Yearly Archives: 2020

The objective of any business is to extract actionable and commercially relevant information to improve performance. According to Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Cyber Gear, “If you’re able to go into a meeting, and other people have opinions, but you have data to support your arguments and your recommendations, you’re going to be heard.”

The Top 25 Analytics Apps that can help you make smart decisions are reviewed below:

1. Agency Analytics- an all in one reporting platform for the marketing activities undertaken by any business. These include Email marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Pay Per Click, Social Media, and many more. It allows users to create dashboards that can be customized and branded for each campaign enabling users to present information based on the metrics that matter the most. The reporting can be done on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis through the application. It allows for providing comments and recommendations for each section of the report.
2. Akita- is a Customer Success Management Platform designed to help reduce the customer churn, nurture customer relationships, and increase revenue from existing customers. It allows for customization of automated alerts for important customer interactions. The dashboard gives an insight into the customer contact details, customer segment, lifecycle stage amongst other things, and the actions that need to be taken. It also gives an overview of the monthly recurring revenue, customer lifetime value, average health scores, and other metrics with details of the percentage change. Users can view the list of organizations or people who have been identified as churn risks by Akita.
3. AC Video Tracker- is used to tag and track the videos viewed by the contacts. Tagging viewers allows marketers to gain insights into how each viewer has engaged with the video content so targeted follow up can be done. If a contact has viewed only a part of the video, the follow-up sequence covers the information missed. It works well with Youtube, Wistia, and Vimeo video. Viewers can be tagged or untagged, added, or removed from the automation.
4. Big Picture- helps in tracking custom events and measure the funnel conversion rate. Providing detailed event analytics help understand how the users and visitors are engaging with your app or the website, find opportunities for optimization, and upgrade the process. It can help easily track taps and clicks, page scroll, video engagement, and form interactions. Integrating this data with the CRM and sales engagement tool helps you target the right people.
5. Bridge Subscription Manager-a recurring billing software that provides a solution to the challenges faced in manually monitoring and processing subscription credit card charges every month. Payments can be automated, accounts of clients can be disabled automatically in case of a declined payment, clients are notified when an update is needed on the credit card. It reduces the time needed by staff for all these activities. It integrates well with all leading payment gateways.
6. ConvetFlow- powering over 10,000 marketing teams and fast-growing companies, ConvertFlow is an all in on platform for converting the website visitors. It provides you with tools to convert website visitors, generates leads, audience segmentation, drives sales, and personalize the website. Create, personalize, and launch landing pages, forms, surveys, pop-ups that can be fully integrated without coding. It gives marketers “no-code” superpowers.
7. Data Hero- is the fastest and easiest way to automate business insights without the need for complex queries or coding. Connect all the data sources to track sales, marketing, and customer success data in one place. Create drop-and-drag charts to generate insightful, intuitive data visualization in no time. It helps organizations dive deeper into the data and use the intuitive tools of the application to get meaningful insights and results.
8. Dasheroo- the amount of data available to us is a growing challenge. Many applications are required to run a successful business which makes the process very long and time-consuming. Dasheroo is a collaborative business dashboard that helps in monitoring the metrics from all the apps in one place, making it easier to understand the data and use it best for the growth of the business.
9. Databox-is an analytics tool that allows users to create a custom analytics dashboard with data from multiple sources to be viewed on one device. It is built to track performance, discover insights, and understand the business. It organizes business KPIs in one place and delivers the metrics without any coding. The feature of live previews helps users view the data in real-time.
10. Deliverability Dashboard- helps in viewing and tracking the overall email Health Score. It helps in monitoring the engagement stats, thereby making informed decisions to improve the reach to the clients’ inbox. Email engagement is the most important factor in email deliverability.
11. Evidence- it is a simple tool used to boost the website engagements and conversions using powerful social proof. Once the app is working on the site new website visitors can see other sign-ups for the newsletter, purchase of product or service, register for a webinar, or schedule a live demo. Displaying these conversions in real-time builds buyer confidence and makes the visitor to the site take similar action.
12. Google Analytics- a web analytics service offered by Google, it provides comprehensive reporting and analytics tools for all kinds of websites. The users can monitor website traffic, understand user interaction with the site, and can generate reports customized to the needs of the business. Google Analytics collects, manages, and consolidates data showing the user how to engage with the website, videos, social tools and ads across all devices.it also helps in understanding the behaviour of the end-user. Business can improve their marketing campaigns and web content with the right insights. Website managers can gain insights into what is working and what is not working to make necessary changes.
13. Grey Metrics- is a marketing report and dashboard software for digital agencies. By using this software, companies can create reports/dashboards with the data from marketing platforms. These can be checked on an hourly basis to track marketing performance.
14. Import2 Wizard- allows you to import, update and export contacts, deals, and more with CVS files from other apps. This application helps in updating data from the CVS files to fill in the missing information in the existing records. It offers the freedom to select data and download to share with others who do not have access to the database and also for business analysis. Data is the basis for making informed decisions. It is important to extract only the data that is needed to support the business.
15. MailOptin- it converts the website visitors into e-mail subscribers and customers. You can engage with these visitors by sending event-triggered emails. MailOptin grows the ActiveCampaign email list, capture leads on the WordPress site using conversion-optimized beautiful newsletter signups. You can schedule email campaigns daily, weekly, or even monthly keep your most interested visitors engaged with your brand.
16. Mail Timers- is being easy to use application that allows you to create countdown timers marketing emails for sales, events, holidays, webinars, and more. It has additional features like transparent background, advanced colors, background picture, expiry message, and more. With this service, design customization can be done using adobe photoshop PSD layout and by using advanced technology GIF images can be created.
17. Octoboard- is a business dashboard solution that generates visual analytics and reports to provide users with insight into their business performance. Brands and marketing agencies send Octoboard reports to clients and key stakeholders. Companies add ActiveCampaign data to Octoboard to find the dependencies between email marketing, website traffic, sales funnels, and align email activity with the company goals.
18. Piesync- takes care of syncing the contacts bi-directionally between the cloud apps in real-time. It works in the background and updates the customer information from anywhere. The sync can be customized, sync direction can be changed, and use PieSync to keep the contacts continuously consistent across all types of apps.
19. PlusThis- is a campaign toolkit for marketers and entrepreneurs. It has 50+ tools and integrations like SMS, webinar connection, countdown timers, Facebook retargeting, video triggers and tagging, and expiring offers and content.
20. Segment- it is a customer data and analytics solution that helps in analyzing contact data from multiple sources and funnels it into apps that you may be using. The contact data is shared between apps which gives a complete picture of the data and the apps have more data to leverage. The data is sent to Segment by installing lines of tracking code in the website or app. Segment integrates with some of the most popular analytics, marketing sales, developer, and user testing apps. There are currently 150 partners.
21. SegMetrics- is a data analytics app that helps in getting clarity on where the best leads are coming from, how they act, and how much the marketing efforts are worth in terms of how many leads turn to customers. SegMetrics gives actionable insights without any coding, spreadsheet exporting, or pivot tables.
22. SendForensics- is a specialist email deliverability suite that allows you to test and optimize the deliverability of emails before they are sent, getting the maximum engagement out of each campaign.
23. Wicked Reports- automatically track and attribute revenue to gain ROI and LTV insights. It connects lead generation to high-value clients over time. Wicked reports have deep integration with Facebook, Google, and all popular CRM, marketing, e-commerce, and order management platforms. It gives reliable conversion data. It automatically detects and reports all email clicks that lead to sales. Best clients are recurring subscribing clients. Wicked reports detect this and connect it to marketing.
24. Wistia- lets your videos do the work. It is a video marketing software that makes it easy to find, engage, and grow the audience. Custom lead capture forms can be placed directly into any Wistia video at the exact moment chosen.
25. Woopra- is a customer analytics platform that helps in visualizing, analyzing, and optimizing every touchpoint in the customer journey, empowering data-driven teams to grow and innovate faster. It provides a unified analytics solution that is used by on-demand services, e-commerce, and SaaS for understanding, connecting, and engaging with customers through data. Woopra’s customer journey and segmentation data enable the user to deliver relevant messages to improve conversions and drive customer engagement.

The exhaustive list above gives a good insight into the important and significant analytic apps that are available online.

The number of online marketplaces is increasing every day. They offer convenience and time efficiency over the traditional offline platforms to the buyers as well as the sellers. According to research conducted by Statista, E-commerce sales are expected to reach $4.1 trillion by the end of 2020. This only reflects the scope of online marketplaces. Let us get an understanding of “What is an Online marketplace?”

An online marketplace is a digital platform with websites and mobile apps, where several vendors, shops, people offer products to the buyers in exchange for a marketplace fee. The owner of the marketplace attracts the customers and handle all transactions. They do not hold any inventory and focus mainly on assisting the sellers to sell through the marketplace. Perfect examples of the online marketplace are Amazon, Airbnb, Etsy. Since the online marketplace offers a huge opportunity now just for the owners but for sellers and buyers, let us look at “Tips to Build an Online Marketplace.”

1. Conduct market research and research the target audience: Market research is essential while creating an online marketplace to get a clear understanding of the target market, users, their needs, and the solution they are looking for. It is important to assess the market size to better understand what business model to adopt. Understanding the market segments will help pick the most attractive niche in the target market. Popular online marketplace Amazon has grown big by initially starting from a small niche-an online bookstore. The study of the competitors will help gain insights into the marketing strategies and the business models they use as well as the strengths and weaknesses they have to use to your advantage. Market trends help to understand what is working and what is not, changes in regulations, new technological breakthroughs, and change in customer behaviour.

The most important element of conducting market research is to identify the target audience. Knowing who the users are and what are their goals and the challenges they face in buying the product. It is also important to know where they buy from, and what motivates them to buy. Creating buyer personas will give a better understanding of the audience and help solve the problems they face. All this will help draw up a business model that will work and prepare a marketing strategy to make the marketplace successful.

2. Choose the right business model: Designing a viable business model is very essential before starting the online marketplace. The various models to consider are:
• Sign up fees- a flat payment to charge the sellers to sign up on the marketplace. This way you get the money in even before the marketplace is thriving as long as you can sell your business idea. After the initial sign up one needs to look at other ways to monetize.
• Subscription- charging the sellers a specific amount regularly to generate revenue for the marketplace.
• Listing fees- collecting a set amount from the sellers for listing their products on the marketplace. These fees can be at a flat or variable depending on the price of the product, the category of the product.
• Selling fees- A great monetization strategy. Selling fees are collected each time the seller processes an order on the marketplace. It may pose a problem initially when the orders are small but eventually can ensure high returns when the order volume grows.

3. Planning the operations of the marketplace: A plan needs to be in place to successfully manage the operations of a marketplace and make it profitable. The focus needs to be on acquiring and maintaining the sellers to make the marketplace run. The first step is to convince the sellers to come on board. You need to present your unique value proposition to them and make them understand how the marketplace will function. The way the products are organized will impact the selection of the software, the layout of the marketplace, and how the sellers publish and manage their products. Payment processing, logistics, and shipping processes need to be carefully planned to ensure smooth operations of the marketplace. Marketing strategies need to focus on the target audience to get maximum traction to make the marketplace a success.

4. Outline the features of the Marketplace: Focus on creating features that the user needs to optimize time, effort, and money for a marketplace. Start with the essentials and improve the platform with time as the business grows. Make the onboarding of sellers an easy and simple process. Optimize product management features according to the product offering on the marketplace. Make it simple for the sellers to receive and process orders and communicate with their buyers. Similarly, the buyers should be able to find what they are looking for easily, place orders, and make payments. Adding some reporting features will help understand and analyze what is working and what is not for both you and the seller.

5. Select a payment solution: For a marketplace, payment is received from the sellers, payments are received for the sellers, and payments are received from the buyers. It is a must to have a sound payment solution in place to manage all these payments safely and securely. The types of payments, the processing cost, and the availability of payment providers in the region will govern the selection of the payment solution of the marketplace.

6. Invest in the right software: Selecting the right software will help you successfully launch the marketplace. Whether you choose from the cloud, hosted platforms, standalone solutions, multi-vendor CMS extensions, or your website will depend on the kind of marketplace being built, the features the platform needs, and the user experience.

7. Get a great team in place: Getting the right software is not enough. A team needs to be put in place to manage different aspects of a marketplace from design to marketing and sales, operations, and logistics. The focus should on getting people with specialized skills who have an understanding of the marketplace. This will not only ensure success but future growth as well.

8. Develop the Marketplace: After all the planning is in place with a great team, the next step is to develop the platform. Everyone involved in it should have a clear understanding of the requirements and the timeline. Ensure that there is a backup plan in place if things don’t work out as planned. Keep it simple when designing, implementing the marketplace software, and test with real users to resolve any issues faced initially before the official launch of the marketplace.

9. Launch the Marketplace: Prepare the launch plan of the marketplace keeping in mind the timeline, the marketing message, and the primary channels that will be used. Devise a social media strategy as per your target audience and create the buzz before the launch. Do a soft launch and try and get as much feedback as you can from the initial customers. Use the feedback constructively and make changes and improvements to the platform. Post that does a test run before the launch of the marketplace. Make sure to create enough hype around the launch especially with the target audience.

10. Grow the marketplace: Post-launch the focus should be on growth and retention of the customer base as well as the seller base. Use social media to create brand awareness and attracting new customers. Set aside a budget for social media ad campaigns and have the necessary tools to analyze how well these platforms are working for you. Gather feedback from both the customer and sellers for improving the marketplace. Feature and promote the best sellers by creating case studies and success stories together with them. Always come up with new and exciting ways to engage your customers.

Building an online marketplace is a complicated and time-consuming process. Remember your niche is what will set you apart from others. Each marketplace has its unique challenges. However, with proper research and planning processes using the right expertise you can create a success story.

COVID 19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions impacting businesses worldwide and wiping out more than $ 20 trillion of the value of global equity markets.

Businesses across various industries have been forced to rethink and readjust their strategies and respond in new ways to survive through this period. The timelines for implementing new emerging technologies have changed where companies have had to accelerate drastically to cope with the pandemic. Early implementers of digitalization have seen their investments paying off now and others have realized that digital capabilities need to be enhanced to stay resilient through these times.

The nature of the pandemic is helping certain industries succeed even after the restriction like remote working, social distancing is in place. Let us get an insight into the industries that are creating opportunities and are likely to thrive post the pandemic.

1. E-Commerce: Due to restrictions in place and fear of going to public places, the online marketplaces are booming. E-commerce companies have seen a huge growth in transaction orders despite the challenges faced with the supply chain. Many companies are expected to turn profitable in the next 1 year. This remarkable shift is not expected to retreat to the pre-COVID levels once things get back to normal.

2. Remote Working Technology: With billions of people working from home offices must stay connected. Schools around the world have moved to remote learning models making telecommunications and remote working platforms more important than ever before. Businesses that provide video meetings, file sharing, webinars, and other mobile collaborations have seen exponential growth. They are looking to hire more people to cope with the surge in demand. This new trend is likely to become the default method of communication for many industries in the future.

3. Industrial Real Estate: With growing interest in bringing industries closer to customers for better control in times of disruption, as well as for increasing safety stock, the demand for industrial space will likely grow. To accommodate more complex pick-pack systems and provide access to a greater variety of products, typically associated with any e-commerce distribution facility, the real demand for such a space will be thrice the size of a regular B2B facility. The change in the model could also see management either working from the distribution facility and/or from home.

4. Health Industry: The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries around the world are most essential in current circumstances. Companies are providing delivery services for medical supplies not just to individuals but to private clinics as well. With people switching to teleconsultations as a preferred way, companies that provide a platform to book appointments and consultations with doctors have seen record-high traffic and it is likely to grow in the future. The enhanced flexibility and convenience that this platform provides both for the patient and the healthcare provider will ensure the continuous growth even post the pandemic.

5. Product and Service Delivery: Companies that cater to deliveries of essential supplies has seen a huge spike in demand. Third-party services are being used by restaurants e-commerce, F&B companies to fulfil the substantial growth in orders as their current delivery infrastructure cannot cope with the surge in demand. In the post COVID world, it is anticipated that the delivery service will continue to stay in high demand.

6. Automation: Robots have been viewed as a threat to the workforce. With the current need for social distancing and least human interactions, the benefits of using such technology are superseding its threats of replacing humans. Warehouse operations have been transformed in current times. Companies are looking for low-cost, flexible automation solutions to replace humans where it is possible to do so. This trend will continue and diversify in the future. Many jobs will be lost, but once the companies switch to these technologies during current times, it is highly unlikely for them to revert to pre COVID times.

7. Augmented Reality: AI was incorporated into many online channels to cope with restrictions imposed due to COVID leading to a fall in sales in-store. It is likely to replace the need to feel and touch goods before making a purchase. The industry will see growth in the future with technological improvements and lower costs.

8. Online Grocery Stores: Online sales for grocery items have seen a drastic rise in orders in current times. Many companies have had to hire personnel to cope with high demand and ensure deliveries are made on time. With restrictions easing this trend is likely to stay with people opting for the convenience of the online stores.

9. Cloud Kitchens: a concept referred to as e-commerce of food where there are virtual restaurants and food can be ordered online and delivered to the customers. Centralized kitchens can serve as a hub for many restaurants who can reduce their cost of having a physical restaurant and staff to run it.

10. E-Learning: With children across the world forced to continue their education from home, e-learning has become essential. This holds true for colleges and universities as well. With this shift and the integration of information technology in education, it will make online education an integral part of the education industry.

Countries have increasingly felt the need to have their manufacturing rather than relying on other countries to have more resilience in their supply chain. This socio-economic trend to reverse globalization will ensure that no organization faces challenges like those that the pandemic presented.

The Post-COVID road is certainly going to be bumpy and unpredictable, but it is in these uncertain times great opportunities arise. The pandemic has compelled many companies to evolve, transform, and digitalize to conduct business. Some businesses will survive and emerge strong, transformed reshaped and some will not survive. The key lies in bringing about the changes necessary to overcome any future challenges.

COVID 19 has changed everything around us from the way we live to the way we shop.

The use of technology by businesses and people has soared and is visible with the increase in internet usage by 60 percent. There has been a substantial shift in retail spending from planning to buying products we need. These changes have brought about a complete change in the retail setting. Businesses today are using a variety of resources to understand the changing customer behaviour like google trends, survey, analysis of their data as well as social listening to be able to make decisions in real-time. Google has stepped up and has offered tools like “Rising Retail Categories” since May 2020 which highlights fast-growing product-related categories along with the location.

To help European, Middle East, and Africa retailers make the most of the digital opportunities, Google is all set to launch its new initiative “Accelerating Retail” in September 2020.

What is Accelerating Retail?

Retail accounts for 9 percent of jobs in the European Union alone and it will play a vital role in the recovery. Accelerating Retail is a platform designed to help retailers of all sizes across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa accelerate business recovery and growth and to be ready for the upcoming peak shopping season. The month-long program will introduce new products, tools, free training, real-time insights, and resources to plan for the future.

Why do we need a platform like Accelerated Retail?

1. Retailers need to respond to the changing needs of the consumers-The world around us has seen a major change after COVID 19 was declared a pandemic. Online shopping has seen exponential growth which has brought about challenges in decision making for the businesses. The needs of the consumers have changed and their buying journey which started from research to exploring options both offline and online have now gone through a change due to the uncertainty in the availability of the products. Consumers have become more open to exploring other brands and options available. Having said that they now need help in finding the right product, at the right place, at the right time. This provides a perfect opportunity for the retail industry to respond to the consumer needs and changes in behaviour while building their brand online and in-store through the use of tools of Accelerated Retail.

2. Recovery and growth through digital- Online retail demand have soared and the focus of any business now needs to be on providing great customer experience and build brand recognition. With the launch of a new version of “Grow My Store” in many countries, Google wants to help local businesses to improve digital shopping, grow customer traffic, and enhance the online customer experience to complete transactions. It is as simple as entering the business URL into the tool to get a customized report, digital traffic trends, industry benchmarks, and actionable tips to improve. This will help retailers reach their potential customers. Upgrading of Smart Shopping campaigns is being done to help with the acquisition of new customers and simplify advertiser onboarding. The use of “Rising Retail Trends”, which was specific to the U.S., U.K., and Australia has been expanded to other regions on the world to providing insights to fast-growing retail categories with locations where more interest is seen.

With the growth in online spending, the success of the retail sector will depend on the online and offline offering, and the customer purchase experience. Research conducted by Google in collaboration with Euromonitor shows that in the next five years purchases will be made in-store but retailers who offer in-store and digital platforms will gain the maximum. Through the use of digital technologies, retailers can become more resilient and ensure growth. Accelerated Retail will help make that possible and prepare retailers for what lies ahead.