Issue 31

ChatGPT Poised to Change the Affiliate Game
According to a new study by the Performance Marketing Association, affiliate marketing is booming, with spending surging to $13.62 billion in 2024, demonstrating nearly 50% growth in three years. Brands across verticals are increasingly leveraging its performance-based model to reach new audiences. Matt Gilbert of Partnerize believes the next frontier is AI integration. With heavyweight AI platforms like ChatGPT potentially adopting an affiliate revenue model, the industry is well positioned for massive expansion, combining relevance and monetization without disrupting the user experience. Elsewhere on the affiliate front, Sprout Social put together this very useful tipsheet that compares and contrasts affiliate and influencer strategies.

AI’s Two-Fold Impact on Call Center Agents
Forrester reports that this AI thing might have a major impact on the call center workforce. CX Dive has an overview of the report, which notes “As they (contact centers) rely less on human agents, customer service leaders will actively monitor and adjust the allocation of resources in real-time to optimize performance rather than focus on reducing costs.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg recently reported that call center agents are having a hard time convincing people that they are indeed humans. The article notes “These people, who spend hours talking to strangers, are experiencing surreal conversations, where customers ask them to prove they are not machines.”

Courts Offer Conflicting Decisions Around TCPA’s DNC Rules
A single day brought starkly opposing views; one court clarified SMS messages aren't subject to TCPA's DNC rules, only for another to outright reject that interpretation as indefensible. TCPAWorld’s Eric Troutman notes, “Two courts thousands of miles apart reached the exact opposite decision on a critical issue—whether SMS messages are subject to the TCPA’s DNC provisions. One court said yes. Another said no. And both were emphatic about their decisions.” So it looks like we’re going to continue to contend with some compliance ambiguities, including whether SMS falls under DNC rules and the risk that transactional messages could be deemed marketing.

Is Generative Engine Optimization Going to Crush SEO?
Vocal/Futurism published this overview on the debate along with some tips on how creators and brands can gain visibility when AI is stealing our content. The piece notes the important of countering the dip in organic traffic caused by AI answer engines, by prioritizing being cited by AI models, adjusting content for quotable insights and clear structure to stand out in the AI-driven model of search discovery. In a perhaps slightly biased rebuttal, Search Engine Land claims that while AI search is booming, SEO isn’t going anywhere yet.

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