E-Commerce Sites Are Using Dark Patterns to Fool Consumers

Ecommerce sites need users to stick with them through thick and thin, but in spite of the fact that this is the case they tend to use some rather underhanded techniques to make that happen. For example, many ecommerce sites are guilty of using trick questions. If you were to try to cancel your subscription, you will be posed a question that will mix up the answers. This might trick you into keeping your subscription, even though your goal had been to get rid of it.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that these are just some of the dark patterns that companies tend to deploy. One of the most egregious ones involves adding items to a user’s basket without telling them. This will occur regardless of whether or not the user has even shown an interest in the product to begin with.

Ecommerce companies are also notorious for the disparity between signing up and cancelling a subscription. Signing up is something that usually requires little more than a click, but if you want to cancel this subscription you might have to make a call to a helpline and jump through countless hoop. This makes cancellation far harder than might have been the case otherwise.

A fourth dark pattern that can be noted has actually been named after none other than Mark Zuckerberg. The way Zuckering works is that it essentially fools you into thinking that you need to share certain private information, even if it is not altogether necessary.

Companies take part in such practices because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up boosting their revenue streams. The use of dark patterns is still somehow legal, so it is not all that likely that they will go away in the near future.

Instead, consumers will need to be wary of them and figure out what they can do to avoid falling prey to them. As the ecommerce industry grows, such dark patterns would need to be addressed in order to make the industry safer.

H/T: Merchantmachine

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Organizations Waste 10% of Their Budgets on Unused Software Infrastructure, New Survey Reveals

Most organizations that are hoping to turn a profit need to invest heavily in all sorts of things. In spite of the fact that this is the case, not all of their investments are going to end up providing the kinds of returns that organizations are hoping for. A survey from YouGov and Oomnitza just revealed that organizations might be overshooting the necessary investments into software infrastructure by around 10% with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Essentially, organizations that are cognizant of just how important cloud computing and software architecture is going to be can often be rather trigger happy with spending money. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this wastage can go up considerably based on the size of the company in question.

If we were to take a look at companies working in the fields of utilities and infrastructure, things start to look even worse than might have been the case otherwise. 43% of companies in this field waste around 10 to 20% of their annual software budgets on things that are not all that necessary. The proportion is around 32% for firms that are providing professional services.

Firms tend to rely heavily on manual processes, and this might make the problems even worse than they need to be. Manual processes can create inefficiencies, but they are just one of the many issues that are causing financial wastage in this arena.

Companies often make an inaccurate prediction about software that they need, and they also take a very long time in suspending licenses once the lack of usefulness comes to the fore. Such practices can be detrimental because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up wasting money that could have been spent on far more necessary things. Some streamlining is warranted here. Companies have to automate the predictions they’re operating under, and they must also eliminate or at the very least reduce waste with the right amount of haste to minimize losses.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Is Crypto Still Trending In 2023? This New Cryptocurrency Adoption And Sentiment Report Has The Answer

2022 was a highly unpredictable year in the world of cryptocurrency. It began on a high with so many celeb-themed marketing campaigns and plenty of advertisements linked to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, it did not end as predicted with market shares exhibiting a 60% decline.

So many supporters of crypto were disappointed and it was nothing less than a crisis that arose. While some did see it as a ripe opportunity for investments, the majority viewed the conditions as mixed signals.

Now, as we make our way into the year 2023, we’re saying hello to a lot more uncertainty. The prices have increased slightly and the federal government continues to crack down against those taking part in trading. This coupled with the high risks attached, thanks to scams is definitely not the best news any investor would wish to hear.

Against such a background comes a new report which is a part of the third yearly study linked to crypto. It gathers so many insights from nearly 1200 US citizens. Here is where researchers took on some public perceptions, planned activities, and the confidence of people that make up today’s market.

Some key findings were witnessed, including the following as delineated below.

For starters, while the awareness of the crypto market was undoubtedly there, the rates of ownership were seen dropping from 33% to 30% in terms of American adults.

Next, the researchers noticed investors declining by almost 50% in 2022 when compared to the last two years before that. After that, only one in three owners of crypto has ended up making a profit on investments. However, they remain optimistic for obvious reasons. Today, 75% of them expect the market to continue holding its value or experience some sort of rebound this year.

Similarly, 50% of crypto owners hope to expand their respective portfolios by next year. Also, 5% of non-owners hope to make investments in this regard for the first time ever.

The report really showed how the awareness of cryptocurrency was increasing as we speak So many people were more aware of the trend this year when compared to the last two years with the percentage currently standing at 69%.

However, while the amount of awareness is peaking, so is the negative connotation of crypto in people’s minds. Despite that, one-third of Americans possess crypto tokens, as unveiled by this report.

As far as who is more interested in this trend. Well, it’s young to middle-aged men who are dominating this industry. Stats proved that 43% of males were more likely aware and willing to invest than females who stood their ground at 18%.

The age group of crypto token holders lies between 30 to 44. They are old enough to understand the meaning and hold some disposable income.

When the respondents were asked which year did they feel the most comfortable in making crypto investments, it was actually 2020 and 2021. And yes, there are plenty of cryptocurrencies in the market today.

But as far as 2023 is concerned, it’s Bitcoin that the majority continue to invest in. Around 78% claim they have supported this form of crypto this year, followed by Ethereum and Shiba Inu.

Over the years, the report shows how the stats related to different cryptocurrency investments have not majorly reshuffled. This is clear evidence of how so many people aren’t willing to sell off their tokens when the market is running at a decline or things are unpredictable.

Lastly, when asked why people continue to invest in crypto, the majority of respondents claimed that they saw it as an asset that would diversify their respective investments.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

The Lowdown on Content Formats: Which One’s the Best?

Content is king, this much is quite clear with all things having been considered and taken into account. Marketers around the world put enormous amounts of effort into creating content so that they can figure out the right way to reach consumers that would be willing to buy products. Oftentimes it is the content itself that is the product, but in spite of the fact that this is the case the approach to said content would still be the same.

When asked which format for content worked best for them, marketers had quite a lot to say. Responding to a recent Semrush survey, 45% of marketers stated that video was the biggest priority for them. That makes a lot of sense because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up capitalizing on the current short form video trend that is taking over the entire world.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that videos were not the only type of content that could be published. 31% stated that short form articles gave them the best possible type of performance that they could hope for. 28% also stated that turning success stories into content was yet another great way in which it could be optimized to a large degree.

19% also said that publishing case studies was a successful way to get there content out there. This just goes to show that while video is extremely popular, it is by no means the only option that content marketers can check out. Indeed, short form articles are a perfectly viable alternative that can provide a lot of progress.

All in all, this suvey has revealed that there is actually a lot of diversity when it comes to content performance. Video performs the best by far, but even if it is not included in a marketing strategy, a decent output could be developed through a mix of short form articles and success stories. Infographics were also considered high performing by 17% of survey respondents based on the survey.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

What’s the Best Way to Boost SERP Rankings?

Marketers have to focus on a number of different areas in order to improve the overall performance of the sites that they have been tasked with handling. SEO tends to be singular in the level of essentiality it holds, but in spite of the fact that this is the case there are countless ways in which it can be approached. A survey from Semrush has revealed the insights into what marketers prefer in terms of boosting search engine page rankings.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that content continues to reign supreme. The top three chosen tactics in this survey were all content adjust to some degree. At the top of the list, with 55% of marketers selecting it, was creating a larger quantity of content and upping the frequency with which they post said content onto various platforms.

Improving the quality of the content came in at a close second. 53% of marketers said that they wanted to focus a bit more on making their content more valuable, and offering something that is higher in quality is a surefire way to do so with all things having been considered and taken into account.

There is also a bit of a trend in researching content to make it more appealing to a wider range of audiences than might have been the case otherwise. 37% of marketers said that they want to do more research, and these three insights top the rankings in terms of what advertisers are focusing on in 2023 so far.

However, keywords are not exactly falling out of prominence. 36% of marketers said that keywords continue to be a prime focus for them, and 35% said that they want to figure out what search intents they need to tackle to get more eyes on their content. There are several methods that are at the disposal of marketers, and they all need to be used in tandem with one another. No single silver bullet can fix all of the marketing issues that are taking over the industry at the present moment.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

New Report Expresses Warning That TikTok’s Parent Firm Is Actually A Hybrid State-Private Entity

There are plenty of calls for TikTok to be sold off from its parent firm called ByteDance. And in case you were wondering what the reason was, well, this new report is going to answer your question.

The report produced by the Australian Senate accused the app’s parent firm of being a Chinese entity that is actually hybrid because it can’t be deemed as a private and independent working organization.

American president Joe Biden and his current administration have ordered the app to be separated from ByteDance as this is the only way out to prevent a total ban on the country.

As we speak, so many other nations have already started to put out bans, either full or partial in the country. Moreover, other nations have started to implement complete or partial bans of the leading social media app as well.

The report which entails a few leading researchers were sent out to the Senate in Australia and it revealed how ByteDance likes to intertwine or associate itself with the Beijing government. Moreover, such claims don’t really mean a big deal but this report is being acknowledged due to the huge claims being made.

It’s quite comprehensive and the fact that ByteDance is linked to China’s Community Party and that TikTok may be included along the way is very alarming.

Taking a look back at the recent past, we saw several places around the globe signal red flags because of suspicious activity involving the app. It was outlined during Trump’s time that the platform needs to separate itself due to fears of user data getting passed on to officials in the Chinese government.

At the start of March, legislators from some big American parties put forward a bill that would ban the platform in America, and then in December of last year, Congress set forth a bill to ban the app on devices owned by the federal government.

A while back in the same month, Belgian authorities banned the app from being used on different work phones. As far as the UK is concerned, it wished to have the app banned from all devices owned by government officials amid growing security concerns and a similar statement went out regarding Canada doing the same.

In the same month, officials working in Belgium spoke about how employees were no longer allowed to make use of the app on various work phones. Furthermore, New Zealand also opted to ban the app from attaining access to the country’s parliamentary network.

Above all, India banned the app and so many of its developers from functioning in the country, which many felt was a major blow to the firm.

Clearly, there must be something that officials are on about and why regulatory bodies across various regions in the world are really doing everything in their power to restrict the app from getting sensitive data.

Read next: TikTok May Be Under Scrutiny In The US But Its Popularity Soars With 150 Million Active Users
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

TikTok May Be Under Scrutiny In The US But Its Popularity Soars With 150 Million Active Users

TikTok has been having some tough times in the US as American lawmakers continue to put the app through scrutiny.

Let’s not forget about a potential ban in the country with calls for its American division to be sold off and separated from parent firm ByteDance.

But with the negativity does come some positivity and this includes the app celebrating its continued success in terms of popularity in the US. Think along the lines of having 150 million active users in the country- clearly a boost to its morale after all the negativity that surrounds it each day.

The news comes to us thanks to a senior Democratic strategist that revealed how the app is right now making plans to reveal the internal data of its firm in front of Congress very soon. The mighty testimony is all set for a grand unveiling on Thursday and it’s going to be interesting to see what the app has to say in its defense of the allegations that have come against it.

For those who may not be aware, the app’s final reported figure revealed how the current number of active members stood at 100 million subscribers but it did not take too much time to change and bring about a 50% rise from the older figure. This is ever since we saw the Trump administration make plans to get rid of the app as a whole.

Out of the staggering 150 million, there are nearly 12 million subscribers that are young and by that, we mean below the age of 18. And these are the ones to attain the right to vote by 2024.

Moreover, this figure does not even entail kids who are below 13 and on average, the age group for regular users of the app is just 31 years.

As per a report made by a few TikTok creators, there are plans to reach out to the US capital, right ahead of the testimony. They wish to have a chat with the lawmakers. The platform really wants to make its argument strong by stressing how banning the app may pave the way for bigger financial troubles as so many people are relying on this platform for their livelihood in today’s difficult financial period.

Remember, it’s not only the US but a few other bodies in various other nations such as the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and more. The app has received a ban on devices owned by the government too in these countries like the US.

Read next: TikTok Allows Users To Restart Their Feed To Avoid Unwanted Recommendations From Its Algorithm
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World