Let’s start by addressing the obvious. By nature, pop-up marketing efforts tend to lean towards the invasiveness side of the spectrum. They’re ultimately designed to disrupt the user’s experience onsite, but in a way that grabs their attention toward a call to action. 

Based on the early ‘first gen’ pop-ups that used to plague the internet over ten years ago, pop-ups have historically had a bad rap. And to be clear, those are still annoying. But on-site pop ups on brand websites have evolved to be one of the most effective ways to capture customer data – for example marketing email address opt-ins – so you can grow your owned audiences. 

Growing your owned, addressable database is hugely important because it unlocks a cost-efficient way to re-engage your buyers, continue to nurture them over time, and convert them into loyalists. Pop-ups are therefore very necessary – and not as evil as many may think! 

Pop-up marketing and the value add

When used appropriately, they have a lot to offer brands and consumers alike. There are various ways of capturing data once a visitor comes to your site, so let’s run through five of the main approaches, from most to least intrusive:

1. On entrance
   Quite simply, when a consumer visits a brand’s website (generally speaking) with an introductory offer – 10 percent off an initial purchase, for example – in exchange for their email address or mobile phone number. This is the most commonly recognised pop-up and can be a great data capture strategy. 
2. On exit
   Shown to a website visitor once it appears a user’s intent is to veer away from the website, for example, going to click address bar on a laptop or rapidly scrolling on a phone. The user will see an offer or discount, similar to those presented on entrance. Because a user is already engaged with the website, but shows signs of wavering, this can be a powerful way of reengaging with your audience in the same session.
3. Timed
   Timed pop-ups are the “chaotic good” of pop-up intrusiveness as they’re typically deployed when a user has been on your site for a particular length of time, to offer discounts or promotions and incentivise the user switching from consideration to immediate purchase. This consumer is more likely to have genuine interest in your product, and therefore, it’s highly likely they’ll be similarly engaged on a discount on an imminent purchase. 
4. Native deployments
   Leaving aside conventional pop-ups for a moment, native deployment is about capturing user data in a slightly less intrusive manner, within standard on-page elements or modules. For example, this could include an email newsletter subscribe form that sits in a global footer. 
5. Persistent deployments
   It may seem counterintuitive, but persistent deployments are one of the most subtle options. They sit in the corner of a website — usually in the form of a non-intrusive button — and follow the user through their website journey, ready and waiting to be clicked on when the customer is ready. 

Although they operate at different stages of the user journey, all are designed first and foremost as value exchanges. After all, if they didn’t work, brands would simply stop using them. Consumers provide valuable contact information, such as an email address or mobile number, and brands offer discounts or special offers in return. But where is the line between invasive and effective?

Regardless of the point in the consumer journey, or intent you’re trying to capture, when deploying pop-ups on your site, there are a few key things to remember:

• Offer value. If you’re not offering a tempting reason for a consumer to exchange their details, your pop-up simply won’t perform well.
• Be clear and concise. Make your message accurate and tempting.
• Inject your brand personality. Don’t be afraid to showcase your brand’s personality.
• Don’t overwhelm. Use them sparingly with clear intention. 

At the end of the day, consumers love to hate pop-ups. 

It’s important to realise even the most carefully crafted pop-up won’t work every time. While it’s certainly valuable to let a campaign run so performance can be observed over time, it’s also worth trialling new concepts, copy and images, as well as different offers, to figure out the ideal formula.

Once you’ve done enough to get someone to offer you their data, the next — and much bigger  — job is understanding what they like, what they don’t, when they tend to buy, what messaging resonates, and how they like to be interacted with. Having the right technology partners is crucial to getting this bit right.  

Jamie Hoey is the Australian general manager at Wunderkind.

If you’re a fan of Aussie music and partial to a bit of merch, you’ve probably heard of Ausmusic T-Shirt Day (AMTD).

It’s the flagship fundraising event for music charity, Support Act, which provides crisis relief, mental health and wellbeing support to musicians, managers, crew and music workers across Australia.

The annual day, typically held on a Friday in late November during Ausmusic Month, celebrates Aussie music and raises urgently-needed funds for music workers in crisis. Anyone can take part by wearing an Aussie music t-shirt, making a donation and/or setting up a team to fundraise.

Despite the crunch of the cost of living crisis and donations being significantly down across many Aussie charities last year, coupled with a small team and tight budget, AMTD raised a record $637,000 in 2022.

The campaign generated over five million impressions across Meta, 200,000 unique website visits, 1,000 new database subscribers and over 70 pieces of media coverage.

So how did we do it?

Star power

It probably goes without saying, but adding Chris Hemsworth, Kylie Minogue, Darren Hayes, Casey Donovan or Jess Mauboy’s faces to any campaign is going to be a sure fire winner! 

One of the biggest drivers of awareness in the AMTD campaign is the star power of our ambassadors and champions. These are a mixture of leaders and up-and-comers in music and beyond who not only dedicate their time to put their faces to CSAs and assets, but also provide a wealth of content for marketing channels throughout the campaign. 

Working with creative agency, Mushroom Creative House, for the first time last year also enabled us to bring that star power to life with a killer CSA that we could push out across earned and paid media, social and digital channels to really bring AMTD out of the industry and into the music-loving masses.

MCH also helped us to focus down to one simple, clear CTA of ‘Wear & Donate’ that would resonate with anyone and give them a clear message of what they needed to do to be involved.

Content is king

With a tight budget and limited resources, asking others to create content for us that we could share organically was a massive boost to the campaign, and our followers!

One of the highest reaching posts of all time on Support Act channels was a 15 second video of Kylie changing t-shirts that garnered over 12,000 likes, reached over 285,000 people and gave us exposure to her audience of 2.4 million in a matter of minutes. Our CSA featuring Chris Hemsworth also reached a staggering 852,000 views on TikTok and saw a huge 33 per cent increase in followers.

As well as posts from mega-stars like Kylie and Chris, aligning with ambassadors from all genres who have their own dedicated and loyal stream of followers really helped us reach a broader audience. Asking each ambassador to create a simple 60 second sharable video is a small ask, but one that has a really big and authentic effect.

Other popular content pieces generated alongside our digital agency, Comes With Fries, included weekly leaderboard updates (everyone wants to see their name at the top!), stories behind the artwork and wacky fundraisers, including one amazing lady who managed to put on over 50 Aussie music t-shirts in one shoot.

Ausmusic T-Shirt Day Merch

It’s not something you can do with every campaign, but having our own range of Premium T-Shirts available to purchase in advance of the big day brings in over $100,000 in revenue.

The Premium T-Shirt range features 15 exclusive designs created by Aussie established and up-and-coming artists, sold only on the AMTD website, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Support Act.

Artists like Paul Kelly donate a sold-out design to the cause each year, alongside big hitters like Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel and Powderfinger whose own mega-fans generate a froth of excitement to buy across their social media platforms.

Although primarily a fundraising tool, having merch with a cool story to tell not only generates sales, but also dynamic content for socials, digital, direct marketing and PR. It’s also handy to have a visual representation of the campaign for media and ambassadors to wear on the day for that extra level of awareness.

Last year’s biggest coup was an exclusive, limited edition t-shirt designed by music industry darlings, King Stingray, for their recently released “Camp Dog” single. Having just wrapped up a huge merch campaign with Cotton On, this t-shirt exclusively sold by us for AMTD alongside accompanying exclusive content, gave us something really new and unique to talk about. 

Friends in high places

Working with key partners in music, media and tech industries has always been a boon for AMTD, alongside our major partners ARIA and triple j, who support the campaign throughout.

In 2022, we were lucky to garner support from giants Meta, Google, Ticketek and Spotify to not only fundraise and donate to the cause, but also give us access to promote the campaign to their national audiences.

We partnered with Spotify’s Fan First EDM to promote our Premium T-Shirt range to all Aussie fans of each artist who had produced a t-shirt f. That single EDM directed 10,000 new visitors to the AMTD website, resulting in over $10,000 worth of t-shirt sales.

Pairing with Meta was also a huge boost to last year’s campaign when they gave us access to their Sydney studio to film a series of exclusive Reels. Creating this unique and well-produced content gave us something new and exciting to reveal in the week leading up to the big day with some of the industry’s leading faces including triple j hosts Lucy Smith and Lewis Hobba, and rising star May-A.

We also couldn’t do what we do with the support of our incredible Fundraising Advisory Committee, a who’s who of record labels, promoters, creatives and industry associations whose wisdom and connections are unparalleled.

So in a nutshell, having a small budget and limited resources doesn’t have to stop you reaching great heights with your campaign, as long as you have good working relationships you can leverage and are willing to give it a good hustle!

Watch this space for AMTD 2023 to be announced soon and register here to be the first to hear about this year’s event.

Helen Lear is the communications and marketing manager at Support Act.

After years of condemning clicks and impressions, modern marketing should be less reliant on unclear metrics — if not fully proxy free. However, instead of fading into the background, notoriously misleading measures remain a major feature of performance analysis. This is a deep dive into “clickheads” by LoopMe’s senior sales director James Symonds.

Few marketers need reminding about why this lack of progress is so troubling. Having long recognised that proxies aren’t accurate enough indicators of real audience engagement, most know they have little scope to reliably assess or optimise advertising success. Yet even amid the drive to streamline efficiency, campaign effectiveness is often still judged in terms of click-through rates (CTRs) and basic ad delivery. 

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), much of the issue is familiarity. Following its 2019 open letter bemoaning “clickhead” behaviour, the advertising body has released a new initiative highlighting the likelihood that lingering dependence stems from an inclination towards well-known and impressive-looking metrics, especially as global pressure to prove ROI intensifies. But more important is a repeated call to break the proxy habit. 

As the latest figures for wasted Aussie spend alone total more than $5 billion, sticking with what they know obviously isn’t paying off for marketers. To make better use of their budgets, big changes are needed now. It’s time to finally retire imprecise measures and start gauging ad impact against genuinely trackable goal outcomes, with help from smart technology. 

Clickheads need to shift to AI-powered outcomes

While linking performance assessment with outcome based KPIs may not be a new approach, ongoing proxy preoccupation means adoption isn’t as widespread as it ought to be. By basing campaign evaluation on whether or not defined goals have been reached, marketers can gain an exact view of the effect every message has on their target audience, not just an estimate. 

Additionally, setting objectives as tangible consumer actions will serve a double purpose. On top of making uplift in areas such as brand recall, affinity, consideration, and purchase intent easier to trace, persistent measurement will also track which messages, formats, and tactics are driving the best responses as campaigns roll: equipping marketers with insights they can harness to inform real-time adjustments to further bolster in-flight engagement and results. 

What recent technological advances have brought to the equation is improved data mastery. In brief, a combination of large-scale processing and in-depth analytical capacity means tools supported by artificial intelligence (AI) can fuel faster handling, analysis, and activation of incoming data that drives well-informed optimisation, both for live and future campaigns.

The longer explanation of practical benefits for marketers requires a closer look at the two key use cases: 

Refining targeting focus  

Leveraged as part of outcome-centric measurement, AI subsets such as reinforced learning automatically allow shrewd real-time decisions. Fed on a mixed input — including information about historic performance and data from current ad requests — sophisticated algorithms can be trained to figure out which advertising opportunities are most likely to drive desired actions in any given scenario, with models simultaneously factoring in the impacts of unique situational variables on how individuals interact with ads.

Armed with a continuous flow of live insights, marketers can then make swift pivots to direct spend at media placements with the highest probability of meeting campaign objectives, from purchases and video ad shares to product brochure downloads. As well as refining campaign targeting to make ad dollars work harder, this AI-assisted method significantly reduces the risk of wasting investment on ad space with a low probability of bolstering the bottom line. 

Augmenting long-term learning 

Similarly, implementing supervised learning paves the way for persistent incremental gains. Drawing on insights about previous hits and misses, AI engines powered by Bayesian Systems can determine how to effectively model multiple data sets, while adjusting model dynamics in line with fresh first-party data from audience interactions, including intelligence surveys. 

The greatest advantage of such nimble modelling is flexibility. With the ability to build near-unlimited predictive models, smart engines can run deep analysis across a range of data pools; unearthing patterns and forecasting how any number of specific audience segments might engage with certain ads. Or in simple terms, giving marketers the insight needed to guide future strategy, with accuracy only increasing as each campaign yields richer learnings. 

But it’s also worth mentioning that modelling driven by assessment of past performance and user-supplied data ensures zero dependence on third-party cookies. With no requirement for additional tracking data, marketers can maintain maximum privacy without compromising precision. 

The limitations and pitfalls of clicks have been well-known and accepted for far too long. There are alternative routes that provide a much clearer view of the precise impact that campaigns make and smarter tools to ensure the efficient use of data, with AI creating a closed and accurate optimisation loop. It’s about time to start leveraging these advances, rather than leaning on the familiar and wasting precious resources. 

It’s time to stop the clickheads.

When faced with challenging times, strategy is of the utmost importance to survive.

“You’re not a wartime consigliere, Tom. Things may get rough with the move we’re trying.”

Michael Corleone, The Godfather

This isn’t your typical downturn.

High inflation, rising prices, potato shortages, plummeting consumer confidence and a seemingly constant threat of recession is simply exhausting for all involved. 

And while the economic heartache will be felt unevenly, the truth is, most people, in most major markets, are starting to adjust their behaviour, and brands have to adapt accordingly. 

As Michael Corleone would say, we need a wartime consigliere. 

People are looking to trade down or side-ways in the face of inflation and uncertainty.

As we witnessed way back during the GFC, consumers are finding different ways to save. 

Roy Morgan reported that consumer confidence is 20 points lower than the same time last year. According to Global Web Index – 39 percent of Australians in January are spending less money. Let’s not kid ourselves – things will get rough

And that’s not just in food, fashion and energy that will feel the crunch. The rising cost of borrowing will see people seek out cheap money, cheap cover and more affordable luxuries.

Five strategic priorities for brands during challenging times

Priority #1: Don’t just research. Gather intelligence

People are going to trade up, down and sideways. The first step is to know which way they are going to move. Invest in good research.

If you are the type of person that thinks of research as expensive validation for what smart people already, you’re probably just investing in bad research. Ask the questions that give you a privileged understanding of your customer. Ask the questions that create opportunities. 

Priority #2: As value becomes more important, people’s expectation on experience will rise

An increase in price has the unintended consequence of higher expectations of experience and service. And whilst this is easier for digital and e-commerce brands to innovate their experience, every brand in every category needs to evolve how their experience delivers new value in this new economy. 

Priority #3: Look to innovation and promotion to reframe value

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well so is desperation and recession. 

As consumers need change and the market becomes more cut throat, finding new ways to deliver value efficiently.

Put another way, double down on reframing your value. 

Take Lego for example. In 2008, while most companies were scrambling to survive, Lego saw profit growth of more than 63 percent, reaching an all-time high of profitability. Why? There are a few reasons, but the most important was expansion into the global market. While Americans were facing the worst of the recession, Lego expanded into Asia and made concentrated efforts to build sales in Europe.

Priority #4: Plan for recovery, not just recession

Economic pressure, like the future, is unevenly distributed. 

And when under pressure, boards and marketeers alike tend to sacrifice long-term strategic priorities for survival. It’s well documented from previous downturns that reducing ad spend is associated with declining sales and weakened company performance in the long run.

The thing that is easy to forget in the midst of re-structures and shrinking budgets is that we need to exit the recession well. Recessions are temporary. Now is the time to focus on building strong brands and experiences that will drive differentiation and growth when everybody else is stagnating. 

Take Pizza Hut and Taco Bell during the 90/91 downturn. They took advantage of McDonald’s decision to drop its advertising budget and Pizza Hut increased sales by 61 percent, Taco Bell by 40 percent and McDonald’s sales declined by 28 percent.

Priority #5: Double down on your difference.

During tight times, it’s comfortable to race to the middle, or bottom.

Instead, now is the time to focus on your unique competitive advantages. The things that make you more valuable and different. 

I was lucky enough to work on Virgin Atlantic during the GFC. Airlines were all headed to struggle-town with falling demand, soaring oil prices and increasing focus on aggregator sites.

However, Virgin Atlantic took the decision to increase marketing spend when everyone was cutting back. It doubled-down on its “rockstar” and “fun” positioning. This brand building phase (plus hedging good oil prices) helped Virgin Atlantic thrive when many didn’t.

Some final thoughts

When things are going great, marketing feels like investments. 

When times get hard, it feels like a luxury. 

Everything we know from marketing science during challenging times tells us, whatever you do, don’t stop. Don’t go dark. 

But be smarter. Know the value of current customers, and new customers. Understand the impact of experience and brand. The world moves fast, even in recessions. And things will get rough. 

Those that refuse to stop will find themselves ahead of the pack when everyone comes back up for air. That’s what it means to be a ‘wartime consigliere’.

Danish Chan is the co-founder and strategy director at Untangld.

The more things change the more they stay the same in the recruitment ecosystem. Despite all the hype over the last few years of the great resignation, quiet quitting et al, hiring and interviews and job advertisement still wield an imbalance of power and ego posturing. Sue Parker explores.

Searching for a new job is fraught with different emotions and frustrations at the best of times. And particularly so if a person is not working or facing sexism, racism or ageism. 

Maintaining self esteem and dignity is important for mental health and identifying and taking notice of the red flags are essential to minimise job risks.  

And despite the changes in the market over the last few years, hiring red flags haven’t changed, nor the need for mutual respect.

Holding power, listening to your instincts and expecting courteous and professional behaviour should never wane in the hiring process. But it does wane frequently at all levels across $80,000 to $800,000 roles.

Tales from vault

I’ve been around marketing and executive careers for a very long time and the acquiescence I’ve observed from highly skilled and experienced men and women encountering poor form is staggering.   

I recoil at some tales shared with me over the years including:  

• The media director who was chomping on his bowl of Chinese noodles whilst interviewing my advertising sales management candidate
• The owner of a media agency telling a candidate she was the hottest person he had ever interviewed, but his staff would find her too distracting so not a good fit.  But, could he take her out for dinner!
• The marketing manager who kept a digital senior candidate waiting for over an hour without an apology or the receptionist offering a drink.  And a whole swag of other disrespectful interview attitudes.  
• The candidate who was told after a 2 hour interview he was not worth the salary on offer but would be considered for a lower package 
• Interviewers who don’t show their full face on Zoom interviews.
• Dismissive and dogmatic greetings on Zoom interviews

Believe first impressions 

First impressions matter. The way a job advertisement and application is responded to.  The communications and tone on email, phone and at interviews. That first hello, handshake, conversation, Zoom call first impressions really matter. 

How people behave and treat us the first time around is a good indicator of what is to come. Listen and watch it intently and don’t try to justify and rationalise it.   

When meeting with a prospective employer the way they treat you will pretty much be the best they will be and a true indicator of what you are in for if you join that company and manager. Trust me, it never gets better.

Rudeness, unprofessionalism or any negative behaviour or issue at the front end doesn’t get better at the back end.

We process information in three ways.  

We ‘think’ with our head, ‘feel’ with our heart and ‘know’ in our gut  the truth. It is the gut that is always right when we trust it. We must trust it!

Job advertisement red flags

This is a short guide. A company needs to sell themselves equally as candidates do:

1. Lack of a  salary guide/range. 
2. Use of dismissive and arrogant language: i.e. only short listed candidates will be contacted   
3. No  contact details to enquire about the role. This is essential for senior and management roles. 
4. Long list of criteria and candidate demands. Tone matters. 
5. Ageist language – i.e. a youthful environment. Young dynamic team.  
6. Little information about the company and its culture.  

Interview and process red flags

1. The job responsibilities and KPIs are different to what has been communicated on the job advertisement or discussed/briefed previously. This alerts potential internal political issues and/or the company has no idea of what they need.
2. The interviewer runs down the person/s currently or previously in the role. It’s the ‘blame everyone else’ rhetoric vs responsible EQ frame.
3. Disrespect by keeping you waiting without any apology or contrition (zoom, phone, in person). 
4. Lengthy time delays between interviews and follow-up is a big flag that a company can’t get its act together and/or just doesn’t value people and candidates as human beings. Run!
5. A low vibe/quiet office where you just feel the darkness of a culture of fear and lack of enthusiasm. Or you hear loud aggressive and angry office conversations as you wait in the reception or meeting room. 
6. If the hiring managers poorly treat their staff, suppliers, receptionists (aka anyone that comes across their path) poorly. Observe this and take notice.
7. The interviewer/s clearly haven’t thoroughly read your resume &/or are not prepared at all for the interview.
8. You don’t get satisfactory answers to relevant and thoughtful questions you have asked.  Candidates have every right to ask important questions and any evasiveness or refusal to answer thoroughly is a bad omen.
9. Reputation for high turnover/poor culture and reviews. There is so many avenues available to reference check employers and get the word on the ground from past and existing employees.  You will get a really good indicator of turnover on LinkedIn and reviews on sites like Glassdoor.   And don’t think bad treatment won’t happen to you – it WILL. Just like a bad history of abuse, it happens to everyone eventually.
10. The salary, terms and package markedly changes in the offer/negotiation stage and the company refuses to redress despite all efforts. Hiding and evasive communications at any part of the process is a warning of other issues.

Hold your power 

Holding your power means walking away when red flags are waving.  

And make sure you are ticking all the professional and great communication boxes as hiring is a two-way street of equal respect and exploration.

But do bolt if red flags and your instincts indicate a company, role or hiring manager is off.    

And if a noodle bowl is in sight, run as fast as Cathy Freeman did in the 2000 Melbourne Olympics.

It’s the changing of the guard that has the marketing industry split. Swapping out Universal Analytics (UA) for Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has raised many questions and created some disparity in reporting. Here’s what you need to know as we say goodbye to UA. 

When using any new tool or platform, confidence is earned through continuous use and by understanding the purpose and metrics of the tool. Google and its ubiquitous suite of tools are so ingrained in our daily lives, it’s hard to imagine managing a business or simply interacting online without the tech giant. Google Analytics is the North Star for millions of businesses, connecting the dots and instructing the direction for paid and organic activity. 

Google Analytics was first launched in 2005, after it acquired Urchin (also known as GA1), which was a program that measured web statistics. From there, Google made its own program and rebranded it as Google Analytics. Eventually there was a second iteration (Classic Google Analytics) followed by a third iteration (Universal Analytics). Fifteen years later in 2020, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) was announced, and if you followed a map to get here, then You Are Here.

GA4 has a bold aim of reporting between app and web. It also offers users access to BigQuery export, which had previously been available only to Analytics 360 users (paid account holders). Early reviews of GA4 have been a mixed bag, depending on the user and their needs. There have been some common questions that Luminary has seen in SEO and marketing communities, so here is a breakdown of what you need to know to support your GA4 adoption.

Do I have to set up GA4, or will Google just configure it for me?

There can be so many platforms, reports and content to manage… can you not just trust the data giant to do it for you? Yes, Google can and will reconfigure UA to GA4 but Google is the first to say that this isn’t recommended. There are detailed instructions for migration from Google, with the process broken down for advertisers (on Google Ads) and for all other users.

For Universal Analytics customers whose websites are tagged with gtag.js or analytics.js (including through tag management systems like Google Tag Manager), Google will actually create and configure the new GA4 property based on reusing site tags (where possible). Google has created opt-out instructions for businesses who do not want it to do this on their behalf.

What are the dates I need to remember?

It wouldn’t be unlike Google to throw an unexpected update at us, but fortunately, Google has communicated the key dates to the GA4 rollout and Universal Analytics sunsetting to avoid data loss and reporting disruption. The key dates to commit to memory and calendar are as follows:

• 1 July 2023: Standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits.
• 1 October 2023: 360 Universal Analytics (paid) properties will stop processing new hits. 
• 1 January 2024: Universal Analytics data will be until this date.

What are the new metrics and what have they replaced?

New systems mean new reporting requirements, which is tough for marketers who are working on existing targets and benchmarks that will not be relevant in GA4 or have changed significantly. We recommend accompanying your GA4 reports with UA snapshots also to begin educating wider teams on what the difference is, while still providing a familiar forecast for relativity. If these monthly reports are presented to teams outside of the marketing function, you may also want to educate your organisation to preempt any questions about traffic drops and changes to attribution patterns.

Here’s a cheat sheet to get your head around the new metrics.

Key changes 

UA metric	GA4 equivalent	Core change
Bounce rate	Engagement rate	Though there is a metric called bounce rate it is just an engagement rate. Engagement rate is engaged sessions/total sessions.
Av. session duration (mins)	Av. engagement time	It only counts time when the window is active.
Goal complete	Conversions	Goals would only count once per session whereas conversions will count each time the event happens.

Users

Users in GA4 have been broken into three groups, as opposed to UA’s two groups (Total Users and New Users). The GA4 User groups are now Total Users, Active Users and New Users.

 

Metric	UA	GA4
Active Users	Not applicable	This is now the primary User group in GA4, and is counted when users engage with the site in one of three ways: Stayed on the page for 10 seconds or longer Viewed more than 1 page, or Triggered a conversion event.
Total Users	Total number of users	Total number of unique Users who complete an event on page.
New Users	Total number of users who visit your website for the first time	Total number of users who visit your website for the first time OR open your app for the first time (based on new unique user IDs).

Pageview

Pageviews are the benchmark for many businesses wanting to understand the success of a campaign, or even to be eligible for Ad networks and partnerships. Generally speaking, Pageviews will look very similar for both UA and GA4, however filters may also impact the total number of Pageviews.

 

Metric	UA	GA4
Pageview	Total number of views of a page, including repeated views of the same page.	Total number of views of a page and app screen, including repeated views of the same page and app screen. Now named ‘Views’.
Unique Pageview	Total number of pages viewed, without counting duplicates/repeated views.	Not applicable

Event count

How Events are measured is one of the biggest differences in UA and GA4, and that impact will depend on the business and purpose of the website. Instead of having different tracking formats for a page vs an event vs a transaction, everything is an event.

Metric	UA	GA4
Total Events	UA events consist of a Category, Action, and Label, and are considered a separate type of hit. These events can be used to track user interactions, such as clicks on a sign-up button, and are counted in the Total Events metric.	Not applicable
Event Count	Not applicable	In GA4, every hit is considered an event and there is no concept of Category, Action or Label. Events are used to track user interactions, and each event can have a non-unique name with different parameter values. For example, a sign-up event may have parameters such as page location, product, and form ID and should be reused across the site for all sign-up buttons.

Session/traffic based acquisition metrics

Make sure you know if you are using session or user based channels.

Metric	UA	GA4
Session/traffic based acquisition	In UA, the Acquisition section contains various reports such as Channels or Source/Medium, which analyse dimensions against metrics like Users and Sessions.	The Traffic Acquisition report in GA4 contains traffic acquisition metrics that measure dimensions like Channel or Source/Medium against metrics such as Users and Sessions.  There may be differences between UA and GA4 for acquisition metrics, which are aligned with the differences in the metrics of Users or Sessions.

For further explanation of the difference in metrics, Google has outlined changes.

What is the reason for the traffic difference between Universal Analytics and GA4?

Nope, your traffic hasn’t taken a dive, but the goal posts have changed, which may explain a sudden drop in your traffic. The difference is that Universal Analytics reported on total users, and GA4 reports on active users. Essentially, the traffic that you now see in GA4 is a measure of the active users who are engaging with your website and has replaced the bounce rate as a result. This may be a sobering fall in traffic, but the intention is to display more accurate traffic. An engaged user is defined as someone who has done one of the following:

• Stayed on the page for 10 seconds or longer,
• viewed more than 1 page, or
• triggered a conversion event.

So, what does this look like in practice? An example would be looking at Universal Analytics, you see the average time on the page is six minutes and 20 seconds. When looking at GA4, the data shows 2 minutes and 40 seconds. The latter is the average page time of engaged users and will be the benchmark moving forward. Note, this time is only counted when the page is active in the foreground.

If I have a Universal Analytics property that is a few years old, how can I check old data in the new GA4 property?

Migrating historical data is one of the primary concerns for businesses. Unfortunately, there is no way to migrate old data into GA4 and so it is strongly advised that businesses export all old data before it is lost. It is also worth noting that a straightforward migration would not be possible even if there was migration capability due to the data model differences. Backing up all UA data will serve you in future when you want to compare data, understand past patterns and create more successful ads.

It’s recommended that you export individual reports to keep on file. You can use the Google Analytics Reporting API to export your data, and if you are a Google Analytics 360 account holder you will be able to very easily export that data to BigQuery. There is the option to export data in a range of formats, so select the best option for your needs (CVS., XLSX, PDF, Google Sheets, etc).

What is the best way to check traffic data for a specific landing page in GA4?

Regardless of a business’ niche, understanding the traffic and success of a landing page is crucial. Issues and downturns in traffic can prompt optimisation or can identify different opportunities. If you are looking to find out the traffic data for a specific landing page, here is how you can get that report. Remember, creating events through Tag Manager will result in deeper insights.

Within the GA4 dashboard, click under Engagement to select the Landing page report – which is a bit more straightforward than the UA navigation. The landing page traffic is not user-scoped but session-scoped, which means that a user who visits the website through two different landing pages will be counted twice. If you would like to know what your traffic does after they arrive on your landing page, you can set up a Path Exploration report in Explorations (more on that later).

In GA4 data, how do I find old Analytics-created Events and UTM links?

You will need to set these events up again, and the same goes for UTM links and tracking. But Google has announced it will migrate if you don’t have a GA4. So that might change. The good news is that UTM links will work with no changes. Though Google has recommended UTM naming conventions it has also recently released custom channel groupings so you can set up your channels just the way you like them.

For events, though, this is a different story. Because the core event structure has changed there is no way to migrate over old events. This could also be good news. This gives you the opportunity to clean up what you are tracking, not more Button > click > really long event label. If you use Google Tag Manager this should be relatively simple; using the same triggers as before you can send the new data to GA4.

What do I need to know about the new Explorations feature?

Exploration is a new feature that allows you to explore different components of your business to better understand how users are interacting with you. There are six Exploration functions at present, including Free Form, Cohort, Segment Overlap, Funnel Exploration, Path Exploration and User Lifetime. There is also the option to choose a blank template from the gallery and choose the features required to pull the data. UA has not offered this kind of freedom to design data analysis, and the visualisations are also more user-friendly.

One of the more exciting options and an interesting feature for e-commerce businesses is Funnel Exploration. This report means you can see different steps users are taking on the way to conversion and break down the user journey and analyse what is and is not working. For example, your funnel may look like this: Step 1: Viewing a product, Step 2: Adding a product to cart, Step 3: Providing details, and Step 4: Completing purchase. Knowing when a customer is leaving allows you to optimise content and troubleshoot.

Segment Overlap Exploration is another illuminating report and can highlight patterns in audiences and overlap segments. For example, the Segment Overlap may show that males aged 25-34 on mobile overlap with males aged 35-44 on desktop. This can be invaluable data for crafting targeted ads and tailoring content to include a wider demographic net.

Segment Overlap Exploration report from Google Analytics Help.

GA4 is not getting me excited – what are my options?

If you are looking to take the opportunity to implement a new analytics system, there are some popular cookie-free analytics platforms and tools out there. Naturally, the nature of your business and where you operate should govern your choice. E-commerce businesses that are national may find that GA4 can be replaced, but for local businesses, this will not be a wise decision. After all, Google Ads, Google Maps, Google My Business and organic Google searches result in rich data through UA and now GA4. 

If you want to try out some new options if only to compare the data output to GA4, here are the most popular alternative platforms to get you started:

• Matomo
• Amplitude
• Piwik
• Insightech

Additionally, if you would like to implement a new dashboard and customisable reports, some of the most popular options are:

• Looker Studio
• DashThis
• DataBox

Example of Looker Studio dashboard functionality for a travel blog.

What is BigQuery?

BigQuery is another concept to wrap your head around when understanding GA4 and adopting it in your business. BigQuery is a cloud-based data warehouse and analytics platform provided by Google Cloud Platform and allows users to store, analyse, and visualise large amounts of data in a quick and cost-effective manner. BigQuery also integrates with other Google Cloud Platform services such as Cloud Storage and Cloud Dataflow. BigQuery is offered for free to users, although when data volumes exceed the BigQuery sandbox (1 million events/day) there will be fees (though once a credit card is added you do get a large amount of free storage that would suit most small to medium businesses), or users can receive a larger data volume for paid accounts (billions of events/day).

So, what is the benefit of BigQuery and how does it compare to the Google Analytics interface? BigQuery data can be exported once a day, and can also be accessed through BigQuery streaming (with different capabilities and a fee applied) for real-time data. Having access to the raw data lets you find deeper insights and merge your data with other platforms, like Google Ads, email platforms, or other marketing data. It also allows for more in-depth visualisations to be created.  If you would like to explore the difference between the Google Analytics interface and BigQuery export in greater detail, Google has outlined the core differences.

In conclusion

Any new system will have growing pains, and there is a lot to explore with GA4. When marketers have adjusted to new reporting metrics and results, businesses will be able to make informed assessments and decisions based on the engaged traffic with custom Exploration reports to support these insights.

Sarah Crooke is a digital analytics specialist at Luminary.

When it comes to marketing, there are some firmly held tenets about the importance of investing in long-term brand building. VP marketing, Asia Pacific of Verint Martyn Riddle explores the importance of CX as an investment.

It is widely accepted that a brand is the identity of a business, encompassing its values, emotions, and personality. Consequently, marketing and advertising budgets are typically seen as investments – expenses that are made with the expectation of generating future benefits. Naturally proving ROI is important, but for longer-term strategies the long game can be played and the investment approach allows for some creative experimentation.

However, when it comes to Customer Experience (CX) which is increasingly intertwined with brand value and personality, the situation is different. Instead of being viewed as an investment, CX is often viewed as an operational cost of doing business and like most business costs, the pressure is often to minimise.

Why does CX so often continue to be considered a cost and not an investment? It’s largely a legacy issue. Rewind half a century or so ago and the CX journey of a business usually began with the procurement of a telephone or two to build out what became the call centre. Procurement means operations and operations mean cost; something that may have made sense last century but in 2023 this approach is short-sighted.

But, it’s time to start looking at CX as an investment, here’s why:

CX is now part of the purchase funnel

The proliferation of digital channels, a culture of immediacy and a decline in trust and tolerance of digital advertising means we are now in a world where consumers are increasingly making their purchase decisions based on recommendations from trusted sources.  This can include friends, influencers, publishers and review sites. Research from Wharton School of Business found that social influence has a significant impact on purchasing decisions, specifically that people are more likely to buy a product when they know others are buying it.

Whilst you can’t control what people say about your business, you can predict and promote great feedback with great experiences. Customers now expect seamless, personal experiences across all new and existing channels and loyalty is easily lost when things go awry. According to our 2022 State of Digital Customer Experience Report, 64 percent of the consumers surveyed have stopped doing business with a company due to a poor customer experience.

Consequently, reviews and ratings from satisfied customers have become a key factor in the purchase funnel – and as such, should be considered an investment.

CX requires the human touch

At Verint, we are all about using technology, automation and AI to drive a joined-up customer experience, but – and it’s a big but – it has to be used to empower real human employees to help them shine and solve their customers’ issues.

This means companies need to invest in skilled customer service and customer experience professionals who are at the frontline and, in our increasingly digital world, often the first brand ambassador a customer has spoken to. Too often, the KPIs for front line staff focus on cost-based metrics. An example of this would be the length of a call. Then more qualitative measures related to brand affinity and satisfaction are ignored. Misaligned objectives can lead to a real disconnect within the brand experience, resulting in a ‘negative’ cost to the business in terms of abandoned brand loyalty. Not to mention, a wasted opportunity to extend brand personality and create advocacy.

CX data offers invaluable insights

Oh, the stories that CX data can tell – and that often remain untold within an organisation which has likely paid millions for its capabilities but is often trapped in organisational silos. Structured and unstructured data from across customer touchpoints usually contains golden insights to inform almost every department within an enterprise. From product, finance, people and culture, governance and compliance, through to marketing, you literally have at your fingertips what your customers are telling you about your brand and product, both good and bad. The problem is, as the technology often sits in operations, there can be difficulties in disseminating the insights across the organisation. Further, typically politics comes into play when a technology has emanated from operations versus the whole of business. We see these types of issues play out day in and day out.

However, we also see those organisations that have shifted thinking in regard to CX as a strategic investment and whose programmes are championed by the CEO, really being to shift customer and business outcomes.

The bottom line is that CX is ubiquitous. Customers don’t experience your brand according to your organisational structure, so why do businesses continue to see touchpoints as line items on a P&L? Modern organisations are shifting their thinking to better align to customer experience everywhere. By taking the long-term view that customer experience is a revenue generating benefit that is ubiquitous across the customer journey, businesses will achieve greater success in marketing and advertising.

With almost 30 years of offline and online marketing experience under my belt, you could say that I’ve seen a lot of change within the industry. From the introduction of .com in the early 1990s, to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) around 1997, we’ve helped small businesses revolutionise digital marketing and how to navigate the wide world of search engine ranking alongside the rise of social media management and marketing in the mid-to-late 2000s era. 

Today, with the growing reliance on consumer personalisation, for small businesses vying to be seen online, the digital marketing industry as we know it has changed from the one that I started out in almost three decades ago, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

Revolutionising digital marketing through change

With periods of change comes growth and opportunity. And as Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to develop at a rapid pace, we find ourselves in another one of these exciting periods, that will likely see the industry as we currently know it today, changing into something new tomorrow.

A lot has been said about AI recently – some fear it, some ignore it and some embrace it, with big businesses leading the conversation from every side. Elon Musk recently asked for a 6-month pause on all AI updates (despite looking into his own AI developments for Twitter), while tech giants Microsoft and Google are taking their adoption of AI to the next level by incorporating the new tech into their software. 

While it’s clear they won’t be agreeing on an opinion anytime soon, one thing that they – and we – can all agree on is that AI as we know it today is nothing short of remarkable, with the potential to turn the digital marketing industry on its head in the best possible way. As a business, we choose to embrace AI, and have done for more than four years. It’s simply another tool that’s here to support our clients and wider networks, whether it be through smart bidding within Google ads products, proofing content or inspiring website product pages, and we’re encouraging other digital marketers to do the same.

Simply speaking, AI boasts a number of advantages for our industry, providing a competitive edge in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace. Thanks to machine learning and AI algorithms, digital marketers can look forward to assistance with improved efficiency, data driven personalisation, predictive analytics and enhanced customer insights. 

But don’t let me try and convince you – take it from the source. According to ChatGPT, digital marketers can benefit from AI in the following ways:

1. Personalisation: AI algorithms can analyse user data to create personalised marketing campaigns that target specific groups of people with tailored content and messaging.
2. Predictive Analytics: AI algorithms can analyse data and predict user behaviour, enabling marketers to optimise their marketing strategies and identify new opportunities for growth.
3. Chatbots and Customer Service: AI-powered chatbots can assist in customer service and help automate routine inquiries, allowing marketers to focus on more important tasks.
4. Content Creation: AI can be used to generate relevant and engaging content for marketing campaigns, including blog posts, social media updates, and video content.
5. Ad Targeting: AI can analyse user data to identify the most relevant and effective advertising channels, allowing marketers to target their ads more accurately.
6. Sentiment Analysis: AI algorithms can analyse social media conversations and other user-generated content to determine public sentiment towards a brand, product, or service.

According to the chatbot, overall AI can help digital marketers make better decisions and drive more effective campaigns by providing insights, automating routine tasks, and enabling personalization at scale. And we agree… within reason.  

Where to start?

Unsure where to start though? There are a number of popular AI programs that you should be trying out, including Jasper, ChatGPT, Copysmith, Writesonic and CopyAI. Jasper is our AI of choice, and a program that we’ve been integrating into our business for the past two years. Each has their pros and cons, but ultimately produces the same results. Whether you’re building out a social content calendar, or looking for a few thought starters for your next blog post – AI is there to assist. That isn’t to say that the technology is perfect… while it’s okay to use AI-content tools to assist, there’s still work involved to ensure you get the most out of the AI.

In terms of using AI to generate content for your website, the question has been asked: Does it affect my organic SEO rankings? Good question: We’ve found that it’s perfectly fine to use AI-content tools to help you gather ideas or build a framework for content, but again, there is still work to be done to ensure your content ranks well online.

As a digital-led business with almost 30 years of experience, this new technology is something that we’ve been monitoring for a number of years, and a tool that we began incorporating into our operations more than two years ago to help better service our large pool of clients. Today, Localsearch services over 28,000 Aussie SMBs while providing free support to an additional 300,000 and where appropriate, we lean on AI and all of its capabilities to draw on inspiration and get the most value for our clients.

We encourage all small businesses that are looking at integrating AI into their company to think about it practically. AI enables organisations to automate so many of the routine tasks, including data entry and analytics, freeing up the team to focus on more strategic and creative work, increasing both efficiency and accuracy. It’s a no brainer.

AI has been a game changer for all businesses, and as the tech industry continues to evolve and we see more capabilities around building web code, creating graphics, optimising administration and more, I envision more and more people integrating AI into their everyday lives – and we encourage small businesses to jump on the boat. Today. 

Daniel Stoten is the executive chairman at Localsearch.

The hype around the doll in the plastic, fantastic world has not lost its touch in the last 64 years, as proven by the hype surrounding the latest Barbie movie. 

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by indie film queen Greta Gerwig, the buzz is showing no signs of slowing. But, what led ‘Barbie’ to succeed despite facing harsh criticisms for what it portrayed?

The Barbie doll is a veteran of the toy industry. Having survived for more than 60 years, the 11.5 inch blonde-hair, curvy-waist doll has a brand value of AUD $880 million today.

In spite of being dismissed by masses for ‘setting unrealistic expectations for women’ and ‘reiterating misogynistic values’, film critics and long-time fans are gleaming with excitement to see the live-action version on the big screen.

Besides, when the official Barbie trailer and cast posters dropped, the internet jumped on the cheeky social media wagon. It even birthed a new meme: “She’s everything, he’s just Ken”. This was an indication that there’s room for everyone in Barbie’s world. 

From people announcing their redundancy to recruiting new people on LinkedIn, the Barbie movie posters are enabling people to fully embrace the utopian world in pink. 

Even Barbie has her ups and downs

Growing up, Barbie was seen to appeal to young girls (from three years and older), but the brand grew beyond the idea of just being an average doll. Mattel’s marketing campaign for Barbie can be credited to its responsiveness and adaptability to the changing tides in the society as well as the political discourse around the doll. 

Moreover, the company made a smart move by including clothes, accessories, cosmetics and supporting characters like Ken, which contributed to the long-term success of the doll. 

However, Barbie didn’t have an easy life.

To begin with, the most popular Barbie conversation has been around the doll’s unrealistic body proportions. In fact, the backlash was so severe that feminists in the 1970s burned the doll as a symbol of breaking free from the shackles of oppression. 

The backlash was immense to a point where a Barbie that uttered ‘Maths class is tough’ had to be immediately replaced by the toy company as it offended the people’s sentiments.

Today, the doll is continuing to be the talk of the town and has managed to surpass a range of controversies to generate worldwide sales of around US$1.5 billion (roughly AUD $2.25 billion) in 2022.

It is said that Mattel has deployed multiple marketing strategies to extend Barbie’s lifespan, one of which involved re-modelling the traditional look of the doll to different shapes, sizes, ethnicities and more.

Although this may have been a risky endeavour, the campaign turned out to be a commercial success, catering to the mass audience for making Barbie a diverse and inclusive doll. 

Barbie’s omnichannel marketing trends 

Mattel has always capitalised on the nostalgic feeling to generate and retain trust and positive attitudes by selling relatable dolls to little children and more sophisticated, limited edition collectibles for adult fans.

Over the years, Mattel has experimented with a mix of traditional marketing tools like banners on a bus station to collaborating with lifestyle influencers on social media platforms to get the word out about new changes or launches in the Barbie world.

One of its notable works is the Barbie Dream Gap Project, which is an ongoing global initiative that gives girls the resources and support they need to continue believing in themselves. 

Since March 2019, Barbie has funded $250,000 to different charities throughout the year who are directly working with girls to enable them to pursue their dreams.

Mattel also responded during tough times like the Covid-19 pandemic by partnering up with YouTube channels to create intriguing activities that kept kids entertained at home. However, it’s important to note that each of Barbie’s campaigns soaked in empowerment and confidence to really move away from the notion of subjecting girls to look and dress a certain way. 

The film promises to move the needle on the ‘perfect’ girl phenomena

Spoiler alert!*

Life is not all fun and fantastic in the plastic world. 

Barbie is no longer just a pretty face but is a ‘doll in a pink, shining armour’ who is going to be seen fighting against the wrongs in the world. From tackling feminism, misogyny to challenging gender stereotypes, Barbie is set to share some untold stories of overcoming a tremendous amount of obstacles, as a woman, in the real world.

“Bringing Barbie to life was something I just couldn’t say no to,” says Margot Robbie during an interview. 

“It’s a fun movie – a comedy – but it’s also going to have aspects people don’t expect.”

“I don’t think Barbie can be accused of being a dumb blonde as she has been a surgeon, a vet and a pilot so, if anything, she is a pioneer,” she adds.

Robbie also says how people had a preconceived idea about the movie even before its release but “when it was ­announced Greta Gerwig was ­directing, all these ideas went out the window.”

Consumer sentiment, and with it buying behaviour, is changing fast enough to make your head spin. Most recently, the pandemic triggered a surge in commercial activity online, followed quickly by worldwide supply chain issues. The resulting rising costs of goods, petrol, and property has seen inflation skyrocketing in Australia to a 21-year high, while the rapid expansion and evolution of digital technology continues unabated. Tristan Sternson explores customer loyalty.

In a crowded global marketplace, brands are competing harder than ever before for loyalty from a customer base that has an infinite array of choices at its fingertips. Today’s customers are more knowledgeable, more diverse, and more empowered. They’re also more demanding, totally willing (and able) to switch brand allegiances overnight. 

So, what does it all mean for brands? In short, the future of customer loyalty and user experience (UX) in a complex digital world is a new and exciting one and ultimately, one brands need to embrace in order to get – and stay – ahead of the competitors. Leveraging technology is how brands are going to get there.

The customer is (still) king

The customer journey is no longer linear with a clear centre of gravity; it is fragmented and spans web, mobile, social media, smart devices, wearables, the metaverse, and of course, the physical world. As it now intersects through multiple platforms, designers and marketers need to consider how to create a cohesive, experience-led approach around the customer. 

’The customer is king’. Ring a bell? Digital and tech innovation means that brands are now operating in a multi-polar, experiential world that revolves more than ever around the customer’s needs and wants.

No problems, only opportunities

As much as the breadth and pace of tech innovation can feel daunting for business owners, it shouldn’t be. Challenging, yes, but really, change should be regarded as an opportunity to consolidate and enhance your customers’ journey and magnify their loyalty to your brand.

The sneaker industry is a great example. Customising is immensely popular with consumers, and it’s big business. Most of the big brands offer it in some form, from simple monogramming to full colour and style customisation. These are digital options that enhance customer experience, which in turn helps to build loyalty, both online and in-store/in real life. 

Why settle for off-the-shelf Nikes when you can assume some control and add your magic touch in the process? It’s something my kids do, and it keeps them wanting to go back for more. 

There’s a huge amount of opportunity in this space for brands. Imagine walking into a Nike store with your phone, customising your own sneaker online, and a short time later the shoe being brought up for you. Thanks to technology, it’s possible.

Customer loyalty: the big squeeze

The radical success of limited editions and midnight sneaker drops doesn’t happen overnight, though; it’s brand loyalty in motion. But what happens when loyalty is challenged by a new wave of super-savvy, price-conscious consumers?

Data from Emarsys’ 2022 Customer Loyalty Index found 65 percent of Australians say inflation and the rising cost-of-living has made them abandon brands they were previously loyal to in order to save money.

Nowadays, customers are doing a lot more comparison online because they’re more price-conscious. And, also, because they can. So for brands, spending budget on online marketing as a bare minimum, even for bricks-and-mortar businesses, is essential. In-store, time is money. If you’re waiting in a large retail outlet for someone to come and help you, that 1-2 minutes while you’re waiting might turn into “Do I really need this? I can save the money/get it cheaper online.” 

Either way, as a business, you want to catch customers – and make it a positive experience – in that moment to hang onto your share of the wallet.

Super future

If you’re wondering ‘What next?’, my word for you is ‘Acceptance’. Ours is now a multi-polar digital world that needs to be embraced for you to not just survive, but to thrive.

Examine closely what you can do to drive a better customer experience. Years ago we developed ‘business intelligence’, gathering data on our customers, yet some brands still utilise that intelligence really poorly. 

We need to get better at using what we’ve got, then start using the newer tools – technology like in-store mobile apps – to make it easier for brands to recognise and reward their loyal consumers, and for customers to get what they need, quickly and easily. Endless aisles, for example, allow customers in-store to virtually browse or order products that are out of stock or not sold in-store, then have them shipped to their home. 

Loyalty is now driven by the complete, omnichannel experience of your brand. With expanding global connectivity, price sensitivity, and increasing technical innovation, brand advantages are shrinking. Make sure you’re investing in UX and digital innovation to provide customers an attractive and unforgettable experience. 

Tristan Sternson is the CEO of ARQ Group and global co-lead of NCS NEXT.’