Please Save My Mobile Surfing Experience!

A recently article on TechCrunch titled "Begun, The Mobile Ad-Blocking Wars Have" describes an upcoming war between telecom companies and the advertising industry. In addition to the real costs to telecoms, its also critical for advertisers to recognize and understand how this war can effect our ad campaigns. While it’s important to understand this effect, it more important that we actively seek to punish those publishers who are “bloatwaring" their sites. We are doing them - in the words of Donald Trump - a “HUGE" favor.

What’s The Problem?

The problem comes down to bandwidth and the cost associated with providing access to users. Telecoms are constantly investing billions of dollars to upgrade and expand their infrastructure to compete with each other and ultimately deliver service to its customers, and mobile ads and their tracking software are using this bandwidth. In fact, mobile applications or mobile websites can ping an antenna up to 50 times a minute in a process called background signaling. The telecoms are paying for this. Therefore, we the customers are paying for this. This is on top of the fact that ad clutter already reduces the effectiveness of your ad and can degrade your brand.

The Rise of Mobile Ad Blockers

Desktop ad-blocking software has been around for awhile. It’s one of the things that users love about Google Chrome. In fact, the AdBlock add-on from Chrome has been downloaded over 10,000,000 times and has over 151,000 reviews. It’s not the people hate ads, but it’s that people hate bloatware - and its getting worse. From new PC’s to content websites, bloatware is effecting the way you use the internet. As the migration of internet usage from desktop to mobile continues increase, telecoms and users both are seeking out services like AdBlock Plus and TrustGo to extend these experience boosting services to their mobile devices.

Please Save My Mobile Surfing Experience

Recent offenses include the over use of ads on user generated content site like diply.com. You're scrolling through your Facebook feed on your iPhone 6 Plus, and you see an interesting post on the “Craziest Sports Accidents of All Time” and you click on it. It opens up the content from diply inside of our Facebook app and it freezes as you scroll down. There are 20 photos listed on the headline and it shows 2 content photos per page and at least 6 different ads. So if I wanted to look at the photos, which I no longer will since I closed the app because of the poor user experience, I would have seen 20 pictures and no less than 120 ads. Give me a break!

As John Gruber (Apple Guru) stated on his blog, "Advertising should have minimal effect on page load times and device battery life. Advertising should be respectful of the user’s time, attention, and battery life. The industry has gluttonously gone the other way."

What Can Buyers Do?

Don’t buy ads on sites that are “bloated.” Contact your DSP or your programmatic ad buyer and explain to them that you are concerned with the quality of your ad buys. There are hundreds of millions of ad impressions available so even if you blacklisted 100 of the largest bloatware offenders, there are millions of impressions still available for you to buy. If you aren’t sure of the sites to start with, start here. In reality, your spend is a drop in the pond, and it likely will not make a difference to the publisher, but its just good marketing to avoid these sites (see Ad Clutter Reduces Effectiveness, Degrades Brands).

Final Thoughts

In reality, the root of the problem will not be fixed, and we will attack the problem much like we did with desktop sites. Telecoms and end users will use ad-blocking software to cut back on the ads, and advertisers will think of creative new formats or messages to stand out in the crowd. Content sites will rise and fall, and many more will come to the market with their ad clutter and the prospect of making thousands of dollars from these ads....

I don't hate ads, and I do realize they pay for many of the services I use today, I just hate when they ruin my experience.

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/please-save-my-mobile-surfing-experience-luke-stokebrand-mba?trk=prof-post

A/B Testing (Split Testing), Is It BS? One-Tailed vs Two-Tailed Testing

Most marketers and web developers are familiar with the A/B Testing: The testing of 2 different versions of an object or a web page to see which one performs better. In theory, this is an excellent practice and should be performed to get the best performing website or campaign possible. However, this is often without a cost, especially if you are working with a web optimization firm. The question is not whether A/B testing can be effective, but in reality is it fiscally responsible and ultimately necessary. 

Sample A out performed Sample B by 20%! Is my data actionable?

There are 2 ways to determine that you tests are statistically valid: One-Tailed Test or Two-Tailed Test. Peter Borgen, a contributor at SumAll, eloquently describes the difference between the 2 test on his blog:

"The short answer is that with a two-tailed test, you are testing for the possibility of an effect in two directions, both the positive and the negative. One-tailed tests, meanwhile, allow for the possibility of an effect in only one direction, while not accounting for an impact in the opposite direction."

One-tailed requires a smaller sample size, is more convenient, and will likely yield a result that appears conclusive. They will tell you that sample A is better that sample B, but it will not tell you if it is doing worse. Two-tailed requires a large sample size, may take longer, and may be more expensive to conduct. However, it will produce results that are truly actionable.

More on One-Tailed Tests and Two-Tailed Tests:

One-tailed tests are not always bad, it is just important to understand their downside. In fact, there are many times when it makes sense to use an one-tailed test to validate your data. Personally, if you paying for website optimization or it is a major decision, I would need to have Two-tailed validation. Chris Stucchio has a great summary of when it's "ok" to use one-tailed testing here.

If you're paying for a service, you deserve actionable results.

Again, the challenge of A/B Testing is to get an result from the test that is statistically significant. I have never been told what form of testing (nor have I asked), was used to evaluate my data. If you move forward with an optimization firm ask them:

  • What type of evaluation are they using? One-Tailed or Two-Tailed Test
  • What is the sample size?
  • What is their confidence interval?
  • Are the results statistically significant enough that I can make a decision with them?

Ultimately, I want to know that A/B Testing in effect increase my user acquisition and not just tell me what I want to hear. I work for a smaller firm with limited resources, and I do not want to waste them bogus results. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. Spend the time researching and finding a firm that will delivery the result you need, because as the end of the day - if you show your boss a presentation that will increase user acquisition by 20%, and months later the results are not there: the only loser is going to be you.

Have no data is better than bad data. Doing testing in house and using your experience, logic, and free online tools can help you improve your performance without spending a dime. Run test frequently, and for long periods of time, and run calculations to see if you data is significant.

If you are new to A/B Testing and how it works, these resource are a great places to start:

To learn more about A/B Testing Statistics, One-Tailed Test, and Two-Tailed Tests use the following links:

Here is a tool for testing statistical significant from your own tests:

 

 

Flashback: Taco Bell Flies in 10,000 Tacos to Bethel, Alaska

As I thumbed through my last

issue of AdWeek

I was reminded of a tremendous stroke of marketing genius. In June of 2012, residents of

Bethel, Alaska

received a chain of emails announcing the opening of a Taco Bell. For some background,

Bethel

is located 400 miles from Anchorage, and is only accessible by air and water. Previously, its 6,000 residents would have to go to Anchorage if they wanted Taco Bell.

Unfortunately, It was a hoax, or even an "evil hoax" as

some called it

.

Shortly after the story went viral, the folks over at Taco Bell decided they wanted to do something about this: and they did.

The social/digital team over at Taco Bell and was quick to respond to the story. Their idea: Have 10,000 tacos airlifted in.

The strategy was a homerun, and people are still talking about it over a year later. I asked my wife if she remembered this story, and before I could finish, she finished my sentence for me and raved about it.

It's not everyday that you see a campaign with that kind of influence. L$

Here

is a video of the whole event.

Does my baby pee too much? There's an app for that!

Have you wanted to know how healthy your baby is based on the content of their urine? If the answer is yes, then you are in luck! Seriously, a company based in New York called Pixie Scientific has come up with a "Smart Diaper" with a QR code that you scan once a day with their smart phone app. Once scanned it will send the results to Pixie Scientific for analysis. The immediate goal of the program is to tell of:

- urinary tract infection 

- prolonged dehydration

- developing kidney problems

The program isn't a go yet, they still need some funding help. Once funded they can begin manufacturing, testing, and eventually FDA approval.

Visit

Pixie Scientific

to learn more, or

click here

to contribute to their indiegogo funding campaign.

Additional Links:

http://pixiescientific.com/

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pixie-scientific-smart-diapers

BBDO uses vibrating windows to transmit ads directly into your head! WTF?

That's right, you passed out on the light rail ride home across town and you wake up and cant wait to go buy a pair of new Calvin Klein boxer shorts. Why in the world would I want to do that at 2AM? Why because while your head was lying against the windows you were hearing ads courtesy of the mega ad company BBDO. Their new product transfers high-frequency vibrations to the windowpane, which a person can hear through bone conduction by simply lying their head against the glass.

 "BBDO also said this technology could be used beyond advertising: e.g. music, entertainment, transport information, weather, etc. The same sound transmission technology has been used in some headphones and hearing aids."

 Want more? Read the full article on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2013/07/04/vibrating-train-window-ads/