News and Analysis

customer experience retail

Real-Time Data Will Enhance the Customer Experience in 2022

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Digital intelligence platforms like Scuba Analytics and FullStory are expanding rapidly — with funding rounds led by some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Big data analytics is expected to grow to $100 billion in the next five years, driven in large part by demand from retail brands for real-time insights and accurate customer engagement data.

mobile payments

How to Build a Modern Loyalty Program in 2022

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Rising prices and ongoing supply issues put brand retailers on the defensive in 2021. Amid shifting goalposts and a quickly evolving retail environment, more marketers are now working to turn their existing loyalty programs into modern membership-based programs that drive long-term relationships with a focus on members themselves.

Integral Ad Science Acquires Context to Power Contextual Video Advertising

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When many in adtech think about contextual advertising, they likely now think about privacy and context’s power to drive advertising based on its relevance to user experiences, not granular and sometimes invasive data on user behavior. But advertisers have also prized contextual advertising for years for its ability to connect them with brand-suitable environments.

Commentary

Lens on Strategy: Connecting In-App Video Creative to Mobile Consumers

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US mobile-video ad spend will reach $15.93 billion this year, and climb to $24.81 billion by 2022, according to eMarketer. There will be 187.7 million smartphone users in the US poised to experience that creative, a figure that will mushroom to 205 million by 2022, the same report predicts. The time for in-app video is undoubtedly now, but the question remains: what steps can publishers, advertisers, and marketers take to stay on the path of accelerated growth? The following strategies are part of the answer. Each will drive success when it comes to in-app video opportunities.

For Publishers, When It Comes To Display, Blame the Format, Not the Targeting

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A controversial new study by Carnegie Mellon University found that digital publishers get roughly 4% more revenue for an ad impression that is cookie-enabled — or personalized — versus one that isn’t. That’s not much. And while the sample was limited — they only reviewed ads for one “large U.S. media company over the course of one week” — it highlights a question publishers have been grappling with for a long time. 

Is cookie-based ad-targeting worth it? Given the mounting costs of investing in data stack technology; reputation issues (the “creepy factor”) and regulatory concerns like GDPR and CCPA that publishers routinely face as a result of behavioral ad-targeting, is the value really there? And is it justified? The Carnegie Mellon findings suggest that the benefit is minimal. However, as I see it, publishers are focusing on the wrong issue.

The Importance of Online Review Management for SMBs

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Operators of small- and medium-sized businesses can get by ignoring many of the tech innovations that large companies adopt. Managing online reviews is not one of them.

Like it or not, the widespread usage of review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and even Google and Facebook have changed the landscape of how local businesses attract and retain customers. Left ignored or handled the wrong way, a business’s negative online reviews can be a deterrent to potential new customers. Managed the right way, however, those same review sites can be a valuable marketing and customer service tool that leads to improved revenue.

Latest Posts

As Amazon Preps Attribution Tool, Media Buyers Demand Greater ROI

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Amazon’s massive consumer audience and billions of touch points, coupled with its newly acquired brick-and-mortar presence, means the company’s ad services could be in a position to explode if it does a good enough job illustrating the influence its ad services have on driving online-to-offline or strictly online sales.

Street Fight Daily: Media Buyers Weigh in on Facebook’s Data Changes, A New Era for Uber?

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Agencies: Facebook’s Removal of Third-Party Data Turns Back the Clock on Targeting… A Deep Dive on the Challenges Facing New Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi… Paid Search, Shopping Campaign Media Buys Continue to Rise…

What NinthDecimal’s Growth Means for the Hyperlocal Marketing Industry

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In an announcement that could be indicative of larger trends in the location-data space, the omnichannel marketing platform NinthDecimal recently announced its third consecutive year of more than 100% annual revenue growth.

Street Culture: Thumbtack Employees Driving Culture from the Bottom Up

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Justin Angsuwat, Thumbtack’s vice president of people, says the Thumbtack team describes its company culture as the “Midwest of cultures.”

Street Fight Daily: Microsoft Makes a Big Move, Snap Slashes Ad Team Numbers

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Microsoft Is Ready for a World Beyond Windows… Snap Cuts About 100 Employees on the Advertising Side of the Biz… How Facebook’s Shutdown of Third-Party Data Affects Advertisers…

4Cite’s Email Platform Helps Digital Brands Secure the Path to Purchase

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“Across the board with all of our retail clients, the most successful marketing campaign they have is their abandoned shopping cart email campaigns,” 4Cite CEO Bob Gaito said, referring to emails sent to remind customers that they have items left in their shopping carts.

‘Ads.txt’: How a Little Bit of Code Is Putting a Big Dent in Ad Fraud

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The ad fraud crisis finally is beginning to be addressed at least partly through an initiative from the Interactive Advertising Bureau bearing the nerdy name “ads.txt.”

Street Fight Daily: Google Puts Mobile First, Facebook Cuts Out Third-Party Data Brokers

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Search Takes Another Big Step Toward a Mobile-First World… Facebook Is Cutting Third-Party Data Providers Out of Ad Targeting… Amazon Directly Hires Housekeepers to Conquer Local Services…

Identifying a New Breed of Consumers—What Retailers Should Know

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“Successful brands need to engage with conscious consumers ‘in the moment’ for immediate returns while also investing in the longer term, emotional bank to ensure they ride out future mistakes or service failures,” says Alex Wright, head of global insights at Blis.

First-Party Data is King

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More and more marketers are using first-party data to eliminate wasted impressions and achieve the strongest ROI on their data-driven marketing efforts. Who doesn’t want that?