB™ Strategy”, and it’s a process that combines FB Ads with Google Ads. So, without further ado, let’s dive into it.
+ Background: Automotive product relying completely on organic traffic (SEO), generating $91k/month.
Given that the product was intention based, they started with Google Ads and YouTube SEO.
- Targeted keywords of every model of car. This allowed them to understand which model delivered the best results.
- Targeting a high number of keywords allowed them to present to the buyers exactly what they were searching.
+ The next step was the retargeting.
- DPAs to retarget users with the exact product they looked at on the website.
Here are the audiences targeted:
- Viewed, but didn’t purchase
- Added to cart, but didn’t purchase
- Initiated checkout, but didn’t purchase
- Upsell
- Cross-sell
This generated a massive ROI: One campaign got a 13.38x ROI on a $22k spend. It translates to $291k in revenue from just one campaign.
Overall revenue skyrocketed from $91k to $1M!
Dim Niko finishes by saying that DPAs are powerful, but only if your TOF strategy is on point.
As far as the overall strategy goes, it doesn’t look overly complicated: Find high-intent buyers on Google, convert them on FB with specialized retargeting ads (DPAs), and scale it to the moon!
Maybe something to test on your e-comm?
SPONSORED
How much is a great marketer worth to your team? Tell your HR about this 😉
We’re asking this question because, aside from you, there are about 7,500 marketers reading this daily email and we could put any of your marketing jobs in front of them!
Looking for a media buyer? A Facebook Ads expert? A Google Ads addict? Copywriter? SEO whizz? E-commerce pro? Email specialist? Or just an account manager with industry experience?
All of those jobs are popular on Jobs in Digital Marketing – a simple, focused job platform. It’s the only way to feature your open positions in front of all WHAT THE AFF readers – daily!
This is not for virtual assistant search, it’s for actual marketing professionals!
We’ve put everything under tried and tested software with a clear focus on utility:
- Post or apply for jobs.
- Search resumes of job seekers who want to be hired.
- Have your job openings featured in a special WHAT THE AFF section.
- Feature on Google Jobs in search results.
- Manage your hiring flow straight from the platform.
- Lower price than all those broad, general platforms without an industry-specific audience.
Want to get your job featured in WHAT THE AFF for a whole month?
- Choose the WHAT THE AFF JOB listing from the product list.
- Create an employer profile with logo and company description.
- Buy the WHAT THE AFF JOB listing, using code WTAFF for 35% off for $130 total.
- Fill in the job description, requirements, benefits and location.
- Done!
We’ll put your job in front of 7.5k+ of the most dedicated, smartest and up to date marketers in the world, from Monday to Friday, at 1pm CET.
Post your job and let us send you the perfect fit!
PS: Don’t forget to ping your HR about this and let us know if you have any questions.
REPORTS
State of Conversational marketing – 2019 report
Drift and SurveyMonkey Audience recently conducted a research survey about the state of conversational marketing in 2019.
As per the report, the ability to communicate quickly to solve customer issues is among the top priorities for online shoppers. Brands are expected to improve their 1:1 customer engagement to maintain their competitive edge.
Here are some more interesting findings from the report:
- Around half of the consumers surveyed expect a response over a face-to-face interaction within 5-seconds, while 42% indicated the same response time from a chatbot.
- They might be in the midst of a steep rise in popularity, but chatbots and online chat windows are not consumers’ top picks. Email (65%) and phone (55%) are the preferred channels for consumers to communicate with brands.
- Only about 33% of respondents indicated that they have used online chat support. Though, as it becomes increasingly accessible, that number can be expected to grow over the next year.
- 14% of the people surveyed would rather use a chatbot than submit a web form.
- Consumer frustrations grew over the past year due to brands not providing 24/7 customer service. They also struggle to find basic information quickly and easily on brands’ websites.
Here are some recommendations from the study:
- Providing customer support teams (whether on the phone or online chat) with access to real-time customer data to resolve incoming requests can drastically improve the customer’s experience.
- Identifying and implementing the necessary integrations could be a key differentiator in brands’ customer interactions.
Check out the complete report here.
Well, it’s ironic that someone publishing a report on conversational marketing has an integrated bot plugin covering almost half of the space, subsequently making the report almost non-conversational and unreadable.
But that’s how it is. We tried to spare you the trouble with this sneak peek anyway.
Are some of your reviews gone? Here’s why
To keep crying, waiting, hoping, that you’ll come back.
Maybe someday soon things will change and you’ll be mine…
A few weeks ago, many business owners were overheard sadly singing this song to themselves as they noticed the reviews on their GMBs had suddenly gone missing.
For some, it was just a couple of reviews that disappeared. Others were less fortunate, and saw all of their reviews vanish overnight.
At the time, Google stated that it was just a bug and that they were working to resolve it ASAP.
What’s new? Google issued a new statement confirming that, in an effort to crack down on fake reviews from business listings, they accidentally removed a whole load of legitimate reviews as well.
“In our ongoing efforts to remove fake reviews from Maps, we’ve experienced an increase in reviews being removed from businesses.
We are inspecting our tools and systems to ensure that any legitimate reviews are reinstated.”
Will legitimate reviews be restored or not?
As per local search expert Joy Hawkins, you can consider them gone… Forever.
“In my experience, when Google adjusts something that automatically removes reviews across tons of listings algorithmically, they do not restore these since they were removed intentionally.”
Apart from playing the hope-and-wait game, there is nothing you can do about it. Only time will tell if Google can restore these lost reviews or not.
Well, maybe try asking Google to leave your business a positive review to compensate for the mistake?
AGENCY
What to expect at different stages of growth
Here’s something for you agency owners to help you understand what you can expect during the different stages of your agency’s growth.
Stuart Trier created a Marketing Agency Growth Chart after interviewing multiple 6, 7, and 8 figure agencies.
It covers various aspects such as the role of the founder, types of employees, types of clients, processes and challenges that agency owners could face during the different stages of growth.
Steven Kang shared and recommended this in his SEO Signals group. Alternatively, you can download the Growth Chart here.
FROM THE CREW
Let’s talk about statistical significance
As you already noticed, we’re running a short survey to better understand what your favourite types of content are, what your background is, and what level of experience you’re currently at.
Why? Because our audience has grown a lot lately, and we noticed that it isn’t just affiliates reading this. There are a lot of other marketers getting on board! We’re flattered!
So, in order to make your reading pleasant, interesting and funny, we are asking you, fellow marketers, to tell us what you’re about. Whether it’s affiliate marketing, e-comm, SEO, agency, Google Ads, FB Ads, push traffic, ice cream or pizza… You get the idea.
In the end, this is all about serving you with the best content we can. So, the more of you answer, the better! You know, statistical significance and confidence intervals!
It’s just 3 minutes. It’s anonymous. And you don’t have to think a lot to answer the questions. No brain activity involved… Maybe it can turn into a pleasant experience, who knows!
Thanks in advance! Here’s to a better newsletter!
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Lies… Flies… Spies!
Is everyone over the FaceApp controversy by now? At least the 150M of you?
In a not-so-parallel universe, a former Silicon Valley executive took the wrapper off a series of controversial email surveillance tools offered by start-ups from Silicon valley.
Before we go any further, don’t try this at home, in your office, by the poolside or anywhere else.
Superhuman! No, we’re not talking about the whistleblower. Superhuman is the name of a paid, invite-only app which automatically tracks every time a recipient looks at an email sent to them, and it even shows you their location.
Mike Davidson, former VP of design at Twitter, added more fuel to the flames when he complimented the entire controversy in a blog post that went viral.
And it’s not the only dodgy tool out there, either. It’s just the one that caught all the public attention and backlash.
There’s this open-source, Python-based web tool called Supertracker that popped up on Github.
It lets you create your own tracking pixel, cleverly using a simple transparent image such as an image of a Pokémon, or a not-so-subtle magnifying glass.
Apparently, this tool has only been created as a demonstration of how easy it is to gather this kind of tracking information, rather than something actually intended for use. Plus, it has some serious privacy issues, so if you use it to track anyone, you are getting tracked as well.
Do we read your emails too? Always, we promise!
Can these pixels be trusted? Bwahahaha…
Are there any pixels tracking you? Maybe, your Google Pixel phone. And FB Pixel… And Twitter Pixel… You get the point!
Here’s what you can get if you share us with your marketing friends!
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