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Meta cracks down, new Google merchant features, 10 advantages of GA4, and more. March 29, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Good morning. We recently saw a [Twitter thread that promised]( to improve your writing more than 12 years of English classes. One of the tips is “writing below a 5th grade level.” Guess it’s time to revisit our favorite children’s books… GOOGLE Google’s new feature could get you more clicks from shoppers [article-image] How can you build instant trust with a customer who’s comparing your product to dozens of others? Well, Google’s latest merchant features could offer a shortcut… What’s going on: This week [Google announced their Shopping Experience Scorecard program](, which assigns “Trusted Store” badges to merchants who hit metrics like shipping speed and return windows. Do the badges really get clicks? Google says, “yes.” Early tests revealed merchants with the “Trusted Store” tag were more likely to get attention from interested customers. Plus, there are new insights tools: If you post free listings on Google, now you can see the traffic, impressions, and conversions those listings are getting. You can even find out if your pricing is competitive. When these features are available: If you’re in the US or Canada, look for both features in the coming months. In the meantime… Optimize, baby. Now’s a good time to [optimize for the metrics Google prefers]( so you can earn your own “Trusted Store” merchant. You might start playing around with the new merchant insights tools, too. FACEBOOK Facebook will cut video reach if you use “watchbait” Remember when Facebook came down hard on clickbait in 2014, 2016, and 2018? Now [Meta is warning marketers and advertisers](: Don’t use “watchbait.” Wait, what’s “watchbait”? Good question. Facebook says it’s video content that “intentionally withholds information, sensationalizes content, or misleads viewers into watching or engaging with the video.” And no, it doesn’t matter where this “watchbait” appears. Thumbnails are just as liable as captions. What to do instead: Search Engine Land recommends doing things like: - Use accurate, informative headlines - Add your own voice - Be original - Be authentic - Use clips from the video as your thumbnail Time to roll up your sleeves. Being authentic, being original… these aren’t easy to do. But they’re important for marketers to strive for anyway—and not just so you can get past Meta censors. SPONSORED BY GRAZE The 100% electric, autonomous lawn mower you can invest in… [article-image]( US commercial landscaping is a $100B industry with an expensive problem: high labor costs and increasing fuel prices. [But Graze, the autonomous, 100% electric mower, cuts these costs significantly.]( By how much? Graze eliminates 75% of fuel costs associated with traditional lawn mowing. And 50% of manual labor costs because, well, it’s a robot. In fact, Graze is poised to help landscaping companies increase their margins by 5x. Ready to disrupt an entire industry, Graze already has pre-orders from some of the world's largest landscaping companies, totaling an estimated $32M in potential revenue. So why not stake your claim? Take part in this $100B market disruption [and take home your cut of the profits](. But hurry before their campaign raise ends… [Invest in Graze before April 15th.]( ANALYTICS 10 reasons why migrating to Google Analytics 4 isn’t as terrible as you thought [article-image] Yes, learning Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will be a pain for many marketers. But the new platform also comes with many advantages. [Charles Farina shared ten reasons on Twitter why GA4]( is actually a good deal for marketers. If you’re still reluctant to make the switch, let’s see if any of these change your feelings about GA4: - Audience conversions: In GA3 you could only track event-based conversions or page-based conversions. In GA4, you have audience-based conversions, too—and they allow for more customized tracking options. - GA3 didn’t do a great job at measuring time. It could only measure time per page, session, and user. With GA4, you can measure the time between interactions. For example, you can build a funnel and see how long a user takes to go through it. - GA4 comes with the enterprise funnels that were previously available only in GA360. - Pathing: With GA4 you can do backward and forwards pathing. Pick a conversion you want to analyze, and find out what pages or events preceded it. - With GA3, it was easy to run out of goals, and you couldn’t delete goals once you made them. GA4 provides 30 conversions at a time, and after creating them, you can archive them to free up slots. That’s just five out of the ten. [You can read about the other five advantages in Charles Farina’s Twitter thread.]( SPONSORED BY DRIP This might be the only tool you can set and forget… and still see revenue [article-image]( Tell former customers you miss them. Inspire them with personalized product recommendations. Nudge cart abandoners. [All without working harder than you need to.]( With Drip you can set up email and SMS marketing automations that run themselves. 30,000 other companies use it to drive revenue…. why not you? [“Tell me more about Drip.”]( THE CREW'S INSIGHTS The #1 biggest mistake brands make with newsletters [article-image] We’ve analyzed hundreds of brands. Many of them commit to a newsletter error that drives away the audience—and the profits—they want to build. The mistake? Creating a newsletter to promote your brand’s content. It’s a common mistake… and understandable. Naturally, the marketing director wants to distribute content. So, they task a writer with creating a company newsletter that tells subscribers to “Check out our new blog post!” or to “Sign up for our webinar!” Here’s why it doesn’t work: Nobody cares. Newsletters like these only produce low open rates and high unsubscribe rates. When you focus on promoting brand content, you achieve the opposite effect: tuning people out. What to do instead: Write your company newsletter the way you’d write a Reddit post or a Twitter thread. Convey the benefit by telling readers exactly what they’ll get by clicking or watching or listening. Then, drop links to the content at the bottom of the email. Your marketing director may wince at first, but you’ll get more engagement with these kinds of emails. And isn’t that what we all want in the end? ROUNDING UP THE STACK [E-COMMERCE:]( Instagram Stories are ephemeral but your weekends don’t have to be. Archive App automatically saves your UGC so you can take a break. Get started on Shopify in minutes and [use code “STACKED200” for 200 free posts.](* [ADVERTISING:]( It’s getting better on iOS. Top media sources are gradually improving their ad effectiveness, with Google, Meta, and TikTok leading the pack. Collective sigh of relief. [LINKEDIN:]( Mr. Beast, a creator with 92.5M YouTube subscribers, just created a LinkedIn profile. Why? Because platforms like Twitter and Instagram just aren’t suitable for what he wants to talk about. [SEO:]( It’s spring cleaning at Google. The search giant is opening windows, spraying Febreeze, and throwing out the URL Parameters tool. The internet’s come a long way since it was released in 2009… [ADVERTISING:]( Not just a grocery store. 2,000 brands already use Kroger’s retail media unit Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) to list their products… and now it’s opening up the API to third party platforms. [SEO:]( Like they say, context is everything… and Google wants more of it. The Search Console is adding more context to error reporting. [PRODUCTIVITY:]( Bye bye Calendly? Google Calendar just released a new feature that generates a selection of meeting times for users to pick from. If you use Google’s Workspace, it does sound more convenient… *This is a sponsored post. BRAIN TEASER A person enters a pet shop and sees a beautiful parrot. The seller guarantees him that the bird repeats everything it hears, so the person buys it. However, when he goes back home and tests the bird, it turns out that it doesn’t say a word. The buyer goes to the shop to complain to the seller, but the seller argues he has not lied. How is this possible? You can find the [answer here](. [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT That LinkedIn connection request you got might be fake [article-image] LinkedIn is known for being a professional platform, but it still has its own share of bots. As it turns out, [more than 1,000 LinkedIn profiles]( use AI-generated faces. So how can you tell if a profile is fake? The next time you get a connection request, don’t just read their bio. Look closely at the photo for: - Eyes that are centered in the middle of the photo. - Blurred or vague backgrounds. - Hair strands that blend into the background. - Missing earrings. Not easy to do, but it may help you spot the fakes and avoid suspicious DMs. SHARING IS CARING Know what’s almost as cool as winning an Oscar? Winning cool swag for looking smart in front of your colleagues. When you share our newsletter with your marketer friends, we send you great merch, completely free. It’s easy, too. Just share your referral link below as many times as you like. It takes less than 30 seconds. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ [SUBSCRIBE]( | [INSIGHTS]( | [ADVERTISE]( You are receiving this email because you want to know what is going on in digital marketing. If you aren't thrilled about our emails, reply and let us know why. 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