🧰 Undergoing changes.

Google Ads are making some changes, while Apple search ads are about to make split testing easier. January 28, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Happy Friday! Having Google’s smart speaker has become a lifesaver to many people today. The convenience of having an assistant at your service with one call is amazing. But sometimes it can be annoying when it responds without you calling out, “Hey, Google!” Thankfully, whenever this device accidentally misinterprets similar-sounding words or phrases that cause it to respond, you can now easily silence it by saying, “Stop!” GOOGLE Google Ads is undergoing a few changes [article-image] We have 3 updates from Google about Performance Max, Gmail campaigns, and of course, gambling: - [Google has announced]( that you’ll be able to upgrade your Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max starting in April. - [Google also sent a message]( to a few advertisers that dedicated Gmail campaigns will stop running on June 28, 2022. - PPC Ads for gambling are coming to more states in the US. [Louisiana is the latest addition]( to the list. Our favorite upcoming change: Performance Max Campaigns. According to Google, advertisers who upgrade their Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max will see a 12% increase in conversion rates on average. This can mean the difference between a campaign with positive or negative ROI in some niches. APPLE Apple Search Ads will support testing custom product pages We love split testing, and any time a platform makes split testing easier we take notice. Today that platform is Apple, [which announced]( more seamless integration between Apple Search Ads and custom leads. More details: Custom product pages allow you to create up to 35 additional versions of your product page on the App Store. With this integration, you can also test these variations with paid traffic to see which one converts the best. What this means for app marketers: Apple Search Ads can be costly, so we believe that any change that reduces your cost-per-install is a welcomed change. SPONSORED BY ALO Discover the most important affiliate marketing trends of 2022 right here for free [article-image]( One of the leading affiliate marketing events ALO (Affiliate Leaders Online & Offline) have asked their special guests to make their forecasts about the most important trends, opportunities, and threats that will impact the affiliate marketing, advertising, media buying, and martech industries this year. Needles to say, they did not disappoint. And ALO is sharing these insights with everyone for free. [From this trends report you can expect to learn about:]( - Top verticals of 2022 - The best offers and bidding models to run - Powerful ad formats - New fraud prevention strategies [And many other recommendations to succeed in 2022.]( Among the experts ALO talked to are iAmAttila, Amy Cheung, Luke Kling, Servando Silva, Emanuel Cinca, and many others. [Download your free copy right now.]( E-COMMERCE 7 metrics to make your store DTC disruption proof [article-image] Selling online has become harder lately, and we won’t waste time saying why. You already know… Especially if you’re a Stacked Marketer reader. To address this problem, [Taylor Holiday identified 7 metrics]( you should watch and some related tactics to improve them, so you can have a strong foundation that will help you grow in 2022. Let’s jump straight into them: Supplier payment terms: The percentage of your orders that you pay upfront. Whereas this metric is often overlooked, cash is king in the e-com game, so you better optimize it. Tactics: - Gain a stronger negotiation position by bidding on other suppliers so you’re aware of their costs, payment terms, and production times. - Long supplier payment terms are just a loan, and you can find cheaper money elsewhere like inventory-based lending from a bank. Percentage of operational expenses on revenue: These are fixed costs that increase with major milestones, they’re not linear. For instance, one day you may need to hire, and so your operational expenses go up by 25%. Tactics: - Use four-quarter accounting. - Get clear about your people’s cost: Calculate the cost of finding and hiring employees, and maximize the value of each employee by assigning the right tasks. Organic vs paid traffic mix: If you depend on one channel today, you’re screwed. The more you depend on organic traffic the better. Email, SMS, direct, branded paid search are all stable. Tactics: - Aggressively capture email addresses from all of the traffic you generate. Whether it’s popups, quizzes, style guides, or contests, just do something. Don’t only focus on the sale, try to get emails as well. - Have a monthly revenue goal for organic channels. For instance, calculate your monthly revenue per subscriber and hold yourself accountable. 60-Day customer lifetime value: Acquisition is essential. But retention is what keeps you alive. Tactics: - Optimize your paid channel strategy from products with the highest LTV. - Research what other products your customers need and diversify. - Transactional email open-rates are on average 80%. Use them for cross-selling and up-selling. SPONSORED BY GRAZE You can still make money mowing the lawn, even as an adult [article-image]( OK, you don’t actually mow the lawn yourself. Instead, [you can invest in Graze](, a fully autonomous commercial lawn mower, disrupting a $100B market in the US. [Graze already has $30M in peroders]( via non-binding commercial contracts from some of the world’s largest landscaping companies. It saves 50% on labor costs, there’s a 3-5x margin bump, and it’s environmentally friendly, centering around renewable energy. [Learn more about investing in Graze.]( THE CREW'S INSIGHTS Our process for finding and advertising in newsletters It’s no secret that we’re fans of newsletter ads. Some of our best growth came from newsletter ads. Add to the fact that we also sell ads… [We even wrote a guide about what numbers matter and which doon't.]( But this is about how to find the best newsletters to advertise in, and how to plan things out. 1. Create a spreadsheet with the following columns: Newsletter name, subscribers, unique opens, average unique clicks per sponsored post, price per sponsored post, estimated CPC, and contact information. 2. Explore newsletter marketplaces such as Swapstack and Paved for newsletters that could be a good fit for you. Add all the information you find in your spreadsheet. 3. Get in touch with those that show the most promising numbers. If you already run social ads, don’t be scared of 2-3x CPC on newsletter ads. Engaging newsletters with a relevant audience will be worth it. Explain what you’re looking to promote, and ask for information about the numbers mentioned above. Then update your spreadsheet. 4. Choose at least 4 of the most promising newsletters that fit your budget. You shouldn’t spend your whole budget on one newsletter because there’s always a difference between theoretical and actual numbers. 5. In the same or a new sheet, note the actual CPC you paid, the conversions you got, and the final CPA. Based on that, you can now decide what newsletters to continue running more ads on, and which ones aren’t a fit. FROM THE CREW We will fund your bid on this 5-star Shopify store with over 10,898 customers [article-image]( “Someone said it made their teeth literally squeak from being clean. So I bought it, tried it, and now I can squeak my teeth too.” This is one out of the hundreds of 5-star reviews customers left about [this toothbrush store on Shopify](. Manm Smile® is a private label of high-quality toothbrushes with its own fulfillment center in Hong Kong. The brand has over 10,898 customers, mostly from English-speaking countries (US, CA, UK). And in 2021, it made over USD $37,000 with only organic SEO and a few free Shopify email marketing campaigns. Now, [the business is up for auction on Flippa]( for a starting price of USD $15,097. What a deal! This also means that if you win our [USD $25,000 business giveaway](, you'll be able to put in a high bid for this business. If you haven’t entered the giveaway raffle yet, refer at least one person using your [unique referral link]( before February 4th. Each referral equals one entry. Good luck! [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ ROUNDING UP THE STACK [MARKETING:]( How did Affirm land Walmart and Amazon? Well, we did a deep dive into Affirm’s marketing strategy to try and find out. What stands out is their “powered by” marketing, dedicated B2C and B2B ad campaigns, and quick wins. Our full deep dive will be available on February 1st. [Read the free preview here.](* [FACEBOOK:]( Bye-bye, Facebook Business Suite (the name). Facebook Business Suite is now known as Meta Business Suite. [BUSINESS:]( Mastercard exceeded earning expectations as people kept spending more money in-person and online. [ADVERTISING:]( When we think of TV ads, the phrase “performance-based” doesn’t really come to mind. LG is trying to change this by introducing outcome-based ads for TV screens. [EMAIL:]( Cloudflare thinks they’re a viable free alternative to Google’s G Suite legacy. [GOOGLE:]( It appears that Google Maps has a new section called, “updates from customers.” [SEO:]( What are some good SEO podcasts to listen to? This post has some good recommendations. [INSTAGRAM:]( Go live and get more exposure. Instagram is giving scheduled lives more space on their profiles. *This is a sponsored post. BRAIN TEASER A slender body, a tiny eye, no matter what happens, I never cry. What am I? You can find the [solution here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT Elon Musk offered $5k to a teen to remove a Twitter bot [article-image] Did you know you can track the location of Elon Musk's private jet on Twitter? However creepy this sounds, 97,000 people are currently doing it and Elon isn't happy. The person behind this bot is Jack Sweeny, [who Musk reportedly]( offered $5,000 to in exchange for removing the bot. But there was just one problem. Jack wanted an additional 0 added to the offer. Musk, who was probably not amused, said he’d think about it. So far, the Twitter bot is still functioning and Elon has yet to pay Sweeney. In any case, we think Musk would be better off focusing on protecting the privacy of his flights for now. 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