76% of Businesses Say Email Marketing is Making Them Successful

There are a number of different ways in which marketing campaigns can be implemented these days, and with there being such an overabundance of social media platforms, chances are that emails tend to fall by the wayside. In spite of the fact that this is the case, emails have been found to be an extremely useful way to disseminate various kinds of marketing material.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 76% of businesses have said that email marketing directly contributes to the level of success that they have managed to attain. 60% of them feel like their marketing campaigns are quite successful, but they might not have the right idea about which metrics they should be looking into.

37% of these emails might not be standing out in inboxes, and 32% are going into the wrong folders in inboxes as well with all things having been considered and taken into account. There is also a lack of time and focus according to another 32% of survey respondents, and 26.7% claimed that they are not getting the support they need to improve email marketing strategies.

While 42% of businesses think that clickthrough rate is a marker of success, this might be obsolete. Read rates are more useful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up telling businesses how many of their users actually ended up skimming through the emails instead of opening them and then subsequently deleting them.

34.4% of businesses are trying to tackle these problems by improving deliverability, and 30.5% are focusing on adding more promotions into the mix. One thing is for sure, which is that brands can gain a lot by exploring email marketing opportunities. They can allow them to find new and better ways to reach out to consumers.

Optimizing skim through or read through rates can be useful in many ways. Instead of trying to reach as many consumers as possible, businesses should attempt to improve the overall quality of the emails they’re sending out.

Illustration: Freepik
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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Unemployment Rates Skyrocket Throughout the World, Here are the Countries Most Affected

The global recession as well as rampant inflation have lead to a wide range of issues that could take a very long time to get resolved. In spite of the fact that this is the case, unemployment rates around the world don’t seem to be behaving the way that experts might have expected them to. While some countries have definitely seen unemployment rates spike, others have been safe from their effects.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that South Africa happens to be the country that has seen the highest levels of unemployment. Unemployment rates in the country soared to 35.6% this year, which means that an economic country for the nation might take longer than might have been the case otherwise.

The country that receives the dubious honor of coming in second on this list is Sudan, with an unemployment rate of around 30.6% with all things having been considered and taken into account. This makes it the only country apart from South Africa to have an unemployment rate that exceeds 30%, since no other country comes all that close to this proportion.

For example, unemployment hovers at around 25% in the West Bank and Gaza. Following this we have Georgia in fourth place with 19.5%, Bosnia and Herzegovina with 17.2%, and Armenia with just over 15%. North Macedonia also has an unemployment rate of approximately 15%, with Costa Rica and the Bahamas seeing 13.2% and 12.7% respectively.

One thing to note here is that this list is comprised almost entirely of developing countries. However, Spain also made it to the list which is concerning because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up revealing that the European Union is not all that safe from such financial and economic woes either.

Despite being a country with a relatively high level of human development, Spain had an unemployment rate of 12.3%. That is nearly as high as that of the Bahamas, and it shows that unemployment is affecting countries regardless of how advanced they happen to be.

On the other end of the spectrum are countries with a really low unemployment rate. The US has done surprisingly well on this front, with its current unemployment rate of 3.4% being one of the lowest that the global superpower has seen in the past 50 years or so.

If we were to take a look at the countries with the lowest unemployment rates of all, Thailand ended up performing the best of all. Its unemployment rate is an unbelievable 1%. Singapore also does extremely well with just a 2.1% unemployment rate. As for the Czech Republic, around 2.3% of its working population currently doesn’t have a job, which also happens to be the number that Vietnam is working with.

Unemployment is ravaging several nations, but there are still some success stories that can be seen. East Asian countries in particular have managed to stave it off for the short term. 2023 will prove to be a huge litmus test for the countries that are struggling to keep their populations gainfully employed.

H/T: Visualcapitalist

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Meta Gives Grants Worth Millions To 564 News Outlets

Meta is making headlines today after the company opted to award huge grants worth $29 million to nearly 565 news outlets.

This particular move appears to be in line with its Journalism Project initiative as mentioned recently.

Moreover, the direct funding came through nearly 17 different programs. The news came forward from the Columbia Journalism Review which mentioned today how the Tow Center has a complete tally of the initiatives.

As a whole, the total is equivalent to a range between $5000 to nearly six-figure amounts that were recently received by the Boston Globe and a few others. Furthermore, the report highlighted how the total equaled $25,000 but just 239 different outlets got an amount that was the equivalent of $5000.

A leading list comprising the biggest beneficiaries was also put forward including the highest amount going to The Boston Globe which was $390,000 and Newsday which was $375,000.

Meanwhile, The Seattle Times was $355,000, and the Chicago Tribune was $350,000. The list has a total of 13 leading names from the world of media and publishing.

The whole idea behind the move seems to be making all of the information centralized and publicly accessible. Moreover, one of the biggest global social media firms is giving oversight as they are following where the most money is, the Columbia Journalism Review went on to mention.

Meta continues to market its investments and is similarly tracing funding that it refers to as super difficult. Not only are there zero requirements for disclosure but the company isn’t keeping any public register for payments that would be scrutinized by journalists.

And in today’s day and age, it’s so important that platforms sign contracts and enter into discussions in terms of news content that’s available across various social media feeds.

One great example was provided in terms of both tech giants Google and Meta coming forward and highlighting how they were lobbying against a Canadian journal for content published on their feeds from the journal.

But with more bills in place, they would be forced to enter into an agreement with Canadian outlets about how content is distributed online through such social media feeds.

Meta did previously unveil how more and more people want to see local news across their newsfeeds so they’re well aware of what’s going on. At the same time, local media outlets are on the search for more help and support so it seems to be a win-win situation for the two of them.

H/T: Media Post

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Product Reviews Influence The Buying Decisions Of 87% Mobile Shoppers, New Report Confirms

Online shopping has revolutionized the way many of us purchase things. You’re bound to attain what you want with the click of a button. And within no time, you’ll see the delivery of your products arrive. How’s that for some great convenience?

Mobile phones have really altered the way most of us continue to engage with businesses and online retailers. But did you know there is one factor, above all others, that really happens to influence a user’s buying decisions?

The answer as per this new study by Emplifi says that 87% of people get influenced by reviews. So if there is a positive/helpful review, chances are that a buyer would end up making the purchase and vice versa.

The study by Emplifi showed through the launch of a recent report what 2000 shoppers located in the US and the UK had to say via a survey. And while not all reviews are the same, the majority (87%) held a strong opinion about how real-life reviews from customers, as well as the ratings, are given would really affect the final decision.

This was in stark comparison to the reviews provided by celebs or other influential personalities like leading content creators and more. That figure stood at 50%. On the other hand, researching products means a consumer would first search for a review, even before the price, return policy, and delivery charges. So as you can imagine, it’s a huge deciding factor involved here.

Exports do agree with these findings as they feel there is simply no great way to showcase how authentic a brand is than by setting forward customer experiences that were generated through organic means. And those companies making use of these strategies are benefitting more.

The goal is to make the content so easy to access on various product pages so clients may get the right information from a particular webpage that offers the good or service. Only then can you expect great and authentic reviews.

Meanwhile, let’s not forget how expensive it is to have a celeb or an influencer generate their testimony about the product. And if it’s not going to get the right impact, then what’s the point right?

Marketers are bound to benefit from doubling down on such findings as now, they will have lower budgets as people put out their thoughts on pages free of any cost. And if that is what it takes to drive more sales, then we feel there is nothing better.

The study further shed light on how many shoppers usually like to visit a few websites before they do end up buying a product or service.

Most mobile shoppers for goods and services are on the lookout for cheaper products whose maximal limit is $20 in different places. Remember, markets are a great source of information for cheaper goods but search engines tend to be more helpful for more expensive products that can go up to $100.

A lot of the trends shown here have to do with the way the current economy is functioning. There is a lot of inflation and then to see a recession is really hard on people’s pockets. Brands are trying really hard to produce product reviews and send out pictures to make sure shoppers get all the details they need while buying a good.

Another interesting fact is linked to how things aren’t too dissimilar for different generations. Be it Gen X, the millennials, or Gen Z- all people search for goods and services in the same way online. They’ll spend nearly 15 minutes searching for a budget-friendly product. And as the price increases, the number of web pages they visit also rises.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

39% of Domestic Chores Will Be Performed By Robots Within a Decade

The automation of household chores is not exactly a new phenomenon in human society. Washing machines automated the process of doing laundry, vacuum cleaners quickly replaced brooms that were used for sweeping, and it turns out that robots are going to take the automation of domestic tasks to the next level.

Researchers from Japan as well as the UK collaborated to protect the extent to which robots will contribute to household tasks in the future. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that around 39% of all domestic chores will be performed by robots by the year 2033.

This research involved a survey of 65 professionals who are working in the field of AI and are based in in either of the two participating countries. There is a lot of consistency in terms of the predictions these experts made, but in spite of the fact that this is the case a bit of gender disparity could be noted as well with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Male researchers in the UK and female researchers from Japan both had a relatively optimistic view of robots and the role they could play. All experts agreed that grocery shopping times could be reduced by as much as 60%, since robots would very likely be able to handle that with no major concerns.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that predictions like this have been getting made for a good long while. Researchers were claiming that robots will revolutionize the world in the next decade since as far back as 1976, but these claims did not come to fruition despite half a century passing by.

Whether or not these current predictions will hold remains to be seen. The rise of robotic labor has already begun, so there is a chance that these projections could actually end up being accurate this time around. Sooner or later, people will start to leave boring tasks to robots so that they can focus on other things.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

This New Research Reveals The Most Commonly Used Word On Wikipedia

Whether you love it or hate it, Wikipedia has been a part of so many internet users’ lives for decades.

Today, the famous webpage is home to 318 different languages from all across the world. And many people still go back to it when they wish to tell a story or perhaps read one to the world.

It’s a great endeavor but with its many benefits come plenty of flaws. Wikipedia showcases a great portrait of the world and it’s mostly ruined by the likes of vandalism, bias, and misinformation.

Whatever the case may be, we all still go back and resort to it for help. And today, more than 27 different nations exist with millions of page views. Be it Japan, the USA, or even China- readers can’t get enough and this website counts for so many hits.

But have you ever wondered what terms are the most commonly used by global citizens to represent themselves? Well, if the answer is no, there’s nothing to worry about.

Thanks to a new study by Crossword-Solver, researchers were able to get to the bottom of it. And by that, we mean finding the terms and locations that are commonly seen and used on every one of its pages around the globe.

What the researchers ended up doing is gating information from different Wikipedia pages and eliminating any stop words, demonyms, and also locations. Similarly, they got rid of prepositions, companies, surnames, and even link terms. Whatever was left was calculated and then they used algorithms to highlight the most unique terms of them all on every page. After that, they put the names of the countries back in place and saw which word was used the most in each nation.

So, what did they end up finding? Well, the most commonly used term on the US page was native and it popped up at least 22 times. Moreover, as far as the UK was concerned, the term devolve showed up 13 times.

Meanwhile, the country that was spoken about the most on each page was the US. And in terms of states, New York, Virginia, and Missouri led the pack.

The authors also saw how both the US and Mexico pages continued to highlight native aspects. And as they hypothesized during the start of the study, the most commonly used term for any country reflected its national culture and a different aspect of nature or local history.

Other similar findings saw how there was a diverse map of terms. Regions like Europe portrayed obsession with the term bureaucracy. For instance, the UK was obsessed with devolving, while the Netherlands was obsessed with insurance. Similarly, Danish users loved tax while Finland likes saunas and Iceland adores eruptions.
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As far as Africa is concerned, there was a mixed blend of natural resources that people adored talking about. There was Cobalt common in Congo while tobacco was common in Malawi while Diamond was more prevalent in Botswana and Namibia.

America had natives on its mind while Mexico had indigenous spoken of at least 66 times. For Canada, it was percent. And it’s also interesting how the Wikipedia page in Canada loved talking about the US. than any other country. The same was for regions like the Pacific and Caribbean.

A lot of these nations have strong ties from the past with the US and that might be one reason why.

If we look at three consecutive pages of US states on Wikipedia, the term oil tends to pop up the most and it overlapped on many other states’ pages too.

How’s that for some very interesting facts? This data was collected in August of 2022 so as you can tell, it’s fairly recent.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

WhatsApp for iOS and Windows to Get Major Updates

WhatsApp has several versions of its platform that are running on various operating systems, and each version tends to get its own updates with all things having been considered and taken into account. There are two major updates that beta testers have noted for WhatsApp, one of which will focus on iOS and the other of which is catering to Windows users of the instant messaging app.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the iOS version of the app will be making it easier for users to create stickers. As per WBI, a new tool is being rolled out that will allow users to convert images that they have in their gallery into stickers. This has the potential to make stickers far easier to use than might have been the case otherwise, along with increasing the overall frequency of their day to day usage.

This is also an extension of the drag and drop feature that enabled users to send images through the app in a more straightforward manner. However, it will be essential for the app to convert images properly, otherwise the usefulness of this feature may end up being rather limited.

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Beta testers for Window versions of WhatsApp also noted another feature that might be right around the corner. This feature will allow users to create a link that they can send to people. Clicking on the link will allow the users that received it to join a call. This can be especially useful for WhatsApp for Business users, since they need to be able to get other people to joint calls as quickly as possible.

Users can create a call link fairly easily, and they can send this link to whoever they choose. The rollout of this feature could take WhatsApp to the next level. It indicates that the platform is continually trying to tweak things in order to optimize the kind of experience that users can take advantage of, and both the call links and sticker creation tools will definitely play a role in making that happen.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World