CX Summit returns on January 27, to navigate us further in the world of Customer Experience. Don’t miss your chance to learn from the leading voices in the CX industry. Apply today! What can you expect from the event? Live from 10 countries, with more than 30 global CX gurus and leaders presenting ways to create, deliver and optimize the best customer experiences. As well as answering the…
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Author: Franz Malten Buemann
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Take part in CX Summit 2022
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7 ways zero-party data enable your company to reduce its carbon footprint and turn eCommerce into ECOmmerce
Companies’ carbon footprints have become an increasingly important issue to customers, and businesses are frantically looking for ways to reduce their size. We identified 7 ways in which zero-party data may be of help in your efforts to make your business model more sustainable—both in terms of business sustainability, and the environment. Turning your eCommerce into ECOmmerce may become one of your main advantages in 2022.
Modern CDPs make extensive use of zero-party data. Cutting-edge CDPs, such as SALESmanago, even provide features like the Customer Preference Center to collect and manage zero-party data effectively. These measures are extremely important, as zero-party data are the key to reducing a company’s carbon footprint. Furthermore, environmental sensitivity has become a major factor affecting consumers’ decisions, thus determining which brands have a bright future ahead and which are doomed to oblivion, as recent Dentsu/Microsoft research shows.
The importance of sustainability in the eyes of consumers
In August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, published a report that painted a dire picture of the future if actions to preserve the environment are not taken immediately.
Inspired by the findings from the report, Dentsu and Microsoft conducted their own worldwide research project, surveying over 24,000 people from 19 countries, to understand consumer perceptions of sustainable business. The results are staggering:
First, 86% of the study participants responded that they were concerned about climate change. In comparison, consumers revealed a similar level of concern about the pandemic (85%), the health of their friends and family (79%), and the cost of living in their area (76%). Clearly, consumers feel that climate change affects them personally.
88% of the respondents stated that they would make a sustainable purchase when able.
87% of those surveyed said they want to do more to combat climate change.
87% said they would be willing to change services and the products they purchase to combat climate change.
84% stated that they would be more likely to buy from a company practicing sustainable media advertising.
77% of people globally said that within five years’ time, they only want to spend money on brands that practice green and sustainable advertising.
81% of respondents in North America say they would stop using or buying products if they found out these products hurt the environment.These findings clearly put extra pressure on businesses to prove their green “bona fides”
to employees, customers, regulators, and investors. Customers’ increased sustainability awareness is heightening the demand for trustworthy, robust, and transparent reporting frameworks and benchmarks to prove businesses’ credibility. Subject to reporting should be internally owned or controlled carbon emissions of a company (Scope 1) and even those outside the direct control of the business (Scope 3), such as advertising within its supply chain.
What are Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions?
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are categorized into three groups, or “Scopes,” by the most widely used international accounting tool, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources.
Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company.
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.Emissions of all scopes can be limited in various ways. As experts on customer data, we looked at the emission problem from the perspective of data management optimization to try to answer the following question:
Are CDPs able to help a company reduce emissions in all scopes? The importance of zero-party data
We found at least 7 ways in which modern CDPs have the potential to become emissions-limiting tools for carbon-conscious companies. One of the most prominent features enabling CDPs to fulfill this role is the extensive use of first-party, and – most of all – zero-party data in the process of creating an accurate and unified customer profile.
There are no data that are more accurate and relevant in the data-driven decision-making process than information passed on to the company, in goodwill, by customers, to establish preferred methods of meaningful communication with the brand.
A brand that is respectful of customers’ preferences wins their trust and gratitude. If the brand shows its readiness to listen, customers tend to respond with the same attitude. As such, zero-data-based marketing and sales processes are, therefore, more cost and energy efficient. Moreover, reliable data can be used to plan and execute more lean and efficient operations across the entire supply chain.
For this reason, we found ways to use CDP to limit CO2 emissions across all three scopes.
CDP as a tool for a “carbon-conscious” data-driven approach for modern business
Hyperpersonalization means cleaner, “carbon conscious” marketing communication
Effect: Reduction of Scope 3 emissions
Marketing communication via traditional or even online media means communicating the company’s values to a wider audience. In fact, the very nature of non-personalized marketing communication makes a message visible to such large audiences that only a small percentage of these audiences can ever be considered a client or potential client for a company.
Furthermore, non-personalized messages, while often very creative, concentrate on the general set of values representing the brand and the product without considering the details that crucially affect a purchase decision, which is different for every customer. Traditional marketing communication is also unable to present customers with purchasing opportunities at the best possible time, such as when the lifecycle of the previously bought product comes to an end.
However, the modern Customer Data Platform provides businesses with the opportunity to generate hyperpersonalized messages for each and every eCommerce customer, taking into account their purchasing habits and preferences. All these messages go straight to actual or potential customers, so no exposition will go down the drain, and no effort will be wasted.
This means that not only is direct, hyperpersonalized communication essential to high marketing efficiency, but the energy cost of a digital marketing action can be drastically lowered. As such, hyperpersonalized marketing is much more environmentally friendly than traditional media. Furthermore, in the era of personalized marketing,72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized messaging.
Preference Center tab in customer profile in SALESmanago CDP, created using Customer Preference Center.
Custom packages
Effect: Reduction of Scope 1 emissions
Intelligent use of zero-party data can help decrease the overuse of plastics in packaging.
You can simply ask customers about their preferred packaging for a shipment during the checkout process by way of acquiring zero-party data! As the majority of customers seem to be highly environmentally sensitive, most will probably choose environmentally friendly packaging. This will result in a change in your own supply structure, as your company will require significantly fewer plastic materials.
Customers would also accept the increased cost of packaging since it was their own choice to go with environment-friendly solutions.
Custom delivery
Effect: Reduction of Scope 3 emissions
Another way to reduce a company’s carbon print is to optimize the delivery method according to customers’ preferences.
As in the case of packaging, most environment-sensitive customers will choose deliveries to a parcel locker. This will result in a reduction in fuel consumption, as delivery people will not be forced to visit every address in the parcel locker area.
Example of questions, like delivery method, that can be asked using new SALESmanago Customer Preference Center.
Data-driven strategy: Fewer mistakes, reduced carbon footprint
Effect: Reduction of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
Another more general way in which zero-party data may be of help in a company’s sustainability efforts is the data’s general reliability.
Strategies and decisions based on reliable data tend to be more robust and efficient. As every action undertaken by the company leaves an inevitable carbon print, the reduction of poor decisions and strategies will reduce the company’s overall negative impact on the environment.
This type of zero-party data influences the company’s emissions of all scopes.
Optimization in logistics and supply chain planning—cost and emissions reduction
Effect: Reduction of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions
One of the most important subsets of zero-party data is product preferences. Up to 80% of customers are willing to provide detailed information about their product preferences and interests!
Customers will gladly share their favorite categories of products, types, brands, sizes, and colors with a company. Features like SALESmanago’s Customer Preference Center transform the stream of such data into clearly visible trends that help a company plan supply chains and logistics with great precision.
The most frequently indicatedproduct preferences in new SALESmanago’s Customer Preference Center
Recommendation suggestion based on the indicated product preferences in new SALESmanago’s Customer Preference Center
Shortening the journey from the data center to audiences
Effect: Reduction of Scope 3 emissions
It is important to emphasize this fact: hyperpersonalized marketing communications involve sending the message straight to the customer without unnecessary exposition going into thin air.
Unified profiles mean less redundant data and fewer operations
Effect: Reduction of Scope 2 emissions
Creating unified, single customer profiles saves a lot of energy. In the absence of CDPs, data are often at least doubled. Storing it and conducting operations on it require electricity.
Using a unified dataset enables companies to avoid redundant operations, such as enriching two separate profiles in two or more systems with the same new data. Unified profiles are accessible to all company divisions, so all stakeholders involved benefit from each and every data operation.
3 opportunities for sustainable zero-party data use
Cost optimization
The carbon footprint is always simultaneously a money footprint. Each and every instance of energy consumption also costs money.
In this sense, every environment-sensitive solution benefits a company’s finances as well.
Staying ahead of the competition
Looking at the Dentsu/Microsoft report, it is clear that the time to act to reduce a company’s carbon footprint is now. Failing to act will negatively affect a company very quickly, as companies in virtually all industries are undertaking efforts to greenify their image and inform customers about their sustainability efforts.
Sustainable model for years to come
Carbon footprint reduction in business is a long and unavoidable process. The sooner a company sets foot on this path, the better prepared it will be for future challenges that are yet to come. After all, a sustainable financial model in a business context must first be sustainable as a vital part of the environment.
And the difference between eCommerce and ECOmmerce may soon become one of the most important factors in the customers’ purchase decision process.
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Advantages of Pardot over MailChimp
I am a current user of MailChimp, thinking of moving to Pardot. Any noticeable advantages of Pardot over MailChimp? Can you highlight some? Thanks David
submitted by /u/davidsomekh [link] [comments] -
4 Tips for Creating An Internal Newsletter That Isn’t Boring
Employee loyalty isn’t something you automatically get. If the record-breaking resignation numbers in recent years have shown us anything, it’s that you have to continue to earn your employees’ engagement and loyalty. However, internal communications can often come as an uncreative afterthought in organizations, which is made glaringly apparent by the 34% of company newsletters that go unopened.
Let’s be real; we’ve all received those jargony, high-level corporate newsletters with massive blocks of copy we’re never going to read. However, done right, internal newsletters have the power to inspire, cultivate company culture, and keep teams aligned. Internal company newsletters are a powerful tool and should be approached with the same effort and intentionality that you put into any email marketing.
1. Start with what’s most important to your employees
We might break some hearts here, but your internal newsletter is not first and foremost about how awesome your leadership team is. Internal newsletters should focus on creating something valuable, digestible, and engaging for your employees. This doesn’t mean you can’t include high-level company goals or updates; it’s good to keep your teams informed. However, it does require positioning your newsletter content in a way that employees can see how it relates to their role.This example from Staffbase shows a newsletter content structure that highlights what is most immediately valuable to employees first, before moving into company news. Source.
Give context to growth and goals
Employees will be more motivated and engaged when you share growth and goals in the context of each team member’s contribution. Don’t just throw quarterly numbers at them in a newsletter and expect them to understand their individual impact on initiatives. Connect the dots for them. Organizational goals hold little impact until they become personal.
For example, when sharing quarterly stats, phrase it in a way that highlights their contribution. “Here is where our company OKRs are, which means each individual is performing at XY% of capacity. This is [good/bad/indifferent] because of XYZ. This is our opportunity moving forward, and this is how you can help us achieve that.”
Put a spotlight on your employees
It’s a psychologically proven principle that people love talking about themselves. According to Psychology Today, it’s so gratifying for people it engages the same areas of the brain as other pleasurable activities, like eating good food and even having sex. In short, it’s powerful. If you want to increase employee engagement, celebrate them, talk about them, let them share about themselves.
You can put a spotlight on your employees by celebrating success stories, featuring positive client feedback, sharing promotions, and introducing new hires.This example from GetResponse highlights a new employee by letting them share about themselves with their new team. Source.
Include diverse perspectives
Help your employees feel a part of the team by including cultural role models with diverse backgrounds and identities. Ask employees to contribute to the newsletter content and share their voice; don’t make things just from the executive team.
Invite employees to share their tips for a successful workday, big wins of the week, praise for their teammates, or a tour of their home office. If a cultural holiday is happening, invite a team member from that affinity group to share about it. Enable your employees to see themselves in the people representing your company.
Create employee feedback loops
When in doubt, ask. Let the people tell you what they want by providing opportunities for feedback. They probably have the best newsletter ideas out of anyone since they’re the ones reading it. Provide feedback opportunities through whatever communication channel your company uses most regularly to gain the most input. It may include a link at the bottom of newsletters or a poll in Slack; the point is to meet people where they are.Using an app integration like Simple Poll in Slack can be an effective way to gain feedback from teams.
Not sure where to start with your feedback loops? Check out our guide on how to effectively ask for feedback in an email.
2. Watch your tone
Employees get an endless amount of stiff, boring corporate emails in a day, don’t make the internal newsletter another one. This is your opportunity to brighten their day and create something fun they’ll look forward to.
According to Invesp, 47% of email recipients “ read email based on subject line alone.” Make sure yours is one they want to open! Keep it short, pique their interest with a counter-narrative or a phrase that creates a sense of urgency (what the cool kids call FOMO). If you really want to grab your reader’s attention, use dynamic content tags to personalize the subject line, which has been found to increase open rates by 22%!
In your body copy, use a casual and personable tone. Include punchy headlines and title sections that make people want to read more, or insert a relatable gif to help people connect to your content.This humorous take on an internal memo from clothing brand Bonobos makes the reader do a double-take. What initially appears as an HR reprimand is actually a clever marketing email, which is made apparent in the comical copy. Source.
3. Provide engagement opportunities
The easiest way to make your employees actually read your internal newsletter is to make them part of the conversation. No one enjoys a one-sided conversation. When you engage your employees, you’ll see open rates increase, company culture improve, communication become more effective, productivity rise, and employee brand amplification thrive.
So, how do you make this happen? Include interactive elements like polls, contests, and sharable content in your employee newsletter. This might look like links to company social media posts, workplace bingo, or a poll to see what to order for the next team lunch. The key is to motivate employees to engage by eliciting an emotive response; make it fun, exciting, inspiring, empowering, or rewarding.Newsletters from Would You Rather are interactive and create something for readers to come back for — the results from the last poll. While it may not be an internal newsletter, the same concept can be applied. Source.
4. Share resources
A great internal newsletter should be an investment in your team. Create real value for your readers by providing professional development and personal support resources.
The resources should help employees hone skills, see a clear growth path at your company, and take care of themselves personally so they can show up better professionally. This could include highlighting fringe benefits, relevant industry news, upcoming company events and training, or internal job openings. Giving employees something to take away with them creates long-lasting value they’ll come back for.This internal newsletter from Robert Half shares resources for employees’ physical, mental, and relational well-being. They do this by highlighting fringe benefits, company events, and outside resources. Source.
Pull it all together in an eye-catching design
So now that you have all of the elements in place to build an impactful internal newsletter, it’s time to wrap it up in a beautiful design before delivery. Enough with the boring corporate emails; it’s time to up your game. That probably sounds easier said than done, but you don’t have to be a professional designer or spend endless hours to create an eye-catching newsletter design. With our free newsletter templates, all you have to do is drag and drop.
Still not sure where to start building your internal newsletter? Check out how we create and send our monthly email newsletter here at Campaign Monitor.
The post 4 Tips for Creating An Internal Newsletter That Isn’t Boring appeared first on Campaign Monitor. -
How to Come Up With a Brand Name [+Where 3 of Our Favorites Came From]
Coming up with a brand name is one of the most important steps in starting a business. A well-thought-out name can propel your company forward, and the wrong name can become a marketing nightmare. Where would Amazon be today if it stuck with its original name, Cadabra?
Oftentimes, founders think they know what makes a good brand name. But choosing a vague reference or visionary ideal (like Cadabra) for a name can confuse customers.
Naming a brand isn’t as simple as creating a made-up word or picking a name that looks great on paper.
Fortunately, setting up a brand naming process can ensure your name is relevant, memorable, and meaningful. It helps you select a name that catches people’s attention and is easy to remember, which makes marketing, sales, and brand awareness that much simpler.
To help your business become a household name, we’ll explore how to come up with a brand name, cover brand naming guidelines, outline a brand naming process, and share examples of how popular companies decided on their brand names.
What Makes a Good Brand Name
A good brand name is a blend of creativity and strategy. It highlights your company’s mission, vision, and values while showing off personality and creativity.
Josh Reeves, the CEO of Gusto, put it best when describing how his team came up with the company’s name. “Choosing your name…will power everything else forward – the visual design, the way you message it to the team, the way you talk about it with customers. So if you’re going to sink your time and energy into anything, it should be this.”
Strong brand names tend to fall under one (or more) of these categories:Descriptive: Brand names that tell potential buyers exactly what you do or make. Examples: Dude Wipes, The Weather Channel, Booking.com, and PayPal.
Evocative: These names use metaphor and suggestion to express a company’s creativity, hint at its values, and tell a brand story. Examples: Nike, Amazon, Virgin, Uber, and Patagonia.
Blends: Names that combine two words to make a new word are popular today, and they can be considered descriptive and evocative. Examples: Photoshop, WhatsApp, Headspace, Airtable, and YouTube.
Invented: Made-up names are a good way to differentiate your company and show your unique brand identity. But you’ll have to do more work to tell the story of your company and educate customers on your offering. Examples: Google, Pixar, Garmin, Slack, and Zoom.
Acryonymic: Good brand names are short and memorable, so it may make sense to use an acronym if you want a long name. Keep in mind that meaning is often removed with an acronym, so it’s not the best option for storytelling. Examples: VRBO, BMW, IKEA, UPS, and IBM.
Brand Naming Guidelines
Boundaries are necessary when picking a company name. Without a structure or limits, you can end up with wacky names that have nothing to do with your brand. These brand name guidelines can help you stay on track throughout the process so you wind up with a name that fits your business.
Easy to pronounce and spell.
Even famous brands run into issues with mispronunciation. But you don’t want stakeholders, potential customers, or employees scouring the internet to understand your company’s name. Keep it simple to say and spell, so it doesn’t distract people from your products or services.Image Source
Memorable
I don’t know about you, but I never run to the store for “facial tissues.” Brands like Kleenex, Chapstick, and Band-Aid are such noteworthy names, people use them as generic terms. So when you come up with a brand name, choose one that sticks in people’s minds to help raise your awareness above competitors.Image Source
Meaningful
Brand names that hint at company stories make it easier for customers to connect your values to the brand. Think of the investing platform, Robinhood. The fictional story is about a bandit who steals from the rich to give to the poor, which aligns with the company’s ethos of “Investing for Everyone.”Image Source
Strong Visual Identity
Words have power, but it takes about 10 seconds of looking at a logo for someone to form an impression about your brand. Beyond the other elements, your brand name must look great on paper and online. Experiment with text logos and graphics to see if the name is too long or difficult to design around.
How to Name a Brand
Now that you have name inspiration and guidelines to follow, it’s time to explore the details of how to name a brand. This approach is most effective when paired with your brand positioning strategy, so take time to do that work before jumping into the naming process.
1. Outline your brand goals and identity.
Defining your identity and goals solidifies what sets you apart from the competition and how you plan to position your company. You can pull this information from your positioning statement. If you don’t have one yet, ask yourself the following questions:Why does your company exist? This is your vision.
What does your company do? This is your mission.
How do you do what you do? This refers to your values. Fun fact, 89% of shoppers are loyal to brands that share their values.
What brand identity do you want to create? This is your brand personality.
What do you want to accomplish with the brand name? Maybe you want customers to immediately understand your offering, or maybe you want to highlight your innovative spirit.Once you answer these questions, it’s time to look outward.
2. Consider your customers and competitors.
No brand succeeds in a silo, so it’s essential to pick a name that resonates with your audience and within your industry. That’s because people often identify themselves with the brands they buy. This is good news for companies, as customers with an emotional relationship with a brand have a 306% higher lifetime value.
When coming up with a brand name, consider customer reviews and surveys. This feedback can show how people perceive your brand, which is helpful when brainstorming names. If customers talk about how fun it is to work with your team and use your product, it wouldn’t make sense to adopt a serious brand name or persona.
Another crucial consideration is your industry. What are the naming norms? What are your competitors doing? Based on your brand positioning, you have to decide whether to follow the industry formula or choose an unconventional name that makes your brand stand out.
3. Brainstorm and discovery.
Yes, it’s time to break out the whiteboard. But before you jump in, put together a team for ideas and approvals. You need to define who is involved in the decision-making process. If you’re a solopreneur, you can ask a few trusted peers or colleagues to take part.
Fill up your board with whatever ideas come to mind, and if you get stuck, think about:The adjectives that describe your service, product, or brand
How customers feel about your brand, or how you want them to feel
Words that you want to associate with your businessAs you ideate, reflect on what you think makes a good brand name and consider any major concerns you have about naming. Feeling stuck? Try Shopify’s business name generator tool.
4. Refine your ideas.
You probably have a long list of brand names — and that’s a good thing. It’s easier to chop than to create. Start culling down your list by considering the following factors for each name:Does it fit your brand personality?
Does it have emotional resonance?
Does it have meaning or connect to your company story?
How does it look on paper and on a screen?
Are there any trademarks for it?
Are the domain name and social media handles available?
Does it stand out from the competition?
Is it short, memorable, and easy to spell and pronounce?Create a shortlist of 10-15 names for the next step. If you have less than this, that’s okay — just aim for three to five options.
5. Get feedback.
There’s nothing like asking your team, customers, stakeholders, or peers for feedback. You’ll quickly learn if a name contender is difficult to pronounce or rubs people the wrong way. If possible, ask a diverse group of people for their opinions individually so you don’t run into groupthink issues.
Once you’ve collected feedback, it’s wise to see how the final options translate across languages. Consider where your company will operate and where you hope to expand. Wix learned this lesson the hard way, but the humor-oriented brand handled it well.
Before making a final decision, take a look at how a few popular companies came up with their brand names.
How Three Companies Came Up With Brand Names
From spelling errors to company-wide brainstorms, there are plenty of stories that highlight the creativity and complexity of the brand naming process. Check out how these three brands decided on a name.
Gusto
Originally named ZenPayroll, Gusto rebranded three years after its launch. The company had thousands of customers and a team that questioned if a new name was essential. Josh Reeves, CEO, and co-founder said the original name was chosen out of convenience. But the founders knew it was temporary.
To expand beyond payroll service into health insurance, ZenPayroll needed a new name and logo. The team wanted to combine their values at the time — peace of mind, calm, warm, trusting, and vibrant — with their vision for the future. “We wanted to capture our emphasis on the people doing the work,” said Reeves.
The result? Gusto, which means enjoyment or vigor in doing something; zest. Here’s the evolution of Gusto, from the original brand to today’s identity.Image Source
Warby Parker
“Coming up with the name ‘Warby Parker’ was one of the hardest things we did as a founding team,” said Neil Blumenthal, the company’s co-founder, and co-CEO. As the story goes, the team came up with over 2,000 ideas over the course of six months before choosing the final brand name.
Their inspiration? A Jack Kerouac exhibition at the New York Public Library that contained a journal with two interesting characters: Warby Pepper and Zagg Parker. The founders had all been inspired by Kerouac and the beat generation ethos of taking the road less traveled. Soon after, the rebellious Warby Parker brand was born.Image Source
HubSpot
As fellow graduate students, HubSpot co-founders Brian and Dharmesh noticed that consumers had gotten really good at ignoring interruptive ads and bids for their attention. They started HubSpot on the idea of “inbound,” the notion that people would rather be helped than harassed by marketers and salespeople.
According to the book, “Marketing Lesson from the Grateful Dead” by Brian Halligan and David Meerman Scott, the name HubSpot sprung from the vision to create a hub-based ecosystem that united software, education, and community to help businesses grow better. That idea, “combined with the double-entendre for Boston (nicknamed The Hub [of the Universe])…made it a good choice.”
What’s Next?
With a powerful brand name, you’re ready to design the visuals that bring it to life. Learn how to make a unique brand identity that draws in customers, successfully launch a product, and create a brand that keeps people coming back. -
Customers’ Top HubSpot Integrations to Streamline Your Business in 2022
The HubSpot team is excited to share that the HubSpot App Marketplace has officially crossed the 1,000 apps milestone. We’re proud of this milestone because it reflects the combined commitment of HubSpot and our partners to deliver integrated solutions to help you grow better.
We know there’s an increasing number of software choices out there for your growing company. And that trend is only going to continue: A recent IDC white paper commissioned by HubSpot predicted that the cloud computing industry will only continue to grow over the next three years.
Blissfully estimates that all SaaS categories will continue to experience growth, with IT, security, compliance, and HR being the top-growing categories. That means your company may adopt even more apps to get jobs done, and you’ll have a bigger need for integrations that unite your data and power cohesive customer experiences across your tech stack.
That’s why our app ecosystem is such an important part of HubSpot’s platform for scaling companies. The App Marketplace, now home to 1,000+ integrations that span a variety of use cases (marketing, sales, service, and more), makes it easy for you to find and connect the integrations you need as you grow your business.
On average, our customers install seven apps, and more than a quarter of customers install more than 10. Our goal is to let you bring your entire business tech stack together around the HubSpot platform, to deliver a remarkable, end-to-end, integrated customer experience.
Looking ahead, we are doubling down on our investment in our ecosystem–to bring more offerings to our customers as they make HubSpot their single source of truth for customer data and engagement activity across their SaaS tools. We’ll continue to increase the quantity and quality of apps in our ecosystem, as well as serve an increasingly global audience by offering more App Marketplace listings in multiple languages later this year.
To give you a sampling of the range of apps in our ecosystem, here are a few top ones across several interesting categories.
Top 30 HubSpot Integrations from G2 Industry LeadersAs the HubSpot App Marketplace has grown, we’ve seen an increasing number of industry-leading providers build HubSpot integrations for their customers to leverage. Here are the top apps, certified by HubSpot, built by G2 leaders, and highly rated by customers:
Zapier: quick and easy workflow automation
Dialpad: connect your business phone system and automate activity
WooCommerce by MakeWebBetter: syncs users, orders, and products data
Aircall: advanced inbound and outbound calling
Calendly: scheduling platform to increase your sales velocity
Typeform: interactive forms, surveys & quizzes
Integromat: connect to any API to automate workflows
PandaDoc: create, track, and eSign sales proposals & contracts
CloudTalk: cloud phone system to increase sales and customer support team efficiency
Jotform: build custom forms and collect leads
Databox: KPI and analytics dashboards
Qwilr: create beautiful and interactive proposals and quotes
Zendesk: sync tickets and contacts
CallRail: call tracking and analytics software to sync call and text message activity
Automate.io: sync contact data and automate workflows
Skyvia: integrate with major cloud apps and databases with no coding
Proposify: create, send, sign, and track sales documents
Intercom: capture leads from your website with automation and live chat
Unbounce: build landing pages & optimize campaigns
GetAccept: sales engagement platform & e-signature solution
SurveyMonkey: run surveys and take action on responses
Leadfeeder: manage leads and create new tasks, deals, and companies
Vidyard: add video into your inbound marketing programs
Unito Two-Way Sync: sync deals and tasks with popular work management tools
Wistia: segment, nurture, and score leads based on video view activity
Grow.com: measure your company’s health and get full-funnel visibility
ChurnZero: customer success platform to help you fight churn
Rybbon Digital Rewards: automate sending digital rewards and incentives
Front: collaborative communication platform for real-time updates and context
Teamwork: sync projects and tasks to keep your inbound marketing and sales activities organized
Top New HubSpot Integrations
We launched a variety of extensibility products in 2021 to enable new app functionality and new app categories in our marketplace. These new apps have helped customers integrate their SaaS tools with HubSpot in whole new ways.
Top 8 Data Sync AppsEarly last year, HubSpot launched Operations Hub, which includes Data Sync. Data sync integrations pack the punch of custom-built connectors — bidirectional and multi-object sync, custom field mappings, and more — in an easy, code-free package. There are now 100 Data Sync apps in the App Marketplace. Here are the most installed Data Sync apps:
Google Contacts: sync contacts in real-time and stop using messy CSV files to handle your imports and exports
Outlook Contacts: sync personal Outlook contacts without manual data entry and imports
Mailchimp: sync a Mailchimp audience in real-time
Stripe: sync contacts and add a filter for any Stripe field like account balance or currency
Pipedrive: sync Pipedrive contacts
Sendinblue: set up a one- or two-way sync with Sendinblue
Xero: sync Xero contacts
Airtable: sync Airtable rows that represent contacts or companies
Top 8 Media Bridge Apps
In 2021, we launched a dozen media bridge apps to help you embed media, like videos and podcasts, directly into HubSpot’s drag-and-drop content editors then leverage the engagement data in HubSpot’s CRM and reporting. Below are the 8 media bridge apps most installed by HubSpot customers:
Wistia: segment, nurture, and score leads based on video view activity
Vidyard: add video into your inbound marketing programs
Hippo Video for Sales: easily record, share, and track videos for sales outreach
TwentyThree: drag and drop videos directly into your landing pages
SproutVideo: capture valuable leads with marketing videos and sync video content
Cincopa: pass captured leads & video viewing data into HubSpot
Idomoo: engage customers 1:1 at scale with personalized videos
Moovly: create personal videos and embed them in HubSpot emails and landing pages
Top 8 Workflow Integrations
We launched 50+ workflow integrations in 2021 that integrate directly with HubSpot workflows that make automating your business processes that much easier. Here are the most installed workflow integrations for you to try out in your next HubSpot workflow:
Kixie: automate the busy work reps are responsible for after and between phone calls
WP Fusion: automatically import new WordPress users
Insycle: clean HubSpot data using schedules and workflows integration
WhatHub: trigger workflow automations based on the content of WhatsApp messages
Salesmsg: trigger workflows when someone calls or texts you
Sakari: add SMS to any contact, ticket, or deal-based workflow
JustCall: create SMS Workflows and trigger texts
GoToWebinar: set workflow triggers based on webinar registration and attendance
Top 8 Marketing Event Apps
In the past few months, we’ve expanded the number of marketing event apps that integrate with HubSpot’s marketing event object. These apps help you easily sync your marketing event data with HubSpot in order to build attribution reports and gain insight into the ROI of your events. Here are apps HubSpot customers have installed the most to help run their marketing events:
eWebinar: automated webinar solution that combines pre-recorded video with real-time interactions and live chat
GoToWebinar: webinar platform for virtual conferences and events
Eventbrite: event management and ticketing platform
Zoom: video meeting and webinar solution
Hopin: event technology platform that offers a virtual venue with multiple interactive areas
Airmeet: events platform that provides a virtual venue for engaging experiences
Accelevents: event management platform for virtual, in-person, or hybrid events
On24: virtual event platform and webinar software provider
We’re excited to continue the growth of our app ecosystem in 2022 and beyond and look forward to continuing our partnerships with top developers and partners to build solutions that help you grow better. To learn more about these apps or discover additional ones, visit the App Marketplace.
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Your All-in-One Guide to Call Center Workforce Optimization
From organizing call center agents to employing the right technology and developing a customer experience strategy, there are plenty of moving pieces in the successful operation of a contact center. Getting all those nuts and bolts to run in perfect harmony is often referred to as call center workforce optimization (WFO).
Although it sounds technical, WFO is just a fancy way of speaking to the management of all things call center-related in a way that boosts agent productivity and overall call center performance—however, there is a lot involved in developing a successful WFO strategy, and we have you covered with all the details.
Industry Report: State of the Contact Center 2022
What does call center workforce optimization look like?
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this one. Really, your WFO will be different depending on the industry, size, and needs of your call center. Some call centers find it easier to go with one single workforce optimization solution that fits all their needs.
Oftentimes, this can be quite expensive and doesn’t always contain everything a call center needs either, in which case, combining different technologies and strategies and ensuring they flow together is your next option.
How do I get started?
First, you need to understand the areas that contribute to the operation of your call center. Next, you should ensure they’re working together like a well-oiled machine. Here are some different areas you might want to keep in mind:
Workforce management quality.
Workforce management relates to the forecasting of call volumes to properly schedule call center agents. Having more or less staff at the right times can decrease overall contact center costs, improve agent productivity by decreasing burnout potential, decrease wait-times for customers, and more. Some call centers managers take care of these tasks manually while others choose to use specific call center software for workforce management.
5 Tips to Prevent Call Center Agent Burnout Before it Begins
Agent onboarding and training.
Keeping agents interested in their work can be a challenge, but with the right onboarding and training strategies, they’ll constantly be learning new information. Focusing on overall agent engagement is a great way to ensure your staff is happy at work—and customers will be able to tell the difference during their interactions, too.
Customer experience.
When hiring and training new agents, be sure to stress that your contact center is customer focused. Introduce your customer experience strategy to newbies and offer refresher courses on customer service to established agents. Consider providing customers with an omnichannel experience, where they can choose whether to reach out by phone or online via chat. You may even decide to use social media messaging and comment monitoring as another means of convenient customer assistance.TIP:
Customer surveys (often called customer satisfaction surveys or CSats) can help you determine your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to customer service.Agent and customer interactions.
Management should always be actively involved in call monitoring to keep customer service standards high and ensure agents are meeting the needs of their customers by going above and beyond. Call center software that provides customer interaction analytics is available, but this task can also be performed by managers, as long as the findings are recorded and kept private.
Analytics and reporting.
To gain insight into where your agents and call center performance stand, keep a pulse on a variety of key performance indicators (KPI). Technology like the Fonolo Portal can help you track important stats that will help you determine what’s working and what needs to be improved for call center success.
Call center technologies to optimize your workforce:
Visual IVR.
If your contact center doesn’t already use a Visual IVR system, it’s time to invest in one. Similar to a traditional IVR, this technology guides your digital users through a navigational menu to connect them with the right support agent. This encourages your customers to reach out through your website or mobile app, saving your phone line for more urgent and complex queries.
Voice Call-Backs.
Fonolo’s Voice Call-Backs smooth out call spikes, lower abandon rates, and improve the customer experience overall. Agents will have more time to be focused and productive and feel less overwhelmed on busy days, which improves agent engagement as well.DID YOU KNOW?
Call-backs and Visual IVR are a powerful duo in the contact center. You can use scheduled call-backs to escalate digital users to the voice channel, minimizing risk of abandonment.AI chatbots.
Convenience is key when it comes to achieving high CSat scores. Online chat functions offer customers a quick way to resolve common or smaller issues and AI chatbots take pressure off agents by reducing call volumes and eliminating the need for agents to monitor online chats.The post Blog first appeared on Fonolo. -
Ostracodish
The ostracod is extinct. Over millions of years, with good reasons at every step, it evolved to become the creature it was.
And when we add up all of those little steps, we end up with a creature that was no longer fit for its environment.
Organizations develop like this. So do work practices, cultural systems and “the way we do things around here.”
I’m sure there was a really good reason twenty years ago for all the steps that are now involved in the thing you do right now, but your competitor, the one who is starting from scratch, is skipping most of them.
Every day we get a new chance to begin again. And if you don’t, someone else will.
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Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking (and the Goals They Help You Achieve)
Email remains one of the best ways to reach your audience, but you’re not going to have much luck with a shotgun approach. Your leads are constantly bombarded by offers and promotions. And to stand out from the noise, you need to create email marketing assets that take individual subscriber behaviors and preferences into account.…
The post Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking (and the Goals They Help You Achieve) appeared first on Benchmark Email.