Category: Marketing Automation

If you haven’t already heard about ChatGPT –  OpenAI’s chatbot – it’s been dubbed a game changer in the world of artificial intelligence (AI), and rightfully so. ChatGPT can mimic a therapist and provide seemingly adequate mental health advice. Like a journalist, content writer, or screenwriter, it can spit out long-form prose and stories in seconds. It is even capable of emulating an engineer and writing code. The discourse around this technology has been all-consuming lately. Scroll through Twitter, and you’ll surely see at least a couple of tweets on your timeline mentioning it. Dozens of articles are published on a daily basis about its capabilities, limitations, and the ethical concerns around it. I’ve been doing my best to ignore all of this chatter because –  to be quite honest –  it scared me. As someone who identifies first and foremost as a writer, I couldn’t help but become defensive. This feeling that, in the foreseeable future, I could be replaced by a machine, that all of the time, energy, money, and emotions I’ve poured into developing my skill set as a writer could go out the door has not been an easy thing to grapple with.But, I’m finding that I can’t keep ignoring this discomfort. After all, Buffer is currently working to embed AI technology into our product, and as a content writer here, I’ve had to finally confront the elephant in the room. I don’t normally write personal pieces for the Buffer blog, but this essay is my attempt to tackle my complicated feelings about AI head-on and potentially find a middle ground.Why I feel conflicted about AITo better understand my unwillingness to adapt to this technology, here’s some context. Ever since I could remember, storytelling has been an integral part of who I am. I have distinct memories of watching Bollywood films as a little girl and being in awe of the sentiments, the dancing, and the stories. These films inspired me to write my first script at ten years old (I didn’t get very far). I went on to major in communication studies and creative writing in undergrad and received my master’s degree in cinema and media studies. Writing has always been at the core of all of my educational and work experiences. I’ve written academic papers, journalism pieces, short stories, screenplays – you name it –  about representation and diversity in the media. Some of the most impactful classes I took were small seminars in grad school where, for three hours every week, my classmates and I workshopped our screenplays. These were stories that we came up with. Scripts filled with dialogue that we painstakingly wrote, characters we crafted and – to us – existed as fully formed individuals, and with lessons and themes that we hoped others could relate to. We did it because we cared about the story. We did it because, to us, storytelling is the way we connect with others and make sense of the world. My peers and I didn’t get these advanced degrees for an ego boost or because the job market highly values creatives – but because we’re truly passionate about the craft. Even when I switched over from my creative endeavors to journalism and content writing, the work has remained personal for me. When I write blog posts for Buffer, I talk to real people and use examples from actual small businesses and content creators. I’m always inserting myself and a human connection into every single piece of writing I produce. And that’s what makes it good.  You’re telling me some computer chatbot can replicate that? Give me a break. But to my dismay, AI is already replacing writers. CNET just made headlines for quietly publishing several articles entirely written by AI. Not only were these articles filled with errors that needed to be corrected by real people –  The Washington Post even dubbed it “a journalistic disaster” – but the AI also seemed to be plagiarizing several sentences from other pieces. A Futurism investigation found, “extensive evidence that the CNET AI’s work has demonstrated deep structural and phrasing similarities to articles previously published elsewhere, without giving credit.” BANG—After our reporting last week on the CNET AI’s clandestine, error-rife writing, they paused it. Good thing they did. Besides being a shitty writer loose with facts, as Futurism managing editor @Jon_Christian reports: It’s a serial plagiarist, too. https://t.co/FStxai11GD— foster kamer. (@weareyourfek) January 23, 2023

While Open AI hasn’t shared exactly how they’ve trained ChatGPT, according to this CNBC article, the chatbot was fed information from the web, archived books, and Wikipedia and learned text patterns to create writing that is similar. While this may not be outright copying, it still feels like this technology is unethically pulling from other writers without proper approval or citation. (See how I credit my sources?)   Sure, maybe there are still tweaks that need to be made with this technology. Maybe with ongoing updates these robot journalists will make fewer factual errors, and maybe, they will learn to remix others’ work well enough that the plagiarism will no longer be obvious. However, these ethical concerns will always be issues in my eyes.Buffer’s Approach to AINow that I’ve laid out my stance on AI, I think it’s only fair to tell you how Buffer is approaching this space. We value transparency here at Buffer, which is why I can be so frank about my dislike of this technology on our blog ahead of us launching AI on our own platform. I spoke to two of my colleagues who are currently working on Buffer’s AI assistant – Diego and Ismail – about my personal hesitations. They both assured me Buffer’s main goal with AI is to help our users – mostly made up of creators and small and medium-sized businesses – who are running most or all of the operations by themselves and have limited resources. Diego said his vision for the tool is that it, “never replaces human creativity but be a sidekick that assists you and that can actually – if done correctly – unlock a lot of potential.”Specifically, Ismail believes that these AI writing tools can help with writer’s block, making it easier for our users to write social media captions or generate text for their blog post. He also pointed out that what the AI spits out will not always be the final version –  just a jumping-off point – and someone will need to reshape and edit the words a bit. While I have my personal qualms with AI writing tools, I’ve interviewed many small business owners while working at Buffer, and know firsthand how swamped they can be with their day-to-day work. In fact, many of them are composed of one to three-person teams and social media marketing is usually not their first priority, understandably. These are the very individuals who our Design and Product teams are hoping Buffer’s AI can assist.In our conversation, Ismail also suggested I be more flexible in my mindset. Rather than view AI as threatening my very livelihood, he believes I can use it to my advantage. And he’s not alone. While these tools have been met with hesitancy by a lot of writers, many have chosen to embrace them. A VICE article looks at how a university in Australia is supportive of its students using tools such as ChatGPT. Instead of viewing it as cheating, they believe this type of technology can usher in a new standard of learning. Similarly, an Atlantic article titled, “How ChatGPT Will Destabilize White-Collar Work,” discusses the fact that while some jobs will evidently be lost, writers can utilize this technology to advance their skills. MIT professor David Autor is quoted in the piece saying, “AI will help people use expertise more. It means that we’ll specialize more.”There is so much speculation around AI and its impact, but time will only tell. For Diego and the rest of our Product and Design team, now is the perfect opportunity for Buffer to explore this technology.“It is important for us to play in this space,” Diego said. “To understand the disruptive potential that it has and how much value it can unlock for our customers.”My thoughts on AI moving forwardUp until now, my resistance to this technology has been strong. Not only have I been avoiding all of the AI writing and photo tools on the market, I’ve even turned off Google Doc smart suggestions in protest. But, after some reflection, I have decided to push past my reluctance and start utilizing these tools. It’s becoming quite clear that AI is here to stay, and I know that my stubbornness to adapt could hurt me down the line. To be clear, I am planning to use these tools for outlining and brainstorming purposes only, never to supplant my own writing. I am also starting to come around and see the potential value this could add to Buffer users – real people who just need a little bit of help when it comes to creating social media copy for their businesses. There is an uneasy feeling that I still can’t shake, however, and this example from writer Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura encapsulates my concerns. She tweeted about being replaced by ChatGPT only to have her former employer ask her to edit the AI’s subpar copy for free. I lost a client because they think they can simply use ChatGPT to write their marketing, comms, and PR release. Then they reached out to see if I could edit what ChatGPT wrote because it wasn’t accurate & they did not want to pay me for it. This AI fantasy will be the death of us— Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura (@Rrrrnessa) January 17, 2023

While the example clearly demonstrates that this technology is not more capable than humans, it also highlights the worrying fact that writers are being undermined and undervalued because of these very tools. In a perfect world, ChatGPT and other writing softwares would be used in a limited capacity, as mere assistants for writers like my colleagues envision. Instead, many employers are already choosing to go all in on these tools hoping to cut costs, rank for SEO, and bring in more traffic, regardless of the quality or integrity of the work. The one thing that gives me peace of mind is that I don’t think anything could ever replace human ingenuity. Afterall, these tools are being fed content from real writers. There are also certain skills, including interviewing and original reporting, that AI just can’t do yet. Still, it’s becoming obvious that AI written content will become more and more common. But, I believe there will come a point when all of these computer generated words will begin to stand out for all of the wrong reasons – the fact that most of it is rudimentary and dry, devoid of empathy, humanity, and wit. So despite my genuine concerns, I am convinced that ChatGPT and the slate of tools like it are no match for human inventiveness. Writers and their dedication and commitment to the craft will always win out at the end of the day.

When Apple launched the Mail Privacy Protection (MPP) in September 2021, marketers were unsure of the new mail client’s impact on email marketing. As you can read in the latest Litmus’ email engagement trends report, the effect is already conspicuous one year after MPP’s launch.   The email marketing landscape is tipped to tilt further, and…
The post Most Compelling Trends from Litmus Email Engagement Trends Report appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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How are you using QR codes with your customers? Or with marketing? I recently did a blog post on how we use in PB for vendor events, but I would love to learn more from everyone else! https://www.projectbroadcast.com/m/2023/01/24/blog-qr-code-project-broadcast-vendor-event-success/ submitted by /u/ProjectBroadcast [link] [comments]

Hey there fellow marketers ✌🏼 How are you all doing? Times can be pretty tough out there at the moment, marketing and growth budgets are getting cut, and at the same time, you’re supposed to acquire customers even more efficiently. We talked to a lot of founders, marketers, and growth leaders who are facing the same problem and realized that only a few folks know how to tap into their existing customer base to drive growth for their company. And even fewer are able to do so in a repeatable and scalable way. That’s why we want to present you with a strategy that can help you tremendously in this situation: community-led growth. Maybe you’ve heard of it before, or maybe it’s a new concept for you. Whatever may be the case, here’s a quick introduction to what it means: Community-Led-Growth is a strategy that leverages the power of an active, supportive user base to drive customer acquisition, retention, and reach. This approach enhances customer engagement and deepens brand-customer interactions. The community becomes a powerful force for driving word-of-mouth and referral marketing, which can lower your customer acquisition cost (CAC). That sounds great and all, but where should you begin? 🤷‍♂️ 🎯 It’s the same answer that is almost never wrong – focus on your customers first and foremost. Think about what drives them. By incentivizing your existing customers with meaningful rewards you can transform them into your proud advocates. 🥑 Advowhat? Ad-vo-cates. An advocate is someone who speaks or writes in support of a cause, product, or idea. They use their influence to promote the cause, product, or idea and encourage others to do the same. Advocates are passionate about their cause and have the power to influence and motivate others. 📈 How do you know if you’re doing the right thing? To measure the impact of your community-led growth strategy, you’ll need to set up key performance indicators (KPIs). Some examples of KPIs that can be used to measure community-led growth include community size, engagement, retention, and referral rates. Our digital handbook gives a more nuanced overview of what to consider when choosing and tracking your KPIs. All of this sounded interesting to you and you want to dig deeper? 👀 Find more in-depth tactical advice on how to nail customer acquisition in a tough market with community-led growth and download our digital handbook 📖 Have any of you already made some experience with CLG? What were the biggest challenges that you faced when implementing it into your growth strategy? submitted by /u/drniklas [link] [comments]

 

 

In an increasingly competitive eCommerce world, there are some dos and don’ts when it comes to encouraging customers to buy from your business. This act is called a conversion, and it’s just about the most important metric you’ll need to watch as you plan on building your business and increasing revenue. In eCommerce, conversion means the percentage of website visitors who purchased something from your online store in a set period of time. As with all marketing metrics, conversion rate is something you can—and should—work on.  

But what are the top ways to optimise your conversion rates?

 

Gather valuable customer data for a personalised approach

 

Use zero-party data to help personalise the website

 

In the modern eCommerce world, personalisation is a must. Amongst the variety of ways to personalise content delivery, there’s one standout: whole website personalisation. The latest AI and automation technology, used by a modern Customer Engagement Platform (CEP), is able to create real-time personalisation that responds to website visitor activity, allowing you to replace generalised offers with ones tailored to each unique customer. The result? A substantially reduced bounce rate.

For this to thrive, it’s about collecting, managing and actioning zero-party data that provides that all important insight into the needs, wants and desires that customers are willing to share about themselves. By using this data to create a more holistic and rounded 360 customer profile, website personalisation can be enhanced to its optimum.

 

Two-step newsletter sign-in

 

Employing a two-step newsletter sign-in form is another handy tool for brands to develop their client databases more coherently. The newsletter operates a two-step approach: the first step asks for an email address and the second offers the chance for clients to provide more useful details, such as preferences and location, if they so desire. Through this approach, brands can also gather detailed data on their more active and valuable users.

Utilising this solution shortens the conversion path and allows brands to gain more declarative customer data. By pinning the majority of your efforts on the engaged users, it increases the likelihood of converting them into customers quicker. It’s a hub of zero-party data that can then be fed back into the website personalisation process.

 

Convert the anonymous

 

People often like to stay anonymous, browsing your website multiple times without feeling any urge to create an account or reveal themselves. But there are various incentives at hand that can encourage visitors to register. Even if users maintain their anonymity, you can still get straight to conversion and offer that nudge towards completing the purchase.

A social proof feature on a CEP provides the means to provide healthy pressure on unidentified website visitors. The module is able to display in real-time the number of customers currently watching a product, helping to make it all the more attractive and incentivise the user to buy it. The feature also has the capability for bespoke notifications that fit the brand image and display design.

 

Personalise messages to anonymous clients

 

Through acquiring zero-party and real-time website data, you can personalise messages not only to existing customers but to potential ones as well. Dynamic web push notifications from a CEP provide the means to send wholly personalised content and notifications with site and product recommendations. The options are there for either a mass sendout or a personal 1-to-1 level message.

 

Communicate at the optimum moment in the best way

 

Getting creative and personal with your messages is a proven method of reeling visitors back onto your website and converting them into customers. But the countless messages consumers receive can take them over the borderline into the irritable and annoying category. So how can brands avoid crossing this border?

Through a CEP you can utilise the customer preference centre to ask customers about the frequency with which they wish to receive offers and promotions. So, instead of spamming customers, this enables you to provide only tailored and wanted information by the visitor. This can also be set up to match their desired channel, be that by email, web push or SMS.

 

Retain clients’ interest in watched products

 

Just because they’re gone, doesn’t mean they should be forgotten. Visitors can be reminded about the products that caught their eye on the site through the implementation of real-time intelligent product recommendation powered by AI. This not only widens the campaign range but is sure to boost conversion rates.

Visitors may also leave a trail of information about preferred price range and size, for example. Recommendation frames can then be used to suggest similar products that fit these requirements.

 

Use live chat software to help visitors answer questions

 

This is a mutual two-way benefit. Live chats help visitors answer their queries while you gain an understanding of how they are interacting with the website. Live chat consultants can also be prepped with customer profiles and preferences and develop a direct communication channel between a potential customer and the brand.

If you don’t have capacity for a live chat, don’t do it. Not being available to respond to questions gives off a bad look and it’s better not to have it then not be around. But if you can, you definitely should.

 

Rescue abandoned carts with a two-step process

 

If anything needed to highlight the importance of conversion rates, it’s the fact that more than two thirds of online shopping carts are abandoned, meaning 7 in 10 customers are failing to complete purchases. This is faltering one step from conversion.

However, through using the recommendation system, the purchase(s) can be saved. The feature will be activated when a cart is abandoned. It will send the user an email not only with a list of the deserted items, but also recommended products picked out by AI that match the recommendation frames.

If this fails, the system has a second trick up its sleeve: the final step is to deliver a follow up message containing a discount coupon. It’s a two-step model that can provide incentives at crucial moments in the user decision process and purchase journey.

 

Small margins, big gains

 

The small margins in nailing the act of conversion can have big business outcomes. Failure to capitalise on such opportunities can result in significant missed revenue. But by adopting the latest technology and data to offer tailored, targeted and personalised content, you can dramatically increase your eCommerce conversion rate and completed sales.

Customers want to buy the best products for them – if they like what you are offering and how you are communicating with them, they will be happy to share data as a result. And this creates the knock-on effect of better subsequent communication.

By converting your eCommerce processes to suit the modern customer, you can revolutionise your conversion rate and enhance those all important relationships between the brand and customer. It’s small margins, but big gains. 

 

It’s such a paradox for business owners that more success often means more stress. At least, that was the case for me. When I started working on Shorty’s Pizza Shack in 2010, my wife and I did everything. We welded the tables, we built the fence, we tested pizza recipes endlessly until we landed on the perfect one. When we opened our doors to customers, this mindset of doing as much as possible myself continued: I hired, I fired, I cooked, I cleaned. I worked open to close most days and would go weeks without taking a single day off. To say it was exhausting is an understatement, but it was manageable for the first few years as we grew slowly. But everything changed when we started offering a great drink special on Thursday nights. Suddenly, we became the go-to spot for local college students, and those nights were total mayhem. We were making a ton of money, but my mental health started taking a nosedive. I wasn’t eating enough and started drinking more than normal. I was lightheaded all the time—like that feeling right before you pass out—and different muscles would just start twitching randomly. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was having near-constant panic attacks. All I knew was that I felt like I was going to drop dead at any minute, and it was truly terrifying.   There would be busy stretches during which the only thing that would get me through the night was knowing that, if it all became too much, I could just lock the door and quit. At that point, it became clear: Something had to give if I wanted my business to survive and to take better care of myself along the way.Today, eight years later, I am so much happier. And, although I had to make some sacrifices to make it happen, the business is still thriving—in fact, we’re about to open our second location. Here are the changes I had to make to take care of myself while also taking care of my business.I gave up money in the short term to thrive in the long termWhen my to-dos at the restaurant started becoming overwhelming, I should have hired more support immediately. But I kept feeling like the success was just a farce—that the sales wouldn’t last or that we would have to raise prices to pay our staff and then customers would stop coming and everything we had built would crumble.It was a kismet moment that finally convinced me to bring on more serious help. A good friend came into town, mentioned he was looking for a new opportunity, and asked if I’d consider letting him buy in as a co-owner. He’s a much more extroverted person than I am, and he loved the thought of being in the energy of a busy restaurant all day. The idea was we’d run it together for a year so I could train him, and then I’d hand the day-to-day over to him. This was scary for a few reasons. First of all, it meant giving up control, which I’ll talk more about in a minute. It also meant giving up money—50% of the business, to be exact. Plus, we decided that instead of sending me a paycheck, we’d put my income back into the business so we could grow it without taking on debt.  But between closing down entirely—which I was on the verge of doing at that point—and bringing on a partner and making less, the latter felt like the better option. Plus, I knew that this move would give us more capacity to expand in the future. I may be bringing home less in the short term, but there was potential to grow more sustainably and meaningfully in the long term. This is proving to be true as we work on opening our second location, something that never would have been possible when I was running things on my own.I let go of responsibilities I wasn’t suited forOf course, bringing on help does no good if you can’t let go of control as a business owner, and that’s something I had to learn how to do. Many of my problems came from micromanagement and not coming to terms with the idea that every tiny thing didn’t have to be done exactly how I would do it.The mindset shift that helped me delegate was realizing that continuing to do the tasks I don’t enjoy or that bring me stress is not only harmful for me, but for the business as well. If I’m a miserable human being around customers all day as an introvert, then that’s going to affect everything, from the atmosphere at the restaurant, to my employees’ satisfaction, to the quality of the food.So, I worked on fully handing over the day-to-day operations to my partner. First, my life almost immediately got better. Knowing that I could theoretically step away for weeks and the business would continue running was so valuable for my mental health and work-life balance, especially as I started caring for my grandparents and my wife and I decided to have a kid. Plus, getting to fill my days with tasks I actually liked—such as working to improve the food or thinking of creative ideas for business growth—dramatically increased my enjoyment of the work. And the business was better for it, too. Since my partner took over, our revenue is up 80 percent, and we’ve maintained a 4.6 Google rating.I remembered that life is so much bigger than my businessAnother thing that really helped my mental health was remembering the other aspects of my life that are truly important and intentionally creating time for them.For instance, I’m often in charge of caring for my daughter. While that can create some additional stress at times, it also really motivates me to create real boundaries with work. No matter what is happening in the business, at 5 pm I have to pick her up from daycare and she gives me a huge hug and a lot of things just wash away, if only for a brief period of time. I’m not perfect, and I do still think about work after hours, but she helps me keep it in check.I’ve also been working on creating more time for exercise and creative projects outside of my business. I used to be a hobbyist potter and haven’t had much time for that lately, but I find even doing toddler crafts with my kid relaxes me. And working out as little as 1-2 hours a week has been one of the best things for my mental health, whether it’s taking my daughter for a bike ride or getting to the gym.I recognize that carving out time for “unnecessary” activities like this during times of stress can seem ridiculous or downright impossible, and I find I either have to put these things on my schedule as a non-negotiable or get creative about how I squeeze them in (such as combining creative time with parenting time). Being intentional about fitting them in has been so beneficial, both for my own wellbeing and for my business. Not only do I come back to work happier, but I find that solutions to the biggest problems tend to pop into my head when I’m distracted by something else.I learned to better manage my stress (because it doesn’t go away)Dealing with my panic attacks didn’t just mean making changes to the business—it also meant making changes within myself. This is especially important because, as a business owner, the stress never fully goes away. There will always be busier periods and unexpected challenges, and learning how to take care of myself through those has been vital. Talking to a professional who helped me identify that what I was experiencing was panic attacks was the most helpful step. Naming what was happening helped me feel more in control of it, and she also gave me tools to cope, like doing a few rounds of box breathing or giving myself a few minutes alone during a busy shift. Realizing I really could spare five minutes for myself and the world wasn’t going to end was a big step. My panic attacks still happen, though much less frequently than they used to. And when they do, I know how to take care of myself. Giving up control and making less money as a business owner was a scary leap, and a lot of my peers questioned what I was doing. But being on the other side—happy, with more time for myself and my family, and with my business thriving—is so incredible that I know it was the right move for me.

Digital marketing is extremely fast-paced, so it’s important to keep up with the best metrics to ensure continued growth in 2023. There are several marketing strategies and metrics to work with, so it’s easy to get lost in a sea of numbers without making much progress. That’s why marketers and business owners need to know…
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