RIP Tony Hsieh from Zappos

Tony Hsieh, Longtime Chief of Zappos, Is Dead at 46

Tony Hsieh (pronounced shay)

In the early days of online retailing, he realized that the key to success was making people feel comfortable and secure shopping on the internet.

In the nascent period of internet commerce, Mr. Hsieh was a visionary who realized that getting customers to feel comfortable and secure buying online was the key to success and growth.

To do that, employees in the call center had to engage customers as if speaking to an old friend, with authentic-sounding welcoming banter. He also realized that buyers needed to try on shoes, so Zappos offered free overnight shipping and free return shipping, often sending customers multiple pairs at a time.

Mr. Hsieh, a soft-spoken and introspective executive, developed a philosophy of business built around the idea that happy employees were the conduit to satisfied customers who would return again and again.

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SoundCloud has unveiled The Upload, a feature to help listeners discover even more new music

Following Spotify’s Discover Weekly and Apple Music’s personalized playlists, SoundCloud has unveiled a new feature to help listeners discover even more new music.

Music discovery and personalization has become a way for streaming services to attract and retain users.

More about The Upload - 9to5mac.com

The upload is here: https://soundcloud.com/discover

35% of Snapchat’s daily users aren’t reachable on Facebook and 46% can’t be found on Instagram

Snapchat have reasons to claim that it has a base of young, obsessed users who can’t be reached as easily anywhere else.  According to Bloomberg, App Annie reports that:

"on an average day, 35 percent of Snapchat’s daily users in the U.S. aren’t reachable on Facebook that same day, and 46 percent can’t be found on Instagram. About 61 percent of Snapchat’s fans aren’t watching YouTube on a given day, either." 

More at www.bloomberg.com

Google Ad Crisis Spreads as Biggest Marketers Halt Spending

Google’s advertising crisis went global after some of the biggest marketers including AT&T Inc. and Johnson & Johnson halted spending on YouTube and the internet company’s display network, citing concern their ads would run alongside offensive videos.

Bloomberg:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-22/at-t-halts-spending-on-some-google-ads-after-youtube-controversy

Customer Service Chatbots Are About to Become Frighteningly Realistic

A startup gives chatbots and virtual assistants realistic facial expressions and the ability to read yours.

MIT Technology Review:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603895/customer-service-chatbots-are-about-to-become-frighteningly-realistic/?set=603954

Amit Singhal, on mobile and search. #MustSee # MustListen

Amit Singhal, former Google’s SVP for search and "a giant force inside the company", talks about 3 important things: mobile, mobile and mobile. Yes, search also. Click on the image and watch the full interview at Code/Mobile conference.

Facebook updates its CPC definition

Facebook is unrolling an updated CPC definition that will affect both CPC (which may go up) and CTR figures (which may decline).

Until now, CPC accounted for all clicks including likes, comments, shares, clicks to a website, clicks on "continue reading," and others. CPC will now account only for clicks related to a given ad objective, like clicks to visit another site, call-to-action clicks that lead elsewhere (like "Shop Now"), or clicks to install an app, for example. Engagement clicks (likes, comments, and shares) will no longer be counted.

Read more about How Cost per Click is Measured on Facebook.

E-commerce 3.0 for Walmart

Amandeep Singh Junejan, senior director for cloud operations and engineering at WalmartLabs:

"Ecommerce 3.0 is all about combining distribution so that all inventory is available to all customers all of the time, involving integration of the digital and physical worlds."

Read more at ComputerWeekly.com