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Category: digital

There are 4 posts published under digital.

Mobile Pay: The Digitization of Money

For years the smartphone has made life simpler. It has given us the power to make phone calls, send text messages, send and receive emails, surf social networks, and more – all in the palm of our hands. For many people, the smartphone is something that they simply “can’t live without.” And if you’re one of those people, the latest developments in the mobile world are only going to make it that much harder to drop your device. Specifically, you may find that by this time next year your wallet will have also been replaced by your smartphone.

According to mobile technology firm NN4M, mobile payments are primed to be the next major defining moment in the world of payments, signaling a boom in the number of virtual transactions and a significant shift in how consumers pay for goods. While person-to-person payment options such as Venmo and SquareCash have grown in popularity over the last few years, 2015 is expected to be the year when widespread adoption of mobile payment practices finally takes hold.

The Three Major Players

One of the biggest indications that mobile payment is here to stay - and grow – is the adoption of these technologies by the biggest players in the mobile world – Apple, Samsung and Google.

Apple

In 2014, Apple announced the release of Apple Pay, a mobile payment and digital wallet service that lets users make payments using the latest Apple devices, including iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and more. Apple Pay allows users to make in-app purchases with one click, and also allows users to make real-world purchases by hovering their device over specified readers. While the announcement didn’t come as a complete surprise, Apple’s adoption of the technology accelerated interest in mobile payments and is just one of the reasons why mobile payment is expected to be a touted topic in 2015. One challenge with Apple’s approach to mobile payments, however, is that it is largely dependent on adoption by retailers, as a specialized card reader is needed. While Apple Pay is already accepted at thousands of retailers worldwide, it will take continued consumer demand for the service for all retailers to adopt it.

Samsung

Another indication that mobile payments will be on the rise in 2015, is Samsung’s recent acquisition of LoopPay, a mobile-payments technology start-up. Samsung announced the merger early last week, and buzz around how the tool will work has garnered much attention. LoopPay seeks to replace your wallet entirely by storing your credit cards, debit cards, rewards card, and even your ID. And, unlike Apple’s method which requires retailer adoption, LoopPay works with nearly all existed credit card readers. Though the tool does require users to open an app to make the payment, once the app is open users can hover their device, click a button and get on with their day.  Without the need for specific technology to be adopted by retailers, LoopPay has already made its way into 10 million locations, and has been voted as one of the top mobile payment options in America.

Samsung’s acquisition of LoopPay is not only an indication of their desire to compete in the mobile payment world, but to their commitment to make a smart life for everyone. This acquisition is the latest in their line of moves that encourage synced devices, intuitive usability and a seamless blend between technology and human interaction.

Google

Google Wallet, which was originally released in 2011, is another mobile payment option that is expected to spur the growth of mobile payment popularity. Though the application has garnered criticism for perceived security concerns, the app received a push in 2014 with the announcement of its Gmail sync feature – which allowed users to send money to other via email. Those individuals who receive money via Google Wallet payment, can use the money instantly for in-app purchases, or can “cash-out” and have the amount sent to their bank account.

The End of The Traditional Wallet?

While wallet manufacturers don’t have to worry just yet about declining sales, the latest developments in mobile payment options are certainly exciting, and showcase the deep interest that both consumers and tech companies have in this avenue. And though security and privacy concerns may slow complete adoption of mobile payments, 2015 is certainly poised to be the year where it all begins. The only question now, is which mobile payment will you use?

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How Being Data Driven Helps in Your Content Marketing Efforts

Content marketing is the preferred mode of marketing for many businesses these days. Not only is it very cost-effective when compared to traditional forms of marketing, but also allows brands to use the power of the Internet to increase their market base. Moreover, content marketing, unlike many other forms of online marketing, is still considered trustworthy by consumers leading to brands making a beeline towards content marketing firms.

However, many brands are unable to use content marketing effectively, as they don’t know how their campaigns are faring or why and what they must change. This is why brands need to practice data-driven content marketing and not just content marketing.

Track the performance of your content marketing efforts

There is no point in having marketing campaigns if you have no idea how well they are performing. Yes, content marketing campaigns are much cheaper than traditional marketing campaigns but that doesn’t mean you can run them forever even when they are not giving you any results. This is a rookie mistake in content marketing and unfortunately it is committed by many brands. They create and launch content marketing campaigns without checking up on them.

Without tracking any data and without any metrics analysis, they may have no idea if their content marketing campaigns are meeting targets and goals set for them. Without using data analytics to track content marketing, there is no way to know if the content marketing efforts of a brand are actually worth the investment, time, and effort that has gone into the campaign.

Is your content reaching the intended audience?

Brands turn to content marketing to help them reach out to and attract their ideal or target audience. Once brands figure out the kind of people or the demographics that they think will benefit from their products and services, they try and create content and marketing campaigns to gain visibility among their ideal audience. Smart brands and content marketers use data analytics methods to track their content marketing campaigns to see if they are actually reaching out to the intended people or not.

With data analytics, you can actually figure out how people are interacting as well as reacting with your content and marketing campaigns. This will allow you to understand what you are doing right and the areas that you can improve upon. With proper data analytics processes, you will be able to change your content marketing campaigns to make them more effective.

Content marketing is also one of the most important ways to attract more prospects. Choosing prospects is very tricky, as they need to be in tune with your brand. They must also understand your business and marketing philosophies to be truly beneficial to your brand. If you are not using a data-driven approach to content marketing, how can you find out if your brand is attracting the right kind of prospects that will actually help your brand and not harm it? Moreover, the content marketing landscape and consumer tastes are ever changing and your campaigns need to adapt to them as quickly as possible. With no data analytics, you will never know when the changes occur and how they are affecting your campaigns.

You can improve your content marketing campaigns

Apart from getting the ideal prospects and consumers for your brand, content marketing also helps brands improve their visibility. Another, and probably the ultimate goal of content marketing, is to increase sales for the company. This is the ultimate and long-term goal of any marketing campaign. Data from tracking campaigns and analysis of this collected data can help you understand if casual visitors are being converted into customers and if not, then what is blocking the sales funnel.

With the right data you can improve your campaigns to convert casual readers of your content into paying customers without having to blatantly express that you want them to buy your products. Data analytics can also give you the entire and detailed view of the purchasing or conversion funnel to see how much time it takes for visitors to convert and at what phases they are spending the most time. This will help you understand what is stopping people from converting and how you can change your content marketing campaigns to nudge causal visitors in the right direction.

 

 

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Digital Advertising 101

Ad inventory, ad impressions, fill rate and eCPM are terms that app developers throw around day in and day out.

At SponsorPay, we know that the language of digital advertising involves an initial learning curve. In an effort to explain what these acronyms actually mean, we’ve compiled an overview of several concepts that drive the success of any ad monetization strategy. The basic overview below emphasizes the perspective of web and mobile developers employing ad-based monetization in their games and apps.

Let’s begin!

 

Developers with free apps available on iOS, Android or the web often leverage advertising to create a reliable, predictable revenue stream. What does this business model actually look like?

 

Monetizing an app with ads follows a very simple equation:

 

Revenue =

 

Amount of ad space that the developer has for sale (ad inventory)

x Percentage of inventory that actually gets bought (the fill rate)

x The revenue a developer receives for 1,000 ads sold (eCPM)

 

As you can see there are three primary elements here:

 

Ad inventory

 

A developer’s ad inventory is a term that describes the totality of the advertising space available on a certain digital property. It is the total number of opportunities the developer has to show an ad. In other words, it’s the total inventory the developer can sell to advertisers. Naturally, a developer can increase revenue by increasing the ad spaces in the application, assuming other factors stay constant. That said, it’s critical that ad placement and user experience are always considered.

 

eCPM

 

eCPM or “effective cost per mille” is the amount of revenue received for 1,000 ad impressions. It’s calculated by dividing the amount of ad revenue by the number of ad impressions (when a user is shown an ad) and multiplying by 1,000. For example, if a developer earned 12,500 USD one week based on one million ad impressions, the eCPM for that week would be 12.5 USD. The value is used to compare the performance of ad formats and ad providers, and to evaluate changes in performance over time.

 

Fill rate

 

Fill rate is the ratio between the number of times a developer requested an ad to be shown divided by the number of times an ad was actually returned from an ad network or other source. Of course, revenue is only generated when ads are shown, so it’s critical that developers have a high fill rate, lest they forfeit potential revenue. Fill rate = Actual ad impressions / Ad requests

 

So, how does ad monetization fit in?

 

Available ad inventory, fill rate and eCPM are the key drivers of any ad monetization strategy. An effective ad monetization strategy aims to increase fill rate and eCPM, thereby allowing a developer to earn the highest revenue from a given app’s ad inventory.

 

Fill rate is of the utmost importance when it comes to ad monetization because revenue is only generated when an ad is shown. To address the challenge of insufficient fill rate, many developers are turning to mediation. Mediation solutions like SponsorPay’s allow developers to use one platform to integrate, manage and optimize different sources of ads. Meanwhile, developers can let hundreds of demand partners from our Ad Marketplace bid on their ad inventory. These options increase the overall number of ads available to a developer.

 

Developers also strive to serve ads with the highest eCPM. Holistic yield optimization, one feature of SponsorPay’s Ad Monetization Platform, ensures that the ads that are filling a developers ad requests are always the highest-paying ads available. The goal is not only to optimize, but also to simplify the process for developers. SpnsorPay’s AutoPilot, for instance, enables developers to maximize eCPM automatically in real time, eliminating the need to continually adjust prioritization settings.

 

Understanding the definitions and relationship of these key concepts is square one in learning more about the accelerating world of ad monetization. It’s an ever-changing environment, but one with endless growth potential. We hope that breaking down these ideas has given you a sense of the challenges faced by developers and the innovative solutions companies are creating to solve them.

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Green Tech: Paperless Receipts & Restaurants

Among the trends of today’s growing restaurants is a commitment to operating as a green establishment in as many ways as possible, from serving only organic ingredients to environmentally friendly kitchen practices.

 

Perhaps the greatest impact a restaurant can make towards saving our planet actually comes at the end of the meal: the elimination of the traditional paper receipt in favor of an electronic “eReceipt,” conveniently delivered via email.

 

According to numbers from the Clinton Global Initiative, the United States alone consumes over 250 million gallons of oil, 10 million trees and 1 billion gallons of water every year to produce paper used just for receipts—resulting in over 1.5 billion pounds of waste. Those tiny slips of paper add up to some major pollution.

 

Why are paper receipts still so widely used? Aside from record keeping, which, indeed, serves a purpose for taxes and business expenses, the ubiquitous use of paper receipts can seem like overkill. We obviously can’t return an unsatisfactory meal the way we’d return shoes or a sweater to a retailer. In most cases, a restaurant receipt is simply folded and stuffed into a wallet; the only time we ever look at it again is before tossing it into the trash or tearing it up to thwart identity theft. There isn’t a more wasteful use of paper in the industry.

 

Then there’s the waste of time, too. At the end of a meal, your server discreetly drops off that little black folder containing the check. Then you place your credit card in it…then watch for the server to retrieve it to ring-up the purchase…then everything returns to the table for your signature. Especially if the restaurant is busy with your server scrambling to wait on several tables, how many minutes does this process add to the dining-out experience for both the establishment owners and their patrons? What if your server simply brought a mobile device, such as an iPad, to your table? You can simply swipe your card and enter your email address to complete the transaction. In addition to doing away with cumbersome paper receipts, paying one’s check tableside eliminates the time consuming process of waiting for the bill.

 

The only real reason to hold on to a restaurant receipt is for recordkeeping. That means dealing with the hassle of retaining a stack of crumpled receipts, making copies and stapling them to paperwork. With paperless receipts, it’s far easier to store—each receipt would just be in a folder on your computer or smartphone. Finding them would be just as easy before attaching them to an online expense report. There would never be a need to touch that unwieldy pile of paper.

 

Apple was a pioneer in emailing receipts from their retail stores, and today over 12% of Macy’s customers already opt to accept eReceipts. Companies like Revel Systems iPad POS are at the forefront for bringing paperless, eco-friendly eReceipt alternatives to restaurants of all sizes as well as retailers and other businesses — using custom software developed for standard Apple iPads. Just as consumers have come to expect hearing “paper or plastic,” it’s only a matter of time before most are also asked “paper or digital?”

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