Talking Shop – What Your Ecommerce Site Can’t Do Without

If you’re reading this then you know that the future of shopping is well-and-truly online. But not every shop is created equal. The ecommerce businesses that keep the tips below in mind are going to see much more success with their customers.

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Focus on the user experience first and foremost

This should be a given for any site but in the world of ecommerce, it’s actually easier to lose customers. Beyond categorization for products that makes sense and smart advanced search options, take an in-depth look through the whole process of buying items on your store. Think about where you can trim the fat, where another page or another click might not necessarily be needed. Putting customers through too long a process puts you at real risk of shopping cart abandonment. Another way of fighting it is by using breadcrumb navigation that shows customers at what stage they’re at through every part of the process. User friendliness must be your first and last concern.

Work to your product

No two ecommerce systems should work alike. In fact, if they have different products and different target markets, they should be wildly different. Beyond good navigation, you need a focus on the value proposition of the site and the individual products. For instance, the front page should be loud and clear with the deals on some of the most popular product types on the site. A front page that says nothing about the products is going to result in a lot of confused visitors. But attention to detail should go deeper than that. For instance, writing great product descriptions depends wildly from product to product. Lifestyle and fashion products, for instance, rely more on greater visual detail. Meanwhile, tech like computers and TVs need the technical details up-front. We’re talking resolutions, gigabytes, and compatibilities. You can’t sell two different kinds of products on the same selling points.

Have a site that works with you

Even worse than a site that’s confusing to customers is one that’s confusing to you. Not just in terms of design but management. Nowadays, there a lot of ecommerce hosting options that make it a lot easier for site owners to choose a platform built specifically for hosting ecommerce pages, with all the various sub-pages that go with it. Continuous, never-ending testing of the site is essential, too. Not just to make sure all pages are working. Methods like A/B testing also help you better understand how to make the site much easier to use for the customer.

Watch and learn

One of the best things about running a shop online as opposed to in the physical world is how much easier it is to store data on not just your customer base, but individual customers, too. Measuring the whole gives you a finger on the pulse of the market, seeing the trends from the customer’s’ point of view that can help you decide on which new stock might work best for the business. Building individual customer profiles, however, lets you go even further. You can specialize offers and create a bespoke browsing experience for each user that makes them a lot more likely to see something they’re tempted to buy.

10 Examples of AI In Our Everyday Lives

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |AI|10 Examples of AI In Our Everyday LivesPerhaps you think that artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) are concepts that do not concern you at all or are too complicated for everyday use? In theory, you may be correct, but in practice, these concepts are already an indispensable part of your daily life, though you may not be aware of them. In this article, we will give you ten examples of AI in our everyday lives.

Do you remember the image of artificial intelligence you had in 2010? At that time, for most of us, artificial intelligence was reserved mainly for science fiction works. It was not yet anchored in our daily lives. It was, in fact, a research discipline. Over the past eleven years, this technology has made great strides in many industrial sectors. It has also burst into our daily lives and has materialized in the form of smartphones and autonomous cars, robotic vacuum cleaners, and self-propelled lawnmowers. Based on a few particularly relevant examples, see for yourself how much artificial intelligence has changed the world in recent years.

Email Messaging

Electronic messaging relies heavily on AI to optimize its performance and increase user satisfaction. Our email boxes have been learning over time thanks to advanced algorithms—for example, spam filtering. Spam filters rely heavily on artificial intelligence, which can process large amounts of messages and detect new spam flooding of your inboxes very quickly.

The publishers of these spam emails change their strategies regularly. As a result, having a few keywords is not enough to identify adverse content. Hence the need to use AI solutions. A perfect example is Gmail from Google, which uses TensorFlow and blocks over 99.9% of spam.

Search Engines

Search engines could hardly function without AI, given the massive size of the web. The AI is deployed in robots that crawl the sites to index them, classify them, and ascertain the display order according to the search expressions. As a result, search engines are fully harnessing the benefits of AI: Technology is helping to understand user behaviors better and drive better outcomes for brands and internet users alike.

Social Networks

AI largely determines the way information is displayed, especially on social networks. For instance, Facebook distributes posts from followed pages, then filters them to highlight those considered most significant while covering the rest. However, no matter what social media platform you use, what you see and do in these applications is primarily influenced by machine learning. As a result, AI controls the channels you see when browsing these platforms or the notifications you receive.

E-commerce

While it’s impossible to predict the future with precision, an excellent data-driven strategy allows marketers to get a more holistic view of upcoming consumer trends. As a result, consumers receive more personalized purchase suggestions based on research conducted by sellers and based on their purchase decisions made so far. As a result, online retailers increasingly use AI consulting companies to take full advantage of the available data and provide their customers with more personalized offers, thus generating higher revenues.

Banking applications

When discussing online shopping, you cannot ignore online banking. Banking is one area that has adopted technological inventions earlier than most other areas. Secure payment is possible in particular thanks to artificial intelligence, as systems continually learn to recognize fraudulent transactions. Have you ever got information from your bank when you purchase using the new device? That is a case where banks used artificial intelligence to detect any potential fraud. Notifications from banks and financial institutions regarding their services and products are examples of artificial intelligence that allows you to understand your preferences, requirements, and financial condition to propose appropriate products.

But the process goes further. Banks use artificial intelligence in many areas, including analyzing customer investment trends, providing customer service, and more.

Chatbots and Customer Service

For most retailers, dealing with many inquiries and comments from consumers through multiple phones, email, and social media channels can be challenging even for the most experienced marketing departments. For this reason, brands are increasingly using chatbots.

With chatbots, the customer experience is smoother. Social media and customer service teams can free themselves from tasks like scheduling appointments and focus on more strategic activities. They can seek out brand ambassadors and create interaction with user-generated content (UGC). Through intelligent learning, chatbots can better understand the language used by each customer, which makes interactions more authentic and easier to navigate. It also allows brands to respond more quickly to micro-moments–targeted junctions where consumers look for specific products or information.

Artificial Intelligence and Smartphones

Imagining life without cell phones seems like a challenge. However, the various applications in our cell phones are now an integral part of our daily life. Many of these applications are based on artificial intelligence. The intelligent assistants built into our phones, such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, are the most prominent examples of AI that most of us know and use.

In addition, more and more mobile technology platforms are developing solutions that use artificial intelligence to manage various aspects of the device, such as battery management, event suggestions, etc. One of the standard functions, such as unlocking the screen with the image of a face, also uses artificial intelligence. As a result, AI-enabled services are now an essential part of iOS and Android platform updates.

Smart Homes

Alexa and Bixby come to mind when it comes to using AI in the development of smart homes. However, these applications of artificial intelligence are not limited to these intelligent voice assistants. A great example of smart homes are AI apps that save energy by automatically turning lights based on human presence. And we also have intelligent speakers, apps that change the color of light according to today. These are just some of the applications where AI is used to make homes smarter.

Navigation

In the morning, you leave your apartment and log into your favorite navigation app. What happens most often? Without even typing a single character, it offers to take you to your work or school, if that’s where you are used to going at that time. Artificial intelligence has changed our traffic habits. Thanks to navigation applications like Waze or Google Maps. These determine the shortest route and estimate the time of arrival. They can even take real-time traffic into account to automatically change the trajectory to avoid traffic jams.

There is no doubt that AI will grow more and more, and thanks to it, people will become more productive and lead a more comfortable life to a higher standard. The possibilities offered by artificial intelligence seem endless. Therefore, we should enjoy them and use them instead of perceiving them as a threat.

How to Find the Best Social Media Management Companies

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Social Media Management|How to Find the Best Social Media Management CompaniesRunning your own social media seems easy at first. You love interacting with people and you want to showcase yourself. Then things expand, time gets short and you need help – like a social media management company.

Before you hire a place like get plus followers, it’s time to do some research. Be sure to look at what they have done and what they can do. Here are some things to look for:

What Accounts Do They Currently Run?

You want to see who they work with to make sure that there won’t be too much crossover. They may represent someone who is in the same space as you – will that be a conflict of interest? Or can they make sure that the two of you can co-exist in this social media world?

Another reason for this is that you want to make sure that they can do your social media in the style and tone that matches you. How is their spelling? Mistakes can indicate sloppiness… which is what you don’t want.

Do They Have Strong References?

This time, you get to be the one asking for references. Ask them for contact info for another client. They may also show you a letter of recommendation. A good company will gladly show you.

Another good site to use is LinkedIn – previous clients tend to leave testimonials. Read through them to see what they say about their work. The web can be a great resource here.

Have They Done Good Work Before?

You can ask to see previous campaigns, not just their current ones. A stellar company will have a consistent showing of excellent work. There are key indicators to look for, and ask them if they hit all the goals that they wanted to.

Do They Have Too Many Clients?

The last thing that you want is to have a company that is unable to sufficiently pay attention to what they are doing for you. Expect them to have other clients, unless you dangle the carrot of a salaried position for the worker. Look for them to have a good balance and good multi-tasking ability otherwise.

You also want to make sure that both of you have the same criteria for success and also that they can handle a crisis with ease. Have a clear vision of what you want and then go from there with the hiring.

How Social Media Benefits Your Business

When it comes to designing a fully comprehensive marketing strategy, you have to include social media. Social media has given companies a level of access into human behavior unparalleled in the world before. It also gives companies huge scope to widen their reach and attract new customers. There is also scope to use the insights you gather to create better marking material going forwards and connect with your potential customer base in a more meaningful manner. Therefore it is a vital tool for showcasing your brand and increasing awareness.

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article | How Social Media Benefits Your Business

Align Messages with Core Values

Whenever you post something meaningful on social media, ensure that it relates in some way to your core values. Core values represent the underlying ethical principles of the organization. It helps if these values are present across all your campaign material and website. By using social media, you will express your key messages and communicate and connect with people from all walks of life. When people visit your website as a result of this material, they can see that you are exactly what you say you are. Having a coherent strategy is essential in order to get your messages out there and appear genuine. This builds trust, and therefore loyalty and social media is a huge asset in this way.

Boosting Brand Awareness

When you upload a post on social media, you don’t really know where it will end up. What that means is that the reach social media gives to your material is extremely large. Users have the chance to share, comment, and likes which keeps the posts relevant. You need to have a great social media strategy to keep people interested; you need images and stories to share. You need to post regularly up to three times a day to become recognizable. It takes at least seven viewings of your brand name to become a recognized brand, so you need to keep posting. But social media is a way to get your brand out there and in people’s heads.

Customer Engagement

One of the major advantages of social media is the scope it gives you to embrace customer engagement. Never has it been so easy to communicate with your potential customer base. You can talk directly to people in a fun and social way, which engenders meaningful chat. It is through this type of engagement that valuable insights can be gathered. Arguably the most important aspect is that you will really come to know your key customer type. You are likely to be engaging with people who have a stake in what you are offering, so you will be able to create an ideal customer profile through this. With this information, you can create better products and services which suit your customer’s needs better, and you can create better marketing material that powerfully speaks to these people. Customer engagement offers a whale range of other benefits, too, such as humanizing your brand and having that emotional connection. If you want more help with building this sort of engagement, why not try some community software.

What Is Plagiarism And Why Is It Harmful To Your Blog?

StrategyDriven Online Marketing and Website Development Article |Plagiarism|What Is Plagiarism And Why Is It Harmful To Your Blog?When you are writing a blog using online sources, it can be all too tempting to copy information online without the use of citations. However, with simple steps, you can begin to make the most out of your blog without the risk of legalities as a result of plagiarism. To help you out, we will be providing you with information on what plagiarism is and how harmful it can be for your blog.

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is the act of directly copying or closely copying content that you are using within a paper or content that you are sharing. Whether it be music, videos or a piece of content for school, making sure that you are not directly copying any content will ensure that your work is 100% authentic without running the risk of anyone being penalised as a result. This can also be checked using a plagiarism detector to ensure that you are not accidentally plagiarising content.

Make Sure Your Citing Correctly

In addition to knowing and understanding what plagiarism is, it is important to make sure that you are citing correctly. By perfectly referencing this in the citation and making sure that you are directly referencing the source, regardless of the media that you are using, this can aid you in avoiding plagiarism. In addition to this, making sure that your citation style is correct will allow you to ensure that you do not accidentally plagiarise any work whilst trying to get your own point across with ease.

You Can Be Penalised By Google

In addition to being harmful to you in terms of the potential risk of repercussion in an academic environment, it is important to note that it can be harmful for your blog in terms of Google ranking position. If you have plagiarism within your content, you run the risk of being penalised by Google, this can have a significant impact on the business as well as its ranking position and could lead to your ranking positions being significantly impacted. With ranking positions dropping, this could lead to a drop in traffic and can impact the number of sales. Therefore, making sure you are avoiding plagiarism at all costs will ensure your website is operating correctly and providing beneficial content to your customers.

It Can Cause Many Legal Issues

The final element you need to consider is the legalities that can come along with plagiarising content. With fines, the risk of content being removed and even sentences is some cases, it is important to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to avoid plagiarism as this will prevent you from needing legal teams. This can be additional stress that you do not need when looking to write a paper and therefore all information used within a paper must be cited to ensure you avoid plagiarism.

With this in mind, there are several ways that you can continue to create content whilst avoiding plagiarism, allowing you to get your point across in the best possible way without risking legal issues.