MICROSOFT
Get ready for the post-pandemic future
We’re just almost halfway into 2021, and much of the world is heading towards something that resembles normal. And just how the arrival of the pandemic sparked plenty of trends, its exit should usher in some new trends as well.
We’re talking about a world where people from Iowa are planning weddings willy-nilly, people are buying more dress shirts, and local businesses are seeing more support over big box stores.
Those are three of the findings from Microsoft’s most recent blog post on how people’s behavior is shifting as the US enters the post-pandemic era.
Others are noticing the same: A week ago, Pinterest featured their data on the impending travel boom. Snapchat has also stated recently that Gen Z can’t wait to return to school (probably the first generation to want this, but who can blame them).
We’ve also seen some unofficial stats indicating more flight activity, increased traffic to travel websites, and rising Google Trends.
As the world starts to open back up, keep an eye on the emerging trends. When people’s behavior changes, so will their buying habits.
ADVERTISING
ATT opt-in rate: 5% or 35%?
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
After seemingly every major tech news publication published Apple’s 4% ATT opt-in statistic, some more knowledgeable about the subject began to express their concerns.
The problem: The way the statistics are calculated.
Alex Bauer, Branch’s head of product marketing, recently published an article detailing how various providers (such as Flurry and AppsFlyer) calculate ATT opt-in statistics. Flurry does it in the following manner:
“How is it calculated? This metric looks at the ATT status for active app users on the date in question. This means a user who interacts with 10 different apps on a given day will be included in the calculation 10 times, with each reflecting the user’s ATT status for that app.”
Flurry calculates opt-in rates per device rather than per app. Compare this to AppFlyer’s method of calculating opt-ins, which reports a global opt-in rate of 37%:
“How is it calculated? When the “requestTrackingAuthorization()” method is called to display the ATT prompt, a developer can immediately capture the ATT status after users make their selection. (If the user has disabled ATT at the device level, a status of “denied” is returned by default).”
Unlike Flurry, AppFlyer calculates their stats per-app. This is one of the primary reasons for the large disparity in opt-in rates.
Eric Seufert has also revealed a flaw in Flurry’s strategy: Sample size. Flurry SDK is integrated by small apps. And smaller apps, when compared to Facebook, have a lower opt-in rate in general.
The verdict: For the time being, everyone takes the statistics that fit their own narrative. Privacy advocates use Flurry, while advertisers use AppFlyer as a ray of hope. For now, the best option is to wait for more data, preferably first-party data from large mobile apps.
SPONSORED BY BILLO
4000+ e-com businesses use this affordable platform to create authentic UGC video ads, and some hit 9.7 ROAS!
If you watched our talks with Nick Shackelford and Savannah Sanchez, you know user generated content (UGC) is the pillar of paid social.
After the iOS 14.5 update, high-quality creatives are more crucial than ever. And native-looking UGC is where the money is at.
Yet many e-commerce stores struggle to create such content… After all, not all your customers want to star in your ads.
Billo connects you with over 3,200 pre-approved US-based creators waiting to create your next UGC video. Billo provides additional services to get the most of the videos, including professional edits: subtitles, animations, and call-outs.
Everything is automated! And is extremely affordable: the price ranges from $47 to $59 per video!
TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, or Amazon – wherever you advertise, Billo can help you automate your UGC creation. And businesses like Casetify, Your Super, Mabel+Meg, and Snooz use Billo every day to create their ads. Why?
Billo’s UGC videos helped Dude Robe, a luxury bathrobe loved by Shark Tank, hit 9.75 ROAS and increased their sales by $10k with just one video!
In addition, Crazy Cups got 24,282 comments on Facebook, resulting in an 18.5X increase in engagement rate.
Do you want to give it a shot? Use the code STACKED20 to get 20% off. (valid until May 31, 2021)
Sign up for free and start creating your UGC stack!
FROM THE CREW
Mark your calendar
Want to know some of the people behind this newsletter? Got any burning questions to ask?
Then join us for an hour this Thursday to chat all things newsletters and marketing. We’ve never done this before, but we want to give it a try.
What you need to enter: Nothing! No caveats or sneaky sales here. There’s also no registration required. Just add it to your calendar and find the Zoom link here.
Because of the Zoom plan we’re running, the call will be limited to 100 people. You’ll join with your mic and camera off so don’t worry about the call-joining awkwardness plague that we’ve been enduring for the past year.
Oh, and if you can’t make it but want to hear The Crew answer some questions, shoot us a reply to this email and we’ll do our best to get to them. We’ll share a recording of the call afterwards.
NEWSLETTERS
Simple tactics to grow your newsletter
Growth Tactics’ newsletter has 40k subscribers with a 50% open rate. And in this Twitter thread, they shared some tactics to grow your newsletter.
Let’s check our favorites out and see if we can add some of The Crew’s flavoring.
+ Delay your welcome email by 45 minutes: People reflexively ignore welcome emails and this delay might bypass the reflex. The Crew’s take: This is definitely something worth testing, and it works in most cases. But if you promise something like an e-book download, send that immediately.
+ Send the welcome email from a real person: People prefer to interact with people rather than entities. So, sending at least your first email as a real person might help you get the next newsletter opened. The Crew’s tip: You should still use the same email address, because reputation is saved all the way to address level.
+ Give people control over the frequency of emails: This allows you to please the different tastes of your subscribers. Some people want weekly messages, others monthly. Give them the chance to choose. But be careful here, because this also means adjusting the content. Depending on the topics you write about, you might have to slightly adjust the content based on the frequency.
+ Show a sample issue on the signup page, to give visitors a taste of the highly valuable content you’ll send them. On our homepage, there’s a ‘Past Newsletters’ button where people can sample the newsletter before subscribing. This can help boost conversion on your landing page.
+ Give your readers a dopamine hit: Your emails must be entertaining, not just informative. You can achieve this by adding memes, jokes, or interesting links. (Hint: the Poolside Chat and Brain Teaser sections of this newsletter do just that.)
+ At the end of each issue, remind the reader that they can refer to others if they’re enjoying your work. And consider rewards to stimulate refers. Our referral program accounts for 20% of Stacked Marketer’s subscribers.
+ If you use Twitter to grow followers, you can try to cut a thread and tell your followers to subscribe to read the rest. This does work, but don’t abuse the practice.
Depending on where you’re at, these little tweaks might cause marginal growth. Obviously, if your newsletter stands at 200 subscribers, delaying your welcome email won’t make that much of a difference, and it’s probably better to focus on the acquisition engine.
Cherry-pick them based on your situation. To read all of the insights from Growth Tactics, check out their Twitter thread here.
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
GOOGLE: The search engine is so eager for you to use Web Stories that they have begun to provide tips on how to get them seen by more people.
SEO: A growing number of people are reporting changes in ranking that occurred on May 7th and 9th.
AMAZON: It’s amazing how one lawsuit can completely alter a company’s structure. This may be the case with Amazon.
FACEBOOK: Registrations for Facebook’s F8 refresh conference have just opened.
GOOGLE: If you’ve been getting “insufficient HTTPS Coverage” errors in your search console, you’re not alone. The good news is that it’s just a Search Console bug.
BRAIN TEASER
If you have three, you have three. If you have two, you have two. If you have one, you have none.
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.
Even the CEO of Zoom is tired of Zoom
You know you’ve succeeded (maybe for too long) when everyone in the world is tired of your company, including you.
Eric Yuan, Zoom’s CEO, recently spoke (virtually, of course) at the Wall Street Journals’ CEO Council Summit. Here, Yuan said that once he needed to attend 19 consecutive Zoom meetings and got really tired of it. So yes, even the CEO of Zoom gets tired of Zoom calls.
Yuan also mentioned that he no longer has back-to-back meetings, and he’s become more comfortable thanks to that.
Finally, he stated that he wants and is looking forward to seeing his staff in office, at least 2 days per week.
We wonder if Zoom employees share the same sentiment. (Hint: The answer is most definitely yes.)