🔊 Amazon sweeps up on Prime Day | Changes coming to Chrome's Incognito browser

Plus, Instagram has expanded its test to remove “Like” counts to more countries. Jul 19, 2019 Good morning marketers, and happy Friday! Prime Day has come and gone, and despite other retailers vying for a share of the revenue on the shopping holiday,[Amazon’s 2019 Prime Day was reportedly the largest shopping event in its history](. On Wednesday, Amazon reported selling more than 175 million products during the two-day event, with record sales revenues exceeding both its Black Friday and Cyber Monday events combined. Although revenues are high across the e-commerce landscape, the growth rate is slowing down, according to a report from FTI Consulting. It’s a steady reminder that Amazon merchants,[rival retailers](, and the marketers who support them will need to continuously hone customer experiences and develop innovative growth opportunities in order to stay on top. In other news,[Google plans to enhance browser privacy in Chrome’s Incognito Mode by closing an API-related loophole]( that makes it possible to detect when Chrome users are browsing privately. Google said the change will take effect on July 30, much to the chagrin of publishers, who see it as a way for users to avoid paywalls. The change will likely impact publishers using the FileSystem API, which identifies Incognito Mode sessions and requires users to log in or switch to normal browsing mode. These changes may result in more publishers abandoning metering and embracing a hard paywall, which could ultimately reduce the amount of free content available to users overall. Google offered a number of recommendations for publishers, including reducing the number of metered free content pieces, requiring free registration to view content, and enabling stricter paywall constraints. Keep scrolling for more news, including a Pro Tip on how marketers can identify the most critical touchpoints within the customer experience and more. Taylor Peterson, Deputy Editor Pro Tip Here’s why we need to measure customer experience from direct interactions “Beginning to think from the consumer’s perspective is the right first step to becoming an experience brand, but it is far more effective to actually measure experiences from their direct interactions,” explains Ethan Hanson of Merkle. “The measurement of ease to work with a brand across interactions, prioritized within the journey, allows brands to identify the most critical points within the consumer experience. This enables brands to find quick wins to remove as much friction as possible.” [Read More »]( Untangling Attribution’s Web of Confusion: A Primer for Marketers Sponsored by Nielsen Advertisers, analysts, agencies and vendors can’t seem to agree on a common understanding of marketing attribution.This whitepaper eliminates confusion and cuts through the hype with a deep dive into three leading measurement approaches. [Read More »]( Instagram Shorts Instagram expands test to remove “Likes” and introduces new account policies Instagram takes away “Like” counts in more countries. Instagram has expanded its test to remove “Likes” and video view counts on posts to more countries. Users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand will no longer see “Like” counts on their posts — a move Instagram said is meant to improve experiences on the platform. “We want your friends to focus on the photos and videos you share, not how many likes they get,” said the company in a [Tweet]( from its official Instagram account. When these tests were first announced, Marketing Land talked to marketers about how removing “Likes” may [impact Instagram’s influencer community](. Many of the marketers believed it would improve influencer content the platform. “Lots of influencers post the photos they think will get the most likes, which doesn’t always translate to the best or most diverse range of photos, and can lead to a lot of repetitive content,” said Evan Asano, CEO of MediaKix, “Brands would be forced to look more at the quality of content.” Changes to the Disable Account policy. Instagram is modifying its [policies around disabling accounts]( and introducing a new feature that lets users know if their account is at risk of being removed. From the company’s newsroom: “Under our existing policy, we disable accounts that have a certain percentage of violating content. We are now rolling out a new policy where, in addition to removing accounts with a certain percentage of violating content, we will also remove accounts with a certain number of violations within a window of time.” Anyone whose account is in danger of being disabled will now receive an alert from Instagram notifying them that their account is at risk and giving them the opportunity to appeal the decision. Instagram said, for now, appeals will be available for content that was deleted because of violations pertaining to nudity and pornography, bullying and harassment, hate speech, drug sales, and counter-terrorism policies, with plans to expand appeals in the coming months. What we're reading We've curated our picks from across the web so you can retire your feed reader [How YouTube stars are using Instagram’s IGTV as a testbed]( – Digiday [How Marketers Create A Strong Persona]( – Forbes [Storytelling community Wattpad launches Paid Stories and its ad-free subscription globally]( – TechCrunch [Connecting the Customer Journey from Online to Offline]( – Street Fight [Uber launches shopping app with Cargo to boost in-car commerce]( – Mobile Marketer [Is 5G On A Collision Course With Privacy?]( – AdExchanger [Slack resets passwords for 1% of its users because of 2015 hack]( – ZDNet [Committee publishes letter to Facebook]( – UK Parliament Join Us The MarTech® Conference — Martech is Marketing Struggling to prove ROI, build a winning team, or find actionable insights from a mess of data? Join us September 16-18 in Boston, for real-world solutions to your marketing technology and operations obstacles. 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