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Firefox’s New ‘Privacy’ Feature Actually Gives Your Data to Advertisers

August 27, 2024 No Comments

Firefox 128 enables a feature that wants to fix ad tracking, but there are some concerns.

Firefox finds itself in a tricky position at times, because it wants to be a privacy friendly browser, but most of its funding comes from Google, whose entire business is advertising. With Firefox 128, the browser has introduced ‘privacy-preserving ad measurement,’ which is enabled by default. Despite the name, the actual implications of the feature has users upset.

What ‘privacy-preserving ad measurement’ means

In a blog post, Firefox’s parent company Mozilla has explained that this new feature is an experiment designed to shape a web standard for advertisers, one that relies less on cookies but still tracks you in some way. Mozilla says privacy-preserving ad measurement is only being used by a handful of sites at the moment, in order to tell if their ads were successful or not. At the moment, advertisers do this by using cookies and other kinds of trackers, which gather as much data about you as possible and violate your privacy. Mozilla wants to help advertisers track the success of their campaigns without identifying your individual activity, and is using these ad measurements as a compromise.

With privacy-preserving ad measurement, sites will be able to ask Firefox if people clicked on an ad, and if they ended up doing something the ad wanted them to (such as buying a product). Firefox doesn’t give this data directly to advertisers, but encrypts it, aggregates it, and submits it anonymously. This means that your browsing activity and other data about you is hidden from the advertiser, but they can see if their campaign delivered results or not. It’s a similar feature to those in Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox, although Google itself has run into regulatory issues implementing them.

Why you should disable this feature

Even though Mozilla’s intentions appear to be genuine, this feature should never have been enabled by default, as no matter its label, it still does technically give advertisers your data. When advertisers started tracking people online, there were no privacy protections, laws, or standards to follow, and the industry chose to track all the data that it could lay its hands on. No one ever asked users if they wanted to be tracked, or if they wanted to give advertisers access to their location, browser data, or personal preferences. If I’ve learned one thing from the way the online ad industry evolved, it’s that people should have a choice in whether their data is being tracked. Even if it seeks to replace even more invasive systems, Firefox should have offered people a choice to opt into ad measurement, instead of enabling it silently.

Given that there are ways to block trackers and cookies without accepting this compromise, I feel no desire to share any data with advertisers, and neither should you.

How to disable ad tracking in Firefox

A screenshot of Firefox, showing how to disable privacy-preserving ad measurement.

Credit: Pranay Parab

To disable privacy-preserving ad measurement in Firefox 128, click the three-lines icon in the top-right corner in the browser. Then, go to Settings > Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Website Advertising Preferences section. There, disable Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement.

Feature Image Credit: rafapress via Shutterstock

By Pranay Parab

Pranay Parab is an independent tech journalist based in Mumbai, India. He covers tech for Lifehacker, and specializes in tutorials and in-depth features. Read Pranay’s full bio

Sourced from LIFEHACKER

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TikTok Shares Updated Trend Insights for Marketers

August 27, 2024 No Comments

By Andrew Hutchinson

TikTok has shared some new insights into key trends in the app, as an addendum to its “What’s Next 2024” report.

TikTok published its What’s Next trend prediction report in December last year, which outlined the key engagement shifts it was seeing in the app. And now, it’s published a new “What’s Next: In Action” update, which aims to provide more insight into how its trend predictions have evolved throughout the year, and what marketers should be aware of heading into the second half of 2024.

And there are some interesting notes.

First off, the report looks at each of its What’s Next report predictions, and provides an overview of how they’ve evolved over the first six months of the year.

As you can see, TikTok has also included an updated list of key hashtags to help marketers tap into each trend.

Each summary also includes a brand example, and key notes:

While there are also some broader trend notes relating to TikTok user behaviors and shifts.

The report also includes overall summaries and tips, linked back to its initial trend notes.

It’s a good overview of the current state of TikTok trends, and where brands should be looking, with some practical examples of how marketers can tap into key trends.

And with TikTok driving some of the bigger trend shifts, it is worth paying attention. Of course, you can also do your own research on hashtags related more specifically to your brand in TikTok’s Creative Center, but it may also be worth noting these more general shifts, and considering if and how they fit your messaging.

If you’re looking to tap into TikTok for your holiday push, it’s worth checking out.

You can download TikTok’s 20-page “What’s Next: In Action” report here.

By Andrew Hutchinson

Sourced from SocialMediaToday

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Stop Doing These 3 Things on Social Media, says Gary Vaynerchuk

August 26, 2024 No Comments

By Jason Feifer

Want to get the right attention? Here are three social strategies to stop — and three ones to start.

Want to get attention for your brand? Here’s the most important thing you need to understand, according to Gary Vaynerchuk:

“Actualized attention versus potential attention,” he says.

Vaynerchuk is in the business of attention. His company, VaynerMedia, works with the largest brands in the world, helping them gain attention through advertising and social media campaigns. And of course, he’s built an enormous following himself.

Here’s the big problem he sees: Most brands chase potential attention — spending tons of money on advertising, even though most people ignore the ads. That’s why Vaynerchuk says brands should focus on actualized attention, to engage people who are actually engaged.

How to do that? Vaynerchuk’s new book, Day Trading Attention, breaks down a strategic process of getting attention. He shared that strategy on my podcast, which you can listen to here.

Below, we break down six social media trends we discussed on the show — three that Vaynerchuk says you should do, and three you must stop right now.

6 Social Strategies to Stop and Start

STOP: Pouring your heart out on LinkedIn

A company lays people off. Then its CEO posts a weepy video on LinkedIn, explaining how hard the decision was.

Versions of this story have played out many times on LinkedIn, as executives seek to humanize the difficult decisions they’ve made. Sometimes it’s an action they took, like a layoff. Other times it’s a mea culpa for a mistake.

Stop it, Vaynerchuk says. The performative emotion will always come off as disingenuous. “You’re not tricking anyone,” he says.

Instead, he suggests that CEOs be brutally honest about the unpopular decisions they make. Just be upfront and say something like, “I had to fire these people because I want to hit a certain profit margin,” he says. It may sound cold, but it’s at least the truth.

START: Dancing on social media, even if you’re the boss.

TikTok is full of dancing, so should company leaders join in? Many have, and many have been mocked for it — like when Microsoft’s then-CEO Steve BALLMER DID IT.

But Vaynerchuk sees nothing wrong here. Have fun and let the haters hate.

“Dancing is always the right decision, even if you suck at it,” he says.

STOP: Doing giveaway campaigns to drive audience growth.

How do you build your social media or newsletter following? Many people run a giveaway — saying, essentially, “If you follow my page, you’ll have a chance to win this MacBook!”

“This is a tricky one,” Vaynerchuk. “Perception is reality, so I get why people want more followers because it makes them feel like the brand is stronger.”

But even though a free MacBook might lure in a lot of new followers, Vaynerchuk says you shouldn’t do it — because those followers don’t care about you, and almost certainly won’t stick around.

“The kind of user you get that came for like a free Tesla isn’t staying for you anyway. So there’s, the lifetime value of that user is very low,” he says.

START: Using AI chatbots

Yes, AI chatbots are everywhere. Yes, they’re very imperfect. But according to Vaynerchuk, they’re still worth the effort — if not for their value today, then at least in building towards value tomorrow.

“AI is oxygen, it is the internet, it is one of the most profound technologies,” he says. “You’ve gotta start getting used to it, because it’s going to eat up most of the rest of your life.”

START: Posting longform content on social

Did you know you can post 10-minute videos to TikTok? Most people don’t — but Vaynerchuk thinks they should.

“Go with anything long-form,” he says.

First of all, it can help you cut through the noise — sharing deep and thoughtful content in a sea of quick hits.

But more importantly, social media success isn’t about length, he says. It’s about quality. If you create something excellent and compelling, the length doesn’t matter.

Twitter threads are another great example. (“I’m always going to call it Twitter,” Vaynerchuk says.) “Some of the best stuff I’ve ever consumed was a 40-tweet rant from someone who really knows something about something and we’re able to articulate it in written form. Though, obviously a lot of people stink at it.”

There’s also a long-term reason to post long-form content, Vaynerchuk says: He believes it’s where social media is going next. “My prediction is that one of the major social networks will become one of the most important streaming services in the next decade,” he says. “The attention’s there. Why wouldn’t they?”

STOP: Having lousy workplaces

Is this a social media thing? Yes, Vaynerchuk says — because great offices are showcased on social media, and facility tours make for great content.

But, a word of caution: Don’t be cliché. A foosball table in the corner won’t cut it.

“There’s plenty of great businesses doing the right thing,” he says. “Something unique or clever will capture a lot of people’s attention.”

Feature Image Credit: Noam Galai | Getty Images

By Jason Feifer

Entrepreneur Staff. Editor in Chief.

Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the podcast Problem Solvers. Outside of Entrepreneur, he is the author of the book Build For Tomorrow, which helps readers find new opportunities in times of change, and co-hosts the podcast Help Wanted, where he helps solve listeners’ work problems. He also writes a newsletter called One Thing Better, which each week gives you one better way to build a career or company you love.

Sourced from Entrepreneur

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Are Your Brand Marketing Strategies Outdated?

August 26, 2024 No Comments

By Duncan Smith

The biggest challenge facing today’s marketers isn’t a lack of creativity – it’s a lack of resources and time to be curious.

The Gist

Embrace curiosity. Marketers must prioritize curiosity over data overload to develop impactful, cohesive strategies.
Authentic engagement crucial. Genuine connection with consumer interests leads to more effective audience retention.
Curious lately? A lack of resources and time to be curious is holding marketers back.

Brand marketing strategies today rely, as they always have, on winning in two ways: getting people to your brand as fast as possible and keeping them there as long as possible. The change has come in how marketers and their agencies can now make every dollar more measurable and accountable than ever before.

However, not everything that can be measured should be. As automation increasingly finds its way into both the delivery and creation of brand content, it’s more important than ever to separate the signal from the noise.

For too long, brand marketing strategies have been chasing the wrong goals — fixating on reaching consumers when they believe they’re paying attention rather than forging meaningful connections that resonate with their interests, needs and aspirations.

This is making it harder to tell the difference between real brand attraction and mere distraction, and knowing when to focus on consumer intention to bring in new audiences or switch to retention to keep them for longer.

The Curiosity Gap Holding Marketers Back

The biggest challenge facing today’s marketers isn’t a lack of creativity — it’s a lack of resources and time to be curious, exacerbated by an overwhelming amount of data to navigate. We’re so consumed with juggling the latest tactics, technologies and resulting information that we’ve neglected to ask ourselves the fundamental question: “How do all these pieces fit together into a cohesive, impactful strategy?”

This curiosity gap is costing us dearly. We’re drowning in digital noise, mistaking chatter for substance while losing sight of brand marketing strategies that truly resonate with audiences. Sure, we can track clicks and scrolls and insert our brands into places we believe the audience is engaged, but are we genuinely understanding consumer behaviour? Or are we simply adding to the noise?

To bridge this divide, marketers must become students again — open to learning how new strategies, channels and metrics can interlock to engage audiences in authentic, lasting ways.

The Silver-Bullet to Integration

Newer brand marketing strategies are powerful ways for brands to deliver resonant content to target audiences — building trust, awareness and understanding, boosting visibility, while aligning with search engines’ prioritization of quality over quantity. Ultimately, it’s about creating a people-focused approach that can help brands cut through consumer scepticism around AI-generated content.

Sizzler did this recently, transforming its digital strategy to bring it back to the top of the fast casual category. By leveraging insights and using a performance-driven approach to reach specific demographics like families and business travellers through precise geo-targeting, they were able to increase engagement, conversions and brand visibility, leading to a significant increase in restaurant visits.

Prioritizing Data-Driven Relevance

The path forward is illuminated by data, but not just any data. We must look beyond vanity metrics and surface-level engagement stats to unlock true value. Prioritize relevance, emotional resonance and measurable impact — the elements that create enriching experiences your audiences crave.

We must look beyond vanity metrics and surface-level engagement stats to unlock true value.ndsoll137 on Adobe Stock Photos

With consumers’ desires in constant flux, real-time insights are critical for staying ahead of trends. The ability to nimbly adapt strategies based on emerging demands allows brands to demonstrate an empathetic understanding of what matters most to their customers — fostering trust and enduring relationships.

This ethos should permeate all your content and channel strategies, from earned and owned media to paid tactics. For instance, SEO has long been relegated to the bottom of the marketing toolbox — viewed as more of a hygiene factor than a value driver. But search algorithms have evolved, and the relevance of your content to the end viewer’s needs now has the strongest correlation to visibility.

Tapping Into Unspoken Desires

Beyond data-driven relevance, the most vital element for fostering enduring consumer connections is tapping into unspoken desires — the emotional undercurrents and aspirations driving human behaviour.

We’re not just selling products and services; we’re selling feelings, experiences and identities people yearn to embrace. So while clicks and algorithm hacks are being penalized, the opportunity lies in doubling down on authenticity and true consumer value.

Take TikTok’s meteoric rise in search for a masterclass in discovering and engaging with content people deeply crave. The platform climbed from the seventh to the first most visited website by redefining how users explore and interact with content aligned with their unspoken passions.

It’s not simply about the scale of attention you capture but what you do with that attention that counts. Ensuring your brand cuts through the clutter by delivering relevance to every audience segment, in the right moments and contexts, is what will fuel measurable success.

The Way Forward for Brand Marketing Strategies

To stay ahead with brand marketing strategies, despite the twists and turns of our industry, we must become skilled navigators — harnessing data to steer us toward relevance and meaningful connections.

It starts by closing the curiosity gap that’s preventing more rapid progress. Stay hungry to learn, question the status quo and evolve your approaches holistically, based on emerging trends (Spoiler: Most times that won’t be answered by a paid placement at all).

Prioritize relevance over empty metrics across your entire content ecosystem — from on-site and owned content to those paid placements that need to exist in spaces designed to attract, not distract. Lean into innovative earned tactics that cut through scepticism to deliver resonant narratives.

And above all, remember the humanity behind the data points. We’re not just selling; we’re becoming curators of relevance who tap into the unspoken desires that truly enrich people’s lives.

By Duncan Smith

Duncan Smith is a seasoned media and communications strategist with over two decades of experience in media planning, buying, and agency leadership roles across London, Europe, and New York. Throughout his career, he has spearheaded the launch of a connections planning department, managed global multinational clients, and led winning pitches for over $4 billion in new business.

Sourced from CMSWIRE

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Your Sonic Branding May Be Doomed to Fail

August 23, 2024 No Comments

By Lucas Murray

4 tips for crafting and committing to your new brand identity

Over the past few years, sonic branding has evolved from a niche, nice-to-have marketing asset to a must-have for any complete brand ecosystem.

Forward-thinking companies realise they must use sound and music to stand out both in traditional media and on audio-first platforms like TikTok, Spotify and other social media and streamers.

However, knowing your company needs sonic branding and learning how to create an effective sonic identity are very different things. In my time as a producer, I’ve seen brands achieve varying levels of success—and there are four main reasons a sonic identity might be doomed to fail. These are obstacles that will never go away, but fortunately, by knowing where the dangers are, you can aim to avoid them while becoming one of the select few brands with a truly iconic sound strategy.

Music is subjective

Music is extremely abstract and difficult to talk about. I sometimes witness teams trying to make it more tangible by pushing for specific musical elements: “We need an ascending melody because that feels happy and positive.”

Maybe, but there are just as many successful examples of “happy” descending melodies in music. By only pushing for ascending melodies, your sonic identity may risk sounding like the rest—not providing the differentiation you desire.

Instead of relying on what we think is appealing, seek more objective measures that tell us what is effective. For example, we know through research that the most subconsciously appealing sound is baby laughter.

While not every sonic logo needs to hit the same mark, it’s helpful to get real data around where your sonic assets are landing on KPIs like recall and emotional appeal. Not only will this confirm whether you’re truly appealing to your audience, but it will also help get buy-in from stakeholders involved in the process.

Commitment is hard

Creating a sonic identity is like getting married—ideally, you are signing up to be with your identity for life. The best predictor of sonic success is sustained, frequent use. You must commit to using it across touchpoints as often as you can.

Though, as Chris Rock once put it, “commitment will give you a headache.” It’s difficult to find “the one” sonic identity and stick with it; newer, shinier sounds will always beckon you away from your brand. However, you must resist your wandering ears by understanding that the benefits of commitment far outweigh the difficulties.

For example, the psychological phenomenon known as the mere-exposure effect teaches us that people like things merely because they are familiar with them. This is doubly true for music, like when a once-annoying earworm creeps into your head enough times to become your favourite song. Commit to your sonic identity, and your audience will learn to love it too.

The landscape is changing

Gone are the days in which you could rely on a sonic logo at the end of a commercial to fully reach your audience. Linear television is evolving, and culture is being shaped by social media. In 5-10 years, we’ll be adapting to yet another iteration of the media landscape.

Yet some brands are still falling into the trap of creating sonic identities with only broadcast TV and terrestrial radio in mind. These may currently be important touch points for your brand, but they may not be soon. The important thing is to design your sonic identity with enough flexibility in mind that it can expand around, adapt to and perpetuate on new and evolving platforms.

Brands contain multitudes

It is difficult enough to translate your brand purpose and personality into music that perfectly represents your brand. It is even more difficult to get buy-in from various departments that need to approve or implement your sonic identity. C-suite execs, brand managers and partner agencies will likely all have different needs for it. You might hear: “It needs to be flexible like McDonald’s,” “It needs to be instantly familiar like Intel” and of course, “It needs to have fewer notes to fit into video.”

There’s nothing wrong with any of these notes individually, but there is no way to satisfy all of these disparate desires in one sound without creating something that sounds indistinct and unmemorable.

Instead of trying to hang your hat on a single sound that does everything, you must create a sonic identity system—one that encompasses a creative concept, long- and short-form sound, music curation guidelines and a strategy for rollout and use. You can then address your team’s many needs without having to water down the work.

Creating a sonic identity is hard work, but when done correctly, it’s an incredibly effective tool for attaining brand recognition, brand love and higher KPIs. If you rely on objective measures, commit to your new identity, plan for flexibility and create an entire system, you are well on your way to creating an enduring sonic identity.

Feature Image Credit: Sandipkumar Patel/Getty Images

By Lucas Murray

Lucas Murray is vp, supervising music producer at Made Music Studio.

Sourced from ADWEEK

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Elon Musk Surprised To Learn Tesla Influencer Earns 50-100 Times More At YouTube Than At X: ‘Wow, You Really Get So Much…’

August 23, 2024 No Comments

By Ananya Gairola

Elon Musk was taken by surprise when he discovered that Tesla influencers on YouTube earn significantly more than on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

What Happened: On Thursday, responding to allegations of being a “paid promoter” for Tesla, Farzad Mesbahi revealed that his YouTube earnings from ad revenue were 50-100 times higher than what he made on X.

“YouTube pays me 50-100x what X does [through] advertising revenue, yet these folks think my sharing the same exact content on X, which I’ve been making since 2021 before Elon’s acquisition, somehow makes me and others “paid promoters” even though I’ve received precisely $0.00 from Tesla and/or Elon to make content,” he said.

Musk, surprised by this revelation, asked, “Wow, you really get so much more from YouTube?” In response, Mesbahi confirmed, explaining that the majority of YouTube ad revenue comes from midroll ads and higher video retention rates.

Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt also joined the conversation, stating that most Tesla YouTubers he knows earn 25 to 75 times more revenue per video on YouTube compared to X. He said that X has so far enabled pre-roll ads for only a few creators, but it still doesn’t compare to YouTube’s payout.

Most Tesla YouTubers I know earn 25 to 75 times more revenue per video on YouTube compared to posting the same videos on X. X has so far enabled pre-roll ads for only a handful of creators, but it still doesn’t compare to YouTube’s payout even with that included.

Why It Matters: This revelation comes in the wake of Musk’s efforts to challenge YouTube’s dominance by introducing new ad-targeting features on X. The platform now allows advertisers to run ads before videos from their chosen creators, as well as on the main timeline and the creator’s profile.

Despite these changes, a poll conducted by Benzinga in June revealed that a low percentage of people are paying for the subscription plans on X.

Previously, content creator Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast also tested the monetization efforts on X and found them lacking compared to YouTube. In February, while sharing the result of his experiment, MrBeast said, “My first X video made over $250,000! But it’s a bit of a façade. Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what you’d experience.”

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Image via Shutterstock

By Ananya Gairola

Sourced from Benzinga

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McDonald’s hides its logo in ingenious ad campaign

August 22, 2024 No Comments

By Natalie Fear

Feature Image credit: McDonald’s/Cossette

By Natalie Fear

Natalie is Creative Bloq’s staff writer. With an eye for trending topics and a passion for internet culture, she brings you the latest in art and design news. A recent English Literature graduate, Natalie enjoys covering the lighter side of the news and brings a fresh and fun take to her articles. Outside of work (if she’s not glued to her phone), she loves all things music and enjoys singing sweet folky tunes.

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOQ

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Apple & Yahoo Create Worrisome Trends for Email Marketers

August 22, 2024 No Comments

By Chad S. White

And, shockingly, one of the trends involves (over)using AI.

The Gist

Tab concerns. Apple and Yahoo’s tab additions may alter email visibility and engagement, impacting marketers’ strategies and consumer interaction.
AI previews. Automated summaries threaten email marketing efforts, undermining carefully crafted preview text and brand messaging.
Diluted branding. AI-generated summaries may push content below the fold, weakening brand voice and potentially introducing inaccuracies.

Marketers have reasons to be concerned by the upcoming inbox changes that were announced by Apple on June 10 and Yahoo on June 11. Those changes entail Apple adding tabs to Apple Mail, and both Apple and Yahoo adding AI-generated summaries to emails.

Let’s talk in more detail about each and what the concerns are.

The Addition of Tabs

Ten years after Google pioneered tabs, and many years after Microsoft and Yahoo adopted them, Apple has finally followed suit. Expect to see tabs in future versions of Apple Mail. All of the major inbox providers use slightly different tabs from one another. Apple Mail’s four tabs will be Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions.

You might be wondering why this is a concern. And regular readers of my CMSWire columns may recall I wrote an article marking the 10-year anniversary of Gmail Tabs, where I concluded by saying that the “Promotions tab isn’t worth fussing about.”

So, what’s changed?

Well, in that same article, I talk about how Gmail has been automatically applying Email Annotations to some commercial emails in the Promotions Tab that don’t include that coding. Essentially, Gmail has been hijacking the code of marketers’ emails to achieve its own goals, which presumably includes making their in-line ads less distinguishable from the emails surrounding them.

Google calls it Automatic Extraction. This year, they’ve become much more aggressive in applying it. The higher frequency of use has also made it evident that Automatic Extraction routinely degrades the email experience crafted by brands, creating disconnects between their subject line and the preview content imposed by Gmail. In some cases, legal questions around misrepresentation and false advertising are being raised, with Gmail occasionally pulling discount amounts from disclaimers at the bottom of emails and promoting them in the preview content, falsely asserting that it’s the featured discount in the email.

I have zero concerns about inbox providers creating Promotions tabs. Neither do I mind them using the Promotions tab as a venue to display ads, even placing them in-line among emails. That’s a reasonable way to generate revenue for their inbox business.

However, putting marketers’ emails in a different tab where the preview content of their emails is changed without their consent in ways that they would never do to personal emails is a serious problem. I’m glad to see Apple follow Google’s lead on tabs, but I hope they won’t follow their lead on changing marketers’ email content.

AI-Generated Previews & Summaries

The other big change that’s coming is the addition of generative AI-powered previews and summaries for both Apple and Yahoo.

In the case of Apple, they’ll be replacing preview text of emails with a generative AI-written preview. All of the examples shown were personal, but presumably this will be applied to commercial emails, too. It’s unclear if this functionality will be on by default, or if it can be turned off by users.

Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024 ai — Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024

And once you’ve opened an email, Apple will give you the option to have generative AI summarize the email with the tap of the Summarize button.

Apple Mail AI-Generated Summarize — Apple’s WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024

In what Yahoo Mail is calling “one of the most significant updates to its desktop experience in nearly a decade,” they’ve streamlined their user interface and added generative AI previews and summaries. Both appear to be on by default, and it’s unclear if they can be turned off.

The AI preview is similar to Apple’s, which again replaces the typical preview text that’s pulled from the email’s body content. However, unlike Apple’s AI summary, Yahoo’s appears to be done automatically.

The other difference is that Yahoo’s summary appears as a series of bulleted items, rather than a paragraph-style summary. It will also include proposed actions, tasks, or responses needed, according to Yahoo.

The concern with AI previews is that they undo marketers’ preview text optimization efforts. While it’s true that most personal emails aren’t written by communication experts and therefore have less helpful preview text, that’s not the case with marketing emails.

The concern with AI summaries is similar, especially if they’re applied automatically to marketing emails. While some marketing emails can be long, when that’s the case, it’s almost always because the email is composed of many content blocks about multiple subjects. AI summaries are unlikely to do that justice. Indeed, given how little actual text is in many marketing emails, the summary may largely reword the marketing text, potentially introducing inaccuracies in the process.

Regardless of how good the AI engine summary is, the summary will have two negative effects on marketers:

It will push more of the email’s content below the fold.
It will dilute the brand’s voice and filter its message.

Mediating Between Senders & Recipients

Email’s not perfect. There are plenty of things that could be better besides the long-standing problem of spam, against which inbox providers have been vigilant fighters. The new functionality they’ve rolled out over the years highlight some of the other things inbox providers think could be better about email.

The challenge is there’s little agreement among the major inbox providers on which issues to prioritize. The result is:

A lack of critical mass of support for AMP for email, CSS-based interactivity, Annotations and schema, and BIMI.
Inconsistent implementations of dark mode, plus other rendering inconsistencies.
A deliverability requirement that brands only send to engaged subscribers, while some inbox providers block senders’ visibility into opens, the most frequent sign of engagement.

Considering all of the helpful advancements that inbox providers could agree on, it’s unfortunate that what they seem to agree on is that preview text should be overwritten and body copy filtered and summarized by AI — particularly, it appears, if the message is commercial. Put another way, it seems the problem they’re trying to solve is that people are writing the emails.

By Chad S. White

Chad S. White is the author of four editions of Email Marketing Rules and Head of Research for Oracle Digital Experience Agency, a global full-service digital marketing agency inside of Oracle. Connect with Chad S. White: Twitter

Sourced from CMSWIRE

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The 5 Best Call Tracking Software (Low Spend, High Return)

August 22, 2024 No Comments

By Corry Cummings

Tracking calls is normally a complicated process — the best call tracking software makes it easy.

Keep reading to learn about the top options for your business and how to choose the right one for your team.

Best call tracking software overall: CallRail
Best for multi-touch attribution: Invoca
Best for e-commerce: WhatConverts
Best for call center call tracking: CallTrackingMetrics
Best for omnichannel tracking: Infinity

Giving attribution to the marketing channels that bring in callers is a must for maximizing ROI. Call tracking software is designed to identify where callers come from, so you know which marketing strategies are working and which ones aren’t. By spending a little upfront, you can drive more revenue in the long run.

Top call tracking software comparison

Call tracking platforms come in all flavors, from basic and easy to advanced and powerful. Here’s a look at a few of the areas that make my top picks different from one another.

	Best for	Starting price	Free trial	Keyword spotting	IVR	Integrations
CallRail	Best overall	$45 per month	14 days	Some plans	Add-on	33 + Zapier
Invoca	Multi-touch attribution	Custom quote	Demo only	Add-on	Some plans	Add-on
WhatConverts	E-commerce	$30 per month	14 days	All plans	Some plans	1,000+
CallTrackingMetrics	Call center call tracking	$65 per month	30 days	Some plans	All plans	46 + Make and Zapier
Infinity	Omnichannel tracking	$199 per month	Demo only	Top tier only	Add-on	27

CallRail: Best call tracking software overall

Image: CallRail

When it comes to call tracking software that truly has it all, it’s hard to beat CallRail. It offers streamlined call attribution, so you know exactly how callers find you and you can quickly compare channels side-by-side to see which campaigns have the most impact.

Why I chose CallRail

CallRail helps you track every touchpoint in the marketing funnel. With visitor-level tracking, you can see what happens before someone calls your business from a deeper, big-picture perspective. And with advanced analytics, you can ensure your decisions are always fueled by 100% objective data. This, along with IVR analytics, is a potent combination. Despite its power, CallRail is one of the more affordable options on my list.

Pricing

Call Tracking: $45 per month + usage.
Call Tracking + Conversation Intelligence: $90 per month + usage.
Call Tracking + Form Tracking: $90 per month + usage.
Call Tracking Complete: $135 per month + usage.

All plans include five free local numbers, 250 local minutes per month, and 100 text messages per month. Plans with form tracking include 1,000 submissions and those with transcriptions include 7,500 complimentary minutes.

Each additional local number is $3, extra local minutes are $0.05 each, toll-free numbers are $5, toll-free minutes are $0.08, and extra texts are $0.016 each.

Visit CallRail

Features

Simple call attribution.
Custom menus and call routing.
Call recording and scoring.
7,500 free transcription minutes.
AI-driven conversational intelligence.
Dynamic number insertion.
Detailed analytics.

CallRail provides a detailed timeline view. Image: CallRail

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Local numbers are cheap. Second-most affordable option. Cutting-edge conversational intelligence. Easy to connect leads with the right people. Data for virtually every customer touchpoint.	Many integrations cost extra. Limited customization options. White labelling is limited to higher tiers.

Invoca: Best for multi-touch attribution

Image: Invoca

While most call tracking tools offer multi-touch attribution, it’s Invoca’s bread and butter. Understanding every touch point is key to a higher volume of quality leads and getting the most of your marketing budget — working with a provider that specializes in it gives you all of the top-tier tools you need to do it well.

Why I chose Invoca

I’m impressed with how Invoca uses advanced AI to instantly measure the quality of each lead. Using Signal AI, which features cutting-edge voice biometric technology, you can distinguish casual callers from those with a strong likelihood of buying. From there, you can decide who to prioritize. I also like that it makes it easy to recover lost sales opportunities. Say someone has serious intent to buy calls but you don’t answer — Invoca will notify a manager so you can follow up right away.

Pricing

Invoca offers custom pricing. For brands and agencies, there are three plans:

Pro: 6,000 annual minutes and 5 custom signals.
Enterprise: 12,000 annual minutes and 50 custom signals.
Elite: 18,000 annual minutes and 100 custom signals.

Each plan also comes with different features. As you go up to higher tiers, you get more of the add-ons at no extra cost. There are also pay-per-call and affiliate marketing plans for performance marketers, including:

Performance Professional: Standard features + campaign management and payouts.
Performance Enterprise: Dynamic routing, advanced IVR, and whisper.

You can enhance either plan with AI, QA, customer journey, and integration add-ons.

Visit Invoca

Features

Robust multi-touch attribution.
Ability to set custom signals.
Full journey tracking add-on.
AI analytics to measure lead quality.
Pay per call (not per minute).
Custom IVRs and call flows.
Customizable real-time alerts.
AI-powered QA and scorecards.
Agent coaching options.

Invoca sales dashboard. — Invoca provides you with a sales call dashboard to keep up with the performance of your sales team. Image: Invoca

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Powerful end-to-end attribution. Advanced conversational intelligence and analytics. Ability to recover lost sales. Tons of AI-powered functionality. Custom signal creation.	No pricing transparency. Steeper learning curve. Integrations are an add-on.

WhatConverts: Best for e-commerce

image: WhatConverts

WhatConverts works well for call, chat, text, and form tracking. It also integrates with numerous e-commerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace, and BigCommerce. That, paired with its ability to append marketing data to orders for full context into the customer journey, makes it a great choice for e-commerce stores.

Why I chose WhatConverts

It goes beyond call tracking, covering additional channels that matter for e-commerce. On top of that, its local numbers are cheaper than others, it includes unlimited users on every plan, and it comes with complete lead management capabilities no matter what you pay.

Pricing

Call Tracking: $30 per month.
Plus: $60 per month.
Pro: $100 per month.
Elite: $160 per month.

Every plan includes $30 of free usage credits and a 14-day free trial to see if it’s right for you. Every plan offers what you need to track calls for a single business, which is great. The higher you go, the more channels you can track and the more intelligence tools you get.

There are also dedicated plans for agencies with unlimited accounts so you can use them to track calls for as many clients as needed. These plans include:

Plus: $500 per month (includes a $250 free usage credit).
Pro: $800 per month (includes a $300 free usage credit).
Elite: $1,250 per month (includes a $400 free usage credit).

Each tier covers call, form, text, and chat tracking. Local numbers for agencies are the most affordable I’ve seen, at just $1.75 each. However, white labelling the solution is an additional $50 per month.

Visit WhatConverts

Features

Instant phone number setup for call tracking.
Track texts, calls, form submissions, and calls.
Built-in call transcriptions.
Dynamic number insertion.
PPC campaign tracking.
Keyword tracking.
Report builder and scheduled reports.
Customer journey tracking.
Bing and Google Ads integrations.

WhatConverts call tracking software. — Track your customer journey with WhatConverts. Image: WhatConverts

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Various features are great for e-commerce stores. Affordable pricing with free credits. Quick setup with user-friendly interface. Unlimited users on every plan. Integrations don’t cost extra.	May be difficult to scale. Agency plans are expensive. IVR is only available on some plans.

CallTrackingMetrics: Best for call centre call tracking

Image: CallTrackingMetrics

CallTrackingMetrics is great for lead management and advanced call routing capabilities, making it a solid choice for contact centres. Not only can you seamlessly assign attribution to each call, you can simultaneously qualify leads and close more deals. Plus, there are built-in coaching features that allow you to maintain call detail records so you can review calls and provide agents with scores to quantify their performance.

Why I chose CallTrackingMetrics

I was initially put off by the high price tag but came around once I realized how powerful CallTrackingMetrics can be for the right teams. It can help improve sales efficiency with lead qualification capabilities, a smart dialler, and real-time monitoring, which aren’t usually available with simpler call tracking tools.

Pricing

Marketing Lite: $65 per month + usage.
Marketing Pro: $149 per month + usage.
Sales Engage: $274 per month + usage.
Enterprise: $1,999 per month + usage.

Every plan includes unlimited users, manual call scoring and tagging, call and text attribution, IVR routing, recording, and basic integrations. As you upgrade to higher tiers, you’ll get AI capabilities, web form tracking, white label options, lead triggers, auto dialling, and dynamic call scripts.

It’s one of the most advanced options on the list, which is reflected in its higher price tag.

Visit CallTrackingMetrics

Features

Comprehensive call, text, form, and chat tracking.
Call recording and IVR routing.
Workflow, scoring, and analytics triggers.
HIPAA and GDPR compliance.
Smart Dialler for outbound productivity.
Live coaching tools.
Real time dashboards.
Performance reports.

CallTrackingMetrics automated call routing. — Use automated call routing from CallTrackingMetrics to send the hottest leads to your best agents. Image: CallTrackingMetrics

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
One of the most powerful call tracking tools on the market. Intelligent lead management, a Smart Dialer, and real-time monitoring. Full range of reporting and analytics. Unlimited users on every plan. Support for white labeling and sub-accounts on some plans.	Advanced features have a steep learning curve. It’s more expensive than others. Can feel overwhelming.

Infinity: Best for omnichannel tracking

Image: Infinity

Most call tracking software platforms allow you to track multiple channels. But if you truly want a holistic overview of where your callers are coming from and how the pieces fit together, it’s hard to beat Infinity. Your website, search engines, videos, landing pages, webinars, emails, and even e-books can all be easily tracked with this platform. While it may not have the same volume of features as other call tracking software, the ability to track virtually every channel you can imagine is what makes it shine.

Why I chose Infinity

With it, you’ll be able to see what led to a conversion. But it goes further than that — you can also see what happened before that as well as what happened after. Say a caller heard about you through one of your PPC campaigns, clicked on your landing page, visited your website for more information, and went to your contact page to call you. After the call, they went back to your website to do more digging. You’ll know exactly where they went and what they saw every step of the way.

Pricing

Essentials: $199 per month + $0.20 per call.
Pro: $299 per month + $0.15 per call.
Enterprise: Price available on request.

Rather than charging per minute like other call tracking tools, you can have longer conversations without paying the price since you pay per call. Infinity offers targeted plans for marketers, sales, contact centres, customer service, and compliance teams.

Each one is optimized around the use case, with different features being available at different tiers.

Visit Infinity

Features

Custom scorecards.
Set call and website goals.
Advanced conversational analytics.
Smart Match technology.
One month of call recording storage.
Whisper, rating, and blocking available.
Dial plans and IVR add-ons.

Infinity touchpoints. — Find out what led to the customer calling with Infinity’s touchpoints. Image: Infinity

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Optimize the end-to-end customer journey and track every touchpoint. Robust intelligence and conversational analytics. Incredibly detailed attribution. Smart Match for smarter sales. Pay per call instead of per minute.	Expensive entry-level plans. IVR is an add-on on every tier. No free trial.

How do I choose the best call tracking software for my business?

I recommend working backwards — start with understanding your customer journeys and what channels they use to find your business. This should include every channel you’re currently using, from e-books and your website to affiliate marketing and PPC campaigns.

From there, you can immediately narrow your choices based on the attribution channels you need to keep track of. At this stage, I also suggest taking an honest look at what you can afford.

Can you realistically raise the cost of customer acquisition and still make a profit? If so, how much? This is an important consideration when defining your budget.

Once you’ve narrowed it down to a few providers, you should schedule demos and free trials to see how they work and make sure they can do everything you need. At this point, it’s mostly a personal preference as to which interface you prefer.

Methodology

The main reason I chose these particular brands is because they all provide accurate call attribution across a wide range of channels. While the features and pricing vary, they all deliver real value.

More specifically, I looked at:

Price: I identified how much it costs per month to use call tracking software.
Free trial: Most products offer at least a 14-day free trial, while others offer as much as 30 days.
Features: Besides call attribution, I examined the full scope of features, such as conversational intelligence and call transcription abilities.
Trackable channels: Most platforms cover the basics like the web, paid ads, and social media. However, some are more extensive and include videos, podcasts, and more.
Attribution capabilities: I looked at the overall level of depth and accuracy of attribution.
Lead scoring: Some products include lead scoring, which helps identify high-quality leads so they can quickly be routed to team members.
Analytics: All platforms have some form of built-in analytics, but I only included those with advanced analytics that are still user-friendly.

By Corry Cummings

Corry Cummings is a seasoned entrepreneur and business strategist with a passion for building and scaling companies. Corry is dedicated to sharing his insights on business tech, entrepreneurship, business growth, and operational efficiency through his writing. As the CEO and Founder of SpeedtoScale.com, he focuses on creating sustainable growth and innovative strategies for businesses. See all of Corry’s content

Sourced from TechRepublic

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OpenAI debuts mini version of its most powerful model yet

August 21, 2024 No Comments

By Hayden Field

OpenAI announced it will launch a new AI model, “GPT-4o mini,” the artificial intelligence startup’s latest effort to expand use of its popular chatbot, on Thursday.

The company called the new release “the most capable and cost-efficient small model available today,” and it plans to integrate image, video and audio into it later.

The mini AI model is an offshoot of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s fastest and most powerful model, which it launched in May during a livestreamed event with executives. The “o” in GPT-4o stands for omni, and GPT-4o has improved audio, video and text capabilities, with the ability to handle 50 different languages at improved speed and quality, according to the company.

OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, has been valued at more than $80 billion by investors. The company, founded in 2015, is under pressure to stay on top of the generative AI market while finding ways to make money as it spends massive sums on processors and infrastructure to build and train its models.

The mini AI model announced Thursday is part of OpenAI’s push to be at the forefront of “multimodality,” or the ability to offer a wide range of types of AI-generated media, like text, images, audio and video, inside one tool: ChatGPT.

Last year, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap told CNBC: “The world is multimodal. If you think about the way we as humans process the world and engage with the world, we see things, we hear things, we say things — the world is much bigger than text. So to us, it always felt incomplete for text and code to be the single modalities, the single interfaces that we could have to how powerful these models are and what they can do.”

GPT-4o mini will be available on Thursday to free users of ChatGPT, along with ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers, and it will be available to ChatGPT Enterprise users next week, the company said in a press release.

Feature Image Credit: Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

By Hayden Field

Sourced from CNBC