Friday, June 17, 2016

Product Update: Radmin Advertising Additions, Subject Line Test Results & More

Our Product Updates give you a rundown of all the features and bug fixes that are being deployed - plus one handy tip of the week. Here's what's happening:

New Options In Radmin Advertising

We've heard a lot of feedback from the network that auto-adjusting ad weights isn't always helpful. When you upload a new ad to Radmin (or change an existing ad's weight), our system will automatically adjust the weights of all other ads in that location.

This can be super helpful if you only have 2 or 3 ads in that location. However, the system starts to become increasingly problematic as you increase the number of ads present.

Manually Edit Brand Ad Weights? 


So, we've added a "Manually Edit Brand Ad Weights?" toggle tab to the top right of Radmin -> Advertising. This toggle is 'off' by default - which means that ads will auto adjust exactly as they have been.

If you turn the toggle on, the following things will change:
  • When you set up a new ad, you'll be brought to a screen like this...

.. where you will be required to adjust the weight of all active ads in that location until they equal 100.

A similar 'manual editing' screen will present itself after editing an existing ad - or by clicking directly on the weight of any active ad.

Per Ad Settings

You now also have the option of overriding the setting of the 'all ads' toggle on a per-ad basis. 


If the box is checked, then the active weights in that location will all auto-adjust like normal. If the box is unchecked, you will be brought to the 'manual editing' screen. By default, this box will be checked or unchecked based on your metro's toggle preference. 

More Ad Improvements Coming Soon

These new changes are just the beginning of a project that we've begun to improve the experience of managing ads in Radmin. That said, we want to hear your feedback! Please email Support if anything seems amiss or if you're unsure how to use any features - and please drop any ideas or requests in the DSD.

And again, it's important to note that if you don't want to use any of these new features, you don't have to. They're totally optional.

Conference Notifications

We've added a setting to conference lenses that prevents band notifications from sending for the conference's events.


This way, you can add the individual events for all of the artists performing at a festival (which you would want to do if featuring the conference in the app) without firing off band notification emails - since those should have gone out when the festival was originally announced.

New Profile Displays

We reorganized the way profile settings display on the front end to present all of our users' editable information in a more clear format:


Edit your profile settings to check out the new format!

Drinking Age Fields

We've added a new drinking age field to users' accounts in Radmin:


The purpose of this field is to consolidate all of your 'over drinking age?' information into a single field - and then quickly send that information to MailChimp.

The field is set to 'no' unless the user indicates being over the metro drinking age - and is updated whenever their user enters their birthdate on registration or when entering a giveaway/RSVP. The field also updates when users click the 'over 21' checkbox on giveaways and RSVPs.

Bug Fixes

  • We fixed an issue with duplicate events entering the pending queue.
  • We fixed an issue with deleted events perpetually returning to the queues.
  • We fixed an issue with featured event ads (they were opening in separate windows when clicked).
  • We changed 'Zipcode' to 'Postal Code' for our Canadian properties (because that's what it's called).
  • We fixed a bug that was preventing category shortcuts from correctly displaying all repeating events.
  • And so much more.

Tip Of The Week

We recently ran a test with Do604 and Do214 where both metros crafted the subject lines of their daily emails by following this formula every day for a month:
  • Include as many festival lineup/schedule announcements as possible.
  • If space is still available, include as many of the following as you can, in order:
    • Festival lineup/schedule announce (as timely as possible)
    • Festival giveaway
    • Big ‘Festival In Our Town’ list
    • Secret show / presale code / win before buy of big artist(s)
    • Standard giveaway / RSVP for big artist(s)
    • Show announcement for big artist(s)
    • Upcoming show for big artist(s)
    • Tonight’s top show(s)
In theory, the ideal subject line would look like this:

Huge Festival Lineup Announcement | Other Huge Festival Schedule Announcement | Win Tickets To Another Huge Festival

A more normal day’s ideal subject line would look like:

Jazz Fest In Dallas | Win Courtney Barnett Tickets | Ben Harper & DIIV Announce Shows

So, you're thinking of your subject lines like playing poker. A festival announcement is a royal flush. A festival giveaway is a straight flush. A ‘Festival In Our Town’ list is a 4 of a kind. A huge giveaway is a full house - and so on.

And the results?

The effect on click rate was massive. Dallas' click rate grew 63% from the month before (from 9.47% to 15.43%) and Vancouver saw an even bigger lift - up 69% from 8.6% to 14.5%. 

Those are big findings in moving the meter for engagement on these emails (and consequently, the traffic they drive to the site). Your metro should absolutely consider this formula when crafting your subject lines going forward in order to prime your users' expectations when opening your emails.

Love,
DoStuff

1 comment:

Thoughts to share? DO!

Friday, June 17, 2016

Product Update: Radmin Advertising Additions, Subject Line Test Results & More

Our Product Updates give you a rundown of all the features and bug fixes that are being deployed - plus one handy tip of the week. Here's what's happening:

New Options In Radmin Advertising

We've heard a lot of feedback from the network that auto-adjusting ad weights isn't always helpful. When you upload a new ad to Radmin (or change an existing ad's weight), our system will automatically adjust the weights of all other ads in that location.

This can be super helpful if you only have 2 or 3 ads in that location. However, the system starts to become increasingly problematic as you increase the number of ads present.

Manually Edit Brand Ad Weights? 


So, we've added a "Manually Edit Brand Ad Weights?" toggle tab to the top right of Radmin -> Advertising. This toggle is 'off' by default - which means that ads will auto adjust exactly as they have been.

If you turn the toggle on, the following things will change:
  • When you set up a new ad, you'll be brought to a screen like this...

.. where you will be required to adjust the weight of all active ads in that location until they equal 100.

A similar 'manual editing' screen will present itself after editing an existing ad - or by clicking directly on the weight of any active ad.

Per Ad Settings

You now also have the option of overriding the setting of the 'all ads' toggle on a per-ad basis. 


If the box is checked, then the active weights in that location will all auto-adjust like normal. If the box is unchecked, you will be brought to the 'manual editing' screen. By default, this box will be checked or unchecked based on your metro's toggle preference. 

More Ad Improvements Coming Soon

These new changes are just the beginning of a project that we've begun to improve the experience of managing ads in Radmin. That said, we want to hear your feedback! Please email Support if anything seems amiss or if you're unsure how to use any features - and please drop any ideas or requests in the DSD.

And again, it's important to note that if you don't want to use any of these new features, you don't have to. They're totally optional.

Conference Notifications

We've added a setting to conference lenses that prevents band notifications from sending for the conference's events.


This way, you can add the individual events for all of the artists performing at a festival (which you would want to do if featuring the conference in the app) without firing off band notification emails - since those should have gone out when the festival was originally announced.

New Profile Displays

We reorganized the way profile settings display on the front end to present all of our users' editable information in a more clear format:


Edit your profile settings to check out the new format!

Drinking Age Fields

We've added a new drinking age field to users' accounts in Radmin:


The purpose of this field is to consolidate all of your 'over drinking age?' information into a single field - and then quickly send that information to MailChimp.

The field is set to 'no' unless the user indicates being over the metro drinking age - and is updated whenever their user enters their birthdate on registration or when entering a giveaway/RSVP. The field also updates when users click the 'over 21' checkbox on giveaways and RSVPs.

Bug Fixes

  • We fixed an issue with duplicate events entering the pending queue.
  • We fixed an issue with deleted events perpetually returning to the queues.
  • We fixed an issue with featured event ads (they were opening in separate windows when clicked).
  • We changed 'Zipcode' to 'Postal Code' for our Canadian properties (because that's what it's called).
  • We fixed a bug that was preventing category shortcuts from correctly displaying all repeating events.
  • And so much more.

Tip Of The Week

We recently ran a test with Do604 and Do214 where both metros crafted the subject lines of their daily emails by following this formula every day for a month:
  • Include as many festival lineup/schedule announcements as possible.
  • If space is still available, include as many of the following as you can, in order:
    • Festival lineup/schedule announce (as timely as possible)
    • Festival giveaway
    • Big ‘Festival In Our Town’ list
    • Secret show / presale code / win before buy of big artist(s)
    • Standard giveaway / RSVP for big artist(s)
    • Show announcement for big artist(s)
    • Upcoming show for big artist(s)
    • Tonight’s top show(s)
In theory, the ideal subject line would look like this:

Huge Festival Lineup Announcement | Other Huge Festival Schedule Announcement | Win Tickets To Another Huge Festival

A more normal day’s ideal subject line would look like:

Jazz Fest In Dallas | Win Courtney Barnett Tickets | Ben Harper & DIIV Announce Shows

So, you're thinking of your subject lines like playing poker. A festival announcement is a royal flush. A festival giveaway is a straight flush. A ‘Festival In Our Town’ list is a 4 of a kind. A huge giveaway is a full house - and so on.

And the results?

The effect on click rate was massive. Dallas' click rate grew 63% from the month before (from 9.47% to 15.43%) and Vancouver saw an even bigger lift - up 69% from 8.6% to 14.5%. 

Those are big findings in moving the meter for engagement on these emails (and consequently, the traffic they drive to the site). Your metro should absolutely consider this formula when crafting your subject lines going forward in order to prime your users' expectations when opening your emails.

Love,
DoStuff

1 comment:

Thoughts to share? DO!