It’s already been a whole month of 2021. We lived a very different holiday season with restrictions due to Covid pandemic, and most of us did all of our holiday shopping online for the first time. Online sales skyrocketed in December 2020, reaching records with over a 30% increase spent. 

This means, digital marketing professionals have to analyse and adjust their strategies to keep up with this fast growing pace. Being up to date with the latest digital marketing news and trends is completely essential. January 2021 has arrived with a lot of interesting updates and we’re here to sum them up for you. 

Digital marketing insights and updates from January 2021

1. Search Marketing Updates

New look and feel for Google Search on mobile devices

Mobile users account for approximately half of world wide web traffic and the number keeps going up. Each year, more people use mobile devices to browse the Internet and, being as user-centered as always, Google is focused on improving their experience as much as possible and launched an update to the design and interface of mobile Search.

The new look is aimed to offer an easier to read interface with a cleaner design. “We wanted to take a step back to simplify a bit so people could find what they’re looking for faster and more easily,” says Google’s designer Aileen Cheng.

There are five aspects that drove the redesign:

• Making information the main character: Google aimed at making the information the center of attention. They want users to get the result they searched for as clearly and quickly as possible by minimizing the elements around it.
• Making the text easier to read: Google decided to change fonts, make the texts larger and bolder. The goal is to make the Search results easier and faster to scan so people can understand them better.
• More space: another change is that results are now shown edge-to-edge with more white space and less shadows to make it less cluttered.
• Highlighting with color: Google decided to use color intentionally to guide the user’s eyesight to what’s important. Contrasting color with clean, white backgrounds helps important information stand out.
• Bubblier design: all of Google’s design is aiming to roundness and they wanted to incorporate this look and feel into the new mobile Search results design interface by rounding edges of icon and images.

Google adds a “price drop” tag to search results

Google made some important changes to its Product Structured Data page that allows search rich results to display price drops. Google uses organised information taken from websites to feed content and display it in the rich results section of search. The purpose of this data is to be eligible to communicate specific information about a web site to be shown in the rich search results.

A product, for example, has “Product Structure Data” that contains information about images, reviews, shipping, price and offers. The new feature Google is implementing is called “Price Drop Appearance”, and tracks the price used for the “Offer” schema structured data within the product.

By tracking this information, Google will add the rich result “Price Drop Appearance” when detecting there’s been a price drop. According to Google this new feature is going to “Help people understand the lowest price for your product. Based on the running historical average of your product’s pricing”.

In order to be eligible for the price drop appearance, you just have to add an Offer to the Product structured data and the price has to be a specific number, not a range.

2. Marketing Tech Updates

Google’s alternative to third-party cookies available Q2 2021

As you surely know by now, Google is eliminating third-party cookies for good very soon. This effort into building a more secure internet experience for users, where privacy comes first, is creating major concerns in the digital marketing world. But Google’s not to leave marketers helpless and is currently developing a series of alternatives for third-party cookies.

This is where the Privacy Sandbox initiative comes in, and Google finally shared some insight on its development. The initial proposal was that Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) would group people with similar interests without identifying them individually:

Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC) proposes a new way for businesses to reach people with relevant content and ads by clustering large groups of people with similar interests. This approach effectively hides individuals “in the crowd” and uses on-device processing to keep a person’s web history private on the browser. – Google Blog

Google is making this third-party cookies alternative available for advertisers to test in Q2 2021. They have been running tests already and state to have very promising results and say “advertisers can expect to see at least 95% of the conversions per dollar spent when compared to cookie-based advertising”.

The solution aims to provide both users, publishers and advertisers a solution that satisfies their needs by making the web a more secure environment that respects privacy over all things. Google has made a available a Whitepaper that outlines the FLoC’s principles if you want to run your own simulations.

Apple rolls out new privacy feature on iOs 14

Apple is riding the wave of an user-privacy oriented internet and it’s rolling out a new initiative with an upcoming iOS14 update. The App Tracking Transparency will require users to give their permission for apps to track their personal data across other apps or websites owned by other companies.

Every app, including the ones from Apple, will be required to ask user’s for their permission to track their activities beyond the use of the app. Users will be able to access their privacy settings at any time, see which apps have requested permission and make changes if they want to.

“Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver’s seat when it comes to your own data,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.

Apps can continue tracking user’s activities as they’ve always done before, they’ll just need to ask for permission now. This iOS14 update will come early spring in March of 2021.

Google might not show teasers in web stories

We all are familiar with stories, maybe too familiar since every social media platform has added its own version: Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn Stories, Fleets on Twitter, Whatsapp Stories and so on. Web Stories are basically the same thing, but shown in the Google Discover Tab of their mobile app.

Marketers and overall publishers have been including them on their marketing mix as additional channel to communicate and engage with their audience. However, Google has detected some “bad practices” and released an article stating that they’ll stop ranking teaser stories.

According to Google, they’ve discovered that users don’t want to see content that teases them and essentially works like ads to redirect them to other content. They say “Readers don’t like to feel forced to click through to a connected blog post to finish reading”.

With this in mind, Google shared a few dos and don’ts for optimizing Web Stories strategies and content. Being kind of a new channel, it’s understandable that we’re still discovering how to really profit from it and these tips might help with that:

• Focus on creating quality content
• Showcase a product and share link to where you can buy them
• Tell a complete story that inspires users to dig a little deeper
• Create the same story that connects to an article about the same topic, but with a different angle
• Don’t tease the audience with uncompleted content they have to click-through to finish

3. Social media updates

Clubhouse: The invite-only new social media everyone is talking about

Clubhouse is a new social media platform where users share audio-only content instead of images or text posts. It was launched in 2020 by Alpha Exploration Co. and valued at $100 millions by December 2020.

BERLIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 26: The invitation-only audio-chat social networking app clubhouse is pictured on a smartphone on January 26, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)

It’s an invite-only platform, which means you can’t join unless an existing user sends you an invitation. The app has audio chat rooms users can join and participate, or create their own. The owner of the virtual room decides who can speak and participants can raise their hand to join the conversation.

The themes of the chat rooms vary from politics, books discussions, comedy shows, debates or simple impromptu conversations. Each person gets one invite when invited by another friend, and after a while you get 3 more. You also have to be an iPhone user, since the app is only available for iOs.

Twitter acquired newsletter platform Revue

Twitter wants to offer writers, publishers and creators new ways to share their content. They have been exploring for monetization means and newsletters have always been a valid option. With this in mind, the social media platform has acquired Revue, a Dutch startup that allows content creators to send and monetize editorial newsletters.

The main goal here is to encourage publishers to keep creating content with the incentive of monetization, while helping audiences connect with their favorite content creators.

Many established writers and publishers have built their brand on Twitter, amassing an audience that’s hungry for the next article or perspective they Tweet. Our goal is to make it easy for them to connect with their subscribers, while also helping readers better discover writers and their content.

Twitter informed that they’ll continue working with Revue as a standalone and make the platform’s pro features free for all users, while lowering the paid newsletter fee to 5%.

LinkedIn launches “LinkedIn Marketing Labs” on-demand courses

LinkedIn has launched a free new learning platform called LinkedIn Marketing Labs. It’s about online, on-demand video courses to teach marketing professionals how to use LinkedIn ad tools. It’s LinkedIn strategy to face the controversial and divided opinions marketers have about the effectiveness of ads within the platform.

The courses cover everything from a basic introduction to LinkedIn Ads, how to target audience, reporting and analytics.

• Introduction to LinkedIn Ads
• Using LinkedIn’s Ad Targeting
• Reporting and Analytics for LinkedIn Ads
• Building a Full-Funnel Content Marketing Strategy on LinkedIn
• Using LinkedIn for Brand Awareness
• Using LinkedIn for Lead Generation

The courses are curated by experts and you can tailor them to fit your own needs. Customer Marketing Manager from LinkedIn, Renee Lowe said that “there’s an art to using LinkedIn advertising tools, but there’s a science behind it as well.” She states that all marketing professionals, regardless of their knowledge of LinkedIn advertising tools, can benefit from the courses.

The courses are already available and users will be directed to the most interesting courses for them, based on the answers of a short form when accessing Marketing Labs.

We’ll keep tracking the most important digital marketing updates and insights every month! In the meantime, you might like:

The Future of Digital Marketing Without 3rd Party Cookies
Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

Primor partnered with Frizbit to implement automated and manual web push notifications into its digital marketing strategy. By integrating this new channel, the Spanish cosmetics giant managed to bring back 16% of subscribers to their website with a 0,02€ cost per session, reaching a 36x return of advertisement investment (ROAS).

In this success story, you’ll learn how Primor managed to retarget anonymous users, outside of the site, without having an app and generate an additional six figures revenue in just one month by using web push notifications campaigns.

Frizbit’s automated web push notification campaigns present hyper-personalisation features that allow brands to deeply engage with their subscribers. Frizbit is client-oriented and focuses all the efforts on helping online businesses to send the most relevant messages as possible, resulting in high customer retention rates.

The implementation of the new channel is done in just one day. Frizbit’s highly qualified team of experts, take care of the integration process via Google Tag Manager. In a manner of hours, Primor started collecting subscribers and generating an additional database without requesting any type of personal information from users.

If you want to learn with more depth how Primor managed this success using web push notifications campaigns, download the Case Study by clicking on the following link:

https://get.frizbit.com/case-studies/primor/

If you want to request a demo with Frizbit, get in touch!

The definitive elimination of third-party cookies is imminent. In less than a two year period, Google will join Safari and Firefox blocking them for good from their Chrome Browser. This means the digital marketing landscape will change dramatically and marketers need to start thinking outside the box and redefine the way they reach their customers. 

Even though third-party cookies blocking it’s not new, the fact that Google is deciding to join other companies, puts the final nail to the coffin. Chrome is the most used web browser in the world. According to data from StatCounter “Chrome holds 64.92% of the global browser market. If we compare that to the number of internet users worldwide, we reach a figure of roughly 2.94 billion Chrome users in 2019”.

How do third-party cookies work?

Third-party cookies are generated by a different website from the one the user is currently visiting, and its data is mainly used for cross-site tracking that allow actions like retargeting ads or contextual display ads. If you think about it, this can easily be interpreted as 3rd party cookies being invasive and represent a very poor reflection of the user, given that they did not actually express any interest in the brand or product they’re being presented with. 

On the other hand we have first-party cookies. These cookies are small bits of information gathered from users from the website they’re visiting at the time. The data stored, like language settings,  allows these website’s owners to enhance user experience on the internet. Their main goal is to recognize each user, remember their preferences and ultimately offer a more personalised navigation. 

Third-party cookies have been around for many years and have shaped the digital marketing world in many ways, helping brands to display ads to a more relevant audience. With their blocking, the biggest concern for marketers is the fear of not being able to reach potential customers, losing revenue and the overall alteration on how they track and retarget users.

Google has announced their intent to replace them with browser-based tools as part of their “Privacy Sandbox” initiative. They claim that “some data practices don’t match up to user expectations for privacy” and aim to build a more private web with this action. 

The Sandbox initiative is a solution that limits the amount of user data exchanged through websites by anonymously aggregating user information and still ensuring that ads shown remain relevant for customers, whilst keeping a lot of data on-device only. 

This initiative is still under development and Google is seeking industry feedback to keep on going. In the meantime and in addition to Google’s solution, since retargeting with third-party cookies will no longer be an option, what can be done about it?

The future of digital marketing without 3rd party cookies: How to face the cookieless Internet

The third-party-cookie-killing action that aims to create a more private and personal web experience for users, can even benefit publishers. Marketers could feel that losing them will leave an immense gap impossible to fill, but that might not be the case if they rethink first party cookies, optimize other marketing channels and create a multichannel marketing strategy. 

1. Rethinking first-party cookies

“The more the merrier” might not be the case for the future of digital marketing. While third-party cookies allow retargeting a vast amount of prospective customers, thanks to cross-site tracking, first-party cookies offer marketers the possibility of sending relevant messages to the right people. First-party collected data should become a priority from this point forward. 

Users that visit a site and agree to first-party cookies, are already saying that they find that content useful and of value, with an increased intent to buy or engage with the site when presented with a retargeting action like an ad. 

Even though marketers will have less people to send their message to, the data gathered from users that accept first-party cookies will be much more valuable for businesses. It will allow marketers to create users’ profiles with more detail and design tailored retargeting campaigns to reach them. 

The elimination of third-party cookies will make users feel they have more control over their experience online and how their personal data is handled and exchanged. This will translate into them being more open-minded to allowing first party cookies and this will benefit marketers in the long run. 

2. Optimizing existing marketing channels

Digital marketing professionals that have been relying way too much on running ads based on  the use of third-party cookies to reach their customers, need a mind shift. Mass targeted advertising will end as we know it and hopefully opens the door to a more personalised and comprehensive use of other traditional and diverse marketing channels that don’t require third-party cookies, such as web push notifications, emails, SMS, content marketing and contextual advertisement. If you have always been a 360° digital marketer, this won’t catch you off guard.  

• Web push notifications present an all in one retargeting solution for online businesses. They obviously don’t need third-party cookies to work, but also don’t require users to share any type of personal data to subscribe. With this channel it’s possible to retarget anonymous users through every step of their shopping journey, outside of the site, with hyper-personalised messages based on their behaviour. 

• Email and SMS marketing have always been very powerful channels to engage customers independently from third-party cookies. They offer the possibility of sending personalised information to users based on their behaviour on your site, such as abandoning carts. They’re also great to inform about special sales, promotions and discounts as a mass communication tool. Emails usually have great CTRs and are fairly easy to configure and use, as for SMS have very high open rates and great reachability. 

• Content marketing is aimed into generating traffic, leads and building audiences through the creation of high quality and valuable content. It’s an oldie but a goodie of the digital marketing strategy, and nowadays a must-have for any brand or business. The focus of content marketing is to draw the users’ attention, making them visit your site and finally engaging with them without any requirement of third-party cookies. 

• Contextual advertising is the digital equivalent of hanging a sneakers shoes ad in a sports store. It’s about being present where your customers are. One of the great benefits of using contextual advertising is that users find them more relevant and much less invasive than retargeting ads shown because of third-party cookies cross-site tracking.  These ads are based on the content the user is consuming at that exact moment, instead of their overall internet behaviour, which makes them a lot more pertinent. 

• People-based marketing uses specific data collected from one individual’s behaviour to identify them. It’s a more intelligent way to track customers and retarget them through relevant ads. Cookies are device-specific unless user id’s are merged, which means that, when a user browses a product in his work computer, and then purchases it from his phone, or changes browser, the retargeting footprints are lost. Businesses could be wasting a lot of money retargeting users that have already converted. People-based marketing avoids that by taking your customer’s data from your CRM and connecting it with all their online identities. 

3. Create a multichannel marketing strategy

All of the mentioned tools have greater power if combined in a seamless multichannel marketing strategy. It’s a practice where interaction between brands and customers take place throughout different communication platforms. Reaching out to users through a variety of channels increases the opportunities of engaging with them. 

A correct combination of different tools will allow you to connect with your customers on a deeper level. You have to be present where they are, and the best way to reach them is designing different messages that adapt to both the characteristics of each marketing channel and your user’s needs. 

If you depend too much on third-party cookies, your digital marketing strategy will fall short and you’ll be missing out on hundreds of possibilities to engage with your audience. Combine emails, web push notifications, content marketing and any other cookie-independent channel that fits you to increase your brand awareness, reach new customers and retain existing ones. 

Cookieless future is not so dark

The news of Google eliminating third-party cookies might have come like a hard blow to many digital marketers. However, we think of it as an opportunity to sharpen our strategist skills and seize the advantages offered by more detailed data of specific customers that are willing to share it with us. 

In times of hyper-personalisation, and with all the cookieless channels available, there’s no excuse for not doing our best as digital marketing professionals to better understand our customers’ expectations and respond accordingly. 

People are seeking a balance between privacy and personalisation. So, an internet without third-party cookies might be what’s missing from the equation. Users want to receive suggestions about services or products they might like, but they also want to have a say on how and why these messages reach them. 

Brands have to focus on being genuine and building trust with their customers. If users feel their personal data is used to actually improve their experience online, and not just for businesses’ private agendas, they’ll be more willing to share it. The disappearance of third-party cookies might help them understand why their information is so important for online businesses.

There’s still time to prepare for the final elimination of third-party cookies: focus on giving customer privacy the importance it deserves and on creating well-rounded multichannel marketing strategies to deliver relevant messages. 

Here are some articles that might help you reshape your digital marketing strategy and be ready for Google eliminating third-party cookies:

• How to Orchestrate your Marketing Strategy on Multi-Channel?
• Text Messages: Stronger than Ever with Automation and Behavioral Targeting
• Web Push Notifications Done Right – 7 Mistakes To Avoid!

Online retail stores are experiencing a significant growth each year all over the world. According to Statista, in 2019 retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 3.53 trillion US dollars. The numbers for 2020 are not published yet, but due to the global Covid-19 pandemic it’s expected to surpass all the previous estimates for 2020. These stats are projected to keep growing, making retail e-commerce one of the most important sectors in the world. 

As is expected, the amount of competition between online stores is also exponentially growing. Digital marketers are constantly searching for innovative ways to communicate, engage and retain their customers making their brands relevant and present in users’ top of mind. 

Traditional online channels, such as email, display ads, SEM, have always played an important role in digital marketing strategies for e-commerce retailers. They offered great results for brands to communicate with their customers for quite some time.

However, with the growing competition, brands fighting to catch users’ attention and the appearance of social media, the need for a new channel that offered new possibilities was imperative. Especially for one that creates interaction, personalisation and immediacy. 

Web push notifications for online stores make the difference!

Web push notifications present an all-in-one digital marketing solution for e-commerce retail sites. Personalised, short, appealing messages that are delivered directly to users on desktop and mobile devices, even when they have left the retailer’s website. They don’t require any personal data from users allowing businesses to reach out to customers who haven’t registered.

This new channel has everything digital marketers are looking for. Web push notifications fill the gaps left by email marketing and retargeting ads, offering an interactive experience based on each individuals’ behaviour. They’re very cost-effective and yield a high ROAS. The results of web push notification marketing strategies place them on top of the list as the most efficient channel to increase retail e-commerce revenue. 

How to use web push notifications for online stores

A well-thought out web push notification strategy can enhance user experience, increase conversion rate and boost revenue. Here’s a complete guide on how to use web push notifications for your retail marketing online store:

1. Combine automated and manual web push notifications

Platforms such as Frizbit offer the possibility of creating a web push notification strategy that includes both automated and manual notifications. 

• Automated web push notifications

Automated web push notifications are highly personalised messages delivered to users based on their activities in your site. This format allows you to communicate with customers on every step of their shopping journey. Basically, you set them up in your site and they’re triggered automatically by specific actions taken by users. 

Web push notification automation offers the possibility to schedule messages to be delivered in specific time frames according to the customers behaviour and different scenarios. You can design as many automated campaigns as you wish, but we highly recommend you to implement the following as a must have.

Automated web push notifications retargeting use cases:

• Welcome notification: say “Hello!” to your new subscribers. Let them know you’re happy to have them and seize the opportunity to share a special discount for their first purchase, news or sale. You can update this notification occasionally to generate more sales.

• Category retargeting: Once a user has visited a product listing page, usually a category or a brand page, but leaves your site without further action, you can send them a message letting them know all the amazing products you have in that specific section that they would like. You can even recommend the top selling product of that category.

• Product retargeting: When a user expresses interest in a product, by visiting its page or adding it to their favorites, but exits the site without adding it to their cart, an automated web push notification with a message indicating that you’re saving it for them, can bring them back and ensure a sale!

• Cart abandonment: When a user adds a product to the cart, but doesn’t complete the purchase, you can remind them what they left behind with an abandoned cart recovery notification. Reach them out appealing to a sense of urgency, offer a special deal if you can and help finish their purchase.

Other automated web push notifications scenarios:

• Repeat order reminders: If you are a retailer selling products that need to be replenished periodically, such as diapers, pet food or groceries you can set up automated web push notifications to remind users that they’re running out of that item and it’s time to order again.
• Cross-sell: After a purchase is completed, you can suggest items that are sold together and would complement their most recent purchase.
• Up-sell: You can suggest an item preferred by other users instead of the item in their cart, to those customers that added a product to their basket, but didn’t finish their purchase.. It’s a similar strategy to cart abandonment campaigns, taken one step further. 

• Manual web push notifications

Web push notifications sent manually are time sensitive messages similar to email newsletters. This notification format is ideal to communicate special sales, offers or news that interest all customers and won’t be repeated in the future. 

Sending manual web push notifications to inform users about limited discounts or sales, increases the chances of the message actually being delivered against other channels, such as e-mail marketing. These notifications are delivered the moment the subscriber is online and directly shown on the screen of its device, meaning that you don’t have to rely on them checking their emails in order to learn about the sale. Manual push notifications are the quickest way to generate massive sessions in seconds on the website.

Manual web push notifications use cases:

• Time sensitive sales (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, New Years)
• Season based offers
• New arrivals and new collections

A mix between automated and manual web push notifications is key into a successful strategy. The objective is to optimize communication with users as much as possible, delivering the correct message at the right time.

2. Create sequences of automated push notifications

One of the many advantages of using web push notifications, is that you can create a flow of communication with your subscribers. Using automation, it’s possible to design a sequence of messages to send a user based on their behaviour on the site. 

Flows can be designed for every step of the funnel, reaching a subscriber with relevant information regarding the actions taken on the site: category retargeting, product retargeting and cart abandonment retargeting. 

These notifications can be programmed with a waiting time feature. It allows the message to be sent after a certain period of time: 1 hour after the event, 1 day after the event, 3 days after the event or the time frames you decided according to your objectives and goals. 

The web push notification sequences allow you to keep the conversation going with your subscribers during longer periods, at the same time that you offer them relevant information, reminding them about articles they can still be interested in.

If you want to make things even more interesting, you can add a special incentive to these messages. Offer the user a discount to complete their order, or maybe let them know you are running out of stock and they have to hurry!

3. Make use of  all the elements of the web push notification to increase CTRs 

Web push notifications have a very specific anatomy. They include:

• Icon
• Title or headline
• Description
• Action button
• Image
• Page URL

It’s important that you fill in all of these fields to make the best notification possible. Exploit all the opportunities offered by this channel to engage with your audience and increase your click-through and conversion rates.

• The icon you include should clearly represent your business. It’s usually the logo of the brand and it helps subscribers to quickly identify who is sending the message. Tip: You can change your icon to match the look and feel of your website based on the season. For example, you can add a Santa Claus hat to your logo during christmas season.

• The title is the first message that attempts to grab the subscriber’s attention. Make sure you type here the most important message you want to get across. For example, if you work with stocks you can say something like “Last units available!” appealing to scarcity. 
  • Tip: The length of the visible content changes based on OS, device and browser. So make sure you use the most appealing words at the beginning of the title so that they are visible to all subscribers.

• The description is the message that follows the title. Here you can be a little more vast and extend what you were saying in the title. Use a lot of action verbs to tell customers exactly what you want them to do. 
  • Tip: Try to use the dynamic parameters, such as product name, product price or category name on this section as it offers more space.

• The action button is responsible for closing the deal. A clear call to action is key into grabbing the last bit of attention and icinting subscribers to make that clic.
  • Tip: Be precise here, there is no time to get especially creative. Messages in the lines of “Book now!” and “Complete your purchase!” work the best. 
  • Insight: According to the A/B tests that conduct Frizbit customers, push notifications with action buttons have a 12% higher CTR.
• The large image: Even though not all browsers are capable of showing images of web push notifications, it’s important to always include one. Images make messages more relatable, clear and appealing to users.
  • Tip: You can use product image or category image or brand logo as a dynamic parameter so that users see the image of the product that they were interested in.
  • Insight: According to the A/B tests that conduct Frizbit customers, push notifications with images have a 20% higher CTR.
• The URL: The visible part of the push notification only shows the domain of the website that the user subscribed to. However, you can decide which page you would like to direct your users to. The more relevant the page you direct them to, the more conversions you generate.
  • Tip: Try to define the URL’s as close to the lower-end of the funnel to increase your conversions. For example in a cart abandonment campaign, define cart URL instead of product URL.

4. Hyper-personalise your messages

Both manual and automated web push notifications allow a great deal of personalisation. When designing and creating templates, make sure your brands’ personality comes across. Once the message is delivered to your subscribers, you want them to feel that this notification is relevant and specific to them. 

• Use the dynamic parameters available. Web push notifications allow you to personalise templates using dynamic parameters such as image, user name, category name, product name or even brand name. These fields will be filled with the respective information taken from the users’ behaviour, making the message extremely relevant which increases the click-through rate. 

• Engage using appealing messages. Really think about your customer’s profile, what will catch their attention and design your messages accordingly. You have little space to let them know what you want to tell them, so appeal to urgency, be specific and it won’t hurt if you add an emoji or two (it’s proven they increase CTR). 

• Avoid the use of generic sentences as introduction to what you really want to say. Most likely your customers are also subscribed to many other brand’s web push notifications channels and they won’t grant a lot of time into reading a cryptic message you wrote. Tell them what they want to know and do it clearly, ¨20% off all handbags” will surely have a higher CTR than “If you were looking for a surprise today, we have one for you, 20% off all handbags”.

• Remember to add your branding visually as well. You want users to start recognizing your notifications with just a glance. Always add your logo and an image of your products. All of these elements in combination will give your messages a special touch that’s only yours. 

• Multi-language options offer more hyper-personalisation. If you own an online store that sells in different countries, you are used to creating multi-language content to reach all your audience. You should also personalise your notifications using different languages in order to increase CTR significantly. Frizbit has the ability to pick up on the preferred language of the user based on the default language on their device, or the language they choose to use on the website. This way, you can communicate with your subscribers in a way they will understand and appreciate.

5. Proper timing

Timing can make or break your web push notifications strategy. 

Optimize based on geolocation: First of all, you have to think about the geolocation of your subscribers and what time it is where they live. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to communicate a big sale that your user might really be interested in, just because you sent a notification at 3am and they missed it. 

Analyse the best hour for your audience: Some studies have shown that the best time of day to send web push notifications is early  in the morning and some around 16.00h. However, this depends a lot on your audience. Make sure you analyse the CTR’s based on your previous data and send your message at the time most likely your customers are online and have a higher chance to interact. 

Make use of “Time-to-Live” feature not to disappoint your subscribers: A common time-related mistake when sending web push notifications, is to send messages about offers that are no longer running. Time-sensitive flash sales are to be communicated during the hours they’re available. Otherwise, users might find themselves clicking on a discount that they’re super excited about and finding nothing when redirected to the site. 

In order not to disappoint your users, you can define a time-to-live parameter so that your notification will be delivered only to the users who are online until the deadline of that campaign.

Define a “Frequency Cap” not to be abusive: It’s quite obvious that the more bulk notifications, the more traffic and sales. However, its marginal effect decreases if you send too many in a specific period of time. That’s why, it’s so important to send the right amount of messages. If you send too many, your audience can easily decide to opt-out from your channel. 

Use the frequency cap feature to limit how many web push notifications can a single user receive in one day or during a specific time period. There’s not an exact number on how many notifications messages are ideal to send per day. Automated notifications don’t have a negative, as they are highly relevant for users. However, exceeding five bulk or mass notifications campaigns a month, can affect your opt-out rates badly.  

Optimize your campaigns with A/B tests: You have to do what works best for you and your customers. With features like A/B testing you have the possibility to test different combinations of campaigns with different timings and adjust your strategy accordingly to what offers the best results. Remember, it’s all about being relevant. 

6. Bring back dormant users

Users that have already purchased an item, are more likely to repeat. Dormant customers are accountable for more than one third of a sites’ sales. That’s why it’s so important not to neglect them and nurture the relationship with them.

You can design specific templates to send them automated web push notifications after certain periods of time without them visiting your site. You can specify a waiting time for each message, 10 days and 21 days are a nice combination.

Seize this opportunity to let them know about any news, offer or discount. Lure them back to your site with a special offering that catches their attention and make it irresistible to visit again.

You can even personalise those messages with information based on their history back from when they visited your site. This will make it even more relevant and increase the possibility of them coming back. 

Final Tips

The use of web push notifications in  online retail marketing is an indispensible new strategy. This channel provides direct, live communication with customers even when they’re out of the site without requesting any type of personal information from them. 

Hyper-personalisation possibilities are endless and thanks to that, they provide value to users like no other digital marketing channel. If you have been thinking about including web push notification campaigns to your e-commerce online strategy, it’s time to take the step. 

In order to set up the best push notification strategy for your e-commerce, don’t forget to schedule a free consultation session with one of our experts on this link: https://frizbit.com/#section-demo-request

In the meantime, make sure you check out some of our blog post to help you get started:

• Web Push Notifications Done Right – 7 Mistakes To Avoid!
• Are Web Push Notifications GDPR Compliant?
• 5 Important Points to Decide Which Push Notification Solution to Use

It’s hard to believe that December is over. Even though 2020 was a very strange and difficult year due to Covid-19 pandemic, time flew by and the end of the year is upon us. As we do it every month, we have kept track of everything that happens in the digital marketing world and we have gathered the most important and relevant marketing updates and events for you. Here you have the:

Digital Marketing Insights from December 2020:

1. Search Marketing Updates December 2020

Google tests interactive search results

As the ever-improvement platform they are, Google has been experimenting with interactive search results pages. The newest tests add a very discrete and small icon next to the search results that, when hovered by users, show images from the respective site. 

This new feature is promising in terms of enriching user experience when browsing online. Offering the opportunity to have a preview of the content, will help users know if that site is actually relevant for them before clicking on it.

Digital marketers have their doubts and concerns about how it will affect click-through rates. The interactive search result feature can have a major impact on sites that offer very descriptive images about their content against those that don’t. 

Even though Google hasn’t offered any official documentation so far, marketers should start thinking about their content strategy and how to adapt to this new feature. Carefully selecting descriptive images that show what the site’s about and help users know what type of content they´ll find there will be key. 

The feature even allows search results to show more than one image when hovering over the small icon. Google’s testing will provide information and insights about how images can offer more relevant and accurate information to users about the content of a page.

Google Maps searches incorporate 4 new features

Google definitely knows how to keep us on our toes every month adding new features to all of their services and platforms (this article might as well be a “Google Updates from December” one). 

Let’s talk about the 4 new changes to Google Maps: 

1. Messaging from Maps and Search

The first and most exciting feature is the new messaging service. Google is bringing messaging capabilities into Maps and Search with the purpose of facilitating communication between local businesses and their customers. 

Every business with a verified profile can now message directly with clients from the Google Maps app. The messages will show in a “messages section” in business the updates tab.

This new feature is only available in-app at the moment, but Google plans on bringing it to desktop as well. The messaging option can be turned on or off in the setting panels of Google Maps and Google My Business apps. 

2. New Performance Insights

Google is also adding new metrics to help local businesses track their performance by measuring the number of customers engaged via Maps and Search. The update includes insights that show queries clients are using to find their business in Maps and Search. 

The information provided will cover:

• Amount of searches that triggered the business listing
• Performance comparison from previous year
• Search terms customers used to find the profile of the business
• Time of each search term triggered the profile

With all this new data added to their performance insights, businesses will be able to know exactly how customers reached them. This is very valuable information that can help them adapt their marketing strategy and make the most out of the use of Google Maps.

4. Community feed

Google is adding a community feature to Google Maps Explore tab. Here, users will find the latest reviews, photos and posts added to Maps by other community members they follow and local experts.

This update gives local businesses more reason to keep their information up to date. With regular posting, they’ll have the chance to show up in people’s feed and engage with customers. 

4. Street View photos added by users

The Street View feature is getting a very exciting update in which users will be able to upload their own photos to the platform using their phones. Using the app, contributors can take and record a series of photos while they move through a street and upload them to Street View.

Google will take care of rotating, connecting and creating the sequence of images. 

2. Marketing Tech Updates December 2020

Whatsapp introduces in-app shopping 

Whatsapp introduced a new shopping cart feature to their platform. Now users have the possibility to buy products from business through direct messages. With a small shopping button, customers can access a store’s catalog directly from their chat screen.

Users can browse the entire range of products, select multiple options and place their order as one unique message. Customers can access information about their order details by tapping the “View Cart” button on the chat and keep track of the process. 

This new Whatsapp shopping feature is aimed at helping out small businesses. Making the purchasing experience as seamlessly as possible, for both shoppers and businesses, is a direct bet on supporting small commerce. 

Google launches ads for Web Stories

We’ve talked about Web stories before on our Digital Marketing Updates from November 2020. They’re rapidly becoming a must to include in any digital marketing strategy. They present a conveying format to communicate and engage users. Just until now, publishers didn’t really have means to monetize web stories, other than sold ads or affiliate links.

Google is about to change that by launching a programmatic ads solution for web stories. The new added feature opens the door for content creators, publishers and marketers to easily earn money from their web stories. 

Story ads are available for everyone that uses Ad Manager and AdSense. The ad will show in between Web Story content to optimize user experience:

“The frequency and position of Story ads in the context of your Web Story is dynamically determined to optimize both user experience and monetization potential.” – AMP

3. Social Media Marketing Updates December 2020

Pinterest boards upgraded with 3 new features

The mothership of inspiration is getting 3 new features to help you keep that creativity flowing. Pinterest boards are getting upgraded with new options to help users make a more productive use of their time in the platform. 

1. Notes to self feature

Pinterest has added a new section where users can create private notes for themselves. When saving a new pin, they can add a short comment with reminders about why they saved said pin or any type of information they want.

2. New board toolbar

A new toolbar has been added with the purpose of making a more simpler navigation experience. It’s located at the top of the screen and it shows all the actions that can be taken on a board:

• Exploring related pin ideas
• Organizing existing pins
• To-do lists
• Viewing notes

This new feature will surely be thanked for by Pinterest users that save an average of 150 pins in one board. 

3. Board favorites

Pinterest is adding a function that allows users to mark pins as favorites. Given the number of pins a board can have, this feature might be long overdue. 

Once a user has created a board, they can mark some of those pins with a star making them a favorite. This feature makes it so easy to revisit and find the best pins on each board without having to lose lots of time browsing through hundreds of pins. 

LinkedIn launches Product Pages

LinkedIn announced the rollout of Product Pages: a tab dedicated to showcasing company’s products. The aim here is to “help companies build conversation and community around their products”, according to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions. 

They state that 70% of customers do an online research of the products they want before purchasing. Visibility and easy- to-access information is key in the decision making process of customers: your product needs to be within users’ reach. 

The new LinkedIn Product Pages promise to help businesses create awareness around their solutions, generating more valuable leads and contributing to overall company growth. The new feature allows brands to spotlight product endorsements, share testimonials and gather user feedback.

We hope our digital marketing updates from December 2020 shade some light on to what’s new in the industry. Make sure you check out our latest blog posts and Happy New Year!

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2021

2020 has been an unusual year in many ways, to say the least. Covid-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives. From how we behave socially, to how we work and how companies operate all over the world. Migrating to a digital environment has become the only viable option to stay on the map for many businesses, and this has greatly impacted on digital marketing strategies. 

The forecast for, at least the first quarter of 2021 is not all that different. More and more companies will have to move online and employees to keep working remotely. This “new normal” makes digital marketing the life saver for businesses to stay afloat, gain new customers, retain current ones and generate revenue. 

Here are the top 9 digital marketing trends for 2021:

1. Allocate some budget to cookieless awareness campaigns to reach new audiences

For a big portion of 2020 people all over the world were under mandatory lockdown. This means, not going out, no malls, no stores: no window shopping of any kind for a long time. Customers lost the possibility of looking around stores and discovering products they didn’t even know existed and less that they wanted them. 

During lockdowns, shoppers probably received tons of retargeting advertisements showing them offers and deals on products they expressed interest in based on their browsing history. But what about new products? What about those specific articles they don’t get the chance to discover anymore? Additionally, what about those users who never allow cookies?

Personalised ads use cookies to track user behaviour, and based on that, it’s possible to target users. They are great for e-commerce stores that have an existing audience aware of their products. However, targeted advertisement encloses shoppers in a continuous loop of products they already know they like, and have already probably bought. 

With non-personalised ads (NPAs) you have the possibility of creating brand awareness amongst users that didn´t know your business. You can reach new audiences showing customers products they weren’t aware of before, but that could still interest them, thus increasing your potential customer base. Additionally you will have the possibility to reach users who block cookies.

Usually, non-personalised ads have lower conversion rates. But at this era of lockdowns when the digital ad inventory is larger than ever, you might want to allocate some budget on them to test.  In 2021 it will be more important to keep testing  and measuring different types of campaigns and channels. As a digital marketer it is important to keep trying new (and old) alternatives, measure their profitability and find a sweet balance between both.

2. Cutting back on social media platforms in 2021

It seems that a new social media platform is born every other minute. Nobody knows what the next big thing will be, and even when we don’t expect it there’s another channel with millions of users that brands have to be present on. 

Designing and creating fresh, valuable content for each social media platform with a constant publishing flow can be draining and an uphill battle for brands, especially small ones. Digital marketing trends for social channels in 2021 suggests brands stop trying to maintain presence in all platforms and focus their efforts on a more sustainable way. 

Businesses need a mindset change and start prioritizing their social media. Dedicating more resources to their strategy, doesn’t necessarily mean hoarding platforms. It means to work more efficiently and intelligently on the specific social media channels where their audience is in. It’s better to have a strong presence on 3 or 4 platforms than a weak one in all of them. 

3. Optimizing social media shopping in 2021

If normally people spend a lot of time of their days on social media, during 2020 that time has exponentially increased. According to Whatagraph:

In 2018, the average time spent on social media in a day by an adult was 142 minutes, which rose to approximately two and a half hours in 2019, followed by 3 hours in 2020. This is bound to increase as more than 3 billion people are expected to access social media sites by 2021.

That means businesses have more chances to make a sale if their product is available on social media platforms. That’s where the users are, and shoppable posts make the process so much easier for them. Facilitating discovery, personalization, payment and delivery is so important for users. Brands need their product to be where the users are. Just having a Shopify, Woocommerce or Prestashop online store is not enough anymore. 

Social media platforms are helping marketers make their products more accessible to people. They are including features that make it easy for brands to upload and showcase their goods, and for customers to purchase items without even leaving the app. This is a trend that will keep on growing during 2021 and it’s a wave retailers should ride. 

Creating a store with social media is free and easy. Brands can choose what products they want to showcase, personalise their listings with photos, different colors and fonts. Facebook Shops even includes the Catalog feature where you can group products in different categories making it easier for customers to browse the store. 

New features even make it possible to showcase products during live streamings for viewers to purchase directly on Instagram, and for businesses to connect and keep track of their loyalty programs on the app. 

4. Interactive content in 2021

With users spending more time browsing the internet every day, it’s important to offer them a valuable experience. You want to connect with customers, and the way to do it is with interactive content. It doesn’t just encourage engagement, it offers entertainment. 

Content marketing has been a trend in the digital world for a while. However, for 2021 digital trends, is considered more of a best practice. Providing interactive content is a tendency that moves along personalization. 

Some of most popular interactive content ideas are:

• Quizzes
• Polls
• Surveys
• Contests
• Giveaways
• Interactive videos
• Calculator widgets
• Games

Including one, or a mix of these strategies can do wonders for your business. On top of enriching users’ experience with your brand, you’ll increase the time they spend on your site engaging with your content. 

5. Sharp local SEO in 2021

Small business owners must know that it’s extremely important to keep their digital presence strong on SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). If you own a store, you are probably aware that most of your customers are drawn mainly on a local level. The most important thing you can do is to ensure that your store appears on “near me” Google searches. 

Google constantly updates their local SEO algorithm and you should update your local business information as well. Tools such as Google My Business offer extremely valuable information for customers, but it’s up to you as a local business owner to keep it up to date for them. 

Claim your business property and get verified by Google. Then you can provide information about your business such as: opening hours (that are constantly changing due do Covid restrictions), geographic location and services.

6. The boom of voice Search in 2021

Voice search commands have been around since 2011 with the appearance of Siri. More recently, with the introduction of devices like Google Home and Alexa into our living spaces, users are becoming more accustomed with requesting information using voice search. According to Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, 20% of search queries are done by voice.

As this tendency grows, businesses need to start considering optimizing their content and including voice search into their digital marketing strategies. The first step is to create content that adopts a more “conversational” and natural style that matches how consumers ask questions. Creating queries into questions and having a mobile friendly site are key as well.  

Voice search optimized content gives businesses the opportunity to reach new audiences, given that the results are often different than if the users typed in a regular text search. 

7. Optimizing Digital Marketing with Artificial intelligence 

Digital marketing strategies can be greatly optimized and improved with the correct use of Artificial Intelligence. AI offers marketers the power to collect valuable insights on user behaviour, campaign performance and analysis they can use to optimize their digital marketing campaigns and overall communication with customers. 

Once all the data is collected by AI, it can react to it. This makes it possible to provide a better customer experience with personalised content. E-commerce sites can benefit from artificial intelligence by showing users products that are relevant for them based on their previous behaviour, such as searches, purchases and views. 
For example Frizbit, provides automated web push notifications, which is quite an interesting and useful form of AI. By collecting and processing data from user’s behaviour while they’re browsing a site, web push notifications are triggered and delivered with hyper-personalised content based on the user’s actions. 

Once a user accepts to receive them, they’ll get messages specially designed for them based on what they did in the site. If they browsed a category, product or added an article to their shopping cart, a message will be delivered with specific information regarding what they liked. If you’d like to see how automated communication works, click here!

Thanks to AI, marketers can make product recommendations to users, hyper-personalisation of messages, optimization of display and search ads, email marketing and even content marketing by discovering what works better and what type of content is more effective. 

8. Video marketing & Webinars in 2021

Audiovisual content is a powerful tool that easily grabs attention and engages viewers. It offers the possibility to share lots of content in a short amount of time using a very dynamic format. 

These inherent qualities of videos make them more relatable for everyone. Most of us prefer to watch a short video than to read long articles or posts. Social media is a great channel to share video content since all platforms have included features to create and share short videos like stories and reels. 

Covid pandemic has also contributed to the raise of video marketing as a key element on any digital strategy. Webinars, for example, have become necessary to substitute face-to-face events in all industries. 2021 trends aim that this isn’t going to be a temporary thing and marketers should include video content as a regular on their digital marketing mix. 

9. Automated Smart Bidding Strategies in Google Ads

Automatization is the future in many digital marketing strategies. When running a Google Ads campaign, marketers spend lots of time and resources manually optimizing their keywords and bids. On top of being very time consuming, there could be lots of speculation that could be detrimental to your campaign. 

Automated bidding on Google Ads takes away all that guesswork and helps businesses achieve their goals more efficiently. Google takes care of analysing all the data and adjusts the bids accordingly to improve your campaigns performance. 

Even though automated bidding isn’t all that new, Google has improved a lot in the past year, making it essential for digital marketing strategies in 2021. Marketers can rest assured and dedicate their valuable time on optimizing other aspects of their marketing mix. 

In a few words…

The truth is that, even with our best efforts, we can’t really anticipate what the future of digital marketing in 2021 will look like (marketers thought they could earlier this year, and look at what happened). The year 2020 has been a disruptive one in many ways, and that has brought us down to earth and hit us with the reality that we don’t know what’s going to happen. 

Digital marketing trends for 2021 move towards automation and personalization. The tendencies are aiming at offering users super personalised content and to alleviate the pressure on marketers to do so thanks to automation tools powered by artificial intelligence. 

Brands should focus their efforts on creating customer-centered marketing and content strategies that connect with users. This has been a trend in digital communication for a while now and is the trend that won’t die, especially during uncertain times. 

What are your thoughts on digital marketing trends for 2021?

While you think about it, check out:

• 7 Christmas Campaigns & Tips for Web Push Notifications
• How to Orchestrate your Marketing Strategy on Multi-Channel?
• The key Digital Marketing Insights from 2019 to 2020

Email marketing campaigns are going to play a crucial and special role in Holiday marketing strategies for 2020. Covid pandemic and the closure of many physical stores, has forced brands to step up their digital and e-commerce game with our first stay-at-home holidays. 

Customers are going to turn to online stores more than ever before to do their Christmas gifts and Holiday shopping. That’s why it’s crucial for e-commerce retailers to implement amazing holiday digital marketing campaigns this year, and emails are one of the preferred channels in the mix. 

Here are 5 Tips for an Engaging Holiday Email Marketing Campaign

1. Start early!

Plan your holiday email campaign with enough time ahead. Sending your first email with discounts, promotions or special offers mid-December is way too late. There are hundreds of other e-commerce sites that are probably sending theirs since the first week of November and have already tilted the decision making scale of users to their side. 

If you start communicating with your customers early November you’ll have the advantage of catching their attention first. You’ll reach more shoppers and you can build-up your campaign with the extra time you’ll have.

Early communication will open the door to designing a sequence of emails that increases users’ interest. For example, you can create a 12 days of offers specials and peek their attention with a flow of emails or even an advent calendar!

2. It’s all about segmentation

Yes, we know we have talked a lot about segmenting your audience and how important it is for any digital marketing action. But we have to emphasize that when it comes to holiday email marketing campaigns.

Sending bulk email marketing campaigns to all your databases won’t offer any good result. Optimize your subscribers list and segment as much as you can when you ask them to opt-in. You can do so by grouping users according to their interest in different holiday categories or products and sending them offers relevant to their interests.

Having a segmented email subscriber list allows you to target and communicate with your customers much more efficiently. They will appreciate the fact that you send them information they have expressed an interest for and it will increase your CTR and conversion rate, also you will decrease the opt-out rates.

3. Use holiday-theme designs

It’s a special and unique time of the year and your email marketing campaign should show that. Evoke a festive spirit with the designs you use for your opt-in form and your email! Cheer up your customers with the design of your campaign, have it look and feel happy.

4. Offer valuable content

Holidays are a hectic time of the year for everyone. Gift shopping can be an overwhelming task for a lot of people. Make it easier for your subscribers by sending them valuable content. Prepare a Holiday Gift Guide for them that includes items they have expressed interest for. 

You can even set up “gift packs” with several products that compliment each other. Let’s say a customer showed interest in a moisturizing cream. You can prepare a gift pack that includes said cream and a couple of other products, like a lotion and night cream and offer it to your email subscriber as a ready-to-buy present. 

Design a beautiful email that showcases the products in a holiday-themed collage and surprise your users with a festive, personalized holiday email marketing campaign. 

5. Create a referral program

What better time of the year to share than the holidays? Referral programs are an amazing strategy to grow your customer and subscriber base. You can implement a system where existing customers receive a gift for bringing a friend.

Create an specific email marketing campaign that targets current subscribers to offer them a special holiday benefit if they refer a friend to sign up to your emailing list. You can even offer both parts a special gift if you want to!

New and existing users will be happy to do so and it will be a win-win situation.

Final Email Marketing Tips

Remember your customers even after the holiday sales are over. Send post-holiday email campaigns to your subscribers offering them deals to exchange gift-cards, or seize some special discounts on products they didn’t get a chance to purchase and end the season on a good note. 

Don’t concentrate your efforts only on Christmas Holidays. Remember there are many festivities year round that you can use for your holiday email marketing campaigns. We advise you to create a calendar with the most important dates that your audience finds appealing and designing a strategy for each one of them. 

Happy holiday email marketing planning!

You might find these reads interesting:

• Ecommerce Holiday Marketing Calendar & Campaign Ideas
• How to Orchestrate your Marketing Strategy on Multi-Channel?

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the legislation that oversees all practices related to the processing of user data. This  applies to any business and organization that provides services to EU residents. The GDPR basically states that no business can disclose users’ personal information or send any type of communication to them without their consent. 

A lot has been and it’s still being discussed regarding the GDPR. It was enforced in May 2018 but it still raises many questions and doubts regarding its effects on digital marketing and CRM strategies and tools, such as cookies, retargeting, ads and emails. 

These changes in legislation regarding users’ privacy, is forcing digital marketers to step out of the common place and invest in new, more creative channels to get across and engage customers. One of these platforms are web push notifications that every day are becoming an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. 

However, web push notifications is still a pretty new method. A lot of e-commerce businesses and brands aren’t yet familiar with their use and different applications. The advantages they present for digital marketers are vast, and one of the most important one is how web push notifications are GDPR compliant.  

How do web push notifications comply with GDPR?

Web push notifications offer a direct communication channel with users. Their immediacy, personalization features and simplicity make them a must in the digital marketing mix. And one of the great things about web push notifications is how they are GDPR compliant by nature. 

Web Push Notifications don’t require any personal data!

More traditional digital marketing channels such as email and SMS require collection of users’ personal information to function. However, in order to be GDPR compliant for EU residents this is not enough. Visitors must complete an additional action, ticking a box under the form to consent to receive communication from that brand and entrust their data. Only then they are eligible to receive communications from brands. As you can imagine this requirement decreased the opt-in rate for email marketing.

Web push notifications open new opportunities. With just one click users that visit your site can opt-in to subscribe and be recipients of information. There’s no need to fill any form, share their email, phone number or any other kind of personal data. 

The first time users visit a site that uses web push notifications, they get a message asking them if they wish to receive said notifications. All they have to do is give their consent to the notifications service to become a subscriber to the notifications from your website.

By clicking “allow” on the opt-in message, users provide their permission, making the platform completely GDPR compliant. They will not receive any type of notification if they choose to click “block”. 

Optionally, you can also show a pre-opt-in pop-up to explain to your users why they should opt-in to the web push notifications from your website. You can let users know exactly what type of notifications you are going to send them with the opt-in text you design. This way, users are completely informed and clear about the type of messages they’ll be receiving if they decided to subscribe. 

Subscription information is stored in servers of browsers

Once users opt-in and consent subscribing to web push notifications from a site, they have complete control over them. All the subscription information is stored in the push notification server of each browser and no one other than the user can manipulate it. It is technically impossible to share the consent of the user to any 3rd party, copy or export in any case. That is simply the technical proof that nobody is capable of sending the users a message without their consent.

The users have complete control in Real-Time

By accessing their browser’s notification configuration, users can easily unsubscribe from the service. With just one click, just like they opted in, they can opt-out. Even if the brand tries to send them, it’s technically impossible for them to receive push notifications. Web push notifications offer a very easy and immediate unsubscribe option for users which makes them even more friendly.

Frizbit and GDPR

What you need to keep in mind when designing your web push notifications strategy is to make sure you offer users the best experience they can have. Legislations like GDPR have been created with this sole purpose. 

Users want to feel comfortable, and the sense of security is key to that. When deciding to implement web push notifications to your digital marketing strategy, make sure you choose the right platform. 

Frizbit puts security integrity and user privacy as a priority. We are fully complying to GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) of the EU (European Union). All the subscriber data is completely owned by our clients and it’s never shared or sold. Our platform is stored in the cloud servers of AWS and Microsoft Azure within European Union with high security measures. 

Since you’re here, make sure you check out:

• Web Push Notifications Done Right – 7 Mistakes To Avoid!
• 7 Reasons to Start Using Web Push Notifications Now
• The Complete Guide of Web Push Notifications for E-commerce Marketers

Web push notifications are becoming more and more the most effective channel to engage customers. With the power to reach users at any time, at a personal level; web push notifications offer digital marketing strategists a direct communication highway with their customers throughout their entire shopping journey.

Like every great tool, web push notifications need a great master. These instant, spontaneous messages can be an amazing add-up to your marketing strategy when used properly. So if you’re looking to increase your conversion rate and improve your ROI, these are the

Top 7 mistakes to avoid when sending web push notifications:

1. Forgetting User Segmentation

Accurate audience segmentation is key for any marketing action and this includes web push notifications. Forgetting to analyze, group and segment your users in order to design tailored messages that suit their behaviour and needs could mean a disastrous end to your strategy. You would face all your subscribers opting-out after a couple of bulk, not-segmented push notifications.

Take your time to know your users. One of the beautiful things about digital marketing is that it offers insights about users that we couldn’t easily get from any other channel. Details about their browsing habits, shopping history, interests and demographics are at the tip of our hands. 

Use this valuable information to segment your customers and customize their experience with your web push notifications. The right message to the right person is the difference between success and failure. 

2. Sending Users to Incorrect Landing Pages

Web push notifications can create interaction in a few seconds. Creating these short, direct messages is fairly simple. So much so, that we could forget a very important step on the journey: where are you sending your customers? 
Let’s say you decide to communicate your shoppers about an amazing discount available on a specific product category on your site. You prepare the message, activate the campaign and when they click on that beautiful CTA you designed, it leads them to the homepage. They can’t easily find the offer on that product you caught their attention with. Result: they leave, you lose a sale.

The landing page you send your customer to, has to provide all the information you want them to see. Make sure your users have a rich experience when interacting with your web push notifications. When they decide to click on that message, give them what they expect to get in return. 

3. Failing to Track and Measure

Web push notifications offer you a vast amount of insights on customer interactions. Statistics about clicks, visits and overall engagement are valuable information to use in your favor to make your notifications the best they can be.

A/B testing is a great way to do it. Try different colors, shapes, images and variations of the same message. Even if your web push notifications are doing great, and giving you amazing results, everything can be improved. Small tweaks on the design can mean a world of difference on the outcome and goal achievement of your campaign. 

4. Sending too Many 

With web push notifications it’s definitely not about quantity: it’s about quality. The “less is more” motto applies for this marketing strategy as a golden rule. Sending too many messages to your users has a good chance of irritating them, causing them to unsubscribe and even feel a bit of annoyment towards your brand. 

There’s a big chance that your customers are also subscribed to a lot more brands’ web push notification service. Imagine opening your browser and getting 15-20 notifications on your screen with sales, discounts and purchase reminders (every day, several times a day). 

Restraint is key when planning the timing and frequency of your web push notifications strategy. Send precise notifications only when you have relevant and/or attractive information to tell to your customer about. It’s about building a relationship with them, not about harassing with one-sided communication. 

5. Poor Planning

Lack of planning is one of biggest issues with failed web push notifications campaigns. Being so simple to design and activate, it’s easy to make the huge mistake of skipping the planning step in the excitement to just start sending them.

Common mistakes, like informing about a time sensitive discount when it has already expired are made all the time. Outdated web push notifications are one of the main reasons users unsubscribe. 

Take your time to strategize and plan your campaigns before activating them. Set out timings, objectives and KPIs. Think about what you want to achieve with said campaigns and work around that.

6.Sending Generic Messages

One of the main attractions of web push notifications is their personalization ability. If you have the chance to talk directly with one of your customers, take it and seize it. Sending a generic message won’t have the same impact as a tailored one. 

Platforms like Frizbit offer the power to hyper-personalize the messages and really engage customers. If you know your user’s history, now their likes and preferences, you can create a captivating message with information that suits them specifically. According to the metrics based on millions of push notifications sent by Frizbit, hyper-personalised push notifications have 4 times higher CTRs compared to bulk ones.

Get out of the commonplace. Don’t push generic, tiresome messages with every-day discounts and sales. Use the information you have, let your customers know you hear them, you know them and want to give them special treatment. 

7. Forgetting a CTA

Be clear about what you want your customers to do. A good call to action message is crucial for users to know what’s the next step. Let them know what they’ll gain if they click that button, what are they going to find if they engage. Web push notifications already facilitate this by adding an action button where you can utilize as a CTA and to increase your CTRs. According to Frizbit, having at least one call to action increases CTRs by 12% compared to notifications that don’t include one.

Forgetting to add a clear CTA could translate in the loss of interest. You only have a few seconds to catch their attention and urge them to click on your notification. Take your time to think what type of messages and words combination could work better using the knowledge you have on their behaviour and stats from previous campaigns. 

To sum up…

When creating your web push notifications strategy is easy to be blinded by the simplicity of the tool and hit activate with no second thoughts. However, when urgency is not a factor, it’s important you take your time to plan your campaign.

Optimize your messages to the fullest. Personalize the information, take timings into account, test, improve and test again. Avoid these common mistakes when sending web push notifications and you’ll be amazed with the results.

Happy planning!

Make sure you check out:

• How to Use Push Notifications on your Website as a Growth Channel
• Hyper-personalization & How to Incorporate it into Your Marketing Strategy
• Digital Marketing Insights from November 2020

Black Friday makes November a very hectic month when it comes to digital marketing. Now that is over, let’s take a step back and gather the most important marketing insights and updates. We’ve put together a short, but useful information list just for you.

Here are the top Digital Marketing Insights for November 2020

Search Marketing Updates November 2020

New Crawl Stats Reports on Google Search Console

The Google Organic world is an ever changing one. Most recently, Google launched an update (relax, this time not on its search algorithm☺)  for their Search Console tool that affects the Crawl Stats Report. 

The Crawl Stats report shows information regarding how many requests were made to your site, when and what was the server’s response. As you may know, crawling is done by Googlebots that visit the web to add updated and new pages to the Google Index. 

The new update on the Crawl Stats report offers new features with deeper insights into how Google is crawling your site:

• Total number of requests grouped by response code, crawled file type, crawl purpose, and Googlebot type.

• Detailed information on host status

• URL examples to show where in your site requests occurred

• Comprehensive summary for properties with multiple hosts and support for domain properties

Google makes emphasis on the new Over-time charts that offers website owners a complete view of total requests, total download size and average response time. 

They also feature the Grouped Crawl Data: 

“The new version of the report also provides data on crawl requests broken down by response, file type of the fetched URL, purpose of the crawl request, and Googlebot agent.”

The update on the Crawl Stats reports also offers Detailed Information on Host Status Issues which allows you to check the sites’ availability to Google during the last 90 days. 

All these new features offer a more comprehensive understanding of how the crawling occurs in your site, providing useful information on performance and possible issues that might be affecting your web. 

So if you’d like to see yourself, you can directly check your crawl stats on this link

Google Web Stories

We are all familiar with the “stories” format by now: images or videos with text and/or music that last 24 hours and offer short-dynamic content. A while ago Google announced that they’ll be launching Google Web stories.

But, have you stopped to think about how you can include them in your digital marketing strategy?

Google Web Stories are available in Google Search, Google News and Google Discover and they can work as an additional channel to drive traffic to your website. Of course, as all digital marketing content, you must use them wisely and deliver great content. 

Here are some tips on how to create great web stories:

• Prioritize video content over images and complement with text information
• Use short direct messages, don’t clutter the story with a bunch of text
• Add a call to action
• Appeal to interaction: add polls and questions
• Give a personal touch using your brand’s identity and a first-person storytelling format

Are you already excited to start sharing them? You can use some third party tools, install official wordpress plugins by Google or develop for your custom needs. Check more on how you can create them on Google Web Stories

Page Experience and Google Search Ranking

Page Experience signals measure the way users interact and perceive a web page. Last May, Google announced how these signals would be included in the ranking of sites in Google Search.  

In their continuous effort of making the Internet an enjoyable experience, the page experience signals in ranking will come to effect next May 2021. This means it’s time to get ready for the changes and start improving our sites. 

Here’s a list of what you should keep in mind and focus on:

• Loading times, interactivity and visual stability
• Mobile friendly sites
• Safe browsing
• Page served over HTTPS
• Easy user accessible content

Google has a lot of information on how to improve your site and make it a loveable experience for users. 

Marketing Tech Updates November 2020

No more third-party cookies

Google’s announcement on eliminating third party cookies might have created some concern in the marketing world. How are we going to engage with our audience now? 

The question arises in a digital environment where advertisers are used to following users around and re-targeting them with personalized ads. However, there are solutions on sight that will help publishers keep in touch with their consumers in a world without third party cookies.

Frizbit

Frizbit is a complete multi-channel marketing orchestration platform that offers you the power to communicate with your customers to do retargeting campaigns without third-party cookies whatsoever. You can keep in touch with users during long periods of time and retain their interest.  Even though it has email and SMS channels, that’s not the most interesting part as they require personal data.

What is the most interesting in their platform is the power of using web push notifications. This platform works without the need of using third party cookies, making the alternative retargeting solution without ads for a post-cookies future. It’s main feature, web push notifications, allow you to send hyper-personalised messages based on user behaviour to non-registered users that visited your site, even when they’re not on it.

Besides the retargeting campaigns, you can also use push notifications to schedule segmented messages to reach your customer at any time you wish, making it possible to send information about products, sales, discounts, news and basically anything you want to communicate to your audience in a third-party cookie independent environment. 
You can get a free trial clicking here!

Trust Tokens

As an answer to the elimination of third-party cookies, Google has shown an initiative to replace them with, what they call, Trust Tokens. It’s an API that would give you non-personalized, cryptographically signed tokens to authenticate users. 

These trust tokens will allow advertisers to get some information about users without needing to know their identity and not to track them individually. The main purpose is to separate bots from users. 

The Trust Token API is available for testing by developers. You can get more information on this subject here.

Permisio

Permisio is a tool designed to customise privacy preferences. Basically, what this tool does is to offer users the power to super-personalize their navigation settings  and create a browsing experience that adapts to their preferences. 

The user just needs to create an account for free and complete a basic set up process with their privacy choices. Then, when they visit a site they’ll get a personalized navigation experience with fewer pop-ups. This tool allows users to have better navigation at the same time that offers advertisers a seamless way to receive meaningful data and continue to engage with users.  

In fewer words, it’s an agreement between users and advertisers that benefits both parts and helps them live in a world without third party cookies. The only disadvantage of this tool is the fact that both parties need to subscribe to the service in order to work.

Social Media Marketing Updates November 2020

Instagram changes in ads

Instagram made an update that affects the way brands advertise content. This new feature allows advertisers to create sponsored posts from users’ accounts. 

What this means is that you’ll see your favorite influencer’s regular Instagram post, but with a small caption that reads “paid partnership with (brand name)”. This small tag will identify when their posts are sponsored by a brand.

This update makes the process of creating branded content much simpler for companies. Before, a lot of coordination between both parts was required: the post had to be published first by the influencer as a regular, organic post and then could the brand promote it. Instagram says:

“Now brands have more flexibility with fewer constraints when they want to run Branded Content ads”.

The process is very simple now. The brand sends the content creator a request for ad creation access, the creator accepts the partnership and immediately the brand can submit them the ad for their review. As soon as the influencer approves the ad, it will start running from their account without appearing on their feed. 

YouTube is showing ads on non-monetized channels

YouTube decided to implement a change on their advertisement strategies. From a recent update YouTube is now showing ads on non-monetized channels and creators are not receiving any type of revenue form them.  

Needless to say that youtubers are not thrilled by this new feature. Showing ads on channels that don’t qualify or haven’t opted for monetization is not the issue here. It’s the fact that this decision was made without their consent and creators are not even benefiting from it. 

Normally, any youtuber had to apply and join the YouTube Partner Program for ads to start running on their channel and receive a share of the revenue. With the new advertisement trait even channels that don’t qualify or have opted for monetization will show ads. 

“You grant to YouTube the right to monetize your Content on the Service (and such monetization may include displaying ads on or within Content or charging users a fee for access). This Agreement does not entitle you to any payments.”

The change appears on YouTube’s Terms of Service. 

This is a sum up of the Digital Marketing Insights for November 2020. Make sure you check out our blog regularly. 

Insights from previous months:

• The key Digital Marketing Insights from 2019 to 2020
• Digital Marketing Insights from September 2020
• Digital Marketing Insights from October 2020