Out of the majority of branches in mobile app development, iOS is one of the most lucrative and popular. This is why, it is anticipated by experts that by 2023, the worldwide revenue of iOS apps will reach over$935 billion.
With these opportunities comes the massive competition that every business dealing with iOS app development needs to deal with. One of the most promising strategies for gaining an edge in the competitive market is following the latest trends in iOS technology.
If you wish to know the latest trends in iOS development then you’re at the right place, in this article we’ll be discussing just that. Following these trends will skyrocket your iOS app’s user experience to another level.
Let’s get started, shall we!
1) Augmented reality
It is one of the most successfully implemented iOS development trends. It is hugely popular in entertainment; for instance Pokemon Go or animated masks and stickers on Instagram or Snapchat.
The ARKit 5 framework provides iOS developers and users with more opportunities and combined with machine learning, lets you place AR objects at a specific location with the help of a Location Anchor.
Not only this, users can now make use of the front and back cameras of their devices instantaneously if they wish, and even place AR content behind or in front of people, experiencing green screen effects in a real-world environment.
2) Swift 6
It all starts with selecting the right programming language. For most iOS app developers, Swift is used as a minimalistic tool that is thus easy to learn and execute.
So what makes iOS app development with Swift so comfortable and efficient? It’s all about compatibility, API and module stability and clear syntax.
As for Swift 6, developers can expect a considerable rise in the capabilities of the language in 2022 and the coming years. It is said that Swift 6 will focus more on supporting a variety of platforms, other than iOS. Moreover, developers are also expecting improvements in diagnostics, code completion and debugging,
3) Machine learning & AI
ML and AI have always been an integral part of iOS mobile development. Users won’t even be able to recognise an iOS app without face and speech recognition, search recommendations, Siri, and text & image classification features.
All loyal Apple users are well known for Siri, an intelligent voice assistant that responds to voice commands. Since 2016, iOS developers have been integrating their apps with Siri to implement its voice control features. Now you can also create custom intents to provide your app with exclusive features.
Needless to say, Machine learning & AI will always remain a core aspect of iOs development and it’s not going anywhere, instead it will grow even more in the coming years.
4) App Clips
Would you be able to develop an iOS app that consumers could use without downloading it? App Clips is the solution and one of the latest iOS app trends. This technology allows users to utilise one part of an application to try out before downloading its full version.
AppClips are automatically removed from the iPhone if not used for around 30 days. They are as safe to use as regular apps, as they get reviewed by App Store moderators, so users need not worry about any privacy issues.
Creating app clips is an iOS app development stage that is worth it, as Its success might become the turning point for the triumph of your whole application. So make sure it is eye-catching and extensively informative for your users.
Lastly…
It is all about creating an app that attracts users and makes your products or services easier to sell. By using the features, your business app will make that happen.
In case you need help in iOS or hybrid app development or have any questions regarding iOS apps, please feel free to book a free 30 minutes session with us and we’ll try our best to help you out
Marketing is more than attracting people, it’s about creating value within your brand so they can relate to your offerings and approach you themselves. This way you can create long-lasting relationships with your customer and get returning business from them.
Needless it used to require a lot of effort from cross-functional teams to implement optimum marketing strategies. However, with recent technological advancements, it’s possible to automate the majority of your marketing campaigns, and one of the bests tools for marketing automation is a customer relationship platform (CRM).
In this article, we are going to discuss how the CRM platform help in streamlining your business’s automated marketing endeavours, so without further ado let’s get started.
What is customer relationship management software?
CRM is a marketing automation software, designed to take care of all your major customer relations needs, and automate crucial elements within your business. It plays the role of an ideal secretary. It is constantly working for the betterment of your marketing strategies, marketing designs, customer feedback loops, and more.
Some of its major functions include historically tracking historical customer data, including dates and notes of phone conversations, past purchase records, and email interactions as they proceed through the buyer’s journey. Using tagging logic the CRM applies tags on the users when they take certain actions such as adding items to their wishlist or filling out a form and launches email campaigns to direct the leads back into your sales funnel.
Why CRM is the best choice for marketing automation?
The CRM has a wide range of benefits that elevate your automated marketing capabilities such as:
Reduces chances of Human Error
When businesses have an outdated system or process in place for lead tracking, the probability of human error that comes with managing the shortcomings increases which might lead to prospects slipping through the cracks. CRMs marketing automation enables your sales team to have the right tools to close a deal.
Unify Your Database Management
The CRM provides all the user’s information in one place, Marketing teams don’t have to go out of their way to forage customer profile information and instead are able to prepare to approach leads and prospects based on unified data management.
Provide Consistent Messaging
The marketing communication that affects the customer’s experience can be aligned when engaging with the client. It’s not as much of a challenge to provide consistent messaging when you have all the contextual information available in CRM.
Lastly…
The CRM is truly a wonderful platform fully capable of automating all your marketing endeavours. However, to unlock its full potential, you need support from professional digital marketers like QL Tech having over a decade of experience in CRM implementation and customisation.
In case you need help in CRM customisation or have any questions regarding CRMs, please feel free to book a free 30 minutes session with us and we’ll try our best to help you out
Having a beautiful website with great content isn’t enough your website’s design should be in such a way that your leads get registered efficiently. The first step would be to start off with high-demand generation campaigns that generate leads.
The aim of the marketing team for the business is to procure as many leads as that successfully convert to loyal customers who bring repeated business. Any professional digital marketer knows that they need to set up effective lead nurturing campaigns to gather more and more leads for your brand, However, its easier said than done,
This is why in this article we’re to be discussing some of the most powerful lead nurturing campaigns that will capture your audience’s attention, increase their lead scores, and boost the selling potential of your website and your sales team.
So let’s get cracking, shall we!
1) Segment leads for targetted messages
Your brand might be offering multiple products or services but not all your leads may be interested in everything you’ve got. This is why engaging with your leads through personalised messaging is necessary. When you communicate with your audience with contextual messaging, the success rates of conversion increase exponentially.
Your business should implement a system for grouping your leads into targeted segments. This would allow you to focus on specific challenges and solutions, which will enable you to form a relationship with your prospects on a more personal level.
You can segment your leads either based on their behaviour or demographics and some organisations use multiple buyer’s personas. Now the good news is you don’t have to do all this manually, There are tools like Customer Data Platform (CDP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to automate your contextual messaging and make sure the right messages reach the right people at the right time.
2) Educate more, promote less
Most marketers are so eager to get business from their leads that they get overly promotional. What the need to be focused on empowering the audience with educational content so that the audience truly understands the challenge your brand can help them with.
People don’t want a sales pitch they need to feel enabled so that they can make a purchase decision on their own, If we keep ignoring what the leads really want there is a very high chance that we might lose them.
The main objective should be to provide meaningful and actionable information throughout your email campaign that follows a clear path through the marketing funnel.
3) The first impression has a massive impact
The first email that you sent to your audience becomes a deciding factor that whether your brand would be judged spammy or whether the recipient would look forward to further communications from your side.
It is crucial we always remember the value of a lead, don’t spoil the relationship before you give it a chance to blossom by failing to follow up on an engagement or spamming with too many messages in a short timespan.
In this regard a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Customer Data Platform (CDP) can help your business out greatly, they track the open rate of emails and follow what was the email about. Based on this your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Customer Data Platform (CDP) can send relevant information to your leads and gently guide them through the funnel.
Final words…
Lead nurturing is one of the most crucial activities of digital marketing and if done correctly it can do wonders for your business’s growth. However, it is not as easy as it seems, it is advised you consider consulting with a professional digital marketer if you wish to implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Customer Data Platform (CDP) for your business.
In case you have any questions or need more advice on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) & Customer Data Platform (CDP) implementation feel free to contact us and we would be happy to help you out.
Businesses are always looking for new innovative ways to connect with their clientele. As the customers are not as susceptible to traditional marketing tactics as they used to be, the need for a more transformative approach is crucial.
One of the Next-generation technologies that can really transform the process of reaching customers is Virtual reality or VR in short. We understand that while many of you might associate VR as a Sci-fy idea, but the potential of its Real-world benefits is TREMENDOUS.
With each & every day more practical applications for virtual reality a popping up. Which is why today we’ll highlight some of these applications as well as what’s next in the VR universe.
But first, let’s start with a bit of Introduction:
What is Virtual Reality?
It is a computer-generated environment that visualises scenes and objects appearing to be real so that the user feels completely immersed in the virtual surroundings. This virtual environment is experienced by using a device such as Virtual Reality headset or helmet. Using Virtual reality technology you can play a video game as one of the game characters and experience the game environment as your virtual surroundings.
There is a lot of confusion around Virtual reality and Augmented reality so let’s get this straightened out. The main difference between the two technologies is that VR builds a fully immersive virtual world around the user with the help of a specific headset. On the other hand, in Augmented reality (AR), the real world becomes the framework within which objects, images or sound are added best example is Pokémon Go.
Applications of Virtual Reality
Recruitment and Training
Virtual Reality has benefitted the corporate sector quite a bit. Many companies apply this revolutionary technology recruiting and training their staff. Training with seemingly real work challenges and scenarios has a greater impact on the employees and helps them retain the learnings better.
Using virtual reality that engages the employees in seemingly real work challenges and scenarios. Similarly, businesses can set up simulated interviews and recruit the best candidates for the job. Employees can practice complex processes without the risk of anything going wrong. This helps them become best prepared for the challenges in the real-world workplace.
Leisure
The tours and travels industry is always searching for the best possible ways to showcase travel destinations to their clients. Now we’re sure you can imagine how virtual reality comes into the picture when it comes to the prospects experiencing the looks & feel of holiday destinations around the globe.
With VR Technology, the world becomes a place where people can learn and immerse themselves in a myriad of cultures and traditions. Combining with leisure can lead everyone to a greater understanding and appreciation for each other.
Healthcare
Healthcare is an important field where VR can have a significant impact. Healthcare professionals can make use of virtual models to prepare themselves before working on real bodies and Virtual reality can even be applied as pain relief for burn injuries.
VR technology can also be used as a treatment for mental health issues and the Virtual Reality immersion Therapy has proved to be particularly effective in the treatment of PTSD and anxiety.
Healthcare still has a lot of untapped potential in which the Virtual tech can be applied for therapeutic purposes.
Education
VR tech has transformed education by enabling students to learn in a highly immersive, experiential way. Universities have developed apps that lets the students take a virtual tour of Ancient Rome, explore the human brain, and imagination is the limit.
ImmersiveVREducation is working on a virtual classroom/meeting room space, where people can virtually immerse themselves and learn from lecturers around the world.
What’s Next For Virtual Reality?
The leading technology companies are already working towards developing VR headsets that do not need cables and allow images to be seen in High Definition.
There are even speculations that in the coming years they could integrate Artificial Intelligence. This will enable more devices and large user communities to be connected. Moreover, its minimal latency will make it possible for people to immerse themselves in the virtual environment, almost as if they were seeing them with their own eyes.
All this proves that Virtual Reality is no longer science fiction. It can very likely be integrated into our present and, in the coming years.
In Conclusion
The universe of Virtual reality is expanding and is not limited to the limited application descriptions above. There is no telling of the amazing ways VR will change the future. All we can do is sit back, relax and watch the glorious future unfold.
We promise to keep you updated on the next Big thing in Virtual tech. But in case you have any questions or need help in fitting this technology in your business. Simply drop us a line and we’ll get in touch with you in no time.
Here’s QL Tech’s comprehensive guide to digital marketing, irrespective of your size or budget.
Whether you own and run a business, or work in the marketing department, you can’t escape digital marketing. It is the buzzword and covers a vast set of opportunities – as well as its own, unique terminology.
In this article, we’ll cover all digital marketing comprehensively, with detailed explanations. After reading through, you’ll know what your options are, and how best to leverage them effectively.
What is Digital Marketing
Digital marketing covers all the activities that involve reaching out to people via the internet. Its foundation is content (information), which is used to attract people to get acquainted with, and buy your products or services.
Speaking of content, remember, that even a well written (and free!) Google My Business listing counts. However, as you get savvier, you’ll want to ramp it up to increase eyeballs and revenue.
There are multiple methods and channels you can use to put your message across. Some are free. Others cost money.
But, the internet is vast and diverse. It accommodates everyone, offering several smart ways to do it, irrespective of your size, or budget.
Why Digital Marketing is Hot (And Will Continue to Be)
Advertising online is the in thing. Any other reasons to join the bandwagon?
Yes, lots!
Reason #1: Digital Marketing Works, Because it’s Targeted and Relevant
Let’s explain that further. Targeted means you can show your message specifically to the people you choose to. Relevant, as you can show different messages to different audiences.
Billboards and TV ads are displayed to everyone watching it. Some may like it. Others might not even relate to it.
Reason #2: When You Market on the Internet, Costs are Way Lower
A billboard costs between $2,300 to $100,000 per month. A sought-after TV spot during the grand finals will cost even more. And that’s not counting the production costs.
On the other hand, you can advertise (with plain text) on Google search pages with a budget of a hundred.
You can also pass on your message for free, with a good content marketing strategy – we’ll be expanding on this later.
Reason #3: With Online Marketing, You Only Pay for What You Get
While there are multiple billing methods on the internet, nearly all involve paying only when a user takes an action. It might be a view or a click – you choose.
Reason #4: The Internet Opens Up a Larger Audience
89% of Australians are on the internet. You have more chance of connecting with them on the internet, than anywhere else.
Reason #5: You Can Change Your Marketing Strategy by the Minute
Once you’ve made an offline marketing campaign, you’re more or less stuck with it, irrespective of the performance. With digital marketing, you can alter your strategy in seconds. You can change your audience, messaging and even the amount you’re willing to pay.
Reason #6: Your ROI is Measurable
It’s really hard to measure how much of your sales were due to a TV, print, or billboard ad. With digital marketing, you know which ad or piece of content resulted in a conversion. This allows you to fine-tune your messaging to a T.
Reason #7 You Can Beat Rivals With Deeper Pockets
The Internet makes the David vs Goliath story an everyday reality. You don’t need to shell out big bucks to fight for limited space on a newspaper. If you play it smart, betting on the right keywords and messaging, you can beat the competition at their game.
How Digital Marketing Works
Effective internet marketing is built on 3 key foundations (ranked in the order of importance):
Audience
While content is king, your audience is your God. They decide what will work, and what won’t.
That’s why it’s critical to understand who your prospects are, their likes and dislikes. You need to know where they hang out on the net. Their lingo. And their online habits.
Content
Once you get to know your audience, you can then create content tailored to them. You speak their language. You address their pain points. You like the things they like. And your pet peeves are the same.
Understanding the Buyer’s Journey
In broad terms, there are 3 stages of the buyer’s journey online.
First comes the awareness stage, when your audience becomes aware that they have a problem, and wonder what the solution could be. You know the answer – you! But, don’t shout it out just yet. Address their problem, and let them in on all the possible solutions, including any you don’t own.
Second, comes the consideration stage, when your prospects are weighing the solutions very seriously. This is the time to give your products or services centerstage, expressing why you’re the best option.
Finally, there’s the decision stage. Your prospects have made up their minds. All they require is a nudge into your shopping cart. Time for a discount maybe?
What are the Elements of Digital Marketing?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social Media Marketing
Email Marketing
Retargeting & Remarketing
Pay Per Click (PPC) & its Variations
Affiliate Marketing
Marketing Automation
Sponsored Content & Native Advertising
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of optimising your website and content towards search engine queries.
Unless you’re a well-known brand or name, a search engine is the most likely place to be discovered. After all, nearly half of product searches start on Google.
Optimizing your content for search engines is important because users may use different terms to the ones you think they do.
Lets’s say you own a shoe store. You’re wondering which of your products should take centre stage and build your content around. Should you focus on sneakers, trainers, runners or running shoes?
You think about it a lot, and decide that you’ll focus on the word ‘sports shoes’. After all, more people will search for a generic term, right? If you look up the Google search data, here are the results.
As you can see, the word ‘sports shoes’ is not so popular among Australians on Google.
Here’s another insight you can get from search data.
If a person searched for just runners, they might be referring to carpets! So it’s a term you must use carefully.
The key to SEO is to do keyword analysis on Google Adwords, and find the terms related to your product that people search for. You can then build your site content around these terms.
While at it, also create content related to your main keywords. When you’ve covered the topic completely, Google will consider you to be an expert in that realm, and direct more traffic your way.
SEO falls into 3 categories:
On-page SEO
It refers to all the content optimization efforts done on your site, like in the example above. It includes keyword research, and then adding keywords in your content (not stuffing them), especially in the headlines and subheads.
You must also add keywords in your metatags and meta descriptions – they let the search engine bots know what your site is about. Meta descriptions also appear on the search results page, just under your page’s title. Do note though, Google might decide to take other content from the page if it feels that’s more relevant to the search query.
Off-page SEO
There’s another factor besides the quality and authoritativeness of the content on your site, that Google uses to rank you for a certain keyword. It’s the number of backlinks you have.
Backlinks are the links pointing to your site from an external source. And it’s very important to have as many of them as possible.
Consider it to be like a good reputation. You wouldn’t give too much importance to a person himself claiming to be very good. On the other hand, if many other people told you he was really very good, you’d definitely take notice.
At the same time, if a lot of shady characters recommended the guy, you’d be downright sceptical. Therefore, your backlinks must be from good sources.
2 factors determine the quality of your backlinks.
Relevant Anchor Text
Anchor text is the words within which your link is embedded. So, if you want to rank high on Google search results for shoes, it helps if the links to your site come attached to the word shoes or related terms.
It also helps if the links are from pages with relevant content. Plus, links pointing to your homepage are not as beneficial as those pointing to a page hosting the content you’re optimizing for.
Domain Authority
DA is a term that gives you an idea about the quality of a website. It ranges from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more of a ranking boost you’ll get.
A DA score above 70 is very good, but it’s not easy to get a link from such sites.
DA between 70 to 20 is good, and that’s where you should aim to get links from.
A score below 20 is like a shady reputation. Give it a miss.
Remember, that you can’t trick Google with shortcuts like placing links in comments, or using sites that are built solely for generating backlinks. Tactics you can use are guest blogging, republishing (modified) content, and creating classy infographics.
The bottom line is to simply create awesome and original content that others will want to link back to.
Technical SEO
SEO also has a more technical aspect related to your website, and how it is structured. You need to ensure that all of your pages are accessible to Google’s search engine bot, as it crawls the internet looking to find new pages and categorise them. A good web designer will help with this.
2. Content Marketing
Content is the #1 way to stand out from the competition on the net.
But, creating good content is not enough. You also have to put it out there, calling attention to it.
Content marketing is the process of generating quality content and distributing it across multiple channels across the net.
As you can see, there are two steps to it. First, create useful information that your audience is searching for. Next, share it across multiple channels and fora to bring visitors to your site.
Both the traffic generated, as well as the engagement that your content earns (such as likes and shares will make Google sit up and take notice.
You can only put so much content on your main pages. So to achieve the critical mass required for success, you need to diversify into multiple content types. Some of them are:
Blogs
Having a blog, and posting articles regularly is key. The first step is to figure out the broad topics that you want to cover and write a bunch of articles around each. Answer the questions your audience have on their mind. Address their pain points. Offer solutions and advice. But, don’t hard sell all the time.
Whitepapers, Guides & Ebooks
Such long forms of content serve multiple aims.
They establish you as an expert. They also give your audience something to take home and keep with them.
And the best part is, that you’re giving all this helpful advice for free. Well, kind of! Before giving away your pdfs, you can ask for their email in return. That way, you can build a database of customers – a very important part of digital marketing.
The data you collect can be loaded onto a customer data platform or CRM, and you can send across emails, newsletters, exclusive offers, and more.
The one drawback of giving access to your best information only after filling a form is that Google can’t crawl it. It means that the content in your pdf won’t help your search engine results page (SERP) rankings as Google doesn’t know you have it.
Therefore, put most of that information on the page, with a button that leads to the form.
Videos
Everyone loves visual content. You’re probably watching more videos than you’re reading articles. Videos are a good way to provide value for your audience’s time.
Did you know that Youtube is the most visited site after Google? On average, an Australian user spends 18 minutes on it, visiting 10 pages every day. That’s even more time than spent on the search engine.
Besides, 82% of all consumer traffic on the net will be directed towards videos by 2022. And here’s the best stat – your video has a 50 times higher chance of appearing on the 1st page of Google, as compared to text content on the same topic.
3. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
While SEO and content marketing are free, SEM is when you pay to be placed on the first pages of Google. Your ad appears when a user types in your keyword in the search box – this is called paid search. The ad also appears above the usual search results – also known as organic search.
This is especially useful when you’re starting, or you need a quick burst of sales volumes.
What you need to do, is first identify the keywords that you think will drive traffic and/or sales. Google Adwords indicates the volume and competitiveness of each keyword. The ideal one to pick has high search volumes and low competition.
That way, you can get your message across to a large number of people, without paying as much.
Once you’ve picked your keyword, you’ve got to place a bid for it. That’s what you’ll pay if a user clicks on your ad. There are 2 ways to bid:
Manual Bidding
You manually set how much you’re willing to bid for each keyword.
Automated bidding
You set an average daily budget per click. Google then automatically places a bid, to maximize your clicks within your budget over a month.
So, do you have to outbid everyone else for your ad to be seen? No. Google decides which ad appears based on this formula:
Ad Rank = CPC Bid x Quality Score
What is the Quality Score in Google Ads?
Google measures your quality score based on 3 factors:
Expected Click Through Rate (CTR)
How likely is it that your ad will be clicked on for a certain query?
Ad Relevance
Does your ad content match the user’s intent?
Landing Page
Are the landing pages (where the click takes users) relevant and useful to those who’ve clicked?
The gist of it is, that your ad content and landing pages must closely match the user’s keywords and intent. How your ad performs over time ultimately determines the quality score.
By fine-tuning your content, you can get your ad to appear higher, despite bidding lower than your competition.
Another big advantage of SEM is that you can show your ad to very specific audiences. You can define who sees your ads based on demographics and current location. You can also create different content to be shown to different audiences, even if they type in the same thing.
You can also be picky about the keyword variations your ads appear for. You can choose:
Broad Match
Your ad appears if your keyword matches with the intent of the query
Phrase Match
Your ad is displayed if the keyword phrase is included in the query.
Exact Match
Your shows up only if the exact keyword or a close variation is typed in.
Negative Keywords
You can also choose to not show your ads if a certain word appears along with the query. For example, if you’re targeting the word ‘runners’ for your shoe store. You can ensure your ad does not appear if the word ‘carpet’ and related terms appear.
The wider your net, the more impressions your ad will receive, but it will also increase your costs.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social Media Marketing is simply promoting your content on social media. There are 2 ways to do it.
One is to create highly engaging as well as share-worthy content and promote it among your social communities. This is absolutely free. You can also take part in social discussions, and converse with influencers to spread your message.
Besides, networks like Instagram allow users to follow the hashtags of their choice. When they do, they are shown posts containing the hashtag, even from people they don’t follow.
So, add relevant hashtags that your audience is likely to be interested in.`
The other way to market on social media is to pay for your ad or content to be shown. This is great to connect with new audiences.
Here’s proof. 60% of Instagram users in a survey have followed a new brand after seeing an ad.
Social media is also a great place to sell. More than 33% of the respondents in the same survey have made a purchase after seeing an ad on Instagram.
Some of the top social sites are:
LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest
The most common mistake marketers make when on social media, is taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
Each channel is different, and the same audience does things differently on each. You should do the same too.
Tailor your messaging to mimic your audience’s actions. Use the appropriate content format. And focus on building a community of believers.
Paid social media marketing works very similarly to PPC. Each channel has its version of the quality score. And all allow you to target specific audiences.
But, there’s one additional variable when it comes to user targeting on social media – audience behaviour.
You can, for example, show your sports shoe ads to people who follow a certain athlete, are part of a fitness community, or, liked/shared a post related to sports in the recent past.
This allows you to show your ad to more precise buyer personas, allowing for more clicks and conversions.
Email Marketing
An email is perhaps the one means of communication that you’re sure will reach your prospect. But the drawback is that every other marketer knows this, and inboxes are flooded with emails – most of them unwelcome.
So how do you stand out among the clutter?
Here’s the step by step way to being welcome in your audience’s inbox.
Create a Database of Customers
Offer every visitor to your site something in return for their email id. It could be an eBook download. A discount code. Or a newsletter they’d love to read.
You can do the same across social media channels too.
Segment Your Database
Segment your users according to their personas, tastes, and stage in the buyer’s journey.
Send Personalised Emails
Send emails that are in tune with each user segment’s needs. Also, refer to each person by name. If your database is huge, an email or marketing automation tool can help you achieve this without a sweat.
Avoid Spammy Content
There are certain words email service providers use to classify mail as unwanted and send them to the spam folder. Words like FREE, offer and discount are red flags.
Allow Easy Unsubscribing
Make it easy for a user to stop receiving emails. Otherwise, you might end up in the spam folder, and that’s always a black mark against your email id.
Display Advertising
Display ads are visual ads that appear on websites. To put up a display ad, you can get in touch with a site popular among your audience directly, or link up with a display ad network.
The top display ad networks are:
Google Display Network (Adsense)
Facebook Audience Network Ads
Yahoo! Network
Apple Advertising
Taboola
Airpush
Each of these networks has its own advantages, and it’s up to you to pick the right one. Facebook Audience Network Ads, for example, uses the humungous user data the social network has, as well as its other in-house channels like Instagram and Whatsapp.
Apple Advertising gives access to the apps in the Apple app store. Taboola lets you display ads on its vast network of affiliate sites.
There are hundreds of display networks. Many focus on niche categories and geographical locations. So, find the sites your audience frequent, and create the appropriate messaging for each site you’re advertising on.
In addition to PPC, there are 2 more ways to decide the terms on which you’ll pay.
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
You pay every time 1,000 users view your ad.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
You pay only when a predetermined conversion occurs.
7. Retargeting & Remarketing
Retargeting is simply sending a relevant message to users who’ve already interacted with your site before.
They may have visited a few pages without taking any real action. They may have loaded an item onto a shopping cart, but haven’t returned since. Or, they could have visited a CTA page, without filling in the form and pressing the button.
In the first case, wouldn’t it be great if you could offer a guide related to the pages the prospect was browsing? For the second, a discount on that very product might turn the tide in your favour. And in the last case, offering that CTA page goodie without having to fill the entire form (only keying the email id) – might be a nice display of empathy.
All of the above actions are possible, and it’s put into action by the humble cookie.
When a visitor visits your site, you can allow the browser to place a cookie on his or her computer. When another site is visited by the same user, you can display the appropriate ad. For this to happen, you’d have to tap into a display network, and give them a collection of display ads. The network will then display the ad.
This form of retargeting is also known as offsite retargeting.
With the help of the cookie, you can also perform actions on your site. Like an on-page popup displaying a discount, or maybe offering to take the visitor back to the page they were last on. This is an example of onsite retargeting.
Remarketing is essentially the same thing, except that you use cookie information to send highly contextual emails.
In addition, display networks also allow you to use a visitor’s email id to identify and send them the right ad. In this case, the line between retargeting and remarketing blur, to mean the same thing.
8. Marketing Automation
As you’re probably wondering, how is it possible to retarget visitors? After all, everything occurs in milliseconds.
The visitor visits your site. Then leaves to visit another site. Between the time your prospect clicks on that site, and the page loads, the decision on which ad to display is made. And when the page content appears, your message is there too.
All of this is possible with marketing automation. It connects all the key players in your online marketing efforts – website, customer database, email engine and marketing systems – as well as your sales and marketing teams.
The perfect marketing automation system helps you identify and segment your audience, create the right content, and automatically perform the appropriate actions based on what your audience is doing – in real-time
Here are some examples.
Email Automation
You can retarget site visitors, send thank you emails on a purchase, and send the appropriate newsletter to the right audience segment. All, without moving a muscle.
Nurturing Leads into Customers
You can send the apt information at the appropriate time to your prospects, to nudge them along in the buyer’s journey. The information can be sent via multiple channels – free as well as paid – and coordinated across your marketing, sales and service teams.
Programmatic Advertising
Targeting the right audience at the right time with the right messaging – automatically, is called programmatic advertising. All of this happens in real-time.
Measuring ROI
There are multiple ways to measure ROI. You might want to calculate your returns based on conversions, sales, or simply brand engagement. With an automated system in place, you can check all of these factors on the go. With such information at your fingertips, you can focus on your marketing strategy, recalibrating it by the minute.
Attribution Modelling
When it comes to online marketing, conversion usually happens over multiple touchpoints. A customer may have read a blog, then viewed a video, and finally clicked on a display ad with a discount before buying.
So, which of these touchpoints do you give credit to?
There are various attribution models. Some give credit to the first touchpoint(s), and others to the last (few). There are also attribution models that distribute the credit to different touchpoints in a weighted manner.
An automated digital marketing system can automatically attribute your successes to the touchpoints you choose. Over time, you can decipher which of your assets are giving you the most returns.
Marketing automation allows you to let the system handle all the mundane, repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on the strategic decisions that’ll grow your business.
9. Affiliate Advertising
You can display ads from other brands on your site, to earn additional revenue. To do so, you’ll have to join an affiliate network. After you join, you can open up spaces on your webpage for advertisers on the network.
There are many compensation methods, including:
Revenue sharing/commissions/pay per sale (PPS)
Cost per action/acquisition (CPA)
Cost per click (CPC)
Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
Getting a commission on a sale is the most popular way to get paid as a member of an affiliate network. So, ensure that your audience, the content of the display page, and the ad messaging are aligned, for best results.
10. Sponsored Content & Native Advertising
As you know, ads are sales-y and viewers know you’re making a pitch. To overcome this hitch, there are forms of advertising that are not so obvious.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content may be in the form of an advertorial, where a website or online publication publishes an article that conveys information about your brand and/or products. Influencer marketing is also a form of sponsored content, where you pay social media stars in cash or kind to promote your products.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is creating promotional content for a site in a format and tone that looks exactly like the other material on the site. A good example is this article on the dreariness of filing tax returns on The Onion by H&R Block, a tax payment firm.
Three Ways to Minimize Costs With Digital Marketing
The key to minimizing your online advertising costs is to target your ads to as specific an audience as possible. That way, you display your ad to the people most likely to take the desired action, driving down advertising costs, and pushing up conversion rates and ROI.
Besides the targeting techniques mentioned in the article so far, here are 3 more:
Ad Scheduling
You specify the time periods when your ads are displayed, picking the times your audience is most likely to be online.
Device Targeting
You choose the device on which your ad is displayed, like picking mobiles for queries with ‘near me’ in it. That’s when your prospect is most likely to buy.
Geotargeting
You aim at users within a target radius, ideally when they’re close to your store.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is the holy grail of marketing today, and leveraging it effectively is critical to win customers and make friends in the digital age. The advantage of internet marketing is that small players can punch above their weight, and quick, agile marketers can outfox the heavyweights.
As you transform your business into an online marketing machine, remember to keep your audience at the centre of all your efforts. Focus primarily on your customers, not the competition. Create content that they’ll love. And spread it across the channels they frequent, in their everyday language.
Remember, as the world moves online, a well-thought digital marketing strategy will give your business the immunity to survive the pandemic and its crippling effects.
At QL Tech, we’ve been aiding businesses in their digital transformation efforts with market analysis, process & marketing automation, customer database platforms, and digital marketing. Get in touch, and we’ll help you get ahead too.
The year 2020 might have been awful in so many ways from start to finish. But one thing is for sure, we have made great strides in the development of the latest innovation in digital marketing platforms that is the Customer Database Platform (CDP).
Every entrepreneur is trying to utilise this technology to gain an edge in the world of online marketing and customer service. Which is to be expected as the Customer Database Platform can really help in transforming both the aspects of the business.
But before we jump the gun talking about the latest trends in CDP, for those who a fairly new to the platform, we’ll discuss a little bit about CDP and what it can do?
So, let’s get cracking shall we…
About Customer Database Platform
In short, a CDP is a Digital marketing framework that helps present a centralised, diligent and individual perspective on the customer, consolidating data from numerous channels, platforms, and tools.
Not only this the Customer Database Platform lets the data migrate to and fro between different customer data frameworks to streamline communications and oversee customer engagement. The information it consolidates can be easily customized that enables businesses to implement contextual marketing strategies.
Some of its main features
1) Reporting via customized dashboards
CDPs display strong utility in terms of customisation. With real-time notification capabilities, This platform can auto-generate highly refined reports for end-to-end visualisation. Its unifies dashboards will permit you to choose what data that meets your specific business requirement.
2) Automation across channels
The CDPs improve automated advertising capability by re-arranging rough data. The platform’s programming can execute cross-channel in a systematic and easy to visualise manner.
3) Multiple Integrations
Get a guaranteed stack of options to incorporate with other platforms, so you pick so you can have one focal database for the entirety of your customer data at your fingertips.
2020 trends for Customer Database Platform
Now the awaited news on what’s all been happening on the CDP front:
Vendors of applications are incentivised to add CDP capabilities to their systems because some clients want them. Individual CDPs are used for each system
The client will be advised by not to keep a singular CDP as their primary database as it adds value to their product and makes clients less likely to switch to another system.
Comprehensive accuracy of the ‘identity graph’ in finding matches between identifiers, beyond matches made using the customer’s own data
Additional information circulated by the vendor, both to refine the existing customer and prospect records and to inculcate new customers and prospects to the customer’s list.
Last words…
In spite of the recent developments, there’s still much work to be done in the Customer Database Platform. However, things are looking up as more and more people are getting interested in this technology.
We promise to keep you updated on this platform’s developments and as always if you hve any questions or need assistance with setting up a CDP for your business, we are just a message away.
The year 2020 might have been awful in so many ways from start to finish. But one thing is for sure, we have made great strides in the development of the latest innovation in digital marketing platforms that is the Customer Database Platform (CDP).
Every entrepreneur is trying to utilise this technology to gain an edge in the world of online marketing and customer service. Which is to be expected as the Customer Database Platform can really help in transforming both the aspects of the business.
But before we jump the gun talking about the latest trends in CDP, for those who a fairly new to the platform, we’ll discuss a little bit about CDP and what it can do?
So, let’s get cracking shall we…
About Customer Database Platform
In short, a CDP is a Digital marketing framework that helps present a centralised, diligent and individual perspective on the customer, consolidating data from numerous channels, platforms, and tools.
Not only this the Customer Database Platform lets the data migrate to and fro between different customer data frameworks to streamline communications and oversee customer engagement. The information it consolidates can be easily customized that enables businesses to implement contextual marketing strategies.
Some of its main features
1) Reporting via customized dashboards
CDPs display strong utility in terms of customisation. With real-time notification capabilities, This platform can auto-generate highly refined reports for end-to-end visualisation. Its unifies dashboards will permit you to choose what data that meets your specific business requirement.
2) Automation across channels
The CDPs improve automated advertising capability by re-arranging rough data. The platform’s programming can execute cross-channel in a systematic and easy to visualise manner.
3) Multiple Integrations
Get a guaranteed stack of options to incorporate with other platforms, so you pick so you can have one focal database for the entirety of your customer data at your fingertips.
2020 trends for Customer Database Platform
Now the awaited news on what’s all been happening on the CDP front:
Vendors of applications are incentivised to add CDP capabilities to their systems because some clients want them. Individual CDPs are used for each system
The client will be advised by not to keep a singular CDP as their primary database as it adds value to their product and makes clients less likely to switch to another system.
Comprehensive accuracy of the ‘identity graph’ in finding matches between identifiers, beyond matches made using the customer’s own data
Additional information circulated by the vendor, both to refine the existing customer and prospect records and to inculcate new customers and prospects to the customer’s list.
Last words…
In spite of the recent developments, there’s still much work to be done in the Customer Database Platform. However, things are looking up as more and more people are getting interested in this technology.
We promise to keep you updated on this platform’s developments and as always if you hve any questions or need assistance with setting up a CDP for your business, we are just a message away.
Given the recent socially distanced lifestyle due to COVID-19 pandemic, people are finding new ways of getting things done such as procuring goods & services online. And when it comes to managing supplies & demands online there is no better medium than on-demand service apps.
It’s all about safety guys and this is the main reason that on-demand service apps are popular amongst users. Be it ordering dog walking services or a pizza or even a repairman, everything can be done from the comfort of your home.
This is why on-demand service apps have become bread & butter businesses. If fact we don’t know what to say if you are still adamant about doing business from the brick & mortar store alone except, how huge of a consumer base you’re missing out on.
Now, creating an app is one thing and having an app that brings business from customers is another. Your on-demand service app must have the right features that simplify user-interface while highlighting everything that your brand has to offer. In this blog, we are going to discuss just that.
So let’s get down to it, shall we…
Highly Secure and Scalable
It is nearly impossible to determine whether any particular mobile app is secure or not. Any entrepreneur will want to keep its business’s data safe and secure while ensuring customer’s confidentiality. While choosing your customised mobile solutions, you can make sure that your app data will remain safe.
Unlimited business opportunities
To make the best use of your app. you must have a database which shows tabular information about your users right from their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, interests, preferences or whatever that empowers your interactions. This amount of varied data can let you do many things:
Optimise your business practices through data analysis.
Enticing the audience towards any upcoming sales or offers.
Build ‘business-customer’ relationship to personalised communication.
Boost your conversion rates.
Affordability
Going for a cheaper solution now will only have you end up spending more in the long-term. Rather opt-in for a ready-to-use solution which will give results in the form of increased ROI for your business.
There might be an initial cost for the on-demand app development solution but it will greatly help you provide more value to your customers and stay flexible.
These are just a few of the benefits of On-Demand app. Now let’s discuss some of the key functionalities your Application must-have.
1. For the Customer app feature
Push notification
Notifications are a major aspect of any On-Demand service App. They let the users know about the status of their ordered product or service or even the special offers available.
Real-time tracking
This feature lets the app users track down the location of their order or service in real-time. Hence, ensuring a fast and efficient service to the customer.
Help and support
An integrated Help & Support Interface assists your customers in case of common queries. It boosts customer service by resolving their problems and takes the load off your customer service reps.
Payment system
Payment is one of the most key elements of any On-Demand Service app. By making sure that your payment system is streamlined, secure and reliable. Ensuring multiple payment options are highly recommended for user convenience.
Favourites
Lets the customers save their favourite service provider or product for quick reference. It helps them to sort them out quickly and saves their time searching all over again.
Reviews and ratings
It shows the customers that your brand cares. Recording and highlighting user experience serve as feedback for the service providers.
2. Service provider app features
Since the user side of the app is sorted out its time to decide features that help in managing internal operations so that you can provide the best possible service to your customers.
Order alert
With this functionality, the service providers receive notifications whenever a user accesses their service or product.
Accepting & rejecting requests
Gives the service providers the final authority on whether to accept or reject a request within a given time period so that they can set fair expectations.
Adhering to schedules
This functionality gives the service provider the flexibility to manage the schedules of their work hours. They can customise their work schedules and start working within that period.
3. Admin app
Unified Dashboard
Your business’s On-Demand app will be incomplete if it lacks a readily accessible and customisable Admin Dashboard that can easily navigate to all the sections of operations.
User Management
Using the Admin portal you can manage all customer’s activities such as payments, discounts, cancellation charges and resolving any customer escalated query.
Analytics provides key metrics such as no. of services availed, cancelled and repeated. This functionality also shows real-time key metrics that let you make quick business decisions.
Analytics is the backbone of your business as it acquires critical insights that help you avoid all the bottlenecks and to optimise your services.
Conclusion
As we mentioned before about given the current global circumstances, your on-demand service app. Will determine the rise & fall of your business in future. Which why it is crucial to make your application as robust as possible.
Developing a powerful app requires considerable planning and effort which why it is highly recommended to get your app. Developed by hard-core on-line app development agency. Please let us know in case you require any help in your app Development.
What is the difference between businesses that grow and those that don’t?
Well, the answer is simple, due to one reason or another they are not able to hold on to their existing customers which is a major setback.
Since growing revenue is a priority for any company and doing repetitive business for an existing client is a lot cheaper than that of a new one. It goes without saying that customer retention is a key factor to ensure a healthy ROI.
Now that we have made it clear enough that customer retention is important, the question is how to bolster it. In this article, we are going to discuss a few things that your business can implement to increase customer loyalty.
1. Set precise expectations early
If you do not set expectations and talk those plainly, clients can without problems grow to be disappointed. they may accept as true with you may supply on certain consequences, even as in truth, the effects of the one are simplest visible in month six or with additional projects and paintings input.
In addition, your clients are coming from very different businesses. One purchaser would possibly feel that your charges are excessive, and consequently, they count on a really excessive quantity of understanding and “white glove” customer service, while for another consumer, you might be certainly one of many special business enterprise partners, and the purchaser cares greater about your ability to collaborate than take care of their emblem.
understanding these points of view and speaking cut-off dates, progress closer to dreams, what’s included in a venture, your process, your conversation fashion, etc., is critical for ensuring expectancies are met. This, in turn, will hold customers in a longe business relationship.
2. Create a solid plan for the future of the relationship
A lot of people think of the customer-company relationship to dating — and that might not be so far from the truth. Just consider the lifecycle of dating for a minute. At some point, one person in the relationship wants to whether the relationship is going somewhere.
Similarly, the desire to know that you are working toward a “next step” can be applied to a business relationship as well. The customer-company relationship can easily to fall victim to routine given everything is going great.
That becomes a monotonous bore quickly though, and chances are that the customer is going wake up one day and realize how uninspired and unmotivated the business is. This is why the management team should create and revise the relationship roadmap frequently, so the client remains excited and happy.
3. Use your case studies during the sales process
A major chunk of the sales process should be focused on determining whether your business and the prospect are the right fit.
Share your previous case studies that showcase your company’s style of communication and the process of collaboration with customers along with the results you achieved for customers. Share testimonials from current customers to really impresses upon them just how much you partner with them as well.
It’s more like researching any big buying decision. You really want to know if and how it will work before you make a purchase. If your would-be customer truly understands this part, they will be more likely to properly set expectations and be streamline in their experience once they sign on.
4. Consistent Communication is Crucial
Customers are more likely to stay with you if your product or services are delivering the expected results and ROI for them. If the customer can pin-point fact that your company has impacted or increased leads, MQLs, SQLs, lifetime value, or even their own customer retention, then they will never consider any other option than your brand.
That means you need an excellent system that tracks and reports on the metrics that are necessary for the customer, The reporting metrics should relate to the goals you established together.
Be as transparent as possible about the activities you executed, the results you’ve achieved, opportunities identified for improvements, and what you will work on next. Not only this, use a project management application that the customer can easily see how far along your team is in a project.
And lastly,
Having robust practices that retain the customer’s confidence in your business really helps them decide to stay with you longer. And having long-lasting relations with clients also reflects quite well for your organisation.
In case you have any question please feel free to contact us anything and we’ll try to answer all your queries as best as we can.
While it’s an undisputed fact that the 2020 pandemic has severely affected the global economy, there are certain industries that are booming. One of the most prominent lines of business is eCommerce.
People want to stay safely at home while shop to their heart’s content and what better to satisfy this need than eCommerce. This has got a lot of business owners to start considering shifting from brick & mortar shops to the online arena.
A prospective consumer base of 1.92 billion should be enough to start your preparations to become a part of this lucrative venture. However, with great opportunity comes tremendous competition and you need to ready yourself and do your research beforehand.
Powerful tools to boost your eCommerce business
Without the right eCommerce tools, your brand will be hardpressed in making a name in this competitive market. These tools will help manage all facets of your business and make realtime decisions. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular tools in the market.
This is extremely important because the success of your business largely depends on your customers and therefore the quality of service you provide to them. you would like to be absolutely sure every customer features a support experience which will make them want to return for future purchases.
Customers mostly leave because they don’t feel appreciated or couldn’t speak to someone who could help them. Having this routine of rude and unhelpful behaviour among employees and being passed around to different representatives also are some common reasons for leaving.
On the opposite hand, 86% of consumers will still do business with a corporation if they need an emotional reference to its customer service agents. this suggests that companies that specialise in delivering an honest customer experience tend to be more profitable overall.
The GrooveHQ ticketing system makes it easier for you to deliver personalized service and support experiences to your customers. With easy ticket assignments, you’ll make sure that customers get support from agents that they need to be connected with within the past. you’ll also maintain your customer conversations in one place so anyone can keep track of past communications and supply support accordingly.
ClickMeeting
Now you’re probably conscious of how popular webinars are for B2B companies and academic institutions, as they’re mostly used for distributing educational information. So you would possibly be wondering how they’re relevant for eCommerce merchants.
That’s exactly why you’ve got leverage over your competitors – webinars aren’t yet capitalised to their full extent within the eCommerce industry. For eCommerce merchants, webinars are often highly effective for showcasing hands-on product demonstrations.
You could demonstrate the way to use newly-launched products and highly technical products, also as the way to make the foremost of certain features. This way, internet buyers can get the subsequent effective thing to in-store product demonstrations. Webinars also are a superb channel to conduct product deep-dive sessions while adding a person’s touch to your communication.
The ClickMeeting platform allows you to make a customized webinar room with just a couple of clicks. you’ll engage the audience with polls and surveys, moderated Q&A sessions, and simultaneous chat translations. You can make the foremost of the webinar recording feature and repurpose clips from the session for your brand’s YouTube channel, otherwise, you can prefer to simulcast your webinars to YouTube and Facebook for max live video reach.
Once the session is over, you’ll get a summary of its performance using the attendee statistics. Here, you get a transparent idea of the number of audiences and where they’re from, also about the top devices they used. You’ll then be ready to use this information for creating improvements to future sessions and re-engagement campaigns.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is an effective internet site builder designed for ecommerce stores. But what makes it a must have the potential to manipulate more than one income channels on a unified dashboard. This gives scalability for ecommerce traders who want to begin adopting omni-channel retail.
These omni-channel clients have a tendency to spend greater than unmarried-channel customers. They spend 4% greater in-keep and 10% greater online, in comparison to customers who most effectively used one channel. In different words, you need to make the studies and buy approaches less complicated throughout each channel.
And that is where BigCommerce comes into the picture. It’s a powerful eCommerce platform for syncing your stock with all of the channels you operate for direct income. BigCommerce helps local integrations with numerous key channels, consisting of Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Pinterest, or even the usage of the Square POS system.
Conclusion
Setting up an eCommerce shop might seem easy however there are many challenges in making your business successful. Which why need to use the tool for your brand. If you have any questions or you need some help in setting up your eCommerce shop, then simply drop us a line and we’ll get in touch with you in no time.
