CX Demo

Author: Franz Malten Buemann

  • What do you think about an analytics dashboard that allows you to view all of your marketing channels in one place?

    Hey everyone! I’ve been thinking about creating an analytics dashboard that allows agencies/brands to view their Facebook ads, Google ads, TikTok ads, email marketing, etc. All in one place and in a simpler and prettier way. Maybe some of you are currently using a similar software but you are not satisfied. If thats the case, what features would be essential in this software? Also, I’m curious if this is something you would be interested in using and if it’s a solution you would be willing to pay for. I would love to hear your honest thoughts on this idea. THANKS! submitted by /u/No-Distribution-261 [link] [comments]

  • The Story Behind Buffer’s AI: An Interview with Diego Sanchez

    Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you found the antidote to writers block. Or if you could brainstorm hundreds of ideas in an instant. It sounds like a pretty cool superpower right? It’s one I’ve often wished for, and one thousands of Buffer customers have hoped for. It’s also a dream shared by Buffer’s Senior Product Manager Diego Sanchez. Which is why, Diego was (and still is) so excited about the power of artificial intelligence to not only ease these burdens but also revolutionize your entire approach to social media. Back in February, Diego helped launch Buffer’s AI Assistant. In this blog post, we’ll take you behind the scenes at Buffer, walking through the birth of Buffer’s AI, exploring its development process, its integration with OpenAI, and the vital role user feedback plays in shaping its future.Why AI?Diego, a Product Manager (PM) at Buffer, had been interested in AI for years and has worked in the space for even longer. Previously a PM at Typeform, Diego worked with machine learning engineers on AI applications in 2017. When he joined Buffer in 2019, he was keen to explore AI applications across Buffer’s products, such as what was formerly Reply and Engage, but are now engagement features within Buffer. After realizing the potential of AI in content generation, Diego presented his ideas to Maria, Buffer’s Chief Product Office, and Joel, Buffer’s Founder, and CEO. They gave him the green light to go ahead. Working closely with Dinos (a product engineer on Diego’s team), they started exploring how to get to market quickly. As the market demand for AI solutions grew, Buffer accelerated its efforts, and Buffer’s AI Assistant started to take form.Some of the early designs Diego and Dinos worked onIdentifying key pain pointsDiego’s team worked closely with users in our beta community to identify friction points and opportunities for optimization across the product. They found that small businesses and creators often struggle with coming up with post ideas, finding their brand’s tone and voice, and managing content for multiple social media channels.The challenge of creating a high volume of engaging content was particularly interesting. To help users overcome this challenge, Diego looked to apply AI technology to content generation.Diego started to design new AI applications after speaking customers.Development process and Open AIBuffer’s AI Assistant development process began by fixing key friction points in the product. The team decided to focus on text-to-text applications, aiming to help users write captions, generate post ideas, rewrite content in different tones, and expand on ideas.Diego and Dinos explored potential solutions envisioning concepts such as AI-assisted hashtag suggestions, content idea generators, and more.Buffer’s AI Assistant integrates with OpenAI via its API, allowing it to potentially work with other services in the future. This flexibility enables Buffer to test different services, offer personalized experiences, and possibly develop in-house AI solutions.Diego picked OpenAI due to its powerful APIs, various models, and constant updates. Its cheaper and faster models are ideal for clearly defined problems, while more powerful models like DaVinci or ChatGPT4 can handle open-ended applications.Now with a working prototype and a powerful AI API plugged in, Diego needed more user feedback.Phill kicking off the AI beta group on Discord in January (fun fact: the AI was originally called “Buffer Creator”)User feedback played a crucial role in shaping Buffer AI’s functionality. It helped the team make adjustments and identify new opportunities and use cases. For example, one early adopter suggested an AI-assisted Twitter thread feature, which Buffer is now actively exploring.Other early adopters wanted help with ideas, which led to the development of the ideation widget.Diego also identified that users needed more options when it came to generating copy. So, he and the team built three new AI inputs; Rephrase, Summarize, and Expand. Diego’s the first to share how valuable user feedback has been in creating Buffer’s AI Assistant.“We really cherish it, try our best to always be very open to ideas and suggestions, and act on customer feedback.” Post-launch successThe AI Assistant launched on February 15th, 2023, and was one of the most successful launches in Buffer’s history. Since launching, Buffer’s AI has assisted in creating over 33,300 posts for 8,850 users. That’s 2.8 million AI-generated words created in Buffer.I asked Diego what aspect of the launch he’s proudest of. He said he’s most proud of how it has become an integral part of the workflow for users who were not confident in their writing abilities. “It’s fantastic to see not only Buffer customers, but even my Buffer teammates, use AI to be more active on social media. Several colleagues who weren’t confident writers now use AI as an integral part of their workflow—they’re building an audience because of it.”The AI has been used for everything from brainstorming ideas to refining and polishing captions for social media posts. Buffer team members such as Maria, Amanda, and Mitra have all benefited from the AI Assistant in various ways. While Maria uses it to come up with her personal LinkedIn posts, Mitra uses it to generate new ideas for the Buffer TikTok account.What’s next?I asked Diego what was next for Buffer’s AI Assistant. Personally, I share about a dozen new ideas for Buffer’s AI each week, so I was particularly interested in Diego’s response. Diego shared that he’s very excited for the potential of AI to help creators and small businesses save time on tasks that are less about creativity and more about formatting, editing, and scheduling content. Buffer has already saved countless hours for small businesses around the world, and Diego envisions the AI Assistant will soon be able to help with content creation as well. This would enable businesses to spend more time focusing on their stories and connecting with their audiences.But, Diego acknowledges that there might be concerns about AI-generated content lacking a human touch or becoming spammy. “Powerful tools can always be misused, and I think new AI developments will not be the exception given that this is simply a reflection of human nature.”Regarding upcoming features for Buffer’s AI Assistant, Diego states that the focus will be on improving the user experience to make the technology more accessible to non-technical users. This includes refining the interface, providing a more human language, and optimizing for specific customer needs. As always, you can keep an eye on exactly what’s coming next in Buffer’s transparent roadmap.And finally … what’s Diego’s favorite prompt?So far, users have given Buffer’s AI Assistant over 35,000 different prompts (I listed my top 38 here). But I wanted to know what Diego’s favorite prompt is. Here’s what he said … “Life’s funny isn’t it?” Bit of a weird one, isn’t it!But Diego said he enjoys seeing how the AI responds to open-ended questions and observing its default “temperature” and sense of humor.Out of interest, I plugged that into Buffer’s AI and got this response.Buffer’s AI response is in greenIt’s not something I’d post on LinkedIn, but it’s interesting, nevertheless! Diego would love to know what you think about Buffer’s AI. If you have feedback, please do send us a tweet and let us know.And if you want to try out Buffer’s AI Assistant for yourself, then get started today, it’s free!)

  • Manager’s Guide to Abandonment Rates in the Contact Center 

    Lowering call abandonment rates in contact centers is one of the most powerful performance levers available to call center managers. It’s also what Fonolo Call-Backs do best. Reducing abandonment rates is a primary benefit of our call-back software and we’ve helped dozens of companies improve their KPIs by solving their abandonment rate problems. So, we’re hoping you’ll forgive us for making this piece long and detailed.
    This guide will walk you through everything you need to know in order to understand, measure, and reduce call abandonment in your contact center.
    What is an Abandoned Call?
    The definition of an abandoned call in a call center is a call where the caller hangs up before they speak to a customer support agent.

    TIP:
    Most contact center software will generate a Call Detail Record (CDR). This feature displays data for each incoming call, including time before the customer abandoned the call.

    The more successful your call center is – that is, the more calls you get – the more likely you are to face increased hold times. That’s when increased abandoned rates become a problem.
    What is Call Abandonment Rate?
    Call abandonment rate (often called abandon rate) is a call center metric used to measure the percentage of calls that are abandoned before they reach a customer service agent. To calculate the abandonment rate, divide the number of abandoned calls by the total number of calls, and then multiply by 100 to get the number as a percentage.
    Why is Call Abandonment Rate Important?
    Call abandonment speaks directly to customer dissatisfaction and the negative impact it has on customer loyalty. As the experts point out, it’s less expensive to keep existing customers happy than it is to acquire new ones.

    How to Eliminate Hold Time in Your Call Center
    Abandonment leads to higher repeat calling, which lowers both first call resolution and, of course, customer satisfaction. As you would expect, abandon rate grows with average speed of answer (ASA). The longer callers are on hold, the more likely they are to give up.
    Customers can only hear “… your call matters to us …” so many times before they lose patience and end the call.
    How Does Abandonment Rate Affect Customer Satisfaction?
    Benchmarks are important, but it’s much more important to understand what’s acceptable for your customers than to rely on industry averages. If you are concerned about NPS and CSAT scores, eliminating hold time should be a priority. One analysis comparing a company’s net promoter score to the number of Twitter complaints about being stuck on hold found a direct correlation between the two.
    Of those who abandon, a percentage will take their business elsewhere (or they’ll remember the experience when evaluating their next purchase).
    Many who abandon will dial again and again, escalating queue times with each call. It’s not hard to see the correlation between the abandonment rate and customer retention.
    Every contact center worth its salt already tracks abandon rates as well as other KPIs that matter. The real question is what to do with that data? What’s an acceptable abandon rate for your organization, and what can you do about it?
    7 Steps to Better Call Center Quality Monitoringca
    Abandonment is not entirely under the control of the contact center, after all. While you can affect queue times, many other factors are beyond your control. For example, the tolerance level of individual callers, service or marketing initiatives causing traffic to spike, time of day issues and more.
    Why Do Callers Abandon Calls?
    You’ll need to look at your own metrics to know for sure, but there are common reasons callers tend to abandon calls. They include:

    Long hold times
    Poor IVR system
    Poorly trained agents
    Technical problems with the call
    Lack of communication

    Distinguishing Between Call Types and Intent
    Another key to understanding why customers abandon calls is differentiating between the types of calls your customers are making.
    Typically, customers calling for technical support with a problem are much less likely to hang up than those making a call to a sales line.
    It may help you to split your abandonment rate into groups, depending on caller intent. This will help you identify which areas of the business are the target of these calls, as where it might be most profitable to direct your energy.
    Changing the Definition of an Abandoned Call
    This one seems like cheating or massaging the figures, but it’s far from it. There are many pitfalls when measuring abandonment rate in a call center — one of them is too broad a definition of abandoned calls.
    Here are some questions to ask yourself, to assess whether your criteria is fair:

    Are any of these calls placed outside of business hours?
    What if the call was actually a misdial by the customer?
    What if their battery or network failed?’

    How Much Does an Abandoned Call Cost?
    To assign ROI based on reduction in abandonment rate, you need to assign a dollar value to an abandoned call in your call center. In a sales scenario this is straightforward: it’s the “opportunity cost” of each missed conversation between an agent and a caller.
    Here’s an example of that math for fictional company “ExampleCo.”

    Some notes on cost per abandoned call:

    Depending on your product or service, you could substitute a number representing “Lifetime Customer Value” for the “Average Selling Price” number on the top line.
    In a scenario other than sales, it’s harder to get that top-line number, however, companies do come to us with a number based on their own internal processes.
    Cost per Abandon has a very wide range. We’ve seen values as low as a few dollars and as high as $120.

    Calculating Your Savings
    Once you have the cost of an abandoned call for your call center, the next question is, how many abandons can be avoided. Case studies suggest that 35% is a reasonable benchmark for the “Abandon Rate Reduction Factor.” Let’s choose that, and continue working through our example:

    4 Ways to Reduce Abandoned Calls in a Call Center
    Now that we’ve discussed how to identify the causes and costs of high abandonment rates let’s take a look at how to improve things.
    1. Adjust schedules and hire more agents
    One obvious way to lower your abandonment rate is to lower hold time by hiring more agents, though staffing up is expensive and therefore not necessarily the place to start.  Many abandonment rate problems (and other problems, too) can be fixed by adjusting your staffing schedules based on volume.
    Either way, both solutions are less expensive than having to acquire new customers! According to CallCenterHelper, 6/10 customers have ditched a company because its telephone customer service has been so bad.
    The Executive Guide to Improving 6 Call Center Metrics
    So, if you have the budget, you can just keep adding agents until your abandonment rate shrinks down to your target level. Keep in mind that if you always staff to the peak volume, you will have a lot of excess agent capacity at other times. That makes this model inefficient and expensive.
    2. Learn from your data
    If you’re not regularly reviewing call detail reports, you should be. Know the peak periods when your customers are contacting you, how long they’re waiting (ASA) and how long it takes to resolve those calls – average handle time.
    And, if customers are abandoning the call, find out how long they’re waiting before they hang up. Call detail reports provide you with a wealth of information and insight into your calls — including the ones that never got answered.
    When you know who abandoned a call, when they called you, and how long they waited before hanging up, you can make informed decisions on how to resolve the situation.
    3. Offer other channels of communication
    Eighty-eight per cent of all organizations are delivering multi-channel and omnichannel service experiences. And that’s a good thing because studies show that the average consumer expects to be able to reach a company across at least 10 different channels!
    By offering support over other channels, and self-service options, you empower your customers and remove some of the burden on your call center. You should see fewer abandoned calls as a result.
    Be careful about taking resources away from the voice channel to support new channels though. Research shows that the live agent conversations are still the most critical for maintaining customer loyalty.
    4. Offer customers a call-back
    One of the single best ways to reduce abandonment is to offer customers a call-back as an alternative to waiting on hold. Call-backs smooth out call volumes while lowering abandonment rate. Customers save time, companies save money.
    Call-backs can also radically improve the customer experience and reduce cost-per-call. According to Forrester, “The option to hold their place in the queue and go on to do something else is highly appealing, with 75% stating a preference for it.”
    Why take the risk that your customers are going to abandon after 30, 60 or 90 seconds on hold? Offer to call them back and earn their loyalty for good.
    A study by Contact Babel showed that 32% of contact centers experienced fewer abandoned calls after call-backs were added. At Fonolo, we’ve witnessed this effect many times.

     
    If your contact center is struggling to reduce call abandon rate, you won’t find an easier or more cost-effective solution than call-backs.

    This Public Service Agency Slashed Abandonment Rates by 65% with Fonolo Call-Backs
    Get the Most Out of Your Call-Backs
    As we’ve discussed, call-backs reduce call abandonment by allowing callers to keep their place in line, without staying on hold. Once callers switch to this mode of waiting, they are much less likely to abandon. That’s because the mental effort required from the caller is much reduced. (For companies focusing on “customer effort score”, this is a good point to keep in mind.)
    Consider the impact of offer timing
    The time-’til-offer or TTO is the amount of time a caller spends in the queue before hearing a call-back offer. It is quite important because it impacts both the offer rate and the take-up rate.
    It impacts the offer rate because as TTO gets longer, a larger fraction of callers will abandon or connect with an agent before hearing the offer. (In the extreme, if TTO is greater than your longest queue time, then the offer rate is zero.)
    TTO impacts the take-up rate because of the psychology of callers. Some fraction of callers will take an offer that is made immediately while others will opt to “wait it out”. But after a few minutes on hold, callers are more likely to take that option, so the take-up rate grows. After a while, this effect flattens out.
    Take-up also increases by making multiple offers for the call-back. In fact, this is the best way to maximize the overall call-back rate. (If you’re assessing vendors for a call-back solution, make sure the ability to make multiple offers once a caller is in the queue is on the feature list.) Changing TTO is an easy “lever” to adjust and has a big impact on the performance of your call-back deployment.
    5 Common Pitfalls When Measuring Abandonment Rate
    There are several nuances in calculating abandonment rate. Ignoring these five pitfalls could leave you with a misleading result.
    Pitfall 1: Treating All Hang-Ups as Abandoned Calls
    It is common practice to exclude very short calls from the abandon rate. The logic behind this is that someone might have dialled the wrong number and didn’t realize the mistake until after the call was connected. But how short is too short? There is no universally accepted number.
    One way to find a good “short call” cut-off time is to look at a histogram of call durations. For example, consider the popularity of calls that are 0-5 seconds, 5-10 seconds, etc. You may see a demarcation between mistaken calls and calls with true intent.
    This blog post illustrates four different options for dealing with short calls, and offers visual representations of popular call center equations.
    Pitfall 2: Ignoring Short Abandons
    Another problem arises when the threshold for “short calls” is too long. This can sweep legitimate abandons under the rug. Call centers often succumb to this temptation in an effort to meet management objectives, but that’s a losing game.
    Pitfall 3: Including Self-Serve or Navigation Time
    If a caller hangs up while going through a self-serve process that should not be counted as an abandoned call, but rather count against the success rate of that process.
    The reason to separate these numbers is that an abandoned IVR-based process indicates a different problem from an abandoned call that was in the queue. The former might be due to unclear prompts, or too lengthy a process. The latter is almost always due to excessive hold time.

    TIP:
    A universal rule covering these first three pitfalls is: Once the caller indicates the intent to reach an agent, the call should end in success (an agent conversation) or count as abandoned.

    Pitfall 4: Not Adjusting for Call-Backs
    One way to lower your abandonment rate is to offer callers the option of a call-back instead of waiting on hold. Usually, this offer sounds like, “Press 1 to get a call-back from the next available agent”. If the caller takes this option, the current call will end, but clearly this should not be counted as an abandon.
    Depending on the call-back solution used and the automatic call distribution (ACD), there should be a way to distinguish these calls from true abandons. For example, with Fonolo deployed on an Avaya call center, these calls appear as “RONAs” (Remote Outflow, No Answer”) on the call reports.
    Pitfall 5: Pursuing an Abandon Rate that is Too Low
    It’s a worthy goal to eliminate abandoned calls as much as possible, but in a system as complicated as a call center, every attempt to optimize for one variable impacts other variables. Keep the big picture in mind and make sure you spend your time and budget on efforts that deliver the biggest boost to customer satisfaction.
    As your abandon rate gets lower, there are diminishing returns. Below a certain point, a further reduction will not improve customer satisfaction. There is a terrific exploration of this effect on MetricNet.com.

    Why Do Costs Go Up as Abandon Rates Go Down?
    More agent headcount is required to achieve lower abandonment rates. And as the headcount increases, so does the cost of support.  Here’s an example:
    Let’s say a service desk with 10 full time agents has an average abandonment rate of 8%.
    Reducing the abandonment rate to 4% would require a full-time agent headcount of approximately 13. That’s a 30% increase in headcount, for a four percentage point decrease in abandonment rate.
    Is that worth it? Apparently not, because the added headcount increases costs significantly, but produces very little benefit in terms of higher customer satisfaction.
    7 Ways to Create a Better Queuing Experience
    There’s only so much you can do to reduce hold time. At some point, you have to think about your customer’s queueing experience, too.
    One way to stop people from hanging up is to make the queueing experience itself more enjoyable. Or at least not quite so painful. Communicating with your customers while they’re waiting on hold can improve your call abandon rates. Here are some ways to switch it up create a better customer experience:
    1. Increase the initial ring time
    You could try increasing the ring time prior to connecting callers to your IVR or offering a call-back. It may sound counterintuitive but it’s a great way of using psychology to buy a few extra seconds.
    The average phone rings for about 20 seconds before going to voicemail — and most people are programmed to accept this without question. Try upping the ring time to 10-20 seconds before connecting callers to an automated message and see how this impacts your abandoned call numbers.
    This is a pretty low-risk strategy that can buy you a few extra seconds. Over thousands of calls, this could save a few hours!
    2. Keep customers informed
    Customers appreciate honesty — even if they don’t like the message. If hold-times are an issue, consider preparing customers by placing a message in the IVR or ACD. You can share the estimated wait time or warn about high call volume.
    But be warned: repeating a vague recorded message that “your call is important to us” is more likely to annoy customers, and they will perceive the wait to be longer than it is. And if you’re playing this all the time, it will have little impact. It may even be increasing abandoned calls.
    If you can’t estimate a wait time, tell customers what number they are in the queue, so at least they perceive some progress.
    When peak times are predictable, another option is to drive callers to call back during periods of lower call volume. For example, a message might say, “… we normally experience higher than normal call volume the first week of each month …”.
    At first, this approach can encourage call avoidance. Over the long term it can help lower handle times and abandon rates by encouraging customers to call during off-peak periods.
    3. Change your welcome message
    Is it possible that your welcome message is actually putting people off? If your abandoned call curve shows a sharp drop-off at the end of your welcome message, it’s probably not a coincidence.
    Experiment with your welcome message. Maybe some extra information would help to reduce abandoned calls. You could use the opportunity to answer callers’ questions in advance or offer another method of contact.
    4. Change your hold music
    Believe it or most people actually like to listen to music while they’re on hold. But your particular musical tastes could be turning them off and encouraging them to hang up, instead of vibing out while they wait. Once again, your abandoned call curve will be able to tell you which tracks on your on-hold playlist are trash, and which are gold.
    Another great way of getting feedback on your hold music is heading to social media, and Twitter in particular. For more on this one, check out this piece on What Customers Really Think of Your Hold Music.
    5. Change queue message frequency
    Another consideration should be how frequently you’re playing recorded messages in your IVR. You may be irritating callers unnecessarily.
    Remember, most people prefer to do something else while they’re waiting on hold. Hold music is a great, gentle reminder that doesn’t draw their attention away from whatever else they’re doing.
    If you can, experiment with the interval length between recorded messages (and keep an eye on your abandoned call curve) so you can find the perfect length of time between messages.
    6. Reduce average handle time
    Lowering the amount of time your agents spend on each call will help your call center serve more customers overall. If your agents are adept at anticipating customer needs and efficient in solving their issues, they can handle higher call volumes more easily.
    7. Fix abandoned calls at the root
    Why are so many customers calling? Is this something that you can fix outside of the call experience?
    If you’re consistently struggling with high call volume, long wait times, and abandoned calls, the biggest single impact you can have is to solve the issue that’s causing high call volume in the first place.
    Your customer support team won’t typically have the resources or access to instigate those changes, but you can add a lot of value to your business by sharing that feedback with the people and departments who can make those changes.
     The post Manager’s Guide to Abandonment Rates in the Contact Center  first appeared on Fonolo.

  • FinancialForce Rebrands as Certinia: Beyond ERP

    The world has changed a lot since the launch of the AppExchange platform in 2006. Enterprise technologies were pubescent, and the strategies underpinning them were widely barebones by today’s standards. Businesses were only just beginning to recognize the first signs of challenges such as scalability,… Read More

  • How to Use SumIf in Google Sheets

    When you’re managing spreadsheets, even a relatively small amount of data can become difficult to manage pretty quickly. But tools like Google Sheets have many functions that help you work with data more efficiently.

    A common challenge is figuring out how many instances you have of specific values within a large spreadsheet. That’s where the SumIf function in Google Sheets comes into play. Using this function, you can add up numbers in a spreadsheet based on certain conditions.
    Using a SumIf function in Google Sheets effectively can take some practice, especially in more complex situations. So here are step-by-step instructions and examples of using SumIf in Google Sheets to help you on your way.
    Table of Contents:

    What does SumIf do in Google Sheets?
    The Benefits of Using SumIf in Google Sheets
    How to Use SumIf in Google Sheets
    SumIf in Google Sheets Example
    Best Practices for Using SumIf

    What does SumIf do in Google Sheets?
    In Google Sheets, the SumIf function adds up the values in a range of cells that meet certain criteria. It allows you to add numbers in a specific range based on a given condition, such as values that meet a specified condition, fall within a certain range, or match a particular text string.
    The syntax of the SumIf function in Google Sheets is as follows:
    =SUMIF(range, criteria, [sum_range])

    Range: The range of cells that you want to evaluate.
    Criteria: The criteria that you want to use to determine which cells to sum up.
    Sum_range: The range of cells that you want to sum up. If this argument is not provided, the cells in the range argument will be used.

    Let’s say you have a column of sales data, and you want to sum up a particular person’s sales. You could use the SumIf function.
    You would specify the range of cells that contain the sales data, the criteria that specify which salesperson’s sales you want to sum up, and the sum range (which, in this case, would be the same as the range argument).
    The function would then calculate the sum of all the sales that match your specified criteria.

    The Benefits of Using SumIf in Google Sheets
    Sometimes, you may need to sum up values in a range based on specific criteria or conditions. Without the SumIf function, you would need to manually sort, filter, and add up the values that meet your criteria, which can be time-consuming and result in many errors.
    You might also need to perform dynamic calculations that update automatically as your data changes. By using the SumIf function, you can create formulas that are linked to your data and update automatically whenever new data is added or existing data is changed.
    The SumIf function is also very flexible and easy to customize. It can be as straightforward or as complex as you need it to be. Google Sheets allows you to select a wide range of criteria and conditions for summing up values through the SumIf function.
    Plus, it’s compatible with plenty of other functions within Google Sheets if you need to extend your formula or create complex calculations. This includes AverageIf, CountIf, MaxIf, and more.

    How to Use SumIf in Google Sheets

    Open a new or existing Google Sheets document.
    Enter your data into the worksheet. For example, you might have a list of sales transactions with columns for date, product, quantity, and price.
    Decide what criteria you want to use to sum up your data. For example, you might want to sum up the sales for a particular product or for a specific date range.
    Click on the cell where you want to display the sum of your data.
    Type “=SUMIF(” into the cell. This will start the SUMIF formula.
    Select the range of cells that you want to search for the criteria. For example, if you want to sum up the sales for a particular product, you would select the column that contains the product names.
    Type a comma “,” after the range of cells.
    Enter the criteria that you want to use for summing up the data. For example, if you want to sum up the sales for a product named “Boots”, you would enter “Boots” in quotation marks.
    Type another comma “,” after the criteria.
    Select the range of cells that contains the values that you want to sum up. For example, to sum up the sales for the “Boots” product, you would select the column that contains the sales values.

     

    Close the formula by typing “)” and press Enter. The sum of the values that meet your criteria will be displayed in the cell. In this instance, the SumIf function shows us that 16 pairs of boots have been sold in total.

    You can also use the SumIf function to sum up values based on multiple criteria by using the “&” operator to combine the criteria. For example, to sum up the sales for the “Boots” product for 2023 so far, you would use the formula:
    “=SUMIF(B2:B11,”Boots”,C2:C11&A2:A11,”>=1/1/23″)”
    In this instance, B2:B11 contains the product names, C2:C11 contains the sales values, and A2:A11 contains the dates.

    SumIf in Google Sheets Example
    To get a sense of how useful SumIf can be with large data sets, let’s take a look at a more in-depth example. In this instance, you need the SumIf statement to use data from multiple sheets.
    Suppose you have a list of employees and their corresponding salaries on one sheet and a separate sheet containing each employee’s job title.
    In this instance, we’ll use the SumIf function to sum up the overall salary spent on employees with a specific job title.

    Select the cell where you want the final value to appear and begin your SumIf formula. First, select the data in Column C (“Job Titles”), as this is the range you want to evaluate.
    In this case, we’re trying to find out how many Occupational Therapists are on the payroll. So, “Occupational Therapist” has been entered into the formula as the criteria.
    Next, we need to tell the function the range of cells you want to sum up based on the criteria. We want to know about the salaries of occupational therapists, which means selecting the data under Column B (“Annual Salary”).
    When the Enter key is hit after closing the formula with “)”, we can see that the company spends $622,435 annually on salaries for Occupational Therapists.

    If you wanted to know this information about each job title in the company, you would simply create another table in a separate sheet with one instance of each job title and copy the formula down, replacing the criteria for each row to match the job title you want to reference.

    So, in just a couple of steps, you’d be left with a table that sums up all the information in one place rather than manually counting and adding up hundreds of cells.

    Best Practices for Using SumIf
    The SumIf function is fairly simple and easy to use. But like all spreadsheet functions, it’s easy to get an ERROR result if your formula isn’t formatted correctly or if you don’t stick to some key best practices.
    Use descriptive criteria.
    Using descriptive criteria can help make your formula more readable and understandable.
    For example, if you are summing sales data for a particular region, use the name of the region as your criteria, rather than a generic term like “Region A”.
    Use cell references.
    Using cell references instead of typing criteria directly into your formula makes it easier to update your criteria if needed.
    For example, if you need to change the name of the region you are summing, you can simply update the cell reference instead of editing the formula.
    Check your ranges.
    Make sure that the range you are summing and the range you are using for criteria are the same size and have the same layout. If the ranges are different, you may get unexpected results or errors.
    Use the correct syntax.
    The syntax of the SUMIF function is SUMIF(range, criteria, sum_range). Make sure that you are using the correct order of arguments and that each argument is separated by a comma.
    Test your formula.
    Testing your formula with a small subset of data can help you catch errors or unexpected results before applying it to a larger dataset. This is especially important if you are using more complex criteria or formulas.
    Use other functions for more complex criteria.
    If you need to sum data based on more complex criteria, consider using other functions such as SUMIFS, which allows you to specify multiple criteria.
    For example, you can use SUMIFS to sum sales data for a particular region and time period.
    Keep your data organized.
    Keeping your data organized and well-formatted can make it easier to use SUMIF and other functions in Google Sheets.
    Consider using tables or formatting your data as a named range to make it easier to reference in your formulas. You can also use filters or sorting to quickly find the data you need.
    Getting Started
    The SumIf function is a simple solution to summing up data based on specific criteria. By using cell references, descriptive criteria, and other best practices, you can make your formulas more readable, accurate, and efficient.
    Whether you are summing sales data, tracking expenses, or analyzing survey results, the SumIf function can help you quickly and easily calculate totals based on specific conditions. With a little practice, you’ll soon be using this function with ease.

  • The Marketer’s Complete Guide to SEO Automation

    As marketers, we understand the importance of SEO in driving traffic and generating leads. But all too often, our efforts are hindered by a lack of resources or time.

    That’s why many marketers use automation to streamline their SEO processes and focus on other growth strategies.
    In this guide, you’ll explore what SEO tasks can be automated to save at least three hours daily. You’ll also find out which essential SEO tools you should have in your arsenal to create an effective SEO strategy quickly and efficiently.
    Let’s get started!
    What is SEO automation?
    What SEO tasks can be automated?
    12 Essential SEO Automation Tools

    SEO optimization tools help marketers save time and resources while building an effective SEO strategy.

    What SEO tasks can be automated?
    Say goodbye to manual labor and hello to efficiency with SEO automation! Here are just a few of the tasks that can be automated with the right toolkit in hand.

    Keyword research. Automation helps to quickly identify keywords relevant to your target audience for high-value traffic opportunities.
    Content creation. Generate quality blog posts and website content with AI-driven writing services and make sure you’ve sprinkled enough keywords throughout the piece. SurferSEO, for instance, will provide you with these suggestions as you write.
    Automated structured data markup. Generate and validate structured data for your site in a heartbeat.
    Technical optimization. Save time on page speed optimization and technical audits while avoiding mistakes thanks to automated checks. Tools for an SEO audit will crawl your website and generate a report on any issues they find.
    Reporting and analytics. Automatically generate reports to track SEO performance with analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, and others. Get instant insights into how much traffic you are getting, what content is performing the best, where your visitors are coming from, etc.
    Automated rank tracking. Monitor how you rank for target keywords in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Track competition and fluctuations in the SERPs and get alerted when a competitor’s content ranks higher than yours for a keyword.
    Automated image optimization. Automatically optimize images for SEO to improve page loading times without losing image quality.
    Backlink Analysis and Interlinking. Find backlink opportunities, monitor competitor links, and get suggestions for internal linking to create a natural-looking link profile for your website.

    With automation, marketers can create more effective SEO strategies faster and easier than ever. If you are ready to take your SEO efforts to the next level, keep reading and find awesome SEO automation software for different tasks.

    12 Essential SEO Automation Tools
    We’ve gathered the 12 best SEO automation platforms to help you eliminate painstaking SEO work. Although each tool has many features, we’ll focus on a few of the most notable.
    1. HubSpot Marketing Software
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    HubSpot’s SEO Marketing Software provides actionable recommendations on optimizing your website for SEO, ranked in order of priority, so you can target the areas that most need improvement.
    This tool can help you strategize your content to organize your website by topic, a critical component that search engines consider.
    It also offers suggestions for topics your audience is interested in so you can expand your blog and draw those people in.
    You can also get detailed reports on what terms and topics people are searching for, clickthrough rates, total impressions, and other vital metrics. See clearly what’s working for your site and where there’s room for improvement.
    Best for: HubSpot’s Marketing Hub users.
    Pricing: Included with Marketing Hub’s Professional plan.
    Alternative: SurferSEO.
    2. SurferSEO

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    SurferSEO is a content optimization tool that analyzes your page or content outline and compares it to competitors’ pages to find SEO opportunities.
    It gives you recommendations on keywords for headings and body text, word count, and the number of images and paragraphs.
    SurferSEO auto-suggests keywords to include as you write. You can also create an SEO-optimized outline in a matter of seconds. Altogether, these features save hours when outlining and clustering keywords.
    As a matter of fact, ClickUp revealed that SurferSEO has helped them publish 150+ articles and achieve blog traffic growth of 85% in one year.
    Best for: Writing SEO-optimized blog posts at scale for B2C and B2B alike.
    Pricing: Starts at $59 monthly for the basic plan.
    Alternatives: Clearscope, Frase.
    3. Looker Studio
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    Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) will help you quickly build custom SEO reports and analyze data from Google Analytics, Search Console, SEMrush, and other sources via API.
    You can also mine data, combine distinct datasets, and easily audit site performance.
    One of Looker’s most outstanding features is its ability to create automated and visually appealing SEO reports. With Looker, you can regularly get insights into key performance metrics and track keyword rankings daily, weekly, or monthly.
    Best for: Digital marketing agencies, ecommerce sites, and businesses looking for comprehensive SEO analytics.
    Pricing: Free.
    Alternatives: Databox, Tableau.
    4. Ahrefs
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    Ahrefs is an SEO automation platform that helps you identify keyword opportunities, monitor link-building efforts, and analyze competitor visibility in the SERPs.
    One of the features we like is Link intersect for a backlink gap analysis. It allows you to compare links between your domain and competitors’ websites to uncover link opportunities that you might have missed otherwise.
    Another epic feature is the “best by links” report. With it, you can easily uncover the most linked content on any website. Dig down to see what type of content lands thousands of links to find prospects and inspire link-building tactics.
    Finally, use Ahrefs Content Explorer to find unlinked brand mentions and reach out to the website owners to secure a link.
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    Best for: SEO professionals who need to monitor, discover, and scale link-building efforts.
    Pricing: Starts at $99 monthly for the lite plan.
    Alternatives: SEMrush, MajesticSEO.
    5. SEMRush
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    SEMRush is a suite of automated SEO tools that provide insights into competitor strategies and your domain’s online visibility.
    SEMRush also helps you identify keywords to target with its Keyword Magic Tool. This one is especially useful for finding long-tail phrases related to your main topic and organizing them into clusters within a minute.
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    We can’t stress enough how time-saving this feature is. Remember when SEO involved working on Excel and Google sheets to group keywords with super complex formulas?
    Breathe freely with the SEMRush clustering tool or its alternative Serpstat.
    SEMRush also offers a content marketing platform that helps you write SEO-friendly blog posts and optimize them for the SERPs. It even has an SEO writing assistant that suggests content ideas and provides readability scores for your copy.
    Best for: SEO professionals who need a comprehensive suite of tools to analyze competitor data, monitor keyword rankings, and optimize content.
    Pricing: Starts at $99.95 monthly for the pro plan.
    Alternatives: Ahrefs, KeywordTool, Jaaxy, Serpstat.
    6. Netpeak Spider
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    Netpeak Spider is a technical SEO crawler that audits your website’s structure and finds broken links, duplicate content, and other issues. It also provides insight into the indexability of your pages and can detect malware or malicious code.
    Moreover, Netpeak Spider has one of the most advanced filtering systems around. It allows you to customize reports for a more detailed analysis or generate an XML sitemap for submission to Google and other search engines.
    Netpeak Spider comes with a convenient integration with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, so you can easily access data within the same dashboard.
    On top of that, the tool supports white-label reports, making life easier for SEO agencies and consultants.
    Best for: Agencies and SEO professionals who need to audit website structure, detect issues quickly, and generate white-label reports.
    Pricing: Starts at $7 monthly for the starter plan, which allows one user.
    Alternatives: Screaming Frog, DeepCrawl.
    7. Google Search Console
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    Of course, we couldn’t pass by the most powerful and free toolkit for website performance analysis and technical audits.
    Google Search Console shares insights into how Google interprets your website. It helps you track and measure organic traffic, set up alerts for potential issues, and get data on clicks, impressions, and query positions.
    You can also use Search Console to submit a sitemap directly to Google, run URL inspection and parameters tests, and request re-indexing of pages.
    With its “Inspect URL” feature, you can check how Googlebot sees the page and troubleshoot potential problems.
    Best for: Everyone who wants to monitor their website’s performance and stay informed about potential issues.
    Pricing: Free.
    Alternatives: Screaming Frog, Netpeak Spider, AgencyAnalytics, Searchmetrics.
    8. Jasper
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    Jasper AI Writing Assistant is an AI-driven copywriting tool that generates high-converting content in minutes.
    Guide this tool with commands or use templates, like AIDA copies, for LinkedIn, blog posts, e-commerce listings, Google and Facebook ads templates, etc.
    Thanks to its AI technology, Jasper can adopt and mimic your tone of voice, cutting off hours on writing copies for different content needs.
    For SEO, Jasper AI Writing Assistant can generate creative and snappy meta descriptions, titles, etc. Integrated with SurferSEO, Jasper crafts copies enriched with target keywords.
    Use these tools combined to maximize your SEO performance with minimal effort.
    Best for: Companies and professionals looking for an AI-driven copywriting solution to quickly generate SEO-friendly content.
    Pricing: Starts at $49 monthly for 50,000 words generated.
    Alternatives: Writer, CopyAI, WriteSonic.
    9. AgencyAnalytics
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    AgencyAnalytics provides automated analytics for various platforms, including Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.
    This tool also integrates with over 40 marketing tools, like MailChimp and HubSpot, to offer a comprehensive view of campaign performance.
    The tool’s SEO suite includes rank tracking, backlink analysis, site audits, social media analytics, and much more.
    Best for: SEO agencies and consultants looking for an all-in-one tool to manage campaigns, and track analytics.
    Pricing: Starts at $29 per month for the pro plan.
    Alternatives: Searchmetrics, Kissmetrics.
    10. Technical SEO Automation Tools by Merkle
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    Merkle’s SEO tools are explicitly designed to automate various technical SEO tasks.
    For example, you can test and validate your robots.txt and generate and submit XML sitemaps to search engines. Or query the Knowledge Graph API to find entities, their MREID, and relevance scores.
    Merkel’s SEO automation tools also include a schema generator and SERP simulator. The best part? It’s all for free.
    Best for: SEO professionals who need to automate complex technical SEO tasks, like robots.txt validation and structured data markup.
    Pricing: Free.
    Alternative: Schemantra.
    11. Compress PNG
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    Compress PNG is an online tool that lets you quickly and easily compress PNG images. It’s a great way to speed up page load times and reduce file size, which can help improve SEO performance.
    Leverage Compress PNG to convert files from JPEG and GIF formats for better compatibility with browsers. Use this tool in tandem with another to improve your overall SEO strategy.
    Best for: Anyone looking for an easy and free way to compress PNG images.
    Pricing: Free.
    Alternatives: TinyPNG, Compressor.io.
    12. AccuRanker

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    AccuRanker is an advanced rank-tracking solution for SEOs and marketers. It offers real-time insights into how your website performs in organic search and helps you identify changes in ranking over time.
    The tool also provides detailed analytics, including accuracy scores, Share of Voice, and search engine position history. You can even set up automated alerts to stay on top of any changes in rankings or visibility.
    With its advanced keyword filtering, you can quickly create tailored reports for specific searches, locations, or devices.
    It also includes a drag-and-drop Master Filter, which allows you to group several keywords and track their performance simultaneously.
    Best for: Enterprises and SEO agencies; for rank tracking.
    Pricing: Starts at $130 monthly and offers 1,000 keywords to track. Get started with a 14-day free trial.
    Alternatives: SEMrush, Ahrefs, SERPWoo, Serpstat, SE Ranking.
    Making the Most of SEO Automation
    SEO automation is a game-changer for businesses looking to optimize their website and increase their online visibility. Companies can focus on higher-level strategy and creativity by streamlining SEO tasks.
    With the right tools, SEO automation can lead to more efficient, effective, and successful campaigns.
    So why wait? Embrace the power of SEO automation today and supercharge your online presence!

  • The house painter and the architect

    We don’t design a book until after it’s written.

    Or cast the movie until the screenplay is complete.

    The house painter has an important job, but it makes no sense to plan for the painting before the house is designed.

    This makes a lot of sense because some parts of a project have high variability which can lead to very different outcomes.

    There are more than a billion ways to write a book, but fewer than 100 distinct categories of interior book design.

    We desperately need house painters, gaffers and book designers. If they don’t deliver on their work, the entire project falls apart. But they don’t go first.

    The job of the house painter is to amplify the architect’s vision, not vice versa.

    So there are a few questions worth asking:

    First, which one of the tasks is the dominant variable, the one where simply doing ‘a pretty good job’ is going to be insufficient (no one talks about the roofer on a Frank Lloyd Wright house–until it leaks).

    Second, which job do you want? We need both, but we should choose the path that suits our goals.

    [To be clear, it’s a role, not a job title. There are plenty of designers and painters who act as architects, and some architects that are not the pivot point for the project.]

  • The Future of Fundraising for Nonprofits

    The world of fundraising for nonprofits is evolving rapidly with the advent of new technologies and tools. In the past, most fundraising was done through direct mail and telephone calls, but now, nonprofits have a wide range of digital tools at their disposal. From digital giving platforms and crowdfunding to peer-to-peer fundraising and email marketing,…
    The post The Future of Fundraising for Nonprofits appeared first on Benchmark Email.

  • Why Pre-Sales Can Make You a Better Salesforce Architect

    Are you a Salesforce Architect looking for ways to level up your skills and become a more effective professional? If so, you’re in the right place! Salesforce Architects are the backbone of any organization’s CRM implementation, as they ensure the platform is tailored to the… Read More

  • 10 New Salesforce Flow Features in Summer ‘23

    Every time the Salesforce release notes are published, I always jump straight to the Salesforce Flow section because, well, there’s always so much great content – content that will make the lives of Salesforce Admins a lot easier! Salesforce Flow is on a journey to… Read More