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Mark refunding $40M to advertisers
Nope, this is not a joke and we are not drunk!
Hallo! This story starts in 2016 when a bunch of advertisers accused Facebook of overstating Video Ads metrics by 150-900%.
So, they started a class action against the company. Facebook admitted to inflating video ad metrics, but were adamant that it was all down to an “innocent mistake”.
After 3 years of tussle, the dispute might finally end with a Facebook settlement. A settlement in the form of a $40M refund to advertisers. However, advertisers still have to accept this proposal.
Facebook says that the suit has no merit, but it’s in their interest to put this controversy to an end. So, the easiest way for the company to move on is to simply pay up.
That $5B FTC fine to Facebook was referred to as a “slap on the wrist” to the company, So this $40M refund is akin to buying an ice cream for your children (advertisers) to stop them from crying.
After all, we are talking about 1.35M advertisers involved in the action, and 30% of that refund will go to attorneys. They’re probably the only party to benefit from this lengthy case.
FROM THE CREW
C6-figure lessons from 1,578,024 emails with a 42.6% open rate
A few days ago, we hinted that we might share our processes on always trying to hit your inbox. And The Crew keeps its promises!
These lessons have been learned after sending 1.5M emails with an average open rate of 42.6%. This destroys every industry average by a huge number! They were already shared in our private WHAT THE AFF Insiders FB group.
So, if you don’t want to miss any future nuggets, find out how you can join us there!
The slides come from Manu’s speech at the India Affiliate Summit, and they touch upon:
- Setup for a great sender reputation (like an authenticated domain) and why you need it.
- Inbox killers: Such as having a message larger than 102KB.
- Best practices: Avoid drag & drop template, forget landing page style emails and more.
- List hygiene practices that increased our open rates from 40% to 45%.
- A bonus for our readers: The Crew’s processes to generate high-open-rate subject lines. Every. Damned. Day. You can use these processes to create headlines for your ads and landers.
We have featured a few posts about email deliverability lately, but these slides dive a lot deeper!
PS: Don’t forget to join our WHAT THE AFF Insiders group. We share hot news prior to these emails and also run some giveaways and treats. Plus, you can find a bunch of friendly marketers who can help your business. Again, click here to discover how to join.
SPONSORED
🛳 Special Invitation from TopOffers and ProfitSocial to AWA19’s yacht party: Here’s how to join!
Will you join Affiliate World Asia 2019? If yes, there’s an event you must know about.
TopOffers & ProfitSocial are throwing a private yacht party! Near Bangkok, on December, 6 2019. A mix of champagne, sea breeze, an island and business with the TOP Affiliate Crew. Now these are the conference parties we love!
Who are TopOffers and ProfitSocial you’re asking? TopOffers is a premium CPA network, that can get you access to exclusive dating offers in more than 50 countries. ProfitSocial is a Smartlink platform direct from the advertiser. They own the exclusive rights to a number of top dating products and it automatically adjusts to give you the best eCPM.
And they’re calling the best affiliates to join their yacht party. Tickets are limited so not everybody can join because it’s not Noah’s Affiliates Ark ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. To get an invitation:
- Sign up to TopOffers and ProfitSocial.
- Register for the contest using this form.
- Drive as much traffic as you can from now until December 1st.
- You have to be an affiliate. No affiliate networks, sorry.
- Verify the quality of traffic by your manager.
The top spenders will get an invitation to their emails and will be informed at the beginning of December. Traffic for all verticals apply. Curious what are some of the offers available for you? We’ve got you:
- Dating: GibMirSex – SOI DE – Payout: web $4.0, wap $3.5
- Benaughty – SOI JP – Payout: wap $5.5;
- Sweeps: iPhone Xs Max IT + Airpods – CC submit – Payout: $20.0
- Cams: Flirt4free AU/CA/NZ/UK/US – DOI – Payout: up to $4.0
- Asto:Taoma 30+ FR/BE/CA/CH/DO – SOI Payout: $1.3
- Games: Free Adult Games EN/FR/DE/IT/NO/ES/PL/RU/SE – PPS – Payout: up to $70.0
So, register in the contest before other affiliates join. Send that traffic to TopOffers & ProfitSocial’s offers… And have the best yacht party with the TOP Affiliate Crew!
PS: Do not forget the sunscreen!
AVERTISING
The rise (and possible fall?) of TikTok, and what’s cooking with this new traffic source
What does every rising social media platform have in common, apart from copying every damn feature from other platforms? Easy – Make a huge mess of things and get embroiled in controversies.
And it seems that TikTok doesn’t have any intention of breaking this trend.
Cracks have started to appear, stemming from questions about how many users the app actually has, content censorship concerns and, most recently, extremely weird and questionable advertising methods.
Apparently, the platform has been caught using popular videos as part of its ongoing promotional campaign.
The original content creators have no idea that their content is being used in TikTok’s ads, and they certainly haven’t been compensated for it.
“[Elijah] Jay’s video, in which he performs a balloon-swallowing stunt, has been seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers on TikTok, the Chinese social video platform. He just never signed up to do it as part of TikTok’s advertising.”
If you are creating new content on TikTok, please note that TikTok’s usage guidelines allow the platform to use user-submitted content however they want.
Vine pulled a similar stunt in the past and didn’t offer popular creators any way of monetizing their content. You know what happened? The content creators just moved to other platforms like FB or YouTube.
Well, they still have time to course-correct before they experience that untimely demise.
This is especially important when their new and budding competitor Firework is in talks with Google, Weibo and others for a possible acquisition, valued at more than $100M.
What’s Firework? A free app which allows users to find, create, and share homemade 30-second videos.
Why is it a potentially attractive platform? Well, it’s a quick entry for Google or Weibo into the popular and fast-growing world of short video content (15-60 seconds), all shot and shared on mobile.
What does Firework’s user base look like? The company says it’s the fastest social media app to achieve 1M users, hitting that number in only 5 months while still in beta and growing more than 200% each quarter.
What makes it different from others? A unique, patent-pending feature called Reveal that allows users to both shoot and view video content horizontally. This brings a break from the vertical video formats you find on other platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok.
If you are creating a lot of short video content, it’s a great time to be an early adopter on the platform and increase your distribution network. Although, we are still talking about figures of around 1M installs (as per Google Play store) compared to the 500M installs of TikTok.
Let’s see how this war evolves!
SWEET SIX
- AMAZON: 2-years after entering SouthEast Asia with Amazon Prime, Amazon now launches Amazon.sg to expand Singapore’s e-commerce ready markets.
- GOOGLE: With Yahoo’s update to exclude Google powered sponsored listings on its platform and Google’s own update to bring ads featured in image search out from the partner network, the click traffic for Google nosedives.
- FACEBOOK: A bunch of updates for App developers, mostly related to a new Facebook SDK version.
- BOT MARKETING: Jaime Gurrola developed and shared an API engine that allows you to perform complex math calculations on the ManyChat platform.
- SEO: This infographic debunks some SEO myths & rumors and outlines a set of ranking factors for 2020, with direct reference proofs from Google and industry research.
- TWITTER: Twitter confirms it has used emails and phone numbers that users provided for 2-FA to target ads. But sorry, it was just a mistake ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
BRAIN TEASER
Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?
You’ll find the answer at the end of this email.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things affiliates like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Is your website design blind-friendly?
Yeah… it’s not all about beautiful and well-crafted funnels, prominent CTAs, big and beautiful banners or even GDPR consent on your website.
Your sites need to be accessible enough for blind people to order from your website.
In a recent hearing, Dominos was sued after somebody was unable to order a pizza online because their website lacked the software that would allow him to communicate.
This falls in line with the US Disabilities Act that protects access not just to restaurants and stores, but also to the websites and apps of those businesses.
This action strongly suggests that retailers will be required to make their websites accessible for people with disabilities. Or, at least, it’s something that will hit major retailers.
Well, it sounds difficult for merchants like us to be able to fall in line with that, but hey, just imagine if your websites are friendly enough for blind people to buy stuff from you. That’s a pretty solid piece of web presence!
BRAIN TEASER ANSWER
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.