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This chart is interesting because I feel like brands firmly focus on the items in the middle. Customers just want to be rewarded for being loyal shoppers and fans in a way that makes them feel like a human rather than a number.

via EMARKETER

The chart titled "Aspects of a Personalized Shopping Experience That US Adults Value, March 2024" displays the percentage of respondents who value various personalized shopping features. The data is presented in a horizontal bar chart format. &10;&10;The percentages for each aspect are as follows:&10;- Loyalty programs tailored to your shopping preferences: 61%&10;- Special offers/discounts based on your shopping habits: 57%&10;- Wishlist features (e.g., save for later, share with others): 31%&10;- Emails based on your interests about new products, sales, and restocks: 23%&10;- Customized product/service recommendations while shopping online: 22%&10;- Ability to customize the look and feel of the shopping site: 16%&10;- Content curation based on your preferences and past interactions: 14%&10;- Personal shopping assistants or chatbots: 11%&10;- Virtual try-on features (i.e., AR): 10%&10;&10;The source of the data is Bizrate Insights, from "The State of Customer Loyalty," dated May 1, 2024. The respondents are US adults aged 18 and older.
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When asked how Dave Matthews Band sells out so many shows…

Dave Matthews’ line is always, “we only have 35,000 fans, they just go to every show.”

This is the goal—the dream.

Make something so good that a core group loves it to the point of never getting enough.

Yes, it’s a joke (probably), but it’s rooted in a fandom that puts the fan in fanatical.

Going for scale is flashy and en vogue.
Going for depth can be more fun for everyone.

via the Celtics Talk podcast

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Instagram confirmed it’s testing unskippable ads after screenshots of the feature began circulating across social media. These new ad breaks will display a countdown timer that stops users from being able to browse through more content on the app until they view the ad, according to informational text displayed in the Instagram app.

Unsurprisingly, people hate it. But Meta is really good at figuring out what people will actually put up with vs what they just say.

If these stick around, will they command a higher price?

via TechCrunch

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I’m always wondering where to draw the line with advertising frequency, so I’ll take this number from Meta and use it as the ad-level threshold to help with decision making.

After around 4 exposures, conversions could decrease by about 45%.

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I agree with Rushkoff on this:

The value of this technology in creative work is not to come up with the ideal commercial product but to show us perfect examples of what to avoid.

Create it yourself.
Create it with AI.
If you can’t tell the difference, start again.
(Or automate that task and find somewhere else to add value.)

Let your human show.