Business Tech

Compared to just 40 years ago, the number of hours spent stooped over a computer, laptop, mobile device or smartphone in the average person’s day is astronomical. In 1980, none of these devices existed for the typical consumer. A few scientists and research graduate students might have had an early start, but when the first day of the 1980s occurred, we were still dealing with the Iran Hostage Crisis, reading the news on a newspaper, jotting down notes or messages on paper, and generally living a life looking forward and up. Today, Dr. Scott Zack Michigan resident, references that the average person with multiple devices spends as much as 1,400 hours annually bent over reading digital letters and words or watching video.

Why Tech & Your Spine Don’t Mix

The body’s spine stretches from the back of the cranium to the rear part of one’s posterior, i.e. the tailbone. This entire assembly is constructed of vertebrae, individual bones, that work together like a chain protecting the nervous system that runs through them as well as providing stability for the rest of the body. Dr. Scott Zack reminds readers the spine is essentially the reason why we are able to stand up on two legs and hold up our body and head from falling over.

Normally, the spine is designed to work best in a straight up and down fashion. It is curved, which allows for shock absorption, but the position of the body that is most natural for the spine is one where the back is straight and vertical or laying completely horizontal. Dr. Scott Zack agrees the spine does allow for the body to bend over, twist, pick up weight and more, but it’s not supposed to be bent over on a permanent or ongoing basis.

Dr. Scott Zack points out consumer technology involves heavy reading and focus on devices that generally sit lower than our heads and normal line of vision. As a result, we bend over, usually at the neck. However, the cranium weighs an average 11-13 lbs, which creates a gravity straight on the upper back. For a few minutes, even an hour, this is doable without any side effects. However, being bent over hour after hour daily begins to have an effect on the body, creating chronic cramping of the muscles in the upper back and straining the spine per Dr. Scott Zack. In serious conditions this creates serious pain and stiffness and eventually chronic “tech neck,” that chiropractors like Scott Zack from Michigan, focus on helping.

Solving Tech Neck Properly

Dr. Scott Zack, Michigan resident recommends that the first big step to take is to stop slouching and bending over the phone and a computer for hours on end. This habit just continues the damage and pain. Secondly, the affected person needs to start making a point of sitting up straight and looking at devices head on versus stooped over. Both changes will alleviate the body’s strain and allow healing to take over. In more serious cases, chiropractic help is needed. This involves re-alignment of the neck and back, medical message to break up spasm and bunched muscle points, and possibly traction to take weight off the neck and spine, so it can increase blood flow and healing. Once the recovery has begun, Dr. Scott Zack points out it’s important to continue to keep work and positioning on track to avoid tech neck from kicking in again. Believe it or not, sticking to the plan can be the harder part than the initial treatments, but it is doable if one makes a conscious effort to stay disciplined.

Dr. Scott Zack notes patients will over time realize less neck pain, less shoulder pain, disappearance of back pain and more mobility in the neck without stiffness. However, it is key to work with a chiropractor certified in spine specialty treatment.

If it feels like life just took a turn for the busy, you’re not mistaken. As the world shifts to a sense of whatever the “next normal” will be, people’s calendars are getting swamped. Is it an attempt to fill in all the missing work and social gaps of 2020? Maybe. Regardless, it’s causing a lot of folks to wonder where their hours go.

True, you might not be able to slow down the pace entirely. However, you can employ clever ways to recover previous minutes, beginning with tech gadgets and systems. Leveraging technology will help you gain balance and feel less pulled in 90 directions at once.

Don’t give yourself over to overload. Instead, incorporate these tech solutions into your daily routines.

1. Choose Cards You Can Control Online

While it’s great to carry plastic in your purse or wallet, calling your bank card issuer can eat up time. One way around this issue is to find a card that allows you to effortlessly control it digitally. For instance, look for a debit card that features the ability to disable transactions or order replacements on an app. Bonus points if you can find one that supports mobile payments, too. That way, you won’t be forced to find your card in fast-paced buying situations.

2. Outfit Your Home With WiFi Extenders

Nothing’s worse than a clunky Zoom meeting or sporadic Internet, especially when you’re working from home. (Hint: Bosses eventually get tired of hearing that you can’t log on day after day.) Rather than dealing with the frustrations of WiFi that doesn’t reach certain rooms, try extenders. They’ll solve your peskiest connection problems so you don’t have to keep moving around looking for a stronger signal. Plus, time won’t be wasted on the phone arguing with your Internet provider about your router. You won’t have to rely on public WiFi, either, which isn’t exactly a safe bet.

3. Pack a Portable Cell Phone Charger

We’ve all had the unpleasant experience of seeing 10% power on our cell, only to realize a charger’s not available. It’s not a good look—or a comforting realization. Forget the scramble to find a charger last-minute. Carry portable cell phone chargers wherever you go. They’re handy devices that offer tremendous peace of mind. You might even want to purchase two so you can keep one in your car or workplace desk. They’re terrific backups when a little juice is what’s on the digital menu.

4. Lean Into Pet Parent Lifesavers

You’re a proud pet parent whose furry friend counts on you for companionship, comfort, and care. Yet you can’t always hang around the house… and sometimes you’re later coming home than you’d like. Solve all your pet parenting stress with techy lifesavers like automatic pet food feeders and remote treat dispensers. Many allow you to view what’s happening at home no matter where you are. You can even just pop in and say hello to Spot—who’s always a “good boy!”

5. Pamper Your Palate With a Cordless Mug Warmer

Have you worn a trail in your floor between your desk and the microwave to heat up coffee and tea? Keeping everyday beverages warm is a bane of most people’s existences. One trip to the coffee station could cost you a bundle in chit-chat with colleagues. And if you’re telecommuting, you might be tempted to forgo your diet when you spot treats in the kitchen. What’s the answer? Try a cordless mug warmer. Your java will stay toasty sip after sip without you moving a muscle.

6. Clean Your Calendar With Remote Vacuums

People may have been skeptical when remote vacuum cleaners first hit the marketplace. Could they possibly work as well as advertised? Turns out they can and do, which is why so many consumers have invested in tech vacuums and mops. Though you’ll occasionally need to brush up on your deep cleaning, relying on a remote vacuum is a time-saving indulgence. Between more comprehensive cleans, your vacuum bot can pick up debris without you lifting a finger.

7. Forgo Some Spa Visits With a Cordless Back Massager

It’s relaxing to hit up the spa or salon once in a while. However, it’s not always feasible or economical. What can you do about your aching back and neck muscles? Look no further than a cordless back massager outfitted with the latest heating technology. Many models can be worn while you’re working, so you don’t have to sacrifice efficiency. You’ll be more productive if you feel at ease and healthy. Additionally, you won’t have to keep relying on over-the-counter pain medicines to get your sore tissues through the day.

8. Brighten Your Teleconferencing With Ring Lights

One thing’s for sure: Covid-19 spurred teleconferencing and made everyone understand the value of ring lights. Long used by recreational and celebrity social media influencers, ring lights provide just enough brightness. They light up your face with a warm glow that gives you a fresh look, even when you’re tired. Stop messing with table lamps or trying to figure out how to get natural light in your office. A simple ring light can mean the difference between a so-so and stellar first impression on Zoom.

9. Test Drive Cool and Emerging Tech Software

You don’t have to wait for your employer to introduce you to tech software. Many versions of the latest systems are free to try, including a lot of project management solutions. If you’re new to project management tools, you’ll find them remarkably (and thankfully!) easy to learn. Even a basic project management system can help you iron out your scheduling snags. Not only will your busy life seem less crazy, but you’ll get more done than you thought possible.

Technology’s all around us, all the time. Over the next few weeks, start using tech to automate repetitive tasks and keep you moving forward. You’ll win back hours each week—and even get rid of all those excuses to pick up an inspiring hobby.

Digital marketing is always evolving and with it your strategies to make the most of your store revenue. Let’s go back to the basics: you need people to be interested in what you’re offering them. In order to provide them with amazing content and discount opportunities, you need to pay full attention to your email list. But the question is how to grow your email list? A professional email marketing agency has a few tips and tricks to tell you just how.

• Use pop-up forms at all levels

Turning visitors into subscribers is at the very top of the email marketing funnel. If you’re successful enough, these forms will be getting you new potential customers, who could eventually convert after your campaigns land in their inbox. Here at Hustler Marketing we build our client’s forms with Klaviyo. They’re astoundingly easy to build and use. Furthermore, they provide you with insightful data about your customers if you decide to use the form to collect it. Just make sure to make your message simple, be a little mysterious and, of course, include a mention of your product and brand.

• Make good use of a referral program

Customers are more likely to purchase a new product because they heard about it from a friend or family member. According to recent research, 84% of them say they either somewhat or completely trust referrals from people they know. So give your actual customers a chance to share their experience with others and offer them a bonus discount on exchange: they’ll buy more and on top of that you’ll get some new subscribers. The more, the merrier.

• Organize giveaways and contests

Use your social media accounts to host a free giveaway in exchange for contact information. Encourage entrants to click through to your website and sign up using their email address. This might be one of the easiest ways to engage visitors into becoming subscribers. In order to keep your list clean and fresh, you could do it on a monthly basis. Don’t be afraid to give away! You’ll end up gaining much more than what it costs you.

• Get your content published in newsletters ad buys

This step might be trickier and cost you a bit more money but you can always arrange for some kind of marketing exchange. You can work with an ad exchange like Live Intent to get your ads placed in email newsletters and get your company in front of tens of thousands of potential subscribers.

• Go crazy on social media

Social media marketing has become one of the fundamentals when it comes to promoting a store. Generate revenue and obtain thousands of followers who turn into potential customers. You can come up with posts that have engaging content for your followers to redirect them to give you contact information. A view turns into a like, a like into a dm, a dm into an email address and voila!, the next step is your email landing in new inboxes regularly. Besides Facebook and Instagram, you can also use Youtube to encourage your followers to become subscribers through engaging videos.

• Create a blog that readers can subscribe to

Some people need more than just an email in order to become convinced of buying your product. A blog in which you can share customer experiences and product features can be a unique way of obtaining the contact information you need to grow your subscriber base. Make sure to create engaging content, that matches your brand and that consistently gets your potential clients interested in your product.

• Try out contacting instagram influencers

Instagram has the highest median engagement rate at 1.6%. That’s with over one billion users every month—and 90% of them are following businesses already. People who already bought your product and have thousands of followers could be just what you’ve been needing to grow your subscribers list. Don’t hesitate to contact them and set up a product deal in order to get more publicity.

• Host online webinars

If you wanna talk about your interests and gain access to a greater audience, a webinar can be an amazing opportunity. You can join other stores and experts in your niche. Besides, and most importantly, webinars are normally registered for via email, making your audience more willing to be contacted afterward. You get to collect email addresses at registration! There you go, new subscribers.

Our bonus tip is that you get as creative as you can while upgrading your email list. Remember: clean list + new fresh subscribers means more $$. Good luck on your journey!

Industries worldwide are undergoing a digital transformation, and Leonid Radvinsky believes that open source software is playing a vital role in shaping this new digital landscape. As a technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Leonid has invested in open source software like B4X. He is also an avid user of open source software, like Elixir, in his projects, and he aims to continue using open source software as his technology standard. As businesses grow their presence on digital platforms and the communities around open source technology expand, open source software will provide the technological backbone in an increasingly digital world.

What is Open Source Software?

Open source software is software with publicly available source code that anyone can access and contribute to. This source code is managed by a community of developers and is available for anyone to use for free. It can even be used in commercial software without the need for payment of any licensing fees. Unlike proprietary software, users have democratic control over open source software. Developers can contribute to the codebase by improving existing features or even developing their own. Because all users can access the entire codebase, developers can extend the functionality of the software at any time without relying on a corporation to implement and expose the required functionality.

Open Source Growth in Pandemic

Over a year into the pandemic, the popularity of open source software is growing steadily. In part, the prevalence of COVID-19 has made it necessary for businesses to rapidly undergo digital transformations, moving their products and services into online spaces. Many companies have also transitioned to relying on remote work, requiring an entirely new digital infrastructure compared to working in person. Businesses were already beginning to migrate towards providing more robust digital platforms before the pandemic. However, with escalating demands for online services, businesses have needed to expedite this transformation process.

The use of open source software can help to make this digital transformation faster and more cost-effective. As a result of the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, companies are finding the affordability of open source software especially vital to their development process. With open source software, companies can leverage existing technology to speed up their development process as the use of open source software is much more time efficient and cost-effective. Thus eliminating the need for developers to recreate the technology that already exists. The use of open source software also eliminates the often exorbitant licensing fees associated with proprietary software.

Open source technology is being used by companies across a wide range of industries. A recent survey of enterprise IT leaders found that 90% of respondents were using open source software in their business, with 64% using it for IT infrastructure, 54% for application development, 53% for automating previously manual processes, and 54% for networking infrastructure. If a company is looking for a technological solution, there is likely a quality open source option available that they can use to streamline their development process.

Popular Open Source Software

Open source software has become the industry standard in a variety of technological fields, and technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, and Linux are all incredibly popular options in their respective uses. Another popular open source technology is B4X, a suite of interactive development environments for creating cross-platform applications. With B4X, users can develop software that runs natively on various platforms, including Google Android, Apple iOs, Java, Raspberry Pi, and Arduino. As the key investor behind the B4X project, Leo Radvinsky has helped to share his vision and focus on providing an easy-to-use programming interface that is accessible to developers of all levels of experience.

Another popular open source technology is Elixir, a functional programming language that allows developers to create decentralized architecture for web-based development. It is designed to be incredibly resilient so that the language recovers quickly from errors and never crashes. Because Elixir is open source, it has undergone a collaborative development process, and numerous developers have been able to rigorously test the language from the very beginning. This development process has made Elixir the robust language that it is today. Because of the language’s open source nature, Leo Radvinsky uses Elixir as the technology standard for many of his projects.

Benefits of Open Source Software

As open source software is free and accessible to everyone, it provides a great way for companies to reduce the cost and time of development. Amidst a digital wave, this ability to cut down on time and costs makes greater innovation possible. With open source software, companies can cut down on licensing costs from proprietary software, and save developer time by eliminating the need to recreate solutions that already exist. The use of open source software adds a huge amount of value to a project at zero cost.

Besides the improvements to finances and time, the very nature of open source software also encourages innovation. Since open source software provides users with access to the full codebase, it is easy for developers to customize and extend existing functionality. Developers are not limited by the features that proprietary companies choose to expose, and instead have access to the entire infrastructure. Additionally, the community-managed nature of open source software encourages collaboration from developers from a wide variety of backgrounds. When developers contribute new features or improvements to open source software, all users of that software can benefit from those changes.  The vast community of developers surrounding these projects also makes it simple to communicate with other developers to ask questions and get feedback. Many open source technologies have forums dedicated to discussions of the technology, and a quick search of StackOverflow is often a quick way to find solutions to any development challenges.

Open source software also provides a variety of security benefits compared to proprietary software. Because open source software allows users to view all the source code, developers can always see what’s going on behind the scenes. This contrasts with proprietary software which can function a bit like a black box with potential security vulnerabilities hidden from sight. Because developers are constantly working with and examining the source code, there are numerous opportunities for developers to uncover and repair security vulnerabilities. This code transparency makes it easier for developers to ensure that the software meets their level of security requirements.

The Future of Open Source

As businesses and organizations continue to undergo digital transformations, open source software is likely to become increasingly popular. Open source software provides incredible amounts of value to businesses in all industries by cutting down the cost and time required to develop innovative technology. Additionally, open source’s collaborative nature, its technological transparency, and its surrounding community all make open source technology a popular alternative to traditional commercial software.

Recent data can confirm the popularity of open source solutions. A recent survey of developers and technology managers found that 94% of respondents found open source software to be better than, or equivalent to, proprietary software. When looking specifically at cloud providers, 70% of developers

preferred an open source solution.

As the popularity of open source solutions grows, Leonid Radvinsky believes that open source software will help fuel the transformation to an increasingly digital landscape.

When it comes to gathering direct insights from your customers, few mechanisms beat a classic survey. But to get a good response rate (and honest feedback), you must follow a few simple rules.

Why Customer Surveys Matter

As a business, value creation is the focus. Value directly impacts how a customer feels about your brand. If your customers are satisfied with the value you provide, it means they’ll stick around, spend more, and reward your business with loyalty. If they’re dissatisfied, you’ve got problems (negative word-of-mouth marketing, plummeting profits, etc.).

There are plenty of ways to subjectively interpret how satisfied customers are, but the most objective option is to go straight to the source. And this is where well-timed customer surveys come into play.

With the right survey strategy, you can tap into the precise emotions surrounding how your customers feel and what sort of experience they’re having.

“Customers have higher expectations than ever of brand experiences, and this translates into significant implications for those that cannot deliver against those expectations,” industry insider Neil Davey writes. “In recent research conducted by MyCustomer, nearly a quarter (24%) of respondents said they would switch to another provider after only one negative online experience.”

Customer surveys allow you to tap into how your customers are feeling right now. It’s basically your way of putting a finger on the pulse of your audience. Then, based on this real-time feedback, adjustments can be made to move the dial on customer satisfaction and brand experience. You can think of surveys as your “intel” source. It arms you with the information needed to make proactive decisions that benefit the organization.

Tips for Getting More Out of Your Customer Surveys

No two customer surveys are the same. However, the basic principles and best practices remain true across the board. Here are a few tips you can use to generate more value and better insights from your own customer surveys:

1. Send NPS Surveys

If you’re searching for the gold standard metric of customer experience, look no further than Net Promoter Score (NPS). This simple measurement produces profound results, which have the potential to benefit your organization in a variety of ways.

NPS, which is measured on a -100 to +100 scale (where a high score is desirable) tells you how customers feel at any given moment. It asks customers one basic question: “How likely are you to recommend [insert brand or product] to a friend or colleague?” Answers are given on a scale of 0 (not likely) to 10 (extremely likely).

• Customers who respond with a score of 9 or 10 are labeled “promoters.”
• Customers who respond with a score of 7 or 8 are labeled “passives.”
• Customers who respond with a score of 0-6 are labeled “detractors.”

NPS surveys are super easy to send. And because of the simplicity (one question), they get high engagement.

1. Respect the Customer’s Time

You can’t expect a customer to sit down and fill out a 20-minute survey (unless you have a very compelling incentive). Even asking for five minutes of a customer’s time is a big request. For best results, keep things short, concise, and very direct.

If you are using a long survey, structure it in such a way that each question is recorded as the customer fills out the survey. This ensures you still get valuable data, even if the individual drops off halfway through.

1. Keep Questions Specific

There’s a time and place for open-ended questions, but you’re usually better off offering simple questions where customers pick an option. If you’re asking open-ended questions, save them for the end of the survey and make them optional.

1. Reduce Friction

Friction is a huge engagement killer. Time and focus come at a premium right now. The more you can do to limit friction, the better your results will be (in terms of getting people to fill out the survey with honest and authentic feedback).

One simple thing you can do to reduce friction is to make customer surveys more mobile-friendly. Roughly half of emails are opened on a mobile device these days, which means you should really tailor your surveys to mobile users. This means making the layout easy to read on a small screen and optimizing for touchscreen use. (Avoid putting selections too close together.)

Grow With Direction

Customer surveys deliver insights. But your success depends on how you respond to these insights. If you sit still and refuse to do anything, you’ll become stagnant (and eventually decline). But if you use the information gleaned from these surveys to improve your business by prioritizing customer satisfaction and positive brand experiences, good things will happen.

Now’s the time to be proactive and grow with intentionality.

 

What do you think of when someone mentions big data? As a technology, big data is more a concept than anything else. It is the idea of collecting as much data as you possibly can regardless of whether or not you have a use for it. The technology wizards can figure out how to use it later on. To many people, the big data idea is synonymous with George Orwell’s big brother.

If you have an aversion to big data, there is something you should understand: you are fuelling the big data behemoth every time you use technology. And because most of us interact with technology on multiple fronts throughout the day, we are all inadvertently feeding big data even if we don’t want to.

This could be good or bad news depending on your perspective. If you are older, you might be a bit wary of big data. Younger people who grew up with technology are not nearly as intimidated. They use technology without giving it a second thought. Just know this: big data is always out there. It is always lurking behind every technology corner.

It Started with Search

Modern companies routinely subject their computer systems to a data audit for GDPR purposes. They work with SEO markers to track all sorts of data that doesn’t make sense to anyone but them. The list of ways big data influences the business world goes on and on. But guess what? It all started with search.

Way back when the internet was first introduced as a commercial entity, most of the data being collected by business organisations was related to search engines. Data was being collected and stored for other purposes, like billing and customer service, but it was kept separate. It was not being integrated with the few online systems in existence at the time. No, online data was mainly used for search functions.

By the mid-1990s, it became apparent just how effective the internet could be as a marketing tool. That’s when companies began collecting and storing personal data for marketing purposes. It was then just a small leap from collecting data for your own marketing purposes to turning around and selling it to other companies for their marketing.

Data collection these days goes way beyond just marketing. And yet, marketing is still at its core. Take Google, for example. It continues to collect, store, and mine data solely for the purpose of selling advertising. Big data started with the search and is kept alive by it.

Your Phone and Computer

Even now you are using either a phone or a computer to read this post. Your device is feeding the big data behemoth in the background. How so? This website planted a cookie on your device. That cookie will collect information from your internet use and send it back to the website owner unless, and until, you force it to stop.

Have you ever wondered why so many websites are publishing cookie warnings now? They do so to comply with data protection law. That warning serves as a reminder that the website you are visiting is collecting personal data from your device. You do not have to accept the site’s cookies. You can always opt out.

By the way, your Android or iPhone device collects and transmits data on you even if you never use the onboard web browser. You are being tracked via your apps. Google is tracking you via your phone’s GPS function in order to generate real-time traffic info for its map application.

Your Home Appliances

Moving on to less direct big data influences brings us to home appliances. You may think your appliances are pretty innocuous from a data perspective, but think again. Any smart appliance in your home is capable of collecting and transmitting data that feeds the big data behemoth. Take your smart refrigerator, for example.

Your fridge might be very capable of keeping track of the food inside and sending you a message when it’s time to stock up. Yet the information it collects does not exist locally. There is no hard drive or operating system embedded in your fridge. No, the data is sent to the manufacturer’s cloud. In order for it to connect to your phone, the cloud environment needs your personal information as well. See how this works?

Your smart TV feeds big data. So does your streaming device, your router, your smart thermostat, and so on. Every component of the modern smart home collects and transmits personal data pertaining to you and your account. Some of those smart devices might even store data locally.

Your Credit and Debit Cards

Even the plastic you use to pay for things feeds big data. Your bank and credit card companies store the personal information pertaining to your account. But that’s just the start of it. They also track your spending. Your bank and credit card companies know exactly how much you spend, what you spend it on, when you spend it, and so forth. All of that data is compiled, tracked, and sold for marketing purposes.

Do you use a phone-based payment instead of your credit or debit card? The app is feeding big data, too. Every time you waive your phone in front of a payment terminal, data from your phone is transferred to the retailer’s computer systems and then off to the cloud. Who knows where it goes from there?

No Such Thing as Privacy

The point of all of this is not to frighten you or make you sceptical of technology. It is simply to illustrate the fact that there really is no such thing as data privacy. EU regulators had consumer’s best interests at heart when they came up with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) a few years ago. But all the regulation does is force companies to admit to collecting data and give you the ability to opt out.

Unless you are actively opting out, nothing has changed. Your data is still being collected, stored, utilised, and sold on the open market. Every time you use technology, you are feeding the big data machine that politicians want you to believe they are protecting you against. They cannot really protect you. The behemoth has grown too big and become too powerful.

Are you looking for ways to capitalize on the visitors that you attract to your eCommerce Website? Do you wonder if there is a way to expedite the different stages on your customer’s journey map? If so, then you need to learn all you can about how to increase conversion rates.

Doing so will help you generate higher profits, as well as raise customer loyalty to your brand. As they say, the most valuable customer is a repeating one.

See below for several tips that you can use to increase conversion rates and generate more revenue for your eCommerce site.

1. Study Your Customer’s Site Experience

You’ve taken the time to create buyer personas and understand what kind of target audience you’re hoping to attract. You’ve taken the time to zero in on where your target audience can be found for your digital marketing campaigns.

But have you ever taken the time to study your customer’s experience with your site? Many eCommerce site owners are baffled when they render positive lead generation results but have high bounce rates and low profits.

This is often a sign that it isn’t your marketing that’s failing your site. It’s your site that’s failing your site. This could be for several reasons such as:

• Your website takes too long to load
• Your website’s layout is too intimidating
• The content on your website isn’t helpful or is too jargon-filled
• You have blank pages or error pages on your site that you aren’t aware of

The list goes on and on. Instead of being left to wonder what the problem is, it’s time to get down to the issue by studying your customer’s digital experience.

Using helpful customer experience analysis tools such as Decibel, you can finally pinpoint the problem. By analyzing customer patterns and behavior on your site, you’ll start to locate the issue.

2. Audit Your Content

If we’re being completely honest, all of our websites could use a fresh content audit from time to time. However, very few eCommerce website owners will take the time to do so.

That’s a shame because it can solve most of the issues you’re having. Customers have been trained to use the content as a way of pointing them down the next phase of the customer journey. In other words: they want to be told what to do next.

There are a few things you can look for when you audit your content. Use these as your starting points:

1. Refine your Keyword Optimization– Search for keywords with a search volume over 100 and a keyword density under 30 to find keywords you can rank higher for.
2. Creat Firm Call to Actions– Remember, clients, want to be told what to do. Every form of content (article, infographic, video, etc.) should contain a strong call to action or two.
3. Simplify Your Product Pages– No one wants to read a novel when looking at a product page. Use bullet points and highlight all the need-to-know features of your product/service.

These are three actions that you can take right now. They don’t cost anything, all you need is time and effort to pull them off.

3. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

This is a public service announcement: desktop screens are no longer king. There’s a new sheriff in town.

These days, more customers access the internet via their smartphone than any other device, and it will continue to trend in that direction.

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly (has the ability to conform to a phone screen), then you’re undoubtedly losing business. Customers will visit your site on their phone, see that it doesn’t fit their screen (which gives off the appearance of being outdated), then click the “back” button.

There are many ways to fix this. You can hire a website designer to go in and edit your website to conform to a smartphone’s screen. This will also ensure that your content is simplified and optimized.

4. Use More Video

Recently, Pokemon Cards were on the decline. Now, you can’t find them anywhere because a YouTube star, Logan Paul, jumped back into the hobby for himself and recorded it. That’s the power of video for digital marketing.

If you don’t currently use video content to attract your customers, you should start. If you do, then do more of it!

Video content is the most engaging form of content out there. Customers pay more attention to it and retain more of the information they hear/see. Thus, they’re more likely to build loyalty to your brand and purchase the products on your eCommerce site.

5. Simplify Your Navigation

Have you ever come across a site for more information on a service, then been confused by the page titles and amount of tabs? It’s overwhelming!

This might be what’s happening to your site. If a customer comes across a site that’s too difficult to navigate, they’ll back out of it. They won’t make any extra effort on your behalf.

Create definitive page titles. Make all of your most popular products and tabs clickable. Offer a filter system for your product pages. List customer reviews wherever you can fit them.

How to Increase Conversion Rates: Refine Your Site

Now that you have seen several tips for how to increase conversion rates on your eCommerce website, it’s time to use them to refine your approach.

Start with the first step. Invest in an analytics tool to study the data and pinpoint what issues on your site are causing you the most grief.

Browse our website for more informative articles on conversion rates for your site, as well as many other topics that you will find helpful.

 

Thriving in the modern tech-driven world requires innovative measures. Keeping up with the ever-evolving technology can prove challenging, yet it can’t be overlooked. Capturing emerging trends, sorting the most effective that apply in your field, and integrating them can’t take the backseat. However, it is not a straightforward quest, especially with all other elements that require your focus. Enlisting reliable and reputable custom software developers makes the process more comfortable. Here are some benefits you’ll realize if you enlist a dedicated development team.

Time and cost-effectiveness

Hardware, software, office space, recruiting, onboarding, training, and maintaining an in-house IT team, legal costs, among other considerations, can take more time and dig deeper into your finances. As tech advancement’s pace isn’t in your hands, scaling your team to meet the changing needs can further increase the costs. Since focusing on your core functions and assigning enough resources to such operations takes a blow, your progress can be affected. Custom software developers take such worries off your shoulders. The teams have enough resources to handle your projects comfortably, and with the right services, scaling up the needs won’t be an issue. You’ll get more time to address sensitive concerns and save money that can be invested in more profitable areas.

Enhanced productivity

The fast-paced tech advancements arena requires swift measures to stay ahead of the curve. Optimizing your processes to ensure that you aren’t lagging can’t be stressed enough. This is an area you can address by turning to custom software developers. Leveraging a dedicated development team’s experience means that you won’t waste time while struggling to keep up with the emerging trends. The team’s experience, expertise, and resources allow you to capture emerging trends without losing focus on your core functions. Speedy and effective project handling gives your organization an edge in the competitive tech arena, enhancing your productivity.

Exposure

An in-house IT team’s exposure is limited to their scope. They aren’t as adventurous as dedicated development teams that work on various projects covering different industries. Limited exposure means that considerable opportunities can sip off your fingers, affecting your organization’s progress. Custom software developers provide a learning platform where you get to capture trends you didn’t know or thought they don’t apply to your industry. Such exposure gives you an edge, as you won’t be playing catch up with other organizations.

Support

Regardless of your tech development needs, it is certain that the project is not a one-time thing; you won’t launch it and forget. You’ll need to keep up with advancements. It means that you’ll need ongoing support to ensure that you aren’t left behind, especially as some solutions can quickly become obsolete in the fast-paced tech arena. Enlisting custom software developers provides the needed support to ensure that your project is successful.

Custom software developers continue to be the go-to for organizations as they endeavor to keep up with the fast-paced tech developments. The agile approach, extensive pool of skills and resources, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of turning to the pros give your organization an edge, enhancing productivity and profitability.

 

 

Despite the fact that email is much more common, short text messages are still very popular. This is because most of the companies are trying to attract the attention of customers by sending letters.

In order to receive a message, you don’t need to open your mailbox or wait for your smartphone to connect to the Internet. You just need to turn on your mobile device and study the information about the offer. Since no additional steps are required, bulk SMS remains a popular method of business promotion.

Recently, we were able to see how the activity on the Internet is growing. The engagement rate directly depends on how successfully the border between suppliers and consumers has been “broken”. It is quite difficult to spot an email among hundreds of others, and you can’t say that about short text messages.

Use SMS to gain an advantage over your competitors

Doing business during lockdown has become significantly more difficult, so it’s important to find a new approach to your customers. Emailing stays popular, but SMS messages are getting more attention. Benefits of using short text are:

• little time for reading;
• no need for Internet connection;
• high rates of opening.

According to research, SMS are opened within a minute after receiving them. This is much less than it takes to open an email. By creating the right email marketing strategy, you can capture the attention of your customers. Collecting contacts is easy, so you can start at any time.

Boost your engagement rate

SMS blast will allow you to reach your recipients much faster. A short message will be read, which means that the chance of following the link increases significantly. The main thing that senders need to do is to create a concise and interesting short text. Data testing and analysis helps to identify areas of interest.

To search for the right topics and offers, you will need to divide your client base into two groups and send them modified messages. Not only different sentences can act as changes, but also the choice of text design. Later, it will be possible to identify the weaknesses of your audience and satisfy their needs.

Configuring notifications

Contrary to popular belief, you can use SMS marketing not only for sending offers. Help your customers and provide information on changes in opening hours or clarify times of order fulfilment. This concern for your recipients won’t be in vain, and they will definitely appreciate your approach to doing business.

Creation of personalized offers

The contact database of your recipients should contain other relevant information as well. Collect info on dates of birth, purchases and interests of your customers to create a personalized proposal. Holiday gifts or loyalty points can help you stand out from monotonous messages and build trust.

You can check how correct your choice of strategy was using additional tools, for example https://testelium.com/features/. Data processing takes little time, and the results will become the basis for improving your service.

A point-of-sale system is necessary for a business because it allows you to stay on track with the different areas of your business. They monitor every function of your store and communicate all the data around your customers. Retail stores rely heavily on software to track loyalty programs and employee hours, marketing, and many other uses to ensure they run a profitable business. Let’s look at some of the ways you can use a POS system to help your business run smoothly.

1. Inventory management

Inventory drains the most cash in a retail business, so a properly managed system is necessary. Most modern POS systems from pos australia offer inventory management features to list your items on a product catalog, their attributes, and their respective quantities. Your POS system should alert you when you are running out of a product and flag inventory that is not moving in your store. Other advanced features provided by some POS systems include multi-store inventory management for those who have multiple stores and multi-channel inventory management, which allow you to have a tighter handle on your inventory if you sell both online and in-store.

1. Employee Management

A good POS system allows you to figure out if you have suitable staffing for your sales and show you the week’s busiest time in your store to help you with scheduling. It should also track employee hours and sales performance showing you the metrics of each employee. This data is helpful to track employee productivity and reward key selling behavior to motivate the employees.

1. Customer Relationship Management

It is vital to use a POS system in retail to store customer data and purchase history to personalize a customer’s experience, which is great for customer retention. When advertising a sale, the data collected on your POS system allows you to target the right customer for the sale. A good POS system also allows you to interact with your customers through emails or text messages which is crucial for brick-and-mortar retailers who want to compete with online retailers.

1. Reports

A POS system that sends you reports weekly without running them and tailors an analysis that is unique to your store is the best option. Some pos systems have an alert feature that alerts you when certain things happen, like hitting your sales goal for the day or having a large sale. Some of the other reports you can run on the system include inventory on hand, product performance reports, sales summaries, sales reports per product and product type, and sales reports per customer or customer group.

1. Loyalty programs

Tracking customer loyalty is vital for any business as it determines whether a customer stays or moves to your competitor who has a customer loyalty program. Many studies show that customers will spend more money with a retailer who offers a loyalty program, so having a proper system to track and record for you all the customer loyalty incentives is necessary.