Today in Digital Marketing - The Refund Clawback: A New Tactic in E-Commerce?

Starting point is 00:00:00 It is Wednesday, May 29th. Today, it seems ridiculous asking people to buy something from you as you're refunding them from a previous purchase. But researchers say it works. Also, PayPal is planning a big splash in the ad pool, and Instagram has a new Just Add Meme button. I'm Todd Maffin. All that and more ahead today in digital marketing.

Starting point is 00:00:26 A few months ago, I had one of those smack myself on the head moments. Chase Bank had announced it would hoover up all the purchase data it's amassed from people who used its credit card and turn that into a giant retail media ad platform. I remember thinking, of course, why didn't I see that coming? That's genius. Apparently, other people thought so, too, notably executives at PayPal. The company yesterday announcing it wants a piece of that lucrative ad pie as well and is launching a platform to let marketers target its nearly 400 million active users based on their purchases. Quoting Marketing Dive, quote, central to the offering is the company's advanced offers platform,

Starting point is 00:01:07 which was announced in January. That platform analyzes nearly a half trillion dollars of transaction data with artificial intelligence to generate consumer insights and offer more personalized deals. With advanced offers,

Starting point is 00:01:21 merchants pay for performance, not impressions or clicks, potentially making PayPal an attractive ad partner in the crowded media network space, unquote. PayPal has recruited some pedigree for the job. The lead executive used to run Uber's ad business and previously led product strategy for Amazon's ad platform. PayPal and Chase are in a growing category of companies that seem to be waking up to the realization that they could sell some of the data they collect. Earlier this month, the travel site Expedia said it would also join the party. Product returns are a common part of business, often hurting short-term revenue. But some relatively new research has found there might be a way to claw back some of that revenue. It's something probably most marketers haven't tried. Research

Starting point is 00:02:10 published recently in the Journal of Consumer Psychology shows that people are generally pretty willing to buy something from you at the moment they're asking for a refund. The thought is that in people's minds, that money, even though it's coming back to them, has been written off a little. So cross-selling products that are equal to or just lower than the price of their refund could actually convert. Among the five experiments in the paper, 78% of participants used refunds to buy a Starbucks gift card compared to 47% using non-refunded money. People were two and a half times more likely to buy a Nike shirt with a refund. And after returning winter shoes, 27% were more likely to buy a jacket than when buying it outright. But the researchers found the same effect did not happen when people bought items expecting to return them, like different shoe sizes.

Starting point is 00:03:07 Also, the research focused on low-involvement products like clothing and gift cards. High-involvement items like furniture might have different results. The study is called Mental Accounting of Product Returns. It was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. We have a direct link to the study in today's email newsletter. Tap the link at the top of the show notes to sign up for free. TikTok has something new for brands and creators. It's a new dashboard called TikTok Studio and lets users manage video uploads, gives them some editing features, see performance analytics,

Starting point is 00:03:40 and more. They're not new tools per se, but TikTok Studio is a kind of upgraded version of its Creative Center platform where similar tools are in one place. Quoting the company, quote, whether you're a seasoned creator or a small business balancing content creation while managing a business, TikTok Studio provides free, easy to use creation tools

Starting point is 00:04:00 and centralized operational capabilities designed to efficiently streamline content workflow. Using their TikTok account to log in or sign up, creators can upload, film, edit, and post to TikTok directly from TikTok Studio and use tools like AutoCaption, Photo Editor, and AutoCut, unquote. The new site can also recommend monetization programs to join and has links to TikTok's training videos. TikTok also recently amalgamated its AI tools under something it calls the Symphony platform. TikTok Studio is currently web only, but the company says they're working on a desktop version as well.

Starting point is 00:04:34 You can find it now at TikTok.com slash TikTok Studio. Well, it happens to the best of us. One day we think we understand internet meme culture and are using it effectively in our marketing campaigns. Then, one day, all the kids start running around screaming skibbity toilet and your Monday creative brainstorm meeting sinks into an uncomfortable silence. Keeping track of memes can be pretty challenging, especially these days, which might be what's behind Instagram's latest feature in testing, a kind of just-add-meme button.

Starting point is 00:05:12 According to reverse-engineered screenshots, Instagram is adding a quick meme feature to its Reels editing workflow. It'll show up as a button alongside things like stickers, volumes, and filters, and will add animated GIFs, making the rounds as popular memes. Notably, you can view them according to how much viral traction each is getting. Quoting socialmediatoday.com, quote, the push toward participatory memes has actually been led by TikTok, which has made it easier for people to add their own takes on trends via duets and other options that are aligned with content creation. And because TikTok is generally aimed at public posting, it also gives people a means to gain

Starting point is 00:05:51 more exposure in the app, which Instagram doesn't naturally facilitate with its more enclosed connections-based networks. But Instagram's trying to fix that, because while usage of Instagram is on the rise, posting of original content is in decline. Meaning that while people are watching more video content in the app, they're less and less inclined to add their own stuff. In the short term, this likely isn't a problem as more time spent equals more ad exposure and more revenue opportunities for Meta. But if creators stop posting, that leaves less original content for Instagram to get users hooked. While Meta also knows it'll need creators to power its Metaverse project if that's ever to take off, unquote. While Meta executives snark at Elon Musk over social media,

Starting point is 00:06:41 their product teams are busy copying features that the owner of X has added since buying Twitter. After testing it for a year, Instagram will now let anyone who pays for the blue checkmark block all incoming DMs from users who do not also pay for meta-verification. And whether or not this was actually working to keep bots away from inboxes on X is still up for debate. Musk seemed to think that charging a bit of money would all but eliminate the spam problem, but that hasn't really happened. The bots now just have paid checkmarks. Presumably, they're making more money scamming and spamming, so the $8 a month expense doesn't matter.

Starting point is 00:07:22 And finally, an update on our big story yesterday about that massive leak of confidential Google search documentation. It has been more than a day since the news broke. And as of our deadline today, Google still had not said a single word about it. OK, puppy update of the two things, you know, number one and number two. Number one has been mastered on the lawn even. So excellent work. Number two still appears to happen in the house.

Starting point is 00:07:53 So we're working on that. Yesterday was our first day of puppy training, which turns out to be more about owner training than anything, of course. We're learning. We're learning. Our dog, our new puppy is being as patient as she can be. Oh, video game stuff. Briefly, if you're into Fallout 76 or just the Fallout universe, I've made a YouTube video of my Fallout 76 camp. It is a seven shelter fever dream, essentially, that questions reality.

Starting point is 00:08:18 I get all sorts of messages every day from just random Xbox people that happen to wander through it saying they think it's the best one ever designed. I agree. I think it's excellent best one ever designed. I agree. I think it's excellent. It is up on a YouTube video now. You can find it on my gaming channel, which one day I'll sell all this stuff and just retire to and just do the gaming channel. Anyway, that channel is called Low Effort Dad, but I put a link directly to the YouTube video at the top of the show notes or near the top of the show notes anyway.

Starting point is 00:08:44 All right. That's it for today. More puppy classing. Wish us luck. I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

Today in Digital Marketing - The Refund Clawback: A New Tactic in E-Commerce?

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