Is your traffic fake? 🕵️‍♀️

Good morning! A crazy new report from the cybersecurity firm CHEQ shows that a whopping 11.3% of web traffic could be “fake” or invalid.

If that number shocks you, wait for this...

The same report found that 5.9% of paid traffic was fake, and they estimate an insane $35.7 BILLION in ad spend was wasted on fake traffic last year. Check out the full report here.

It’s a great reminder to keep a close eye on ALL of your metrics at all times…

Now, here’s your full rundown this Wednesday morning…

• ID Please - Twitter Tests ID Verification

• Battle Bots - HR Fights Back Against AI

• Layoffs - Amazon Cuts Another 9k Jobs

• Podcasting - LinkedIn Launches New Academy For Beginners

• Email Hacks - 2 More Tips For Boosting ORs and CRs

Lurn Bytes: Your Daily News Download

Twitter Tests New ID-Backed Verification - It looks like Twitter is taking their verification process more seriously than they initially led on. Reports suggest Twitter could be adapting a process that requires government IDs to get verified. Musks war on “bots” is ramping up…

HR Departments Fight Back Against AI - A new report from Gartner indicates that nearly half of HR departments polled are working on guidelines for using AI like ChatGPT in the workplace. Others like Bank of America have already banned the tool for employees…

Amazon Cuts 9k Jobs & AWS Is The Biggest Loser - The wave of big tech layoffs continued this week, this time with Amazon announcing they’re cutting roughly 9,000 jobs. Reports suggest that as much as 10% of those jobs are coming from the Amazon Web Services division…

LinkedIn Launches Podcast Academy

There are so many benefits to having a podcast. With your own podcast you can…

• Build a relationship with your audience more easily…

• Boost your credibility in your industry…

• Create so many marketing assets with your episodes…

And you don’t need a massive following to get started either. That’s typically the biggest objection we hear whenever we talk about podcasts.

The fact is, you can start quickly and build a small but loyal following. This is particularly powerful if you’re in a very specific niche.

If you’ve been thinking of launching your own podcast but are unsure of the process, the LinkedIn Academy could be a massive help.

Here’s how LinkedIn describes the program…

“The LinkedIn Podcast Academy is a 6-month incubator pilot, which will connect emerging business podcasts with exclusive programming, coaching, tools and LinkedIn co-branding to expand and better reach their audience. This inaugural group of professional voices cover a wide range of topics in the professional arena: From leadership and entrepreneurship to human resources and technology.”

Check out everything the Academy has to offer!

50%

Email subject lines with some sort of personalization have a 50% higher open rate on average, according to Oberlo.

2 More Quick Email Marketing Tips

Yesterday, we dropped 3 quick tips you can implement into your email marketing strategy ASAP to boost your open rates, click rates, and overall engagement.

Today, we’re back with 2 more tips you can start using today!

Let’s not waste another second…

#1 – Start a Referral Program

A referral program is an effective way to get users to spread the word on your behalf. You see these most often with newsletters, but you can use them however you’d like.

Plus, it also incorporates that word-of-mouth component to your marketing.

Referral programs obviously need to be run through your website, but you should promote them via email.

Use email as a means of referral, and include referral reminders in the transactional emails you're already sending.

#2 – Test Image Types

It's a good idea to test as many different elements of your emails as possible (not all at once, of course!)

One good place to start is with images.

It's easy to get into a rut with imagery and not give much thought to which types of images ultimately perform best. For example, ask yourself…

• Is there a difference in user response to images of products in use versus products on their own?

• Stock photos versus real customers or clients?

• Photography versus illustration?

Experiment with different types of imagery to find the ones that work best for your campaigns.

ICYMI - The Biggest Stories You May Have Missed

Inflation Rate Cools, Down to 6% - More good news on the inflation front this week, as the newest CPI report yesterday indicated growth of 6% in February. That was down 6.4% in January and a peak of 9.1% last June. The Fed also updated its 2023 outlook yesterday…

Twitter Charging $42k/Month For API - What was once free to access, Twitter is now charging a whopping $42,000 per month for. Access to its developer platform will now start at $500k annually, with higher tiered access costing over $2.5 million per year…

Etsy Resumes Payment Processing - A sigh of relief for eCom entrepreneurs. Etsy has resumed processing seller payments after it had frozen payments in the wake of the SVB collapse. The implications of SVB’s demise continue to spread…

We Want To Hear From You!

Drop us a line and lets us know what you think or what you'd like to see more of at [email protected].

For any other questions, please reach us at [email protected]