Category: Web design and development

Google Analytics 4 is here—but are you ready?

Posted on by Lily Lofthouse

Google Analytics 4 represents a fundamentally different way of collecting data, and signals the increasing overlap between web and mobile app content and development. Businesses that haven’t yet installed GA4 need to get conversant with it fast—there’s just a month to go before Google deprecates Universal Analytics and GA4 becomes the only data analytics service available on the platform.

On July 1, 2023, Universal Analytics (UA) accounts will stop collecting data, and a year later on July 1, 2024, Google Analytics 360 (GA360) accounts will also stop. They’re being replaced by Google Analytics 4 (GA4), a new Google product enabling users to collect web and app data separately or in one continuous property.

GA4 marks a major milestone in the tracking of web and app properties. Formerly called App + Web when announced in its beta stage in October 2020, GA4 builds on the foundation of cross-device unified measurement which Google introduced in July 2019. GA4 eliminates the need for manual stitching and workarounds between platforms, and ultimately quenches marketers’ thirst for unified data.

But if you haven’t implemented GA4 yet, read on and get ready—you don’t have long!

Have you seen the latest TikTok de-influencer trend?

This is basically where social media influencers slander a hyped up viral product and tells you exactly why you DON’T need it.

Is this going to be the death of influencing or another clever ploy to encourage you to buy a product. The double bluff?

What is Google Analytics 4?

GA4 isn’t a simple redesign of UA. It’s a whole new product, which until July 1, 2023 can be installed alongside your existing UA profile.

If you’re new to Analytics, however, GA4 is the default Google Analytics platform. It superseded UA in October 2020.

Google Analytics used to be divided between web properties—what we might think of as ‘traditional’ analytics—and Analytics for Firebase, which caters specifically to app needs.

GA4 unifies users’ data, and most importantly gives them flexible and powerful analytics tools within the bounds of cookieless tracking and consent management.

Universal Analytics vs Google Analytics 4: what’s changing?

Implementing GA4 doesn’t mean you have to get rid of your existing Analytics setup. For now you should keep that in place—its valuable historical data will be available for a further 6 months, and will complement the insights gathered from GA4. But as of July 1 next year, GA4 will become Google’s sole analytics platform.

If you’re setting up Analytics for the first time you can get started with GA4 right away, no need to create a separate UA profile. But if you’re transitioning from UA to GA4, a variety of changes are coming in the wake of growing data privacy restrictions.

Google Signals regionality
Launched in 2018, Signals is a Google product that collects data from users who’ve opted in to ad personalisation. The data is anonymised and made available to integrate into reporting and audience building. Signals can be disabled for specific countries and included for others. This level of control can be vital for political or socioeconomic reasons, because while not necessarily a GDPR requirement, it enables whole regions to be excluded from intake.

IP address logging
Google has deprecated IP logging; all processing for locations will now be passed through to GA. This meets GDPR requirements and mitigates any compliance issues that could arise during the transfer of personally identifiable information (PII).

Granular location and device data collection
Several data points are no longer default, including city, device information and browser versioning. Some companies may choose not to collect these data points for the sake of making sure they’re fully compliant with GDPR. Those data points that are no longer default can still be collected according to specified regions.

EU data
EU data was being moved to the US for processing, but this practice has been deprecated. EU data is now processed within the EU to comply with GDPR.

What new features does Google Analytics bring?

With GA4, a variety of metrics that users of UA are accustomed to have changed, deprecated, or been replaced.

From pageviews to views
GA4 prioritises views over pageviews because it unifies web and app properties: views encompasses screenviews and pageviews. But as was previously the case, repeated views of the same content are counted individually.

Identity Spaces
GA4 comes with four distinct identity methods, which together produce a unified view of cross-device user journeys:

  • user ID
  • device ID
  • modelling
  • Google Signals.

All data associated with the same user—that is to say, associated with the same identity—is assigned to the same identity space. Identity spaces are used across all GA4 reporting, enabling brands and advertisers to deduplicate their list of users and gain a richer understanding of their relationship and interactions with their businesses.

From average session duration to average engagement time
While the two metrics are calculated differently, average engagement time reports on what average session duration was always attempting to encapsulate: user focus on web- or screenpages.

New metrics
Goodbye outdated user behavioural measurements like bounce rate and average session duration. With GA4, new metrics for understanding behaviour include engaged sessions and engagement rates, which are both more impactful than the old metrics.

From goals to conversions
This change is mainly just semantic. It’s come about because of the deprecation of the category–action–label hierarchy of previous events. That being said, it’s still important to note that GA4 will count every instance of a conversion event, even if it occurs multiple times in the same session. For example, if the same user fills out a form three times in one session, that conversion is counted three times.

Multipurpose audience lists
When you create an audience in GA4, it’s automatically imported and becomes available for remarketing in Google Ads on YouTube and the Google Search and Display Networks. By contrast, advertisers using UA have to recreate audiences in Google Ads they’ve already created in Analytics.

From session to session start
GA4 slightly changes the definition of when a session is said to have been created. It’s now determined when a session start is triggered. This generates a session ID which is appended to each event that occurs within the session. Sessions end after 30 minutes or the defined timeout period. They can no longer restart at midnight or when new campaign parameters are encountered.

A different data display
UA’s data model is hit-based, characterised by sessions and pageviews. The latter are the starting point of data collection in UA, whereas in GA4 the key metric is events.

 

What are the business benefits of Google Analytics 4?

By leveraging AI and machine learning components for the near-cookieless future, GA4 is a step in the right direction in terms of giving businesses the insights they actually need.

Simplified and organised reporting
GA4 introduced several new reporting tools of interest to marketers and web analysts, and the existing web and app reports have been reorganised in the platform UI. The standout benefit from these changes is the unified user view between app and website, but it’s also worth noting that Google has revamped its custom reporting tool as an ‘analysis hub’. This offers more flexibility, with custom and ad hoc reporting.

Unified metric and dimension scopes
GA4 brings together the view between app and web, which is probably the single biggest advantage it brings. Previous iterations of Analytics required separate tagging and properties, which sometimes led to inconsistent metrics and dimensions. Just remember when you start out with GA4 that you won’t have any historical or 24-hour data, but you’ll soon start to see that populate.

New privacy-conscious data controls
Unified reporting and the user journey across platforms has been a perennial challenge since the dawn of app and web development. GA4 represents an acknowledgement of these needs and the fact that they’re growing increasingly complex in the face of exponentially more stringent data regulations. As privacy advocates criticise third-party data collection, Google is now ready to embrace anonymised first-party data instead, along with consented tracking. By unifying properties and collection scopes (and announcing significant server-side capabilities), Google is moving away from client-side dependencies.

 

 

What will my operations look like using Google Analytics 4?

Over the last few years we’ve seen users and sessions switch places in Analytics, a nod to a future in which analysts track users over session-by-session data. GA4 manifests this shift in full. Event-based tracking over hit-based tracking produces a degree of granularity in data that simply wasn’t possible before.

Meanwhile, old categories like action and label have been deprecated, and all interactions with a website are now ingested at the same level of granularity. A pageview happens at the same level of detail as a link click. This precise level-setting enables flexibility that would have been otherwise more limited. The question now is less “What happened in the session?”, more “How did the user behave in the session?” Fundamentally, data points are being translated into human actions.

 

 

How do I track my marketing data and create reports in Google Analytics 4?

You can set up a default attribution model for your reporting needs in Property Settings. You can also specify a lookback window, whose default is the last 30 days. This marks a stark evolution from UA, whose default was Last non-direct click, which couldn’t be changed across the account—different models were comparable only in a specific tab.

With GA4’s attribution models, direct visits are excluded from receiving attribution credit on all attribution models unless the conversion path was direct visits only. The models have been and will continue to be introduced on different dates, with their data available only from their start dates. If you select data outside the available window, you’ll only see some of it.

Analytics’ attribution reporting previously looked at how a website had acquired a user’s session, but GA4’s will focus instead on how the user was acquired in the first place, as well as how their subsequent sessions were acquired.

There’s also an exciting range of metrics exclusive to GA4:

  • event count: number of hits or triggered events
  • active users: number of users active in a 28-day period
  • engagement rate: percentage of total sessions that were engaged sessions
  • average engagement time: calculated summation of user engagement durations per active user
  • engaged sessions: number of sessions that lasted longer than 10 seconds and had a conversion event or at least 2 views.

How do I migrate to Google Analytics 4?

GA4 is a new product unto itself. You can’t just hit an Update button in your existing UA or GA360 property—you must create an entirely new property for GA4, and your site will need the appropriate tagging to start collecting data.

While Google is providing a mirroring service to translate UA tags to GA4, you shouldn’t rely on it—indeed Google itself recommends that you don’t. The inherent differences in data structure will likely confuse your setup, and any issues or errors from your old setup may get carried forward into your GA4. Much better to start afresh with GA4, and prime your business for success as we hail a new era in analytics.

3 simple questions to ask before implementing Google Analytics 4:

  • Should I migrate to server-side tracking?
  • Is my app running the latest version of the Firebase SDK?
  • Is my existing tag Tag Manager or gtag integration collecting all the data it should be?

Finally, remember that to have YoY data available in GA4 before the deprecation of UA and GA360, you’ll need to have fully implemented GA4 by July 1, 2023, the deprecation data for UA. Otherwise your GA4 will have gaps, and this will complicate your 2023 YoY reviews.

 

What if I don’t have time right now to learn how to use Google Analytics 4?

GA4 data is forward-facing from the date of installation—the sooner you get it, the more historical data you’ll have. For that reason you should add GA4 to your website ASAP.

Business owners are rushed off their feet—we get it. So even if you don’t have time right now to familiarise yourself with GA4, try to at least install it, as data capture will begin immediately. Leave it ticking along in the background. When you’re finally ready to learn how to use it, you’ll have a wealth of statistically significant information ready to go.

It may take a little time to get your head around GA4’s newly available insights. Historically, Analytics data has been driven by pageviews, providing metrics now familiar to us like bounce rate, the numbers of users and new users, and the number of sessions and their average duration. By contrast, GA4’s data is more oriented toward understanding the customer lifecycle, so includes information about retention, acquisition, engagement and monetisation.

Is it worth making the switch to Google Analytics 4?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: hell yes!

If you still have two profiles—GA4 along with UA or GA360—it’s best to use them both individually and in tandem, with a view to seeing which metrics are related or influence one another. You’ll soon start connecting the dots. Moving forward, the understanding you’ll glean of how A impacts B and B impacts C will be invaluable.

Come the deprecation of UA we’ll see site owners who haven’t yet installed GA4 scramble to get it set up. There’s no sadder sight than a scrambling site owner. (Try saying that after you’ve had a few.) So start preparing as soon as possible. Export and maintain hard copies of historical data for your records—it won’t be transferrable from your UA or GA360 because of the differences in their data models and how their definitions function and operate.

Take all the time you can to get to grips with GA4. After all, ultimately you execute most of your business decisions according to Analytics, right? The data you work with moving forward must be as accurate as possible.

This is a seriously exciting time in analytics. Because GA4 introduces a whole new way of looking at your data. Of course that can feel daunting, especially if you’ve been accustomed to UA or GA360 for years—but once you see the myriad possibilities open up before you, you’ll wonder how you ever went without.

If you need some help or advice, whether with exporting your data from UA or GA360, or familiarising yourself with GA4’s interface and methodology, or understanding how to leverage its insights, reach out to us. We’ve been running countless clients’ GA4 accounts since the platform superseded UA as Google’s default back in October 2020, and we’d be delighted to help you as well.

De-influencing: What does it mean for brands and influencers?

Posted on by Lily Lofthouse

Have you seen the latest TikTok de-influencer trend?

This is basically where social media influencers slander a hyped up viral product and tells you exactly why you DON’T need it.

Is this going to be the death of influencing or another clever ploy to encourage you to buy a product. The double bluff?

When did influencing begin?

Influencing has been around since the dawn of time, I’m almost certain someone once saw Celopatra in a pair of earrings and thought ‘I MUST HAVE THEM!’ but it really hit its stride in 2009 when content creators such as Zoella and Tanya Burr Began to influence their followers into getting must-have products such as Morphe makeup brushes or an item from a large Primark haul.

So when did De-influencing start?

De-influencing has existed for longer than you realise: a great example (even if it was unintentional) is back in 2021 when Ronaldo moved a Coca-Cola bottle out of shot during a press conference and chose to drink water instead. This resulted in the brand’s market value dropping by $4billion. This highlights how easily influenced we can be, if our idol does or doesn’t want something, then suddenly neither do we.

Some creators such as Remi Bader (Remi Jo on Tiktok) have literally grown their channels purely from de-influencing their followers. Remi began creating content in 2020 and has now grown a huge following of 2.2M on Tiktok alone. As a curve model, Remi creates “Realistic” clothing hauls highlighting the sizing issue that exists in the fashion industry. Remi’s content typically consists of try on hauls from specific brands, in which she is brutally honest about the sizing, comfort and quality of every item she puts on, influencing and de-influencing viewers on which brands to purchase or not to purchase from. Remi’s honest and relatable content has resulted in huge brand deals, gifting and even a brand collaboration with Revolve Clothing.

Does influencing / de-influencing work?

Everyone has an idol, someone they look up and would do pretty much anything to be a little bit more like them. When that idol wears, owns or uses a product it immediately becomes more desirable.

Influencer marketing is a great way to ensure you are reaching your intended target audience. Influencers add authenticity to a brand, they prove to followers that the brand has clout and is worth purchasing from purely because a trusted person (influencer) claims to use it.

Products are often likely to sell out when influencers such as Mikayla Nogueira or Molly Mae are seen wearing, using or even owning them.

Although influencers are seen as trusted individuals, there have been scandals around them not even using a product when they promote it.

Some influencers have even been seen promoting products that are dangerous to their viewers’ health or encouraging people to buy a makeup product that has been tested on animals.

Influencers have a lot of power over their followers and often forget the responsibility that comes along with it. When money is involved it can really blur the lines on whose opinion you can really trust.

What does de-influencing mean for brands?

I would say… not a great deal, it just keeps them on their toes.

Obviously de-influencing could be incredibly dangerous for a brand if they are featured on the negative side of things. But, equally if your product makes it to the ‘I recommend this product instead’ side of the video, then you are winning.

De-influencing is simply just deceptive marketing, another sneaky way to sell a product, yet this way it seems less cliche. ‘Don’t buy this product, buy this one instead’ could be the new marketing strategy for a lot of brands, requesting that influencers recommend their product over another.

What does de-influencing mean for influencers?

Many influencers are absolutely loving the de-influencer trend. Beauty influencers are using it as a way to show off their favourite beauty products, by creating content such as ‘Get ready with me whilst I de-influence you!’.

It is really interesting to see the impact this is having on the beauty industry, how a viral product that has been trending for a while is now getting negative reviews and another major beauty brand product is being hyped up instead. 

In a way, content creators who ‘de-influence’ shouldn’t be a big crazy trend, it should be normal. Not liking a product or a product not working for you should just be seen as realistic. Maybe more influencers should share Remi Bader’s attitude to honesty.

If you look at the bigger picture… The idea of de-influencing can be seen as a positive, a way of reducing overconsumption. This could have massive benefits to our planet, as the fashion industry is one of the most damaging industries in the world.

Instead of telling viewers what to buy and what not to buy, should influencers be showing us how to make the most out of what we already have? But this way of influencing is of no benefit to brands, or influencers for that matter, as they would make no money this way.

It is hard to decide what de-influencing really means for the marketing industry, but it is clear to see that it has and will always be around, it just might take on different forms.

The Manifest hails Pixated among the leading creative agencies in the UK!

Posted on by Arham Khan

We’re a design and performance marketing agency committed to helping businesses reach their full potential. Our team of specialists craft high-converting campaigns focusing on our clients’ ROI, driving their growth and empowering them to reach their targets.

We’re delighted to announce we’ve been named as a top company on B2B guide The Manifest, which has recognised Pixated as one of the best creative agencies in the UK!

“We’ve been working extremely hard to deliver excellent results for our clients during these uncertain times, so it’s great to see the team has been recognised for their hard work.”

Arham Khan, Co-founder, Pixated

This is a prestigious achievement for the team here at Pixated. Since 2018 we’ve been working tirelessly to innovate solutions that surpass our clients’ every expectation. We’re proud of our many accomplishments—and this award is the cherry on top of another successful year!

Recent client feedback from GMACS demonstrates the quality of our projects. The careers service professionals hired us earlier in the year to design and develop their website. GMACS desperately needed a revamp of their old platform, and wanted a vibrant and visually appealing solution. We delivered an enhanced product with improved usability.

“Pixated quickly and efficiently built the website we needed and were very helpful with late changes to the scope.”

Simon Pook, Content & Systems Manager, GMACS

Now let’s talk about your digital strategy. Connect with us to start the conversation!

How SMS marketing improves cross-selling and up-selling

Posted on by Arham Khan

SMS marketing is the perfect and most effective tool for cross-selling and up-selling to customers. SMS not only boasts a 99% open rate but also provides the personalization and improved response times necessary to be successful in cross-selling and upselling to your customers.

Let’s explore the meaning of cross-selling and upselling and why SMS marketing should play a larger role in your marketing strategy.

What is Cross-Selling and Up-Selling?

Cross-selling and upselling are very similar. Regardless of which method you’re using, the goal is to help the customer visualize the benefit of buying an item that complements and fulfills a need not met by their original purchase; or committing to buying a higher priced item that meets their needs better.

Upselling is a strategy best used on long-term, repeat customers that have a history with the business. These customers tend to be more accepting of the recommendations given to them by the business due to the trust built over time. Showing other higher priced models or variations of an item they are already interested in purchasing, increases your AOV and helps the customer feel more satisfied after completing the purchase.

Cross-selling can be easily employed by giving suggestions of complementary items for the customer to buy along with the item they are already purchasing. For example, suggesting other cooking utensils or pots and pans to someone who just added a frying pan to their cart would be considered cross-selling.

How effective is SMS?

Take a look at these ecommerce SMS marketing statistics we’ve compiled and see for yourself:

  • 1 in 3 consumers checks their text notifications within one minute of receiving a text.
  • More than half of consumers (51%) reply to a text message within 1-2 minutes.
  • Text marketing is incredibly effective, with SMS open rates as high as 98%.
  • Unlike most marketing channels, SMS marketing continues to be a best kept secret; 61% of marketers still don’t use it.
  • SMS marketing click-through rates for ecommerce brands can be as high as 36%.
  • More than half of consumers check their text messages 11 times a day or more.
  • On an average day, consumers check their text messages more than any other app on their phones.
  • In 2022, 70% of consumers opted in to receive texts from businesses.
  • 61% of consumers say they want the ability to text a business back.
  • Customers don’t just want you to text them; 43% of consumers said they have proactively texted a business.
  • 33% of SMS recipients react to CTAs in SMS marketing messages, and 47% of them end up making a purchase as a result.
  • 60% of business owners who text their customers plan on increasing their SMS marketing budget in 2022.

Email versus SMS Marketing

Most ecommerce companies rely primarily on email to engage their clients. While there is still room for email in today’s marketing strategy, when comparing the effectiveness of email and SMS, the results provided by SMS are astounding.

SMS marketing click-through rates are significantly higher than email click-through rates are. Click-through rates between 20% and 35% are reported by many businesses. On the other hand, 64% of business owners report only a 1% to 10% click-through rate for email. The average click-through rate for email marketing is under 3%, though.

Many times, emails end up in spam folders or are simply ignored entirely. Unopened emails are wasted marketing revenue and time that your business could be directing elsewhere. Sure, you can continue to have email play a role in your marketing strategy, but SMS should be a main focus.

Product Suggestions: In this instance the customer has already chosen to purchase an item for your ecommerce business. Congratulations! Now a great way to cross-sell is by suggesting a complementing product that they may have already been contemplating purchasing. This drastically increases your customer’s lifetime value

You can accomplish this in many different ways, but some options are sending an SMS with a link to a tutorial video of the item recently purchased that includes suggestions of other complementing products. You can offer limited time discounts on a similar product or send click-to-buy links of items that the customer viewed, but did not purchase.

Customized Discount Codes : Discount codes sent with post-purchase texts are a great way to get customers to return while cross-selling and or upselling. You can choose what you want these texts to say, but here are a few examples:

“Bazinga! Now that was a great deal on those sunglasses! As a thank you for your very first purchase, here is a code for 25% off your next purchase!”

“Even sasquatch loves the fresh-smelling forest scents of Pine Tar & Co. Soaps! Now that you are using (and hopefully enjoying) the soap you purchased, ready to try out one of our other scents? Here is a 15% promo code for your next purchase.”

Subscription Offerings: A simple way to keep your customer coming back month after month is by offering a subscription. A gentle reminder can be sent through SMS to the customer each time they make a purchase encouraging them to take advantage of the 10% off every time this product is shipped when they have enrolled in your subscription.

As you can see, SMS is a powerful tool that you can use to keep customers informed while capitalizing on the strong open rates and attention of the consumer to also cross promote and upsell simultaneously. It’s really a no-brainer in today’s marketing world!

About the Author: Michael Lazar is an Executive at ReadyCloud, a multichannel ecommerce CRM software solution for online retailers with seamless returns software automation for today’s busy online retailer.

A leading SEO expert, Lazar has authored guides for countless companies and brands, helping online retailers improve their process, gain more traction and alleviate pain points and bottlenecks along the way.

Why do I keep seeing the same ads on every streaming service?

Posted on by Arham Khan

No matter your streaming service of choice, you’ve almost certainly come across the same ad. Over, and over, and over again. Repeated in every break, till you vow never to buy from this company in your life. No matter how fabulous the deal, or how much you secretly covet their products. And the company haven’t even done anything wrong here. If anything, kudos to them for such an insanely catchy jingle.

Some would say Hulu and Peacock are the worst offenders. But others have noticed this endless repetition of ads on TikTok as well. And if it’s not the same ad, it’s a plethora of ads for the same thing. It’s enough to make you throw your phone across the room. (Or maybe that’s just me.) What does this all mean for the future of ads on streaming services?

Advertising is coming for the streaming world in a big way

Many streamers, especially those with linear TV legacies, embraced advertising from the start. Yet more recently, giants like Disney and Netflix have adopted ad-supported business models, and both intend to roll out new tiers soon.

But while ad-supported streaming might sound like a great idea, it comes with risks. Most people can’t afford to pay for every streaming service, and ads enable users to access more content without breaking the bank. It’s win–win when done right. But done wrong, it’s a headache inducer.

Ad-based streaming is already mired in complicated ethical debates surrounding user data, viewer tracking, and who gets to know what you’re watching and when. But among all this philosophising, might we pose a humbler suggestion of our own: Can we make the ads themselves a tad more bearable? After all, if I’m going to binge an entire season on Hulu, I’m looking at four ad breaks a show, two ads apiece, for eight episodes straight. That’s 64 ads. If I see the same two ads 32 times each, you can bet your bottom dollar I ain’t purchasing either product or service. On principle. (And that’s not to mention that I might struggle even to reach the end of the season.)

Repetitive ads are seriously annoying, but there’s actually a sound rationale behind them

It all comes down to ad targeting. At a certain level of granularity, there aren’t many people whose interests, living situation, and budget all closely align with yours. Yet what are Peacock to do if they’ve promised an advertiser a certain number of ad impressions? If there were a million people who fit the bill for the target audience, no worries. But if there’s only a thousand of you, and a million impressions to serve, well—prepare to be singing that jingle for weeks on end. And yet there’s evidence to suggest that people are actually less likely to buy from a company if they’ve been repeatedly exposed to the same ad.

It’s a surprisingly tricky problem to solve. Even for a single show on a single platform, ads can come at you from a variety of sources: the network itself, the set-top box you’re watching on, potentially even the manufacturer of your TV.

But it doesn’t have to be like this—and some services are embracing change

A few networks have started embracing the idea of showing a single long ad at the beginning of a show, and then nothing for the duration. Ads on the pause screen are also an unobtrusive way to let me know how to save money on my car insurance without annoying me.

The number of streaming services is growing, and ever more platforms are vying for your cash. Yet there’s still no technology spanning them all to ensure you don’t see the same ad on Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, Disney+. Which means you absolutely will see the same ad in those places. The TV ad business is colossal, and that money is now being funnelled to platforms. So without some change in the way that cash flows, the resultant ads may slowly render those streaming services vaguely unwatchable for more and more people.

Amazon’s approach to video ecommerce is giving them the edge in the streaming industry

Posted on by Arham Khan

When it comes to choosing between video streaming services, we’ve become accustomed to choosing between Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

But while Netflix is currently far more popular, Amazon as a company does have a track record of disrupting—and often monopolising—every industry it enters. And that’s why so many analysts now expect that, in time, Amazon will surpass all the biggest names in streaming—Netflix included.

So how has adopting an eCommerce approach to its streaming service made Amazon so deadly?

Perks and price differences

eCommerce brands have always leveraged price reduction strategies while throwing in boatloads of perks to differentiate themselves. Amazon Video is conveniently tied into the Amazon Prime membership plan, meaning Prime members don’t just get access to Video, but also same-day grocery delivery, one- or two-day delivery for a ton of other items, two-day prescription delivery, and access to Amazon Music Prime.

You can of course access Video as a separate package for $8.99 a month, but few choose this option when they can access the expansive package deal of Prime for just an extra $4 a month. And considering that 76% of American households are already Prime members, it’s clear that this strategy is why Amazon is now as competitive as Netflix. By tying Video to Prime, Amazon has acquired a vast customer base who are less inclined to patronise the competition, even if they think the competition might have better content.

Acquisition vs original content

2018 marked the first time Netflix’s original content outpaced its acquired content, constituting 51% of its released titles. This was massively up from 25% just the previous year. Netflix’s content strategy involves increasing its annual expenditure on original content at a rate far higher than on its acquired content. But of course, creating a catalogue of original content takes a lot more time than simply acquiring content, so this strategy reduced the overall growth rate of Netflix’s content.

Most successful eCommerce entrepreneurs are those who sell what others make at an exceptionally high profit margin. Amazon’s eCommerce platform doesn’t just enable entrepreneurs to practice business in this way, but also operates according to the same principle itself, and extends it to its streaming service. After all, the more extensive your catalogue, the more customers you can retain, and the more profit you stand to make.

Like Netflix, Amazon has invested hugely in original content in the last five years—but unlike Netflix, Amazon isn’t slowing down on its acquisitions, either. In 2020 Amazon Video had three times more films on its platform than Netflix, demonstrating the payoff of Amazon’s $8.5m acquisition of MGM. This further positioned Amazon Video to outrace Netflix, and gave it exclusive access to some of Hollywood’s most celebrated and historic titles.

The power of reviews

A significant number of video streamers aren’t logging in to streaming services with their minds made up about what to watch. Most come to browse. But while both Netflix and Amazon Video enable subscribers to watch trailers or short previews of shows and films, only Video offers customer reviews. This is another advantage Amazon has over Netflix—because customer reviews are often far more frank and instructive, providing the kind of authentic guidance prospective viewers desire.

Customer reviews are a key attraction point because they’re perhaps the single most important factor on which eCommerce customers make decisions. These reviews necessitate that the business ensures consistently high-quality content. In typical eCommerce fashion, Amazon Video’s incorporation of in-app customer review capabilities enables viewers to make wiser decisions about which entertainment they spend their time and money on, thereby lessening the likelihood of disappointment and making sure viewers know what they’re getting into.

There could be any number of curveballs in this epic battle of the streamers, and no one can predict how this competition will play out over the coming years. Furthermore, who knows when the next challenger streamer will come along to ruffle some feathers? But while we don’t know which company will come out on top in the long run, one thing’s for sure: Amazon’s tried and tested eCommerce strategy is translating extremely well in the realm of streaming services, too.

Deflation comes to ecommerce: online prices fall 2% in July

Posted on by Arham Khan

According to the Adobe Digital Price Index (ADPI), online prices were down 2% in July compared to June, and down 1% compared to 2021. This is the first drop since January 2020, pre-COVID, and follows three consecutive months of slowing price increases.

In July American inflation hit a 40-year peak, topping 9%, a rate driven by rising ‘real world’ costs. For example, the petrol index fell 7.7% last month, offsetting increases in the food and shelter indexes, which in turn resulted in the all-items index going unchanged over the month. The energy index fell 4.6% over July as the petrol and natural gas indexes declined, but the electricity index increased. The food index continued rising, increasing 1.1% over July as the food-at-home index rose 1.3%.

It’s been a momentous month for online prices, too—especially when it comes to electronics

The ongoing inflation online reflects the price of digital purchases. 14 of the 18 categories tracked by the ADPI saw monthly price drops. Electronics, the largest eCommerce category, with 18.6% share of spend in 2021, saw the second biggest category price drop, down 9.3% YoY (2% MoM). That’s close to electronics’ pre-COVID level: prices fell 9.1% YoY between 2015 and 2019. This also marks the category’s third straight month of price drops.

Computers lead all categories, with a 10.2% drop YoY (3.2% MoM). Apparel had the biggest monthly price drops, down 6.2%, but dropped only 1% YoY. This has been apparel’s first notable YoY decrease. Last month prices fell only 0.1% YoY. Prior to that they’d been rising for 14 months straight.

Seven categories saw YoY price increases while dropping MoM: personal care, furniture, medical supplies, office supplies, appliances, home and garden, and flowers and related gifts. Groceries saw the biggest yearly price increase of 13.4%, and the second biggest monthly increase of 1.4%.

In July people spent $73.7bn online, $400m less than in June. But on a YoY basis, eCommerce spend in July grew 20.9%, driven by both Prime Day and record online sales for the overall retail industry. This year so far people have spent $525.4bn, growing 9.2% YoY.

What are the implications of these price decreases across the board?

On August 10 the news of a slowing American inflation rate was a potentially hopeful sign for the economy—but possibly not, too. Online prices might simply have dropped because people couldn’t buy electronics in light of increasingly expensive necessities such as food. Ditto the overall growth in online spending. Is it up because prices are up, or just because people are confident enough to spend more on items that are less expensive?

There’s another perspective, of course: perhaps we’re just adding more debt. Over the past year credit card debt has jumped by $100bn (13%), the biggest percentage increase in over two decades. Last quarter, with interest rates rising, credit card balances increased by $46bn. The impact of inflation has been apparent in the high volume of borrowing. And while seasonal patterns typically include an increase in Q2, the 13% cumulative increase in credit card balances since Q2 2021 represents the largest in 20 years.

According to Joelle Scally, Administrator of the Center for Microeconomic Data at the New York Fed, ‘While household balance sheets overall appear to be in a strong position, we’re seeing rising delinquencies among subprime and low-income borrowers, with rates approaching pre-COVID levels.’ Moreover, the share of current debt transitioning into delinquency increased modestly for all debt types, but still remains historically low. The delinquency transition rate for credit cards increased by 0.5%.

9 upcoming website trends in 2021 and beyond

Posted on by Arham Khan

Designs speak louder than words. And with 94% of the first impression of a website coming from web design, having a highly engaging and communication-oriented website is essential to let the users accomplish their needs.

However, web design trends constantly change. The designs that were modern and fresh in the yesteryear may feel outdated, cliche, and simply boring today.

Luckily, this is where we come in! When it comes to design, we keep up with all the changing trends and, after a comprehensive search, bring you some of the latest trends in web design that we expect to see in 2021 and beyond.

What are they? Let’s find out in the guide below!

1. Minimalistic Design

Minimal designs are the future of web design. And can be a lifesaver from the overload of digital information during the pandemic. It incorporates simple elements without sacrificing the user experience. The clear focus remains on the content and graphics, so less is more.

For design inspiration, check out the application of minimal design on the homepage of Wingmen. Instead of using a colorful design, their one-page website features straightforward and bold section headings to attract the visitor’s attention.

The website also embodies the ‘less is more’ approach effectively by showing what their business is all about without using menu, widgets, and sidebars. This makes it a fine example of minimalistic in web design.

ModCloth ad example

2. 3D Elements

3D printing is everywhere and rapidly transforming our reality. And with the advent of higher resolution screens, it is stepping into the world of the digital arena as well. The use of 3D in web-desig is one of the most sought-after web design trends of 2021 and beyond.

3D elements in the design are eye-catching and more attractive to the onlookers. They also create a sense of physical presence and allow the designers to offer better product visualization. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t add to the distraction but enable the visitors to have a better experience on the site.

You can see a fine example of 3D elements in web design on Sennep.com. The makers of digital products throw in dashes of 3D elements in their minimalistic web design for an attractive touch. This is a perfect example of how combining the latest design trends can create an aesthetic display.

AirBnB ad

3. Use of Bot and AI

Nowadays, we see everything smart. From our smartphones to watches and TV – everything has become smart. Then why not make our websites smart as well!

Thanks to the advancements in augmented reality, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, many web developers have started making websites that are smart and user-friendly – without human interference.

For example, chatbots are pretty popular nowadays and will continue to be so in the coming years. With the help of these bots, customer service has become far more sophisticated by giving round-the-clock, real-time support to visitors.

In the future, the same technologies will help developers and designers create targeted and personalized pages for the users based on their demographics, search history, etc. The future website will be designed in such a way that visitors will be able to interact with the website and enhance their experience.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

4. Bold Typography

Another new trend that we are seeing is the use of bold typography and oversized lettering on the website. Oversized graphics and elements can easily draw the attention of the viewer and engage them more effectively. It also reflects your brand’s message more cohesively than smaller characters.

The other option is to use video or image as a background and overlay it with large typography. However, use a simple design on the graphics to keep the emphasis on the text. Your content should also be short and crips, so that the bold and big characters easily fit on the page layout.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

5. Animation and Illustrations

One of the most critical web design standards is the ultra-fast load time. And using too many graphics such as videos on a website can slow down your website and impact the user experience. This is why many web designers are choosing animations, illustrations, and dynamic graphics over videos to keep the loading time of their webpage optimal.

You, too, can design custom animation or illustrations for your website. You can also purchase illustrations and vectors from a stock photo website to fill in the visual gap with credible graphics.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

6. Simple Designs

Similar to minimalistic web designs, simplicity is at the forefront of the upcoming web design trends of 2021 and beyond. With this type of design trend, the web developers remove all the unnecessary elements and use a clean layout with two or three color schemes. Negative space is also prominent in this type of web design, with most emphasis on the core message.

Simple web designs are clean, neat, and tidy. They allow the visitors to easily scan and navigate the website. They also load faster and improve customer satisfaction as they don’t have to wait around for it to load after clicking. Above all, they are quicker to design, manage, and edit than complex design modules.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

7. Circles

Designing with geometry has been a favorite for some time, but circles have proven to be the most popular geometric shape of the upcoming future. They are everywhere in web design, maybe because of the meaning they imply – wholeness, perfection, infinity. Or maybe because they bring immediate visual focus to a certain area of the design.

Regardless of this, circles are a favorite addition to a web design. Just see the example below. See how the eye is immediately drawn to the circular area, thanks to the way the ‘circle’ contrasts with the rest of the design.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

8. Colourful Background

In contrast with the dark mode that has already gained popularity is the use of colorful backgrounds for design projects. The use of bright colors is probably what the world needs now, too – to reflect the desire for a better, brighter future in a pandemic era.

The colorful backgrounds come in two forms – gradients and blurs. Both are fun options to play around with and bring out a fantastic hue with a rainbow-style palette. Regardless of the design trend you choose, the end result should be a happy-go-lucky feeling, thanks to the colorful background choices.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

9. Cool Mouse/Cursor Icons

This is a tiny trend that most people don’t notice. However, it is an interesting one where the state of the visitor’s cursor or mouse changes into a different element as they scroll, click, hover.

A fun trend that is only usable on the desktop as these little effects don’t feel the same on mobile devices. For example, check out the Impero website, where they use a bright yellow circle that floats around the screen along with the cursor. An element like this will make the visitor stick around and scroll your site for longer.

Edible Blooms Facebook ad example

Final Words

These were just some of the design trends that we can expect to trend in the coming years. Remember, none of these design trends work in isolation. They work best when integrated as part of a thoughtful and intentional design process. Try them out and see the difference it makes in your conversions. Good luck!

6 Shopify strategies to boost ecommerce sales

Posted on by Arham Khan

With more and more competition in the ecommerce market, now is the time to invest in your sales strategy to make sure your business comes out on top.

  • Discover six strategies that will help boost sales and increase revenue for your ecommerce business.
  • For every strategy, there are recommended Shopify apps that you can install that will help make implementing these strategies that much easier.
  • From increasing the value of current customers to winning back old ones, there’s a sales plan for every ecommerce business.

2020 has been a year of highs and lows for ecommerce businesses. Consumers turned to online shopping when physical stores were forced to close, with experts predicting global ecommerce sales expected to reach $4.2 trillion by the end of 2020. Yet at the same time, physical stores also moved online, creating even more competition in the world of ecommerce. So how do you make sure that your Shopify store reaps the benefits of this ecommerce boom? It has never been more important to remain competitive and stand out from the crowd.

To boost sales and increase revenue for your Shopify store, here are six tried and tested strategies that you can employ right now, along with some recommended Shopify apps to put them into action.

Subscriptions to Increase Recurring Revenue

Subscriptions can be a great way to create additional revenue streams for your Shopify store; once you sell a subscription, you have guaranteed regular income. For example, cosmetic companies often sell beauty subscription boxes, with monthly packages of their latest offerings. Two useful apps can help streamline your subscription offerings and boost your sales. Bold is a super flexible option, where you can change and adapt your offerings to easily suit your customers. They are also free to change and update their own personal information, delivery schedules and so on, so there is less work for your customer service team to manage.

Another Shopify app integration, reCharge, will seamlessly integrate with your existing Shopify store, allowing users to checkout as easily with a subscription as with a single purchase. Having fewer obstacles in the buying journey always helps to reduce friction and increase conversions.

Loyalty to Increase Customer Lifetime Value

Loyalty programmes, such as point systems, referrals and rewards, are great ways to increase the customer lifetime value, or the amount of value customers provide to your business throughout their entire relationship with your brand. If you can reward customers for making repeat purchases, you can generate a lot more recurring revenue from a single customer who has more motivation to purchase your products.

Boost your retention rates by incorporating either of these Shopify apps, LoyaltyLion or Smile.io. Both have excellent, customisable loyalty schemes ready to integrate with your store, so you can start incentivising your customers to make more sales and referrals right away. Customers can earn points not just for purchases, but for newsletter subscriptions, social media following and product reviews, ensuring they are more likely to shop often with your brand.

Reviews to Drive Social Proof

88% of modern consumers trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations. People are used to taking the actions and opinions of others as fact, a marketing phenomenon known as social proof. Using reviews as social proof will encourage your Shopify visitors to make a purchase from your store as the endorsement from their peers or real customers will give them confidence in that product.

Fera offers tools to both boost the amount of reviews you receive and display the ones you already have, with SEO snippet optimisers for reviews and average review ratings. Another great app option for boosting social proof is Stamped.io, which makes it easier than ever to gather user-generated content, like photos, videos and community questions.

Email Marketing to Boost Engagement

Engage with your mailing list and drive more traffic to your website by connecting with customers via email. Being relevant and memorable to your customers makes it far more likely for them to head to your website when they’re ready to buy.

Klaviyo can help supercharge your email marketing without forcing you to sink endless time and resources into the channel. With combined data from both Shopify and other leading apps, you can easily see what is resonating with your customers and even launch remarketing campaigns to bring prospective customers back to your ecommerce store. For example, win back lost sales by emailing customers who abandoned their carts or persuade unconvinced shoppers to purchase by luring them with special offers.

Upsell to Drive Additional Sales

Upselling is a clear way of driving additional sales by promoting more products and packages to your customers throughout their buyer’s journey. Catch your customer before they leave with this Post Purchase Checkout Upsell, keep your products on the checkout page with this sliding Ultimate Cart Drawer, or incorporate cross-selling and specially-designed landing pages into your sales strategy with ReConvert Upsell & Cross Sell.

Cart Abandonment Tools to Boost Conversions

The average cart abandonment rate is 67.9%, meaning a large number of potential customers are failing to complete their purchases. To make sure your sales don’t fall at the last hurdle, consider employing CloudIQ to help boost conversions. With pop-ups and email strategies designed specifically to target those who have abandoned their carts, customers are reminded of their almost-purchases and are encouraged to go back and complete the sale. As they click away from their cart, a pop-up will make them think again.

These sales strategies and their supporting Shopify apps can help to troubleshoot problem areas of your business and alleviate common ecommerce issues, overall boosting your sales and increasing revenue. At a time where every business has an ecommerce presence, make sure your business doesn’t fall through the cracks.

If you’re unsure of which ecommerce sales strategy would best suit your business and are keen for some more personalised advice, we’re here to help. Book your free strategy consultation with one of our Shopify specialists ahead of your ecommerce project.