Category: Technology

SaaS Events You Must Not Miss in 2020

Posted on by Kallala

As the SaaS landscape continues to change and expand, Andolasoft presents a perfect time to evaluate what you’ve accomplished in months past and to prepare your plans for growth in the upcoming year.

 

One of the best investments you can make in your SaaS business is attending a well-executed conference.

 

Below we deep-dive into why you should add a SaaS conference to your roster, why you should attend the SaaS events, and our pick of the best conferences to look forward to in 2020.

 

Why Attend A SaaS Conference

In our digitally connected age, it seems almost any important transaction can be handled through a computer or mobile device.

We have a variety of social platforms that we can use for connecting and networking, so why go through the expense of attending a conference?

While it’s true most business activities can be effectively executed by the very products the SaaS industry produces, some interactions are made much more valuable when conducted human-to-human.

Here Top SaaS Events For 2020:

1. SaaStr Annual

Date: March 10 – 12, 2020
Location: San Francisco, California

SaaS

SaaStr is one of the biggest, most popular events in the SaaS industry. The annual gathering will bring together 12,000 people and will feature over 300 sessions designed to help you scale your SaaS business and improve your lifetime value.

Can’t make the March gathering? Don’t fret! SaaStr is also hosting a similar event in Paris, France in June.

Why You Should Attend:

Whether you plan to attend SaaStr’s mega event in March or wait for the Paris gathering in June, you’ll be in for a treat.

Attendees learn how to scale their startups, have the opportunity to network with their peers, and even get the chance to be mentored by industry professionals.

The speaker list is always amazing too. 2019’s slate included execs from Dropbox, HubSpot, Twilio, and Intercom.

2. SXSW – SaaS Conference

Date: March 13 – 22, 2020
Location: Austin, Texas

SXSW

No SaaS conference list is complete without mentioning South by Southwest (SXSW). This event is absolutely massive.

In fact, it’s one of the most well-known events in the world –  regardless of topic or industry. The 2019 event discussed things like blockchain, startups, marketing tactics, art, sports, and more.

Why You Should Attend:

The 2019 slate of keynote speakers included the Beastie Boys, the founders of Instagram, a successful politician, and award-winning writers and musicians.

There was so much knowledge to be gleaned from these folks!

The conference also gives attendees the chance to network with thousands of others. Plus, there’s so much going on. If you need a break from the sessions, you can always listen to live music or catch a film screening.

3. Adobe Summit

Date: March 29 – April 2, 2020
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

Adobe Summit

Adobe puts on a great many events throughout the year, but Summit is always one of the best.

2019 attendees dove deep into experience marketing and learned from speakers like Super Bowl champion Drew Brees, Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon, Best Buy’s CEO Hubert Joly, Suntrust Bank’s CMO Susan Johnson, and many more.

Why You Should Attend:

In SaaS, creating great customer experiences is essential. It’s what will separate your tool from the myriad of others on the market.

And that’s exactly what you’ll learn how to do at Adobe Summit.

You’ll also have the opportunity to network with others in your industry. And if that’s not enough, just look at the positive reviews. 99% or previous attendees say the conference exceeded their expectations.

4. MicroConf

Date: April 19 – 23, 2020
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

MicroConf

MicroConf takes a different approach than many of the other events listed in this article. It focuses exclusively on small, self-funded companies.

If that’s the kind of business you own or work for, this conference is a must-attend.

Why You Should Attend:

MicroConf offers two distinct conferences, which will happen back-to-back in 2020.

The Growth conference is aimed at those currently earning a full-time income from their digital products. The Starter conference is for those not currently making a full-time income from their startup.

Both events will help attendees further their careers by giving them access to world-class performers and speakers.

5. Technology & Services World

Date: May 4 – 6, 2020
Location: San Diego, California

Technology & Services World

Technology and Services World (TSW) is “where technology and service executives talk business.” Intrigued?

Then secure your tickets for this event and learn about customer success, revenue generation, selling tactics, artificial intelligence, professional services best practices, and more.

Why You Should Attend:

To succeed in the modern business world, you need to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

At TSW, you’ll learn everything you need to about the topic. You’ll also have ample opportunity to network with colleagues.

Lastly, the expo will expose you to new tools and solutions that will make your work life easier.

6. SaaS Monster

Date: June 22 – 25, 2020
Location: Toronto, Canada

SaaS Monster

SaaS Monster stands apart from the rest of the conferences on this list. Mostly because it’s not its own conference.

Rather, it’s a SaaS-specific track within one of the world’s fastest-growing technology events, Collision Conference.

But don’t let that deter you from attending. SaaS Monster will focus on four main pillars of content related to SaaS: cloud computing, big data, enterprise technology, and security.

Why You Should Attend:

SaaS Monster will bring together SaaS professionals to discuss the industry, share valuable insights, and network with each other.

And the best part? A ticket to SaaS Monster allows you to attend the full Collision Conference experience!

7. SaaStr Europa

Date: June 17 – 18

Location: Maison de la Mutualité in Paris, France

SaaStr Europa

Why Should You Attend:

You will find 500 mentors along with 3000 attendees and 30 hours of rich content.

SaaStr is the world’s largest community of SaaS executives, founders, and entrepreneurs. This conference is meant to help scale businesses faster to $100m ARR.

You can expect incredible networking opportunities and full-day sessions where you can learn from successful entrepreneurs. You also get to share the space with venture capitalists and fellow entrepreneurs in SaaS.

8. 4YFN

Date: June 30 – July 2
Location: Shanghai, China

4YFN

Why Should You Attend:

4FYN is an event for entrepreneurs who are looking to scale their business.

It is a platform where you will get the opportunity to massively expand your professional network by meeting important people from the industry.

Different sessions will be conducted by experts that will teach you about scaling up your SaaS business to newer heights.

9. SaaStr Traction Conference

Date: August 5- 6
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Traction Conference

Why Should You Attend:

Traction Conference is focused on high-growth business. This is particularly interesting for SaaS because SaaS companies have the ability to scale the fastest and have higher goals in terms of monthly and yearly growth.

This conference is attended by high-growth business leaders and founders sharing their experience, strategies, and tactics for achieving high growth.

10. Slush

Date: November 19 – 20
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Slush

Why Should You Attend:

The event, which started with a gathering of only 300 curious minds, has now expanded to 25,000 attendees.

Slush has only one aim — to create and help the next generation of groundbreaking entrepreneurs.

You will find sessions on AR and VR, AI advancement, the start-up environment of Europe, and much more. The event is going to give you the best, hands-on advice by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.

Event listing source: SoftwareSuggest.com/blog

Warping Words

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of SaaS conferences happening in 2020.

Apart from the above-mentioned saas events, there are plenty of needful in-person opportunities coming up this year also.

These events are also necessary to keep up with trends, education, and being inspired by what others are doing in SaaS.

Make your travel plans now!

The Popular Web Development Frameworks of 2019

Posted on by Lipsa

In the digital era, a website is the storefront of business, and internet users are the customers. So, developing a website is an important step to take to establish and promote your business.

As a website has become the first point of contact with your business, it is quite vital to have an impressive design and user-friendly layout for the web application. 

So, to make it possible you need to choose the best web application platform and it is not the easiest one.

There are many of them in the market.

But a correct choice can help to accelerate the process.

Here I have mentioned the best web application frameworks which are being used by several (successful) industries.

The Popular Web Development Frameworks

These top web frameworks are flexible and cater to different types of web projects. These frameworks also have quite large communities with a high number of developers available. And it is easier to find the expert for your project.

So, which one suits your projects? It all depends on your needs and the application’s functional requirements. 

Do you need more details? Let’s discuss!

6 Trends And Future Of eCommerce In Upcoming Years

Posted on by Naman Modi

Keeping an eye on the eCommerce trends should be a hobby since the year is coming to an end, and the business partners want future growth in eCommerce.

Several future eCommerce trends that retailers should pay attention to are the eCommerce techniques. In they need positive growth in their organization are discussed in this article.

Online-Offline Linkages:Online-offline linkages

Both the online and offline shopping options are believed to be the key trends that are believed in shaping future eCommerce regarding how businesses can increase their sales.

Borrowing from the online giant market, Amazon, the process of coming up with physical stores, allows people to interact with the products that may have come across or ordered online.

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Similarly, the retail businesses have noted the importance of offering their digital experiences to younger customers as they seem to spend most of their time online and social media, making purchase decisions.

Thus, it is very logical predicting the eCommerce landscape of 2020 to be either a physical or digital presence.

Multi-Channel Engagement and Buying:

Having many people spend their time on social media, retail businesses have the opportunity of communicating and engaging with their target audiences through various channels.

For example, one may come across a picture of a friend carrying a trendy handbag on Instagram or any social media hurdle.

It will be obvious for the person to inquire about the brand of the bag, its cost, and of course, where she bought it.

After acquiring this information, the person will surely log into the brand’s website or other pages that are selling to make their purchase.

Therefore, multi-channel engagement can be said to be one of the eCommerce future trends that have already begun yielding fruits for retailers.

The multi-channel trend is good news for all businesses as the research clearly shows that most shoppers spend more than those individuals who restrict shopping to a certain channel.

However, it is wrong to rule out that the drivers of eCommerce in the future have changed their availability, utility to the personalized product.

Native Social-Selling

About 18.2% of people say they are comfortable transacting through the social media pages of the prevalent brands.

Although it is still a niche where buying and selling can take place, this group of early adopters will only grow in the near future.

“For example, Instagram has more than a billion active users who spend most of their time on the site messaging and doing other stuff but only get interested in shopping whenever they find something that catches their eye or rather recommended by the influencers.”

Famous Apps & We

The same case is happening to the Facebook brands where their shops on Facebook attract heavy traffic with an increasing number of buyers if they have unique goods.

In the near future, the large brands with a global presence are not going to ignore the native-selling since their target audience will be doing the bulk of the product they admire on social media platforms.

Markedly, it will be an interesting development since eCommerce space will no longer be liable to restricted to the online businesses’ well-known brands as they are probably going to set up their brands on social media.

Automated Operations

None of the future trends will get fruits until their business get automation of their prevalent processes.

That is, ranging from inventory management, invoicing, billing, delivery, and even handling refunds and returns of the firms.

This is because, like in the multi-channel, eCommerce will only be possible if the retailer has general information concerning the stock levels for their various products at the time of shipping.

If there will be an automated inventory, then it will be safe, fast, and customer satisfying since there will be no need for mastering every particular product.

Lack of this information in the app and the websites will continue accepting new orders for their products without customer’s knowledge.

Research shows that enhancing customer satisfaction is a vital factor in influencing loyalty and repeat purchases in the future of eCommerce.

In case deliveries are at any time-delayed or orders are canceled, then the reputation will take a hit.

Mobile CommerceMobile commerce

Almost everyone owns a smartphone, and there is rapid penetration of the same, even in the developing countries for middle-class persons.

The mobile commerce emerging trend results from the rise of using smartphones, which shows mobile commerce in the near future will hit a higher note.

However, retailers and customers have been taking full advantage of their smartphones, but now it important the phones are made being mobile-friendly.

Hence the purchases are simplified. In essence, many people are not going to navigate multiple fill-in forms and pages before completing any transaction.

With that in mind, eCommerce will be required to start looking beyond America and its markets in the coming years.

This is because of the emerging economies like in China, North Africa, and South Asia, where smartphone penetration is the rise but still below global expectations.

For retailers who are in a position to develop mobile apps can be easily downloaded and used without using too much bandwidth in finding themselves a significant advantage where the internet connections are slow or of limited ranges.

Social Media eCommerceSocial media commerce

Many eCommerce analysts believe that online shopping and social media as a natural fit.

They argue that most people spend most of their time on Facebook and Twitter, browsing different products, and asking for recommendations.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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Recently, businesses and customer research show that this shift in the behavior of consumers is taking hold, especially the youths who are considered as the primary target audience in the future of eCommerce.

Many young people have begun using social media to find products and other services that fulfill their needs.

As well they seek to get feedback from individuals within their online circles who might have used the same product before.

Conclusion

For a prosperous future of eCommerce, businesses will have to work with the technology and data firms.

As well the social media platforms will need to ensure the information is always safeguarded for the transaction to take place.

We featured as Top Magento Developers at eCommerceCompanies.

Data leakage is common nowadays which has become a norm for social media hurdles leading to customers remaining top extra cautious with their information online.

6 Simple But Powerful Ways To Lower SaaS Customer Churn

Posted on by Harmit Chawla

To reduce customer churn is effectively one of the smartest development hacks in the present day.

Given that getting new clients is much more costly than holding the current ones, reducing client churn is one objective which should, and does, give restless evenings to entrepreneurs.

Procuring new clients requires a huge effort – right from the underlying contact to getting it done.

If securing costs make the a lot of your marketing budget, organizations are left with fewer resources for improving relations with existing clients and estimating consumer satisfaction – making them bound to churn.

What Is The Customer Churn?

Client churn is the rate at which your current clients quit working with you.

On account of software as a service organization, it is the rate at which they cancel their membership to your service.

Agitate averts SaaS organizations from taking care of securing costs and creating a positive capital and, tragically, is straightforwardly corresponding to the number of clients a business obtains.

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Churn pursues negative exponential dissemination which is the direct inverse of healthy exponential development.

In this manner, a short client lifetime value directly affects income while likewise preventing viral development.

The key to a steady development is verifying a strong and loyal client base that always adds to the MRR by a) effectively working with your product for quite a while and b) through referrals.

So, what are the ways to prevent your SaaS customers from churning? Here are the 6 simple but powerful ways to lower SaaS customer churn

Avoid Common UX Issues That Impact Churn

Smooth client experience is essentially associated with a decent product that meets the desires of the client.

That is the reason product management assumes such a vital job in client maintenance. Every product release should be an ideal release of the present version of the item.

Despite the fact that the product guide is limitless and the product will never be finished, clients hope to associate with a cleaned and well-functioning product.

Product managers need to acknowledge bargains at each progression yet each discharge, regardless of whether lacking potential key features, needs to work flawlessly and meet all the prerequisites that can guarantee client achievement.

An underlying bad impression is extremely difficult to recoup from, and clients don’t generally rely on your guarantees.

It’s alright to impart what’s coming beside keep clients intrigued and engaged with your product, however they’ll eventually pass judgment on you by what they see, not what they hear.

Changing Over Trial Users Into Customers

Client achievement isn’t just an office. Client achievement is the larger methodology of a whole organization, from promoting to deals, product management, and operations.

Client achievement is a procedure that starts with the absolute first interaction with a potential client.

From promotional activities to instructive content, maintenance is a solid part of a client-driven methodology that focuses on cooperating towards a similar objective.

Each touch-point leaves a lasting mark that at last influences maintenance.

Each progression in the client journey represents a unique chance to help clients to remember the estimation of your solution.

When a client dismisses the center points of interest, they quit engaging with your product. The most basic stages are:

  • On-boarding 
  • Preliminary to paid change 
  • Starting 90 days 
  • Renewal   
  • Concentrate on a Great On-boarding 

On-boarding new clients imply rapidly meeting a few targets including demonstrating the capacities of your solution, persuading clients regarding the value of your product.

And promptly directing them through the interface and through the most remarkable procedures to ensure that everything is appropriately set up to work splendidly.

A well-planned on-boarding process must intend to meet and conceivably even surpass your client’s desires by controlling them to arrive at a speedy success as quickly as possible.

The way you locally available your clients indelibly affects maintenance.

Leading clients to see first outcomes immediately and dissatisfaction implies making an incredible initial impression that will set the state of mind for the whole client journey.

Moment Usability

Another issue associated with UX is associated with ease of use. Speed is everything! We’re accustomed to collaborating with new applications that enable us to quickly accomplish our objectives.

Consider Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Uber… clients anticipate moment access and ease of use. In any case, for these platforms, the task is generally simple, since their item is explicitly intended to achieve one single task.

The issue is far increasingly perplexing for SaaS applications that regularly present a lot more elevated levels of complexity.

Regardless of what number of modules, menus, and features your product has: clients hope to be in a split second ready to set up their workplace and rapidly accomplish critical outcomes.

Any deferral between the sign-up platform and the primary outcomes drastically expands the likelihood that a client churn.

A friction-less client experience implies that the client can promptly work the application they’re trying without feeling lost or baffled.

Commitment And Activation To Fight Churn

In the wake of on-boarding your clients in your foundation, it’s an ideal opportunity to stay in contact with them to ensure that they return back to your service as quickly as possible and proceed with their client achievement journey.

Emails, studies, and registration calls are a portion of the alternatives that can help support activation.

If clients experienced a charming on-boarding portrayed by an exciting UX, they’re bound to continue engaging with your product.

If you set up a solid client achievement program, you can choose to go for an exceptionally high-contact approach and really connect with the customer to discover what their particular objectives and necessities are and to design a guide to assist them with coordinating your solution in their ecosystem and set explicit targets.

Making a legitimate and straightforward association with the client includes organizing their experience and supporting them along the whole journey with data, information, and updates.

Building an individual relationship is the most straightforward approach to ensure achievement and advance advocacy.

Studies are valuable tools that SaaS organizations need to use to find out about their client and can likewise be utilized to discover how they like to impart.

Checking Behavior And Be Proactive

Clients who are going to churn send a wide range of sign. Client achievement solutions, for example, Natero, for instance, are designed to screen your client’s health status and send explicit alarms.

Clients don’t as a rule quite connecting with your solution all of the abrupt.

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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If you see a drop in commitment, you can anticipate stir and mediate with re-initiation messages, limits, or extraordinary offers, for example, opening explicit highlights for nothing, or including new clients.

Stay In Contact With Your Customers During The Famous Critical Phase

Most of the clients churn in the initial three months. Organizations like Hubspot, Andolasoft used to offer an exceptional client success program to help clients during the whole course of the initial 90 days described by consecutive registrations.

Requesting feedback about your product and the general understanding during this period is a key segment of a long term relationship.

What’s more, obviously, alluring limits for yearly memberships can be welcoming and gainful for both, you, and your client.

If a client submits from the earliest starting point, they’re bound to put the time in comprehension and utilizing your solution for the fullest to get an appropriate ROI.

How to Grow Your eCommerce Company With Localization?

Posted on by Erica Sunarjo

The eCommerce market has become highly competitive. The idea of an online store has inspired many to become entrepreneurs.

However, this means that if you want to grow your company you need to stand out from the crowd. Besides uniqueness, devotion to marketing, and product quality, there is something else that can help you out – localization.

As the eCommerce market is growing, you can use the assistance of international customers to improve your company’s success.

This is your opportunity to reach a wider audience and spread awareness about your company. Not to mention that you’ll evoke trust in potential customers by providing them product descriptions in their own language.

So, if you are ready to take your eCommerce store to the next level, this is what you need to know.

What is Localization?

If this term seems somewhat familiar to you but you aren’t sure what it is really about, let’s clarify it.

First, you need to understand that localization is not the same as translation.

The translation is converting the text from one language to another.

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While localization does include translation in its process, it also demands that you use cultural context to convey the message. Meaning, that with localization you adapt the content to the culture it is intended for.

So, when you localize your website, you will translate the landing page, product description, image descriptions, and every other aspect of your website but you’ll also adapt it to the targeted culture.

The reason why localization is more valuable for sales growth is that you appeal to the new customers’ habits, traditions, and beliefs rather than just translating content word by word.

Common Sense Advisory did a study on 2,430 online consumers that spread across eight countries and the results showed that 72.4% of potential customers are more likely to buy a product if they can find the information in their native language.

Start by looking at your website’s analytics with the help of Google Analytics and find out where is your traffic coming from. This will help you define which languages and countries you should aim for.

Google AnalyticsImage Source: Google Analytics

Machine Translation or Human Translation?

While using machine translation can be faster and therefore, more tempting, you should be aware that it can never provide you with the quality that human translation can.

Localization is an especially tricky task because you need more than just transforming the content from source to target language. You also need to adapt the translation to the targeted culture. 

Instead of hiring a translator, you should think about working with a localization expert who has experience in this field. He or she can give you pointers on what you need to pay attention to on your website if you want to appeal to the target audience. 

If you feature some holiday discounts/sales on your website, keep in mind that countries celebrate different holidays. Talk with your localization expert about this aspect of localization and make sure to adapt it to the targeted country. 

Improve Customer Service

Responding to customers’ inquiries is a highly impact aspect of the eCommerce business. If you don’t deal with questions that your potential customers have about your products, you won’t be able to earn their trust.

For that reason, as a part of your localization process, you should provide customer service in multiple languages. 

There are several options depending on your plans and your budget:

  • Hire a customer service team that can address customers’ inquiries in their native language.
  • Hire a professional translator to translate FAQ to cover the most important questions.
  • Use machine translation just for the FAQ to cover the most important questions.

Adapt the Website’s Look 

Depending on target audience differences, you might need to think about adapting your website as well. 

There is more to localization than just translating the content based on the target culture. You should also think about the visuals that will be most effective.

Take Amazon as an example. While Amazon’s websites for the UK and Germany don’t differ, there is a clear difference between the European Amazon website and the Chinese Amazon website.

Adapt the Website's Look Image Source: Amazon UK

Amazon GermanyImage Source: Amazon Germany

Amazon ChinaImage Source: Amazon China

This global company is aware of differences between its target audiences so they adapted the visuals.

While the European audience has a similar taste, the Chinese audience prefers a more vivid, bright, and colorful visual effect which is evident in Amazon’s choice of design. 

Choose an Appropriate Platform

Before you start with localizing, you need to make sure that your current eCommerce platform is adequate for localization.

For example, it should offer order management integration, international shipping, multi-currency options, and be tailored for translation to different languages. 

To ensure the security is on point, check with your provider if the platform supports the rule of the global Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI).

Localized SEO

Optimizing an eCommerce website is very important for a company that aims at growth. If you don’t optimize the website, the customers won’t be able to find your products, and therefore you’ll fall short in organic traffic.

The thing with localization is that you need to adapt to the website’s SEO as well. 

Why?

Well, different countries have different preferences when it comes to online searches. For example, even though Google is the most popular search engine in the world, other search engines are used as well.

Users in China use Baidu (68.78%), users in Russia prefer Yandex (51.6%), and some Japanese users prefer Yahoo (23.09%). 

Depending on the search engine, you need to adapt the SEO efforts accordingly. 

I’ve worked with the team at Andolasoft on multiple websites. They are professional, responsive, & easy to work with. I’ve had great experiences & would recommend their services to anyone.

Ruthie Miller, Sr. Mktg. Specialist

Salesforce, Houston, Texas

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Also, pay close attention to keywords. They shouldn’t just be translated word for word. There might be some variations that will influence the keywords.

If you run a US website and you want to adapt it for the UK market, keeping the word “sweater” as a keyword will hurt your SEO because the UK audience will rather use the word “jumper” in their search. 

Even such simple changes can make a huge difference. 

Some Final Thoughts

Localization can be one of the key moves you need to expand your global reach.

Unless you explore international markets, you’ll never know how the global audience will respond to your products or services.

With localization, you can affect the purchase decisions, build trust, and personalize the shopping experience. 

The above-mentioned guidelines will give you all the information you need to execute the localization perfectly. Through the whole process, just keep in mind that user-friendliness is what you need to aim for.

Localization can provide the customers with a positive shopping experience and get them to fall in love with your eCommerce store.

How Technology is Empowering eCommerce Business?

Posted on by Ajay Sahoo

eCommerce has been developing at the speed of light in the recent decade. Thousands of researchers, analysts, and marketers have been studying the holy grail of information – that’s a customer with a smartphone – and defining the strategies for more targeted and personalized marketing and products.

Today, many eCommerce businesses have tons of customer data needed to advance in the online marketplace. With data, as well as data analysis and intelligence tools and platforms, being readily available

They know exactly what their target customers need and want. For example, Amazon’s product recommendation engine generates 35 percent of the company’s net income of $10.07 billion.

In fact, those who have mastered customer research not only know your needs and preferences but also what you’ll need in the future.

This incredible opportunity, along with many other ones, was, of course, enabled by state-of-the-art eCommerce solutions that companies only dreamed about 10 years ago.

So what exactly drives eCommerce businesses’ obsession with data? What are the technologies that give them the competitive advantage they need to stand out in a multi-billion online marketplace?

  • Machine Learning Algorithms to Generate Personalized Product or Service Recommendations

The vast majority of online shoppers – 87 percent – start product searches online. Chances are you’re a part of this, too, if you rely on your smartphone to find new products. It makes perfect sense, as the experience of others can help to make a good choice.

Function of Beauty, an American fashion brand offering personalized hair-care, wants to take product research one step further. A customer looking for hair products such as shampoos and conditioners for their specific hair type doesn’t need to browse numerous websites and menu categories.

Instead, they can take a quiz on a brand’s website and receive a personalized recommendation.

Function of BeautySource: Screenshot, Functionofbeauty(.)com

This was made possible by a machine learning algorithm. A customer can choose their hair type, scent, size of a bottle, and provide other preferences.

The results provided by a quiz taker are fed into the algorithm that pulls from hundreds of ingredients to generate a truly unique set of hair care products. In fact, it’s able to offer up to 12 million custom combinations.

Inc. reports that the quiz has been already taken by more than 1.5 million times. This is truly a great example of how machine learning can help to increase the personalization and relevance of products as well as advanced customer relationships.

Algorithms like these can be used to generate custom products, services, and recommendations, and therefore, will continue to drive eCommerce businesses’ effort to maximize relevancy for customers.

  • Chatbots to Improve the Overall Online Shopping Experience

Chatbots are one of the hottest topics in eCommerce right now.

These apps can mimic human online behavior such as conversations with pre-written questions and answers, so they have a lot of applications in the area.

In fact, here’s what eCommerce businesses expect from using them, as described in the 2018 State of Chatbots report.

ChatBot ReportSource: The 2018 State of Chatbots report

Already, a countless number of businesses have developed their own chatbots to help customers.

The range of their applications, as you can see, is pretty impressive, so it’s safe to claim that any eCommerce business can benefit from using one.

Let’s consider an example of a chatbot making a difference. A well-known U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy, for example, has an impressive Messenger chatbot that helps customers with:

    • Finding products based on such criteria as price range, manufacturer, OS type, laptop type, and common applications (gaming, studying, etc.)
    • Connecting to a customer support operator from an appropriate service department (this is determined by the answers given by the customer to the chatbot)
    • Locating stores across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico
    • Getting support like in-home consultations and other service-related inquiries.

Impressive, right? And all of this is available in one place. But the best thing that a lot of customers really appreciate is that they can get almost instant replies to their requests thanks to the chatbot technology.

ChatBot

Chatbots like Best Buy’s can really improve the overall customer experience by increasing personalization and relevance of communication with brands.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more and more people feel comfortable using them; in fact, one U.S. study found that 62 percent of online shoppers said they liked using a chatbot to communicate with a brand.

  • Hybrid eCommerce App Development

Apps continue to be a significant sales channel for eCommerce businesses around the world. In recent years, many companies have chosen to build hybrid apps, which combine the elements of web applications and native apps.

This means they’re built on CSS, HTML, or JavaScript, but use a device’s browser engine to render the HTML or JavaScript code locally.

This allows for more functions that aren’t accessible in native apps, such as local storage and accelerometer. Moreover, making an app hybrid also means that it:

    • Gets downloaded to a device
    • Functions regardless if the device is connected to the Internet
    • Integrates with the devices’ file system to allow local storage
    • Provides better access to dynamic online content
    • Integrates with web services.

The first obvious advantage of hybrid apps that many customers appreciate is offline availability. If made possible by the developers, all of their features can work without an Internet connection.

For businesses looking to build an app, these advantages of hybrid mobile app development should be considered:

    • Your app will work both online and offline
    • Launching updates and patches will be easier for your web development team
    • You’ll build the app faster, so if time to market is a priority, hybrid apps are a great choice
    • You’ll reduce the costs because there’s no need to build multiple versions of a native app for different platforms (Android and iOS, etc.)

  • Innovative Experiences with 3D Imaging, Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR)

Attracting customers to product pages is one of the biggest goals in eCommerce. Product imagery and video play a deciding role in conversions; in fact, the State of Video Marketing 2019 report found that up to 96 percent of online shoppers say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service. 

No surprise a lot of eCommerce brands have been learning how to improve product imagery and product pages as a whole.

Technology is the answer here, too, as it can help to advance customer experience with product pages with innovative imagery and video delivered by AR and VR.

Yes, we as customers were once quite happy with conventional product images. We’re not anymore, so businesses have to use technology to win over us. 

Using the above-mentioned technologies is indeed a great way to create an immersive, 360-degree shopping experience for online shoppers.

For example, a U.S.-based travel bags and accessories seller Samsonite is one of the companies leading the revolution of product imagery with 3D visualizations to improve customer experience.

3D ProductSource: Samsonite 3D Product Viewer, Samsonite(.)com

“It is important for our customers to have the opportunity to examine the goods in detail, and 3D visualization allows us to bridge the gap between online shopping and brick-and-mortar stores,” Business Wire quoted Jay Nigreli, VP of eCommerce at Samsonite, as saying. 

Indeed, customers visiting eCommerce websites that offer this experience have a great chance to get a better sense of a product’s materials, shape, and dimensions.

The technologies could be especially relevant for companies selling small products like jewelry, so we expect them to adopt 3D, AR, and VR in the future. 

Exciting Times Ahead

Without a doubt, the next several years will be transformational for eCommerce technology. As technology continues to redefine the rules of customer engagement, many new approaches, as well as exciting possibilities, emerge to help businesses stand out from the ever-increasing competition.

The points you’ve just read are among the biggest technology trends impacting eCommerce at the moment, and it’s clear that they will become more widely adopted, as more and more businesses are looking for opportunities to gain competitive advantage.