🔻Meta.

Google rolls out new Performance Max tools, Meta releases their Q3 report, and more. October 27, 2022 [Read in browser]( [logo] [sponsor]( Happy Thursday. Good news: you don’t have to start your first day at the job with an “I’m delighted to announce…” LinkedIn post. Instead, you can go full Elon Musk and [walk into HQ with a prop and a joke.]( Of course, you might want to study company culture, and maybe skim the handbook first… META Q3 report is in, and it’s not great [article-image] Can’t say we didn’t see this coming… Meta saw another drop in revenue, [falling from around $29B in 2021 to $27.7B as of Q3.]( Also, ad impression costs went up by 17% year-over-year (YoY), even though the average price per ad decreased by 18% (YoY). And while Meta got a few [bumps in daily active users and engagement YoY](, their CFO Outlook Commentary admitted the company needs to be more efficient, and is already “shrinking” some of its teams. Oof. Still chasing the dream: In other news, [Meta released Advantage+ shopping campaigns]( to make it easier for advertisers to test ad creative, targeting, placements, and budgets. Apparently you can create up to 150 creative combinations by setting one campaign. That seems useful in theory… Of course, Meta also [admitted their targeting isn’t great](, among other things, so keep that in mind. Why we care: Given all the factors we’ve covered before, including the brakes on ad spend, economic uncertainty, privacy challenges, etc., Meta's Q3 report isn’t surprising. Not that you weren’t doing this already, but… you’ll want to keep a close eye on your return on ad spend (ROAS). GOOGLE It’s easier to make bumper ads, plus three Performance Max updates That sound you hear… That’s Google revving up their automated ads for what’s coming. The company just announced a few updates that should—in their words—help you with the holiday season. Shiny new tools: Google’s [latest Performance Max]( additions focus on planning, customization, and evaluation: - The Performance Planner uses machine learning to “simulate” campaigns and forecast your potential ROI. Super useful, if accurate. - Asset group scheduling helps you schedule asset groups so you can pause or enable them when needed. Also, you can now add up to 15 headlines to your asset groups. - Explanations and insights show why campaigns may not work, perform diagnostics, and give recommendations. You can also add data segments as data signals in your campaigns, which may help you evaluate your first-party data. Google also suggests best practices for these new features, so check out their full description. It may give you an edge in the following weeks! Bumpers and trim: Also, you can now [trim videos into 6-second shorts](, which should make it easy to create bumper ads. The machine learning-powered tool finds “important scenes and brand assets from the original video” and adapts them to shorter formats… all by itself. Sweet. Why we care: Google seems to be using the upcoming holiday online shopping spree as a testing ground for their machine learning capabilities. If you’re running Google Ads, make sure you leverage these updates. It’s in Google’s best interests for these tools to succeed, so you may get a few surprise wins along the way. SPONSORED BY SNAP Amplify your campaigns with Snapchat [article-image]( Just because you’re not on Snapchat doesn’t mean your customers aren’t there! Snap has quietly grown its user base (+18% last year 1 ) and is now reaching more than 600M people 2 . Just in North America, 99M people are on Snapchat every day! 3 90% of Gen Zers and 75% of all 13-34 years old in the U.S are on Snapchat now 4 . And even better - many of them aren't on other platforms. [Check it out](. [Snap helps you create emotional impact:]( Snap has 250MM people on average 2 engaging with AR every day. And why does that matter? Augmented reality (AR) technology allows for users to become immersed in your content. It’s engaging and memorable, it builds emotional connections, and users share that experience with friends and family. This leads to a higher response and effectiveness to your ads… … And higher ROI: Across consumer packaged products (CPG), Snap drove an average ROI 1.78X higher than total media averages. 5 [Simply add Snapchat to your campaigns]( and create immersive experiences that spike an emotional connection… and drive results. [Dope marketing. Great ROI. Snapchat.]( COPYWRITING Are you using percentages wrong? [article-image] Math is reliable. But the human mind? Not so much. As Nick Kolenda [writes in his recent newsletter](, most customers believe that 125% more of something equals the same as 25% more. It’s called the “Off By 100% bias,” and it’s a phenomenon where people underestimate the magnitude of percentage changes greater than 100%. For example, shoppers assume that “150% more than 50 = 150% of 50,” when in fact 150% of 100 is 150, while 150% more than 100 is 250%. But it’s not entirely the shoppers’ fault. Believe it or not, it’s the copywriter’s fault. Let’s say you’re selling batteries. If your battery lasts nine hours, and you want to compare it to the customer’s existing battery which only lasts four hours… - Don’t say: Battery power that lasts 125% longer. - Say: More than double your battery life. Because if you say it lasts 125% longer, your customer may think it lasts only a quarter more. ...Unless you're a skilled media buyer and you know that a 125% ROAS increase is more than double the revenue! So the next time you use percentages, keep these two pricing psychology tips in mind: - Make computing easy. Use discounts with round numbers. Buyers assume there are larger gaps between round numbers, so 5% seems much larger than 4.97%. - Stack the discounts. For example, you might offer a 20% discount and then offer 25% on top. To the customer, it will feel like a 45% discount when it’s actually a 40% discount. Make sense? Good. Now it’s time to adjust your copy a bit so you don’t lose customers to the Off by 100% bias! SPONSORED BY BLACK CROW AI How to double your conversions using customized machine learning models [article-image]( Are crazy-high customer acquisition costs destroying your margins? Over 150 e-commerce brands are cutting acquisition costs and boosting margins using a no-code machine learning platform, Black Crow AI. [One of them is Bearaby:]( They built a machine-learning model that gave them real-time predictions about their site visitors. They used these predictions to create custom audiences on Facebook, Google, and Snapchat to retarget the shoppers most likely to buy. After 30 days, [their ROAS increased by 120%](. And conversions from retargeting campaigns doubled. [Read how you can replicate these results!]( THE CREW’S INSIGHTS What you can learn from Huckberry’s email structure [article-image] Huckberry is a fascinating brand, and a place where a couple members of The Crew shop for clothing and gear. They’re a content-driven online apparel store, meaning that while Huckberry sells clothing, they also function as an online magazine for men who like cars, fishing, the outdoors… you get the idea. Because of their heavy focus on good content, Huckberry sends some of the best emails we’ve ever read from an e-commerce brand. Here’s an email structure from Huckberry you can swipe for your own use: - Quote or short piece of copy to get readers in the right mood. - Feature section with a product photo and a paragraph or two detailing its story. - Section of 2–3 products or collections based on the season. - A section linking to an interesting or related blog post. - Another collection of products based on a season or theme. - Finally, a content-focused section. Huckberry links to long-form content, collections of trending products, a list of interesting reads and listens from around the web, and an inspiring outdoorsy photo to wrap things up. Why it works: This email structure blends content and copy with product promotion so effortlessly, it feels like you’re reading a magazine from a couple decades ago. And because it’s such a fun read, it sells. If your brand is one that creates good content—or knows how to curate it—this email structure just might boost your sales the next time you send out a campaign. Just so you know, this insight came from our report on Huckberry, which you can read if you [sign up to Stacked Marketer Pro.]( You’ll also find nearly two dozen other reports, filled with ROI-boosting insights, growth tactics, and more. Happy email marketing! ROUNDING UP THE STACK [REAL ESTATE SEO:]( Want to massively improve the amount of real estate leads you get from Google? You can rank higher on Google by getting backlinks from premium websites like Rentable, Apartment Therapy, Bloomberg, and more. [Try suitelinks.io and outrank your competitors.](* [TWITTER:]( Campaign Planner—Twitter’s tool that allows you to better predict campaign performance—just landed in 15 more markets, including Australia, Germany, and South Korea. Is your country on the list? [GOOGLE:]( Blame it on the bear market. According to Google’s chief business officer, “crypto winter” was one of the main reasons for their disappointing Q3, since financial and crypto services pulled back the ad spend. Classic crypto… [APPLE:]( You might also like… gambling? Apple’s new ad slot is apparently swamped with gambling apps, and users are voicing concerns about the legitimacy of these ads. Not to mention Apple gets a 30% cut of each in-app purchase. Seems shady... [META:]( Another day, another fine for big tech. This time the Turkish competition authority sanctioned Meta for “breaking competition law” by holding a social network ads monopoly. What else is new? *This is a sponsored post BRAIN TEASER How can a girl go 25 days without sleep? You can find the [answer here.]( [poolside-logo] POOLSIDE CHAT The metaverse is a lonely place… [article-image] Uh-oh. It looks like Metaverse’s Decentraland is… just land. … Because there aren’t too many avatars walking around. According to reports, the Ethereum-based blockchain world [“had 38 active users in a span of 24-hours](." You’d probably find more people living in a remote village! And the worst part is, the Decentraland project is valued at $1.2B. Ouch. That’s bad news for investors and developers. Not so bad for the introverts who just want a quiet place on a piece of virtual land… SHARING IS CARING Guess which hoodie we’re wearing. Nevermind, we’ll tell you: it’s the Stacked Marketer Hoodie. We love it, and we wear it all the time. You can get a Stacked Marketer Hoodie too. It looks great with pants or without them, indoors, outdoors, opening doors, or breaking doors down. All you have to do is share our newsletter and get 50 other smart people to sign up. You’ll unlock other prizes along the way, too, like: - The Crew’s Top 10 Insights (2 referrals) - Access to the growing library of The Crew’s Insights (4 referrals) Share the referral link below to get started. Zip. Mmm, cozy. [article-image]( [CLICK TO SHARE]( Or copy your referral link: [ 1 Snap Inc. internal data Q2 2022 vs Q2 2021 2 Snap Inc Internal Data, April 28th, 2022 3 Snap Inc Q2 2022 Earnings 4 Snap Inc Internal Data Q2 2022. Penetration Calculated as MAU divided 2021 population estimate Per United Nation World Population Prospect, 2022.Gen Z is defined as 13-24 year-olds 5 Source: Nielsen Compass Benchmarks Category - Total CPG, Time period: Rolling 104 weeks ending Q3’21. Media Types: Total Media, Snap, Total Social (includes Snap), Digital (Display, OLV, Social, Search), TV, Print, Radio. Total Media = TV, Digital, Print, Radio, OOH. Digital = Display, OLV, Social, Search. [SUBSCRIBE]( | [SM PRO]( | [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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