The Refund Clawback: A New Tactic in E-Commerce?

[00:00:00] It is Wednesday, May 29th.

[00:00:03] Today it seems ridiculous asking people to buy something from you as you're refunding

[00:00:08] them from a previous purchase.

[00:00:11] But researchers say it works.

[00:00:14] Also PayPal is planning a big splash in the ad pool and Instagram has a new Just Add

[00:00:19] Meme button.

[00:00:20] I'm Tod Maffin, all that and more ahead today in digital marketing.

[00:00:26] A few months ago I had one of those smack myself on the head moments.

[00:00:30] Chase Bank had announced it would hoover up all the purchase data it's amassed from people

[00:00:34] who used its credit card and turn that into a giant retail media ad platform.

[00:00:40] I remember thinking, of course, why didn't I see that coming?

[00:00:44] That's genius.

[00:00:45] Apparently other people thought so too, notably executives at PayPal, the company

[00:00:50] yesterday announcing it wants a piece of that lucrative ad pie as well and is

[00:00:54] launching a platform to let marketers target its nearly 400 million active users based

[00:01:00] on their purchases.

[00:01:02] Quoting marketing dive, quote, central to the offering is the company's advanced offers

[00:01:07] platform which was announced in January.

[00:01:09] That platform analyzes nearly a half trillion dollars of transaction data with artificial

[00:01:14] intelligence to generate consumer insights and offer more personalized deals with advanced

[00:01:21] offers merchants pay for performance, not impressions or clicks, potentially making

[00:01:26] PayPal an attractive ad partner in the crowded media network space.

[00:01:30] Unquote PayPal has recruited some pedigree for the

[00:01:33] job.

[00:01:34] The lead executive used to run Uber's ad business and previously led product strategy

[00:01:38] for Amazon's ad platform.

[00:01:41] PayPal and Chase are in a growing category of companies that seem to be waking up to

[00:01:44] the realization that they could sell some of the data they collect earlier this month.

[00:01:49] The travel site Expedia said it would also join the party.

[00:01:57] Product returns are a common part of business, often hurting short-term revenue.

[00:02:01] But some relatively new research has found there might be a way to claw back some of

[00:02:05] that revenue and it's something probably most marketers haven't tried.

[00:02:10] Research published recently in the Journal of Consumer Psychology shows that people

[00:02:14] are generally pretty willing to buy something from you at the moment they're asking

[00:02:19] for a refund.

[00:02:21] The thought is that in people's minds, that money, even though it's coming back to them,

[00:02:26] has been written off a little.

[00:02:28] So cross-selling products that are equal to or just lower than the price of their

[00:02:32] refund could actually convert.

[00:02:35] Among the five experiments in the paper, 78% of participants used refunds to buy a

[00:02:41] Starbucks gift card compared to 47% using non-refunded money.

[00:02:46] People were two and a half times more likely to buy a Nike shirt with a refund, and after

[00:02:51] returning winter shoes, 27% were more likely to buy a jacket than when buying it outright.

[00:02:58] But the researchers found the same effect did not happen when people bought items

[00:03:02] expecting to return them, like different shoe sizes.

[00:03:07] Also the research focused on low involvement products like clothing and gift cards.

[00:03:11] High involvement items like furniture might have different results.

[00:03:15] The study is called Mental Accounting of Product Returns.

[00:03:19] It was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

[00:03:21] We have a direct link to this study in today's email newsletter.

[00:03:24] Tap the link at the top of the show notes to sign up for free.

[00:03:27] TikTok has something new for brands and creators.

[00:03:33] It's a new dashboard called TikTok Studio and lets users manage video uploads, give

[00:03:38] them some editing features, see performance analytics, and more.

[00:03:42] They're not new tools per se, but TikTok Studio is a kind of upgraded version

[00:03:47] of its Creative Center platform where similar tools are in one place.

[00:03:51] Quoting the company, quote, whether you're a seasoned creator or a small business balancing

[00:03:55] content creation while managing a business, TikTok Studio provides free easy to use creation

[00:03:59] tools and centralized operational capabilities designed to efficiently streamline content

[00:04:05] workflow.

[00:04:06] Using their TikTok account to log in or sign up, creators can upload film, edit,

[00:04:10] and post to TikTok directly from TikTok Studio and use tools like AutoCaption,

[00:04:15] Video Editor, and AutoCut, unquote.

[00:04:17] The new site can also recommend monetization programs to join and has links to TikTok's

[00:04:22] training videos.

[00:04:24] TikTok also recently amalgamated its AI tools under something it calls the Symphony

[00:04:27] platform.

[00:04:28] TikTok Studio is currently web only, but the company says they're working on

[00:04:33] a desktop version as well.

[00:04:34] You can find it now at TikTok.com slash TikTok Studio.

[00:04:44] Well it happens to the best of us.

[00:04:46] One day we think we understand internet meme culture and are using it effectively in our

[00:04:50] marketing campaigns.

[00:04:51] Then one day all the kids start running around screaming skibbity toilet and your Monday

[00:04:57] creative brainstorm meeting sinks into an uncomfortable silence.

[00:05:02] Keeping track of memes can be pretty challenging, especially these days, which might be what's

[00:05:06] behind Instagram's latest feature in testing, a kind of just add meme button.

[00:05:13] According to reverse engineered screenshots, Instagram is adding a quick meme feature

[00:05:16] to its Reels editing workflow.

[00:05:19] It'll show up as a button alongside things like stickers, volumes, and filters, and

[00:05:23] will add animated gifs making the rounds as popular memes.

[00:05:27] Notably you can view them according to how much viral traction each is getting.

[00:05:32] Quoting socialmediatoday.com, quote, the push toward participatory memes has actually

[00:05:37] been led by TikTok, which has made it easier for people to add their own takes

[00:05:41] on trends via duets and other options that are aligned with content creation.

[00:05:46] And because TikTok is generally aimed at public posting, it also gives people a means

[00:05:50] to gain more exposure in the app, which Instagram doesn't naturally facilitate with

[00:05:54] its more enclosed connections based networks.

[00:05:58] But Instagram's trying to fix that because while usage of Instagram is on the rise,

[00:06:03] posting of original content is in decline, meaning that while people are watching more

[00:06:07] video content in the app, they're less and less inclined to add their own stuff.

[00:06:13] In the short term this likely isn't a problem as more time spent equals more ad exposure

[00:06:18] and more revenue opportunities for Meta.

[00:06:21] But if creators stop posting that leaves less original content for Instagram to

[00:06:25] get users hooked.

[00:06:27] While Meta also knows it'll need creators to power its Metaverse project if that's

[00:06:32] ever to take off, unquote.

[00:06:38] While Meta executives snark at Elon Musk over social media, their product teams are

[00:06:42] busy copying features that the owner of X has added since buying Twitter.

[00:06:47] After testing it for a year, Instagram will now let anyone who pays for the blue check

[00:06:51] mark block all incoming DMs from users who do not also pay for Meta verification.

[00:06:58] Whether or not this was actually working to keep bots away from inboxes on X is

[00:07:02] still up for debate.

[00:07:03] Musk seemed to think that charging a bit of money would all but eliminate the spam

[00:07:07] problem, but that hasn't really happened.

[00:07:10] The bots now just have paid check marks.

[00:07:12] Presumably they're making more money scamming and spamming.

[00:07:15] So the eight dollar a month expense doesn't matter.

[00:07:23] And finally, an update on our big story yesterday about that massive leak of

[00:07:26] confidential Google search documentation.

[00:07:28] It has been more than a day since the news broke.

[00:07:31] And as of our deadline today, Google still had not said a single word about it.

[00:07:42] OK, puppy update of the two things, you know, number one and number two.

[00:07:47] Number one has been mastered on the lawn even.

[00:07:49] So excellent work.

[00:07:51] Number two still appears to happen in the house.

[00:07:53] So we're working on that.

[00:07:54] Yesterday was our first day of puppy training, which turns out to be more

[00:07:58] about owner training than anything, of course.

[00:08:00] We're learning. We're learning.

[00:08:01] Our dog, our new puppy is being as patient as you can be.

[00:08:05] Oh, video game stuff briefly.

[00:08:06] If you're into Fallout 76 or just the follow universe, my I've made a YouTube

[00:08:10] video of my Fallout 76 camp.

[00:08:13] It is a seven shelter fever dream, essentially that questions reality.

[00:08:19] I get all sorts of messages every day from just random Xbox people that

[00:08:21] happen to wander through it saying they think it's the best one ever designed.

[00:08:25] I agree. I think it's excellent.

[00:08:27] It is up on a YouTube video now.

[00:08:29] You can find it on my gaming channel, which one day I'll sell all this stuff

[00:08:32] and just retire to and just do the gaming channel.

[00:08:35] Anyway, that channel is called low effort dad, but I put a link directly

[00:08:39] to the YouTube video at the top of the show notes or near the top

[00:08:42] of the show notes anyway.

[00:08:44] All right. That's it for today.

[00:08:45] More puppy classing.

[00:08:46] Wish us luck.

[00:08:48] I'm Todd Mapp and thanks for listening.

[00:08:50] See you tomorrow.