Author: Neha Mehta

YouTube Tests New Shoppable Video Ads Tools

Amid a pandemic that created havoc around the world that resulted in prolonged store closures. This has led brands to advertise their products online to drive sales as more people are online now. To make things easier for them, YouTube has introduced new direct response solutions that make video ads more shoppable, drive conversion, and automate content delivery across the platform. 

The idea is to make video ads the new ‘storefront’ for the brands as an increasing number of brands are using video ads that connect them directly to customers. YouTube Ads director and product manager Nicky Rettke wrote in the blog post, “Last year, the number of active advertisers using TrueView for action grew over 260 percent.”

Increase in sales with Shoppable TrueView for action 

In the new test, the eCommerce advertisers can show their products in their TrueView for action ads. When the user clicks on the expansion arrow, browsable product imagery appears below the video.

The advertisers are required to sync their Google Merchant Center feed to the video ads, expand their call-to-action button, and drive traffic to a specific product page. However, Facebook recently released “Shops”  creates on platform storefronts but keep the users and transactions within Facebook. 

Retailer Aerie used Shoppable TrueView for action to increase awareness and sales for its 2020 Spring campaign and saw a 25% higher return on ad spend than the previous year and nine times more conversions compared to their traditional media mix.  Rettke said in the post that 70% of people bought a brand after seeing it on YouTube.

Video Campaigns drive conversions

 The next tool announced is ‘Video campaigns’, a cost-effective way to drive conversions, boost web traffic, or generate leads across the platform. It automatically brings video ads to the YouTube home feed, watch pages, and Google video partners in one campaign as well as include any future inventory that becomes available like the What to Watch Next feed.

 

YouTube tested the video ad campaign with a start-up Mos to help students raise funds for college to avoid debts. Rettke said in the blog post that it saw 30% more purchases at one-third of the cost of its previous ad spend.

Lead Generation to a Video campaign

The third tool is adding lead forms to a brand’s video ad campaign. Lead forms help advertisers reduce costs and obtain potential costumers. It appears below the video ad and asks the viewers to fill the form while the ad is running.

Automobile giant Jeep tested this approach with its Korea branch and saw a 13-times increase in completed leads at an 84% lower cost per lead as well as generated more leads.

Finally, Google has included YouTube in the Google Ads attribution report that will help advertisers identify the maximum impact across YouTube, Search, and Shopping campaigns.

Shoppable Ads, a new focus for social media platforms

Shoppable ads also considered as direct-response ads have become a major focus of all social media platforms in the pandemic when ad sales went down. Facebook introduced shoppable ads on its platform and Instagram. Snapchat has in-app shopping whereas buy groceries without leaving Pinterest. Shoppable ads are also seen on Tik Tok.

DR ads have helped Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat to maintain profits, and CPM’s. As per Adexchanger reports, YouTube sales VP Adam Stewart said,

“YouTube storefront isn’t a traditional DR advertising product.YouTube has a bustling DR business, because it’s popular for app-install campaigns, especially with mobile gaming companies.”

Direct response advertising features will be the focus of YouTube’s NewFronts presentation to advertisers. As a part of YouTube’s pitch, Stewart said the storefront isn’t meant to rival Facebook-Instagram or Snapchat commerce offerings but its natural counterpart is television. 

 

 

Making Video Campaigns on Spotify Is Now Easy with Sound-On Video Ads!

Key Insights:

• The Ad studio debuted in 2017 and thereafter Spotify has nearly doubled its user base.
• Spotify witnessed an 11% rise globally in mobile downloads.
• Spotify reports an average of 25% of overall ad revenue from video accounts.
• In the past one year, Spotify has witnessed a 68% increase of active advertisers, with double the ads running.

 

Spotify has announced video advertising on Ad studio, its self-serve platform, in Canada, the U.K, and the U.S. This update is available to select advertisers in the recently added test markets to Ad Studio in April.

The Ad Studio was created initially for small and medium-sized advertisers to connect with Spotify listeners and create budget-friendly, customized audio ads for the platform. In April, it had expanded to 18 more markets and exited the beta version.

Spotify Push into Video Ads can increase brand awareness and brand recall. 

Spotify said that often users on other platforms prefer viewing video ads muted, however, Spotify listeners are’ engaging with their sounds on.’ Complimenting their audio ad offering, video ads will give brands a visual storytelling opportunity for the in-focus moments.

The streaming giant further notes that running video ads with audio produces higher brand results than going solely for video ads. Video ads with sound-on lead to 1.9x ad recall and 2.2x increase in brand awareness, according to the company data.

 The company said in a statement,

“Unlike many other platforms, on Spotify, listeners are already engaging with their sound on, offering a valuable opportunity for a brand’s message to be seen and heard. This multisensory experience can extend a brand’s audio ad strategy, providing another touchpoint to capture listeners’ attention and share messages across all relevant moments.”

Rise in advertisers using Spotify Ad Studio’s creative perk 

Ad studio that is available in 22 countries globally has leveled up the playing field in creative production by offering a free service to generate a brand’s ad spot. Advertiser on Spotify’s Ad Studio can upload a script and in as little as one hour (48 hours in some cases) they will deliver a fully produced ad that includes music and voice over.

The company said that 37% of Ad Studio customers rely on their free voiceover tool for ad creation. Additionally, 50% of its advertisers used this tool in May, which is an 11% rise from March. 

Ad Studio offers two options of ad format for video ads- horizontal video and vertical video. Horizontal video can run across all platforms and vertical video is optimized for iOS and Android.

Why should brands advertise on Spotify?

The company reported recently that it has 286 million active users and 130 million paid subscribers. Spotify is the third-largest advertiser in the world after Facebook and Google.

Spotify  Ad Studio enables brands to reach targeted and relevant customers. Their programmatic audio advertising is the best way to reach Gen X and beyond.

If you think ads may annoy the listeners of Spotify, think again. Statistics by Acquisio states, 75% of digital audio listeners think commercials are totally fine on a free streaming service. 47% think ads are even less intrusive on Spotify than traditional radio.

For instance, brands targeting the hip audience that are interested in current trends can consider advertising on Spotify. Advertisers can take advantage of the Spotify data of logged users like moods, preferences, listening habits, interests, and activities. This will help brands to create customized ads.

Learn more: Spotify Adds $1.7B To Market Cap In 23 Min Post A Deal With Joe Rogan, World’s Leading Podcaster.

Amazon.sa is about to Replace Souq in Saudi Arabia

Highlights:

• Amazon.sa has been launched in Saudi Arabia replacing Souq.
• The eCommerce giant is operating three fulfillment centers and 11 delivery stations with a workforce of more than 1400 across Saudi Arabia.
• All existing Souq customer credentials, wish lists, delivery addresses, payment methods, and customer support queries have been converted to new Amazon.sa accounts.
• In the wake of the pandemic, eCommerce is booming in the Middle East and this online store brings Souk’s local know-how and Amazon’s global experience.

 

Amazon and Souq announced the launch of Amazon.sa in Saudi Arabia to replace Souq.com. This move came after a year after Amazon rebranded Souq to Amazon.ae in the UAE and 3 years after the e-commerce platform was acquired by Amazon in a deal worth $580 million (Dh 2.13billion).

Ronaldo Mouchawar, founder of Souq and now the Vice President of Amazon in the Middle East and North Africa commented on the launch, said,

“Today marks a key milestone … with Amazon.sa, we want to provide what customers have been asking us for the ability to shop a broader selection of both local products and international goods from Amazon.”

He further added,

“Partnering closely with our local and global sellers, we will continue to delight customers in Saudi Arabia by growing our product range while ensuring great prices, fast delivery, and a convenient and trusted shopping experience.”

Shoppers in Saudi can enjoy free next day deliveries on orders above Saudi Riyals 200(Dh196) or can opt for paid same-day delivery to the selected areas of the kingdom. However, Amazon Prime is not yet available on amazon.sa yet. Customers will be able to shop in Arabic or English on both the Amazon shopping app and website.

Shoppers can search for products and pay in local currency or credit/debit cards or opt for cash-on-delivery options and make installment payments from select Saudi banks.

Rafid bin Amin Fatani, Amazon’s head of public policy in Africa and the Middle East said,

“As we launch today, thousands of Saudi businesses use Amazon.sa to reach their customers and we look forward to growing this number further in the coming years.”

Expansion on cards

The Saudi eCommerce market is growing rapidly and is anticipated to surpass US$ 25 Billion by the end of the year 2026.  Amazon is building a local logistics and operations network spreading across the kingdom. The company announced a new 226,00 square-foot Jeddah facility and Saudi women will make up approximately 40% of the workforce.

This partnership will encourage Saudi consumers to move further towards digital payments. Ziyad bin Bandar Al-Yousef, managing director of Saudi Payments said,

“This new partnership with Amazon will only serve to strengthen the kingdom’s digital transformation in the payments sector.”

Learn more: Adimo Joins Forces With FutureTech, To Create A True Commerce

LiveIntent and Rubicon Project Invest on a Non-Cookie Based Identifier

LiveIntent and Rubicon Project have agreed to help publishers and media to do business on a non-cookie-based identifier.

The idea is to bring the Liveintent Authenticated Bridge framework to the header to help marketers and publishers reap the benefits of the ecosystem. The framework will be delivered via the bidstream of the Rubicon Project. The Liveintent Authenticated Bridge – a unique, privacy-safe identifier known as nonID will connect advertisers to publishers using hashed email addresses – to support media buying and selling without dependence on third-party cookies.

The key to Liveintent’s addressability framework, Authenticated Bridge for publishers and marketers is powered by email. Additionally, it allows media traders to understand the primary email associated with the particular browser or device by connecting it to the first-party data signals.

Prior to the pandemic and civil rights protests, ad tech 2020 was looking for options to replace cookies after the largest internet browser Google Chrome announced a gradual phase-out of tech by 2022.

Google is yet to implement the planned updates like other web browsers. The market share of Google Chrome is almost 50% of all installed internet browsers which means it can have a huge impact on the industry and can lead to a closedown of many independent ad tech players.

In the interim, efforts are made to find a way forward for the $130 billion industry where online technologies are being monitored by privacy regulators. Liveintent powers marketing and advertising technology that is cross-device and cross-browser compatible and does not require the use of third-party cookies. CEO Matt Keiser described Authenticated Bridge solution as nonID which means open to all – anyone can adopt it. Liveintent works with around 2000 publishers and 1000 advertisers.

As reported in Adweek, Matt Keiser said,

So, we haven’t made it something you need to sign a contract in order to adopt. Additionally, our ID is 1:1 with an email address.

This means the days of closed solutions are over for publishers and brands as Liveintent does not encrypt its identifier per user, unlike other proprietary solutions. Publishers had to struggle to monetize the web traffic when Apple and Mozilla restricted third-party cookies. This is where the Bridge solution can help to offset such issues. Liveintent’s first-party solution is powered by its Identity Graph whose insights are directly connected with validated and active emails.

CEO Matt Keiser said,

This framework works with established vendors’ proprietary IDs but is also pen to any publisher or brand that has their own email data. LiveIntent and Rubicon Project believe in the power of open source technology and have built solutions designed for easy integration and adoption, all while adhering to data compliance.

Garrett McGrath, Vice President of Product Management, at Rubicon Project said,

We continue to work with industry partners to develop community-driven identity solutions that simplify and enhance the advertising experience for publishers, advertisers and consumers, all the while respecting data privacy. LiveIntent’s Authenticated Bridge framework provides an identity solution that is reliable, transparent, and streamlined.

He further added,

In addition to helping publishers make their inventory more accessible and useful to advertisers, people-based identifiers improve the end user’s digital media experience.

Meanwhile, many independent players like AT&T, Live Ramp, and the Trade Desk have built different IDs in the replacement of cookies and are eager to offer their offerings. Google has also built its own ID tech and solutions under Privacy Sandbox but the industry is calling for governance with rising concerns of continued dominance from the duopoly Google and Facebook.

Twitter Tests New Feature to Limit Sharing of Unread Articles

• Twitter announced that it will test a new feature that will prompt to encourage users to read an article before sharing.
  

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• The new feature will only appear for U.S based Android devices for now.
  

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• As per the Twitter Support team, the platform will only check if the user has clicked the article link on Twitter and not anywhere else on the internet.
  

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• Twitter aims to empower healthy and informed public discussions with this new feature.
  

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Twitter to experiment with a new feature that prompts users to read articles before sharing, is the latest effort to curb the spread of misinformation on the platform. 

Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you Tweet it.

To help promote informed discussion, we're testing a new prompt on Android –– when you Retweet an article that you haven't opened on Twitter, we may ask if you'd like to open it first.

— Support (@Support) June 10, 2020

Twitter product lead Kayvon Beykpour commented upon the announcement of the feature testing,

“It’s easy for links articles to go viral on Twitter. This can be powerful but sometimes dangerous, especially if people haven’t read the content they’re spreading. This feature (on Android for now) encourages people to read a linked article prior to retweeting it.”

This Is An Old Ongoing Problem

The problem of users sharing news based on headlines is not new. A 2016 study from computer scientists at Columbia University and Microsoft found that 59% – nearly two-thirds of links posted on Twitter by users are shared without opening the articles.

During the pandemic, the social media giant has issued many misinformation warnings to curb the spread of any fake news -that includes one against the U.S President Donald Trump. This move led to Trump issuing executive orders targeting social media companies.

Will It Impact The Bots?

Twitter has tried many times before to spot the spread of misinformation. Like Facebook and other social media platforms, it has come scrutiny for the content it promotes.

Twitter’s solution is not banning retweets but tries to nudge the users to rethink their actions on the social network. Recently, in May it launched a feature that allowed users to limit who can reply to their tweets. It also rolled out another feature to hide specific replies to tweets.

However, the main problem is  ‘bots’. According to a paper published in AAAI, “Increasing evidence suggests that a growing amount of social media content is generated by autonomous entities known as social bots.” 

For instance, recently, new research reported that roughly half of the twitter accounts that discussed ‘Reopen America’ were bots. The AAAI paper also estimated that between 9%-15% of active Twitter accounts exhibit social bots behavior – nearly 49.5 million of its 330 million users. This new feature will impact the bots and might make it difficult to retweet any content.

Snapchat’s New Feature ‘Snap Minis’ Will Be the Next Hot Thing in the Market

Snap introduced an array of new products and partnerships for Snapchat including original shows, Minis, new lenses, new navigation bars, and games at the 2020 Snap Partner Summit.

The highlight of the event was Minis – a suite of miniature apps developed by third parties that will run inside Snapchat. This will be integrated into the Snapchat chat window that would allow users to buy movie tickets, shop with friends or meditate.

In an interview with The Verge, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said,

“Let’s say you’re getting ready with your friends, or your school dance is two weeks from now — you can actually shop together with your friends, which I think could be a really fun experience.”

What Snap Announced:

-Minis are web-based apps built on HTML-5 for Android and iOS.

-Minis will start rolling out next month on Snapchat with the first seven minis.

-A mini-app by Coachella to coordinate and plan a festival line up with the friends.

-A mini version of Headspace to meditate and send encouraging messages to friends.

-A mini-app by Tembo to create flashcards for studying,

-A mini-app by Atom to buy movie tickets, pick seats, and choose timings.

Why They Matter:

– The inclusion of mini-apps will increase Snapchat’s functionality and potentially making it a one-stop app like WeChat for GenZ.

– The main purpose behind creating minis is creating eCommerce avenues as its main competitor WhatsApp has already ventured into digital payments and shopping.

– The company’s growth is stable in the messaging space but is not big enough to compete with the likes of Facebook and Google for ad revenues in the long term.

– As a result, it plans to build an ecosystem that revolves around its camera technology to unlock new revenue generation options.

What’s New For Brands:

– Brands especially looking to target the younger audience should consider developing a Snap Mini to provide services and ensure easy accessibility to Snapchat users.

– It is easy to maintain a mini-app than a full-size app as brands can leverage the Snapchat’s user base to gain traction.

By The Numbers:

– These miniatures applications are compared to WeChat’s mini-programs that generated $113 billion for Tencent last year, according to The Verge.

– Snap execs revealed that it reached over 229 million daily active users on average in the first quarter of this year, with over 100 million in the U.S. alone. (That’s larger than TikTok or Twitter’s U.S. footprint.)

And, there’s lots more from the 2020 Snap Partner Summit:

1. Camera Kit: It allows developers to bring Snapchat’s AR capabilities and engagement into their own apps that enable apps like Squad to create a co-viewing experience while video chatting with friends.

2. Dynamic Lenses: It allows developers to bring real-time information from their app into Snapchat lenses.

3. Bitmoji For Games: A cross-platform avatar for gaming on mobile, PC, or console. This means it is easier for a user to maintain a uniform gaming identity online by using one avatar across all games.

4. Snap Games: An interactive way for friends to play the game on mobile which includes “Bitmoji Party.”

5. Lens Studio: A free and new desktop feature that allows developers to bring their machine learning models to power lenses. For the first  SnapML creations, the company partnered with Prisma, Wannaby, and others.

6. Local Lenses: A new feature that allows users to create  3D worlds on top of their building and or decorate nearby buildings with colorful paints and have a new AR experience.

7. Scans: Snap expanded its scan platform and announced new partners for plants, dogs, and nutrition information. Plant Snap will help the user identify 90% of all known plants and trees. Dog Scanner to identify 400 breeds, Yuka will launch a nutrition scanner to provide ratings on the quality of ingredients in the packaged foods and Louis Vuitton will help users scan the monogram to be transported into the inspiration behind their latest collection.

8. Voice Scan: It allows users to issue voice commands to find lenses.

How Email Marketing Will Help Your Business Grow in 2020

Does Email marketing still exist in times of social media, artificial intelligence, chatbots, videos? A thought to ponder.

If you feel email marketing has lost its charm, then you are far away from the truth.

The truth is, email marketing is growing and email campaigns are still the best strategy for brands and businesses.

Here it is, Why?

 

As per data by Statista(2020), In 2019, the email users were 3.9 billion users and are expected to grow to 4.3 billion users in 2023, which is half of the world’s population. This clearly shows email marketing is an opportunity that should not be missed.

The above infographic on Email Marketing Stats 2020 provides facts and figures about the email market which is still robust and one of the best marketing strategies.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is more effective than SEO, affiliate marketing, or social media because it has a direct line with the audiences. It helps you connect with your leads, nurture them, and convert them into customers.

However, with the growing fervor of TikTok Facebook, Snapchat, will this old school tactic still work?

Emails have a better reach than social media and converting a prospect into a buyer. This shows email leading social media. Email is 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined. (McKinsey)

A third of customers who have subscribed to the retailer’s newspaper is a direct result of email marketing messages. (E-marketer) 

These numbers are nice to know but you are still wondering, how are email marketing campaigns important in 2020?

Well, that’s what the next chapter is all about.

How Is Email Marketing Important In 2020?

With the booming popularity of social media and search, the importance of free emails in email marketing is higher than ever.

Let us comprehend the value of email marketing in 2020.

1. Everyone uses Emails: 

Young people use email for several things – social media and personal expenses, mailing lists, and brand promotion or business. So, everyone has a valid email address.

2. Emails are easy to design and create:

An attractive and eye-catching email campaign for a small business budget with a reputed email marketing service provider can create wonders and similar to big brands.

After finishing designing the newsletter or free emails, businesses can quickly start to use email campaigns for promotion.

3. Email marketing  links all other channels

Email campaigns are a direct line of communication with the audience and a suitable way to promote marketing strategies.

Social Media

Most email service providers have footers with social media icons at the bottom that includes links to LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Subscribers can access those links and share the campaigns by clicking on it. Also, brands can share the reviews, posts on the social feed so subscribers can connect with the brands online.

For instance, the example of Urban Outfitters is a visually appealing email that highlights their most-liked Instagram posts. Also, note the share buttons at the bottom of the email.

Content Marketing

77% of people prefer to get permission-based promotional messages via email campaigns. To start with, first, a sizable email list is to be prepared. There are several ways to do this like giving something away for free or offering a newsletter update, videos, research report, infographic, or valuable content.

Make good use of content with interesting pictures and custom RSS feeds. For instance, the US outdoors always include interesting content in their email campaigns.

Webinars: 

Brands can promote webinars on emails to their subscribers who are genuinely interested to hear and respond.

Performance Analysis

Email service provides information on how to improve future email campaigns and learn about subscribers. However, this will be a paid service. 

Analytics aids in keeping a  track of active and engaged subscribers and identifying trends as well as new markets. This data can help in retargeting campaigns and use marketing resources in the right way.

Capitalizing On The Data Collection:

Email marketing is one of the most scrutinized marketing methods in the post GDPR world. 78% of people say they are likely to trust companies with their personal data if they use it to personalize their experience through different channels like emails.

Emails give access to understand subscribers’ behavior and learn about their habits and interests to create customized email campaigns. Personalized email campaigns can be created by conducting surveys to collect quality data from active subscribers.

4. Encourage more subscriber participation:

Marketers gain the trust of the subscribers when they encourage more participation from them and let them control their inbox.  Put a preference center link at the bottom of the email campaigns and prompt new subscribers to fill it.

A preference center allows the subscribers to tell the brands on how often they want to be emailed and what type of content they prefer. Below is an example of a preference center by Brooks Running. 

5. Stay updated with automation and technology

Email service providers always give access to the latest automated features to give an enriching experience to the audience in the following areas:

-Segmentation

-Post-sales communication

-Re-engagement

-A/B Testings

Best Email Marketing Campaigns 

With in-depth details on the importance of Email marketing, in the next chapter, we will see the best email marketing campaign examples.

1. BuzzFeed 

Email Marketing Campaign: “Buzzfeed Today” Newsletter

Newsletters are Buzzfeed’s top sources of traffic. Buzzfeed has amazing, punchy, and short subject lines. They have awesome preview text that compels the reader to open the email.

If their subject line is a command, the preview text is the logical elaboration of the subject line.

Their newsletters are from politics and daily news to DIY and cooking. They cover different audiences as they know exactly what to recommend to whom because of their email segmentation.

2. Amarso

Email marketing- another way to approach the cart abandonment.

If your product is enticing then put it at the center of your email marketing campaign directed at the customers who shopped but didn’t purchase. In this two-step email marketing campaign, Amarso is doing the same thing.

The 1st image is sent to the shoppers after an hour of shopping for those products whereas the 2nd image is a reminder of Amarso’s amazing products seen a few days back.

 

3. Airbnb 

Short, Crisp and Communicative Feedback Survey in their Email Campaign

 Their email campaign is short, crisp, fresh, and minimalist with a clear objective. Their emails are straight to the point and with a clear CTA. The email campaign looks good and engaging. In every email, you will get guides to different cities.

 

Email Marketing Platforms or Email Service Providers (ESPs)

There are many email marketing platforms but obviously, there is no single ‘best email service provider’. The best option depends on the objectives, goals, features, and list size of the marketers.

In this chapter, I am reviewing five of the top Email Service Providers. The features, pricing, pros, and cons of each email marketing platform are highlighted to help the marketer choose the best option for you.

 

1. Mail Chimp

 

Features

-It is the most popular and leading email marketing platform.

-It has an excellent dashboard with prebuilt templates, reports, lists, and more.

-There is email automation, better integration, optimization, and analytics.

Pricing

-A forever free plan allows 12,000 mails every month to 2000 subscribers.

-There are 3 packages based on features and the number of subscribers.

-Essentials for $9.99, standard for%14.99, and Premium for $299 are email marketing plans.

Know more about pricing

Pros

-It is best for small and medium-sized businesses at an affordable cost.

– It can handle large volumes of emails.

-The messages can be sent to email clients as well as for promotion on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.

-It has easy to use WYSIWYG editors and can access reports on the open rates clicks, spammed, unsubscription.

-It has friendly customer service and excellent email analytics.

-It helps you to customize the tools for your business with over 300 integrations.

Cons

-The regular updates and reconfiguration disrupt the entire working system as users have to understand and adapt to the new changes.

-Apart from the chat function, phone support is not provided. 

-The individual addition of email contacts is cumbersome and has limited segmentation features.

-Emails sent via Mailchimp often goes to the promotion tab of Gmail or spam at times.

2. Mailjet

 

Features

-It has the best real-time dashboard and is preloaded with free responsive email templates and newsletters

-There are advanced reporting features like to track deliveries and know user actions.

Pricing

It has a free email marketing trial for 30 days for 6000 emails a month and 200 emails a day. There are 3 Packages like Basic, Premium, and Enterprise plans for each month. 

Free email marketing trial for 30 days for 6000 emails a month and 200 emails a day.

Know more about pricing here! 

Pros

– The dashboard is incredibly innate and the drag and drop editor option allows users to create different email templates. 

– It provides a report that shows usual data including bounces, clicks, and so on.

-It is Reasonable and economical pricing compared to the competitors.

-It’s an all in one platform to send, track, and deliver marketing and transactional emails without any additional cost.

Cons:

-There are limited designs for email templates and cannot store images.

-Unsubscribing inactive users from the list is tiresome using Mailjet’s removal interface.

-The segmentation options are limited. Eg. One can run a campaign but cannot set conditions like whether a recipient has/unopened/bought the product.

3. Active Campaign

 

Features

– It has an intuitive email template builder and advanced marketing automation

-It has features like segmentation, machine learning, CRM and sales 

-It has the best campaign tracking, free image hosting, email funnels, and autoresponders. 

Pricing:

There are no free plans available but an email marketing test run can be done for 14 days. Active’s pricing packages are affected by two factors: contacts and features. It has 4 packages available – Lite for $9, Plus for $49, Professional for $129, and Enterprise for $229.

Know more about pricing

Pros:

-The dashboard shows the full history of your contacts and gives access to real-time reports that features display tracking of essentials like geolocation, clicks, opened rates, unsubscription details.

-It has great integrations with other tools like Facebook Ads, Gmail suite, websites, and more.

-The Lead scoring helps to prioritize accounts for the sales team and has dynamic content.

 -It offers a free migration service. Unlike other tools, Active Campaign doesn’t charge you to move data from one email marketing tool to another.

Cons:

– The pricing isn’t the lowest but it is worth the value.

– The layout is not user friendly and many good features cannot be accessed seamlessly by the users.

– It becomes difficult to handle large volumes of emails.

4. Klaviyo

Features

–It helps e-commerce marketers to build, measure, and optimize email campaigns.

-It has a hassle-free dashboard that showcases all the recent campaigns based on revenue, days, and more.

-The segmentation of the platform is excellent based on the behavior and transactional data.

-Start your campaigns with pre-built email templates that can be customized.

– Use an autoresponder to send automatic emails to the audience.

Pricing

It offers a free trial of up to 250 contacts and can send 500 emails. The plans are devised based on the number of contacts. Pricing increases with the number of contacts- the maximum pricing option is up to $1700 per month for up to 146,00 contacts and a minimum of $25 for 500 contacts.

Know more about pricing 

Pros

-It is easy to set up and user friendly.

-Enhance the eCommerce business on integration with Shopify.

-Create Personalized product recommendations for post-sale engagement.

-Visually transform email workflows and sign up forms to collect leads.

-Access to marketing automation to follow up with customers after they abandon a purchase.

-Integrate with the Facebook custom audience and create a comprehensive marketing campaign.

Cons

– The pricing is aggressive and high for smaller businesses.

– For beginners, the interface can be challenging initially.

– Limited customer chat support and no phone support.

-It can be difficult to use while integrating with Magneto and checking analytical information.

5. Gmail

 

Features:

-Everyone’s favorite Email marketing tool.

-A free, advertising-supported email service offered by Google.

-It’s a part of Google G Suite with 15 GB storage, color-coded inbox, and filters.

-Appropriate for all types of businesses.

-GMass extension can be used to send personalized and mass emails to every email address in the Gmail account.

Pricing:

It is a free service.

Pros:

-It is free, stable and fast

-It provides 99.9% spam and virus protection.

-It has Integration with the whole Google suite.

-Secured web platform and can be customized to an extent keeping it clean and simple.

-Integrated with Hangout that helps to directly reach the customers via call or chat.

-Excellent handling of large attachments and volumes of emails.

-A business email address can be used by logging into a Gmail account.

Cons:

-It might not work easily with a few desktop software or enterprise applications.

– There is no backup of emails in the inbox.

-It is connected to Google Drive storage, therefore, if it is full then it creates problems in receiving emails.

-Many client emails get sent to spams.

-It collects mail from the hosting server and will not collect email quickly.

Why do many use Gmail for email marketing?

• It has spam filters that reduce the risk of domain spoofing, phishing, and other malevolent practices.
• It has great features and saves time in searching for mails and referencing old mails.
• Gmail users are highly engaged which is the key point in email marketing.

How to use Gmail to send a newsletter?

GMass turns your regular Gmail account into a powerful email marketing platform. Without GMass, Google’s platform allows you to send email marketing campaigns to limited people in your G-suite. 

Using GMass helps you send emails through the world’s highest delivering servers and gives the highest open rates. It also includes features like 

GMass provides access to following email marketing features to your Google or Gmail account:

-Open tracking,

-Click tracking, 

-Mail merge 

-Message Personalization, 

– Mass emails or bulk email service

-Scheduling.

-Create a mailing list

Best Practices To Follow For Email Marketing

 

Wrapping Up

 The importance of email marketing has grown over the years. With all the insights provided in the article, here are a few takeaway points:

-Email is easy to integrate digital marketing campaigns.

-Email marketing gives a scope to build personal relationships with users.

-Email marketing is constantly evolving implies that email marketing strategies should also change with time.

-Technological innovation continues to improve email marketing and the way subscribers are engaging with emails is also changing,

-This proves that email marketing is here to stay and email marketing automation is the new trend that is catching up. Time to up the game and think about the new techniques and strategies for your next campaign.

Learn more: Facebook Is All Set To Launch Its Toolkit For “Email Marketing”.

Twitter Introduces Fleets – The 24-Hour Disappearing Posts

• After its first launch in Brazil in March, followed by Italy in April, Twitter has rolled out its version of Stories’Fleets’  for users to post ephemeral content in India.
  

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• Fleets are self-deleting tweets which will disappear after 24 hours without likes, retweets or replies. People can only react with DMs to the Fleets.
  

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Nearly, 7 years ago Snapchat introduced a feature ‘Stories’ to their platform that enabled users to share content with friends and followers that would disappear after 24 hours. Soon, a  similar feature was added to Instagram and WhatsApp as Stories and Status respectively by Facebook.

Now, its Twitter’s turn.

How does it matter

India is the 8th largest market for Twitter based on usage and has around 13 million users. Twitter users in India can now have access to the feature ‘Fleets’ and in the coming days, it will be available on iOS and Apple. 

Namaste! Starting today, Fleets are coming to India. If you’re in India, check it out and let us know what you think! #FleetsFeedback 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/U6QiHynm1U

— Kayvon Beykpour (@kayvz) June 9, 2020

Testing, testing…
We’re testing a way for you to think out loud without the Likes, Retweets, or replies, called Fleets! Best part? They disappear after 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/r14VWUoF6p

— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) June 9, 2020

Twitter is taking a staged approach similar to LinkedIn who rolled out its Stories feature in the UAE market, after the launch in Brazil and Netherlands.

Why, so important

The company said in a statement,

“We learned from research that people don’t Tweet because Tweets are public, feel permanent, and display the number of Retweets and Likes. We hope Fleets will empower many more people to express themselves more freely.”

By far the feedback received is optimistic and following are Twitter findings from the launch of Fleets in the two markets: 

• Fleets make it easier for people to share thoughts.
• People are finding Twitter Fleets simpler to start convos and the number of tweets/DM is also increasing.
• People are expressing their thoughts freely after using Twitter Fleet. 
• Though it is early to say, only a small percentage of abuse is reported each day after using Twitter Fleets. This was a key point that Twitter was looking to focus to make the platform toxic-free that had become a part and parcel over time.

 

How does it work:

“Fleets are fast and familiar. People can tap on their own avatar to start, add text or media, and hit send. That’s it, that’s how one Fleets.”

Fleets, as seen in the images are similar to Stories that appear at the top of users’ Twitter home feed. Users can choose to make a post in a text (still 280 characters) or photos, GIF’s or videos. Users can tap on someone’s avatar to see what the person has posted which will eventually disappear after 24 hours.

Although Fleets doesn’t have additional visual presentation tools and AR functionality at this stage like most other Stories options but Twitter will gradually develop on this front as it had acquired Chrome Labs,  a company focused on Advanced Stories presentation.

Lastly, Twitter Fleets is still in experiment mode and with access to more than 30 million users for a test pool, it could be the starting point for the global rollout.

So be ready with your Twitter Fleets strategy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Influencers Share Their Secret to Earning Big Bucks on Social Media

Key Insights

• Affiliate marketing and paid advertising are one of the top revenue sources but the real bread and butter of influencer income is brand sponsorships reveals a survey of 69 digital stars by Influencer.co
• The survey results were gathered at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic that has changed the consumer and digital landscape.
• The result highlighted that influencers have diversified income sources and can help them earn even in an economic downturn.

 

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

– Napoleon Hill

 

Making a living out of online business is a dream that is now achievable. For many, it is a dream turned reality but with a fair share of struggles. A survey of 69 influencers conducted earlier this year by influencer platform Influence.co highlighted myriad ways available for creators to make big money in 2020.

The results gathered before the pandemic outbreak reveals Brand sponsorship as the top moneymaker with 78% of creators calling it the main source of income. 58% of creators highlight paid advertising like YouTube AdSense also amongst the top three sources of income. However, this category has been dropped off recently as advertiser demand has run down due to the pandemic.

However, influencers have leaned on alternate revenue streams and moved away from sponsored posts as brands have paused/postponed influencer campaigns in 2020. 41% of survey respondents have named commission-based revenue as a key income driver followed by affiliate marketing (39%). Respondents also pointed to physical merchandise (26%)  as one of the top income sources.

These are income sources where influencers are paid a fee for e-commerce sales that they drive from their social accounts. 

Below is the breakdown of income sources that is listed by influencers as primary revenue sources in the survey.

1. Brand Sponsorships (78%)

78% of influencers surveyed listed brand sponsorships as a primary source of income.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYwIRyWgHqY/?utm_source=ig_embed

H&M has the largest followings as women reflect H&M style all by themselves as a part of the influencer campaign. H&M partnered for its fall 2017 collection with two influencers -fashion blogger Julie Sariñana and model Ela Velden. Sariñana promoted the clothes on her own Instagram account as she loved them.

Brand sponsorships are mostly sponsored posts on social platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. The most reliable way of making money and the main source of income has taken a hit in the last few months mainly because:

• Advertisers have trimmed their budget to save costs.
• Brands are facing economic headwinds caused by the pandemic.

As reported by Business Insider, the frequency of sponsored posts has dropped down on Instagram and 22% of creators have lowered their rates due to slow demand. 

As this category is affected by the economic downturn, brands are partnering with influencers to conduct live streaming as consumers at-home interest in real-time videos have spiked.

2. Paid Ads (58%)

The second-highest source of income listed by influencers in the survey with 58%.

 

Influencers can directly earn through ads that play in their videos across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Instagram says that Live creators have seen a 70% increase in video views during the pandemic. It now prepares to launch new tools that enable video creators to earn money that includes badges that viewers can purchase during Live Instagram videos and the introduction of IGTV ads. 

YouTube’s Partner Program allows influencers to earn money by placing ad breaks within the content on their channel. Ad revenue earned directly through Google placed ads is the main source of revenue and the rate YouTube pays creators depends on factors like video watch time. And viewer demographics. And if a video climbs millions of views then creators receive a big check from YouTube.

For instance, YouTube creator Groth told Business Insider that normally his channel earns $9 and $12 for every 1,000 views. BI also reported that YouTube creators earned from $3600 to $40,000 off a video with 1 million views.

3. Commissions (41%) and affiliate marketing (39%)

Affiliate marketing has been a popular source of income for influencers and 41% of influencers surveyed pointed out commission on sales as a top source of income.

Another popular revenue source for influencers.- fashion and lifestyle influencers on Instagram, Tech reviewers on YouTube, and media publishers like The New York Times that generates affiliate income on its review site, The Wirecutter.com

In this type of arrangement, creators can earn a commission on sales made through a promotional code and affiliate marketing where they promote products with a trackable link. 

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZQolWBB5Eu/?utm_source=ig_embed

 

In March 2020, the category saw a rise in revenue as many companies shifted their focus to e-commerce sales due to lockdown policies whereas April was a mixed bag as some brands like Walmart, Victoria Secret suspended their services.

4. Event Appearances (29%)

Event Appearances and Speaking engagements are big revenue streams for some YouTube creators who have diversified their businesses.

A recent college grad and YouTube creator Ruby Asabor (170,000 subscribers) have presented for events of universities like NYU and Rutgers in the US. She is a motivational speaker and recently many events and tours have been canceled owing to the pandemic. She explains in her video how the business has changed due to coronavirus and events are postponed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlG26M1a2gk

5. Physical- Merchandise sales (26%)

26% of the influencers points out physical merchandise sales as a source of revenue. The ‘merch’ trend has picked up in recent years. While some have built online direct sales to consumers and others have partnered with retailers like Walmart and others.

Blippi is a popular YouTube star who makes educational videos and has more than 21 million subscribers. The man behind the creation is Stevin John. Recently, Jazwares LLC which makes toys has created a line of items “My Buddy Blippi” which includes figures, plush toys, and toy vehicles. It aims at helping children count or learn colors by putting accessories inside numbered or colored boxes. The products will be released through Walmart and Amazon.

The North Start for the toy industry is Ryan Kaji, an 8-year-old who is the face of YouTube channel ‘Ryan’s World.’ According to Pocket. Watch, retail sales for Ryan-branded products had hit $200 million in 2019.  

6. Digital Product Sales (16%):

Fitness influencers on Instagram and YouTube witnessed a spike in engagement and direct-to-consumer sales due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Many fitness influencers sell fitness digital membership programs in the form of app or classes or websites. For instance, Rachel Brathen, aka Yoga Girl, is a Swedish yoga teacher and a New York Times’ best-selling author. She leverages her Instagram account to preach and encourages yoga lifestyle and sell classes from anywhere in the world.

As reported by Business Insider, a fashion stylist, and influencer, Audree Kate Lopez has nearly 30,000 followers and conducts an online course Fashion Fundamentals for college students.

7. Followers donations(6%)

Many influencers receive donations or gifts via live streaming through membership platforms and social media platforms respectively. Take a look:

• Influencers receive donations from followers through Patreon or Buy me Coffee.
• TikTok, Twitch also has features to donate to influencers in real-time.
• In April, Facebook announced the rollout of its star monetization program, where fans can send virtual stars to a live-streaming creator worth $0.01 each.
• YouTube content company launched the “FBE Super” Membership program using Patreon’s Memberful platform. It offers three paid tiers for fans to contribute either $5,$10, or $15 a month to receive exclusive live streams, discounts, or an opportunity to be cast in episodes.

 

Read more: 26 Stellar Video (YouTube) Advertising Examples To Take Creative Inspiration From!

An Open Letter by U.K Advertising Agencies Demand Diversity and Action!

Key Insights:

• Responding to George Floyd’s death, more than 200 advertising agencies pledged to support black talent.
• Advertising trade bodies and bosses assure to take action on inequality and maintain inclusive cultures that are sensitive to the matters of racism and injustice.

 

Protests continue to take place in the U.S and worldwide after the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis last week.

The latest

After various brands condemn racism and voice their support for protestors, now UK bosses from big advertising agencies have signed an open letter expressing solidarity and support with the black community, committed to doing more within the digital advertising industry, and take action on inequality.

The signed letter is coordinated by Creative Equals, a body dedicated to promoting diversity in the workplace involves 200 U.K advertising bosses.

The bigger picture

Chief executives from WPP, Publicis Groupe, IPA, Facebook, GroupM, Havas, and more have come together and pledged to tackle ‘systemic inequality’ within the digital industry and championing black talent.

According to the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) report, U.K agencies along with British businesses have a diversity problem. It shows 4.7% represented Black, Asian, and minority ethnic—a grouping commonly known as BAME in the U.K. That was down from 5.5% in 2018.

The number of employees has dropped from 13.8% to 13.7% year-on-year. However, there was an uptick in the number of BAME chairpeople, chief executives, and managing directors, up from 2.9% to 4.1%.

The open letter addresses these numbers and says,” We need to drive equity in our organizations, the people we hire, the work we produce, and how we engage with clients.”

A commitment to change

As a part of the pledge, the IAB and its members ask the industry leaders to commit to change and action in their support to black talent and communities by holding themselves accountable in 10 following ways:

• Making representation and inclusivity a core part with clear KPI’s and objectives.
• Speaking out and taking action against racism using the company channels.
• Enable employees to understand their privilege as well as white privilege.
• Call out racism when encountered.
• Create safe and inclusive spaces for frank racism discussions.
• Checking with black employees at this traumatic time.
• Commit to elevate and amplify black talent, promote champions, and celebrate black employees.
• Ensuring their advertising isn’t funding white supremacy or racist content.

 

What are they saying

Some key points from the letter explained by UK ad executives :

“While the brutality has brought widespread shock, the direct effect of this injustice and violence on people of colour in our industry cannot be underestimated.”

“As inequality is so ingrained within the fabric of society and our sector, this is a problem we need to take action on together to affect change. We can all self-educate. We can all challenge our prejudices and those of others. We are all able to prioritise diversity, equity, and inclusion at this critical time.”

The letter ends saying

“Today, we say George Floyd’s name and stand with all black talent in our industry.”

Read the full content of the letter here:

Need for the real change

This week several brands expressed their support to black communities. Although Nike, Ben & Jerry’s, and Netflix have lent their support to the Black Lives Matter movement, it is important to see solidarity translate into action for a meaningful impact especially in the digital advertising industry where it has fallen short in the workforce diversity.

The founder of 56 Black Men, Cephan Williams agrees that the brand holds higher influencing power to enact change. Now neither it’s time to remain silent nor jump the bandwagon but take action.

Awin pledges to do more for the black community and fight racial injustice. It said in a statement,

“We recognize our actions need to be ongoing and there is always an opportunity to do more. The pain in our communities and for many of our employees is real and the reality is, too many have experienced this pain for far too long. We know we don’t have all of the answers, but we know this: Complacency is not an option and we are stronger together.”

What next

It is important for the leaders to work collectively as an industry to continue conversations, take action, and support talent in improving diversity and inclusion in the sector. Organizations should ensure not to tolerate racism at any cost.