We are a young team working on an exciting product called CustomerGlu

CustomerGlu

Data-driven decision-making is a culture that should be adopted from day one. In this article, I'll explain in simple terms how to measure five key metrics for B2B SaaS startups — CAC, CLV, MRR, CCR, and NPS — and how to use the insights for making well-informed decisions. CAC: Track It to Allocate Your Budget Wisely or CAC, shows how much money a business spends to get a new customer. It is calculated by dividing all the costs spent on acquiring customers by the number of new customers. Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) = Total Acquisition Costs / Number of New Customers If a company spends $12,000 per month on customer acquisition and brings in 40 new customers, its average CAC is $12,000 / 40 = $300. Tracking this metric helps a company pick effective marketing and sales channels, set the right product prices, and grow the business seamlessly. Also, the CAC helps to identify areas where money is not effectively used. The average CAC for a B2B SaaS startup is about $ . In some industries, like insurance and medtech, the number can range from $400 to $500. If the CAC is high, acquiring customers is more costly than the revenue they generate. The business may need to: 250 test other marketing and sales channels; adjust pricing plans; target other audience segments. In this regard, I like the Dropbox story. In its early days, the startup relied on search engine ads to get new users, but it was too expensive. Later on, the company’s user data showed that their best customers were coming from referrals, so the team created an easy-to-use and beneficial referral program. This was a pivotal decision: Within 15 months, the startup user base grew from 100,000 to 4 million people. CLV: Track It to Remain Profitable and Be №1 For Your Customers or CLV/CLTV (alternatively termed Lifetime Value, or LTV), represents the total revenue a customer is supposed to bring to the business. It is calculated by multiplying the average amount a customer spends in each transaction by the number of times they make a transaction and then multiplying that by the average customer lifespan. Customer Lifetime Value, Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) = Average Purchase Value × Average Purchase Frequency × Average Customer Lifespan If a customer typically spends $20 per purchase, makes three purchases a year, and stays with the company for two years, their CLV is 20 × 3 × 2 = $120. CLV will show how much your customers are worth overall. Like a litmus test, this metric reveals if they are loyal to your brand and happy with your product. If not, it will get harder to retain them. CLV also reveals which customers bring in the most revenue and which offerings they enjoy. To achieve a healthy business, B2B SaaS companies aim for a CLV to CAC ratio of or higher. This means that for every $1 spent on customer acquisition, the company generates at least $3 in revenue. A lower ratio, like 2:1, indicates that the business may need to reduce customer acquisition spending while increasing customer retention and the average revenue per user. 3:1 Sometimes, businesses may find that their cost of acquiring customers (CAC) exceeds the revenue generated from those customers over time (CLV). In this case, or if you just want to increase CLV, consider these options: look for cost-efficient marketing channels (test SMM, e-mail marketing, or partnerships); find ways to retain existing customers (through loyalty programs, better service, product improvements, and other tactics); review the pricing strategy to avoid underpricing and ensure generated revenue aligns with acquisition cost; ensure effective targeting to reach the right audience for your product; explore ways to upsell additional products or services to your existing customers. MRR: Track It to Know When It’s Time to Approach Investors or MRR, reflects the predictable and regular income a business expects to receive each month from its subscription-based customers. It is calculated by summing up the subscription fees generated from all active customers within a specific month. Monthly Recurring Revenue, Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) = ∑ (Subscription Fees from Active Customers) For example, if a business has 100 customers paying $50 per month, its MRR is 100 × 50 = $5,000. Then, if case you need, you can calculate Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) by multiplying MRR by 12. MRR is a steady income stream that helps cover essential operational costs at a startup. By tracking this metric, founders can manage ongoing expenses effectively and assess the overall financial performance of their company. A decrease in MRR may indicate customer churn, downgrades (when users switch to a lower-priced plan), or loss of subscriptions. Investors and potential acquirers often review this metric when evaluating SaaS startups. A strong MRR can make the company more attractive for VCs and potentially increase its valuation. MRR benchmarks vary based on product and pricing, so each startup should set its own targets. When it comes to MRR growth rates for B2B SaaS startups, some industry experts, including SaaStr community's founder , suggest aiming for an MRR growth of 10-20% month over month. Jason M. Lemkin An important milestone for an early-stage startup is $1 million in ARR. A recent shows that the main growth driver for most B2B SaaS startups, reaching $1M to $10M in ARR, is the expansion of their customer base — not just increasing their current average revenue per user. achieving study CCR: Track It to Prevent Revenue and Reputation Losses or CCR, shows the percentage of customers who cancel their subscriptions or stop using a service within a given time. It is calculated by dividing the number of customers lost during a specific period by the initial number. Customer Churn Rate, Customer Churn Rate (CCR) = (Number of customers lost for the period / Total number of customers at the beginning of the period) × 100 For example, if a startup starts the month with 500 customers and loses 50 customers by the end of it, its CCR is 50 / 500 × 100 = 10%. According to the (KBCM) 2022 SaaS Survey, the median annual churn for SaaS companies is 13%. KeyBanc Capital Markets If the CCR is higher or growing, it could damage a business. In this case, a company should aim to reduce it fast and increase customer retention by: improving the product based on customer feedback, surveys, focus groups, and market trends; launching loyalty programs or offering personalized customer support; offering incentives for upsells, such as discounts or personalized benefits; providing users with educational materials to ensure they know how to use the product; conducting promo campaigns to re-engage customers; ensuring competitive pricing and adding new pricing plans if needed. NPS: Track It to Improve Your Product and Customer Service or NPS, shows customer satisfaction and loyalty based on their likelihood to recommend a company's product. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (customers who would not recommend) from the percentage of promoters (customers who would recommend). The result ranges from -100 to +100. Net Promoter Score, Net Promoter Score (NPS) = Percentage of Promoters - Percentage of Detractors NPS data is collected through customer surveys, usually with a single question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?" The responses categorize customers into three groups: Promoters (score 9-10), Passives (score 7-8), and Detractors (score 0-6). For example, if a company surveys 1,000 customers and 700 give a score of 9 or 10 (Promoters), while 300 give a score of 0 to 6 (Detractors), the NPS calculation is 70 − 30 = 40. Correct me if I’m wrong. According to the latest , the average NPS in the computer software industry is 36 or higher. As noted by Bain & Company, the of the NPS system, an NPS above 20 is good, 50 is outstanding, and 80 is considered world-class. CustomerGauge’s B2B NPS & CX Benchmarks Report creator However, when a startup launches NPS surveys, it's not just about the numbers. To know what customers like or don't like, the team should also ask which improvements the customers would like to see in the product and customer experience.

Attention B2B SaaS Founders: Start Tracking These Metrics From Day One

So, you’ve got a business idea but are unsure how to determine whether it is worth pursuing. Or maybe you’ve already been through the mill and spent a year building a product no one wanted. For either of these scenarios, you are not alone. The issue is many startup leaders don’t find the right problem to solve; they fall in love with one idea and , ignoring any feedback they receive. That’s why, currently 9 out of 10 startups fail. try to force a fit As a seasoned entrepreneur and Product Management professional leading product development in , I have learned the value of finding that problem-solution fit first. But I also realized there needs to be more user-friendly business planning tools to give founders a helping hand. AdTech Startup leaders often leverage innovative tools like LivePlan and Biz Plan to get the answers to ‘What MVP will work?’ or ’Does this solution address the issue I aimed to resolve?’ These are excellent tools for entrepreneurs to put business ideas into pre-made structured frameworks, helping them figure out their target audience, customer demands, and industry landscape. However, on occasion, filling out these templates with built-out ideas can be overwhelming. Here are four more tips to help verify if you have a viable business idea. Explore ChatGPT Prompts With all the current rage, is the first obvious tool to use — and I have witnessed the true magic of AI when harnessed to empower entrepreneurs. ChatGPT can quickly help deliver your , using prompts to determine market-solution, customer, and product-founder fit. ChatGPT validation plan For example, let’s take this first pain point: Entrepreneurs often miss out on defining their unique advantage when starting a business. The ‘why me?’ part. That’s why taking a moment to analyze your education, experience, background, and network through ChatGPT is worthwhile: Do you have access to a specific customer set or expertise in a niche area? For example, suppose you want brand and start this food company in the US. You realize §you have a close friend who owns America’s top food distribution company and could have distribution lined up. to launch a new healthy snack To more thoroughly explain your unique advantage, though, you can simply ask ChatGPT the obvious: “I’m thinking of starting a business that [does XYZ], and I want to understand my unique strengths in making it a success. I have experience in [XX] and access to people who [XX]. I want you to ask me questions to help me think through what unique advantages or risks I may have.” Don’t be surprised to see a reasonably adequate action plan listing what skills you can maximize and other activities you need to complete to get your business off the ground. Next up, it is worth asking ChatGPT who the ideal customer would be for your business. These kinds of prompts can do the trick: “Can you describe my potential customer base’s demographics and explain their problems? What products or services are they using now to tackle these issues? How could my business add more value?” And finally, founders must always ensure enough customer demand to buy their product or service. In other words, is the problem you are addressing big enough? To find out, ask ChatGPT something like: “Can you give me five reasons someone would want to buy my product?” Conduct Customer Interviews Once you’ve collated the input and feedback about your business idea from , you can put it into practice with customer discovery. A round of interviews with prospective customers means you can understand your user base’s problems, empowering you to provide a more effective and valuable solution. Those startups who have failed may find they . generative AI skipped this stage Another pitfall is asking friends and family for advice or feedback. They’ll be overly generous, which can be misleading. Instead, get speaking to real prospective users because an idea is just an idea unless you have a paying customer. For early-stage startups, using tools such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey for user testing can get the job done. But for more established companies with larger budgets, there are tools like CustomerGauge. Also, remember that ChatGPT can come in handy here for . You just need to describe your business and potential customer base for the LLM to create three compelling value propositions that address how your company solves a problem. When it comes to the customer interviews, you can ask which of the three value propositions resonates most. generating questions If you feel particularly adventurous, you could build a prototype of your digital product or put wireframes together with a design tool like before getting in front of customers. Users could interact with the prototype directly and provide insights about usability via comment mode. And Figma’s screen recording software can capture customer interviews. Figma Plus Customer interviews are invaluable if you want to know if people would pay for your service or product — and how much. They can also be an opportunity to gather feedback or ask what essential features you need to include to win business. Leverage Landing Page Apps Landing pages are like interactive online business flyers and are a great way to target different customer segments with tailored information. It’s also a low-cost, efficient, data-driven approach to test market potential. Why do you think even established companies use landing pages to launch new products, letting customers preorder or sign up for a waitlist? By tracking metrics like page visits, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can determine if there’s genuine interest in your idea. The company Carrd helps entrepreneurs make free landing pages, while ConvertKit can drive email newsletter signups with its built-in email marketing tool. But many other apps are available, too, enabling entrepreneurs to build one-page websites that are easy to tweak and customize without any serious coding. These apps also often facilitate A/B testing and the experimentation of different headlines, images, or CTAs to optimize conversion rates. Lastly, to convert prospects, there needs to be an action for them to take, like signing up for a newsletter, filling out a form, contacting you, or purchasing an e-book. Overall, a landing page is a safer bet than building a full product or service: If the business idea doesn’t resonate with an audience, you have yet to invest heavily. Examine Intelligent AI Assistance for Business Planning Finally, even though today’s business planning software platforms have good intentions, sometimes they hinder entrepreneurs’ ability to ideate, design, and launch successful businesses. That’s because current platforms are missing a learning component to assist entrepreneurs in articulating their intentions and minimizing project timelines. This is where an AI-powered co-pilot comes in to make business planning more accessible and democratize AI for all. Newer AI-driven platforms and apps are now available that use Open AI’s APIs, for example, alongside fine-tuning models, to produce idea evaluators that inform an entrepreneur if their idea is worth pursuing or not. The platforms can assess the uniqueness of the solution and business model, giving entrepreneurs a score and offering suggestions for improvements in key areas. The feedback mechanism and personalized assessment of an idea, target market, or problem statement can help entrepreneurs iterate quickly and develop business plans. But remember, receiving a high score on these AI-powered platforms doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be successful — it is just a barometer. However, the valuable insights and recommendations provided could optimize data-driven decision-making and enhance the success rate of new ventures. Today, startups are up against many factors: talent shortages, funding obstacles, fierce competition, and an economic downturn. However, these emerging companies are essential for the global economy’s resilience to encourage innovation, job creation, and technological development — but only when a startup effectively addresses a pressing issue and can sustain operations. That’s why leveraging different technologies for better business planning is vital, providing a more favorable environment for startups to thrive and meaning we are all better off. This article was originally published by on Danish Ahmed The Sociable.

Evaluating the Viability of Your Business Idea with Modern Tools

The Covid 19 pandemic has forced most businesses to move online and quickly create viable projects with minimal investment. But in 2022, entrepreneurs with no experience are afraid to launch a startup due to an awareness of the staunch competition. Back in 2016, Forbes published an article where experts interviewed more than 150 startups and realized that fail only due to a lack of market demand. With the help of digital technologies, it will be easier for any startup to constantly research its audience, interests, and current needs, adjusting to customers and taking into account their particular needs. 42% If you fear failing at a startup, use simple ways to understand your business idea's relevance. Ways to Test a Business Idea Most startup owners believe that their business idea is ingenious and unparalleled. They forget to analyze the market and immediately try to launch the project with minimal testing. According to Gov.Uk, more than new companies are registered every year, and almost the same number are liquidated every year. This data proves that before you put a project in the public domain, you need to carefully analyze your idea and get up-to-date data on the specific niche you want to venture into. 700,000 To not be included in the statistics of failed businesses, you should take a few additional steps before starting. 1. Document Your Top Startup Assumptions Before presenting your idea to colleagues or investors, you need to make a description of your own business. The questions can help with this. By answering the following, you should obtain a detailed description of the project: Everyone in your business needs to understand why they are working on a project. If you are trying to improve people's lives somehow, then be sure to clarify this and write in more detail. What is your ultimate goal? You will have competitors who have already managed to gather a loyal audience and have been in demand for many years in any niche. To stand out from their background and bring something new to your customers, you need to understand for yourself what value you get to the consumer. How is your business different from analogous businesses? If your startup doesn't solve the world's problems, then you can't get people to buy your product or service. What problem is your business solving? Create a detailed portrait of your customer, and understand how the startup will solve their problems and what life processes it will simplify. Who is the project for? Here you identify your competitors and highlight those features that they do not have. How do potential clients solve their problems today? It is not necessary to make financial predictions for years to come, but minimal calculations will help you understand whether your idea will pay off in the future or not. Can you make money on this? You will understand if this idea can be profitable by answering these questions. Thus, you will build the positioning of your own brand in the market and will be able to compete with the industry leaders. 2. Proof of Concept PoC is a small project designed to test critical hypotheses before full development. Startups use it to analyze how realistic a feature is and prove that an idea works. Most often, companies develop PoC internally to clarify product development paths. The proof of concept does not cover the entire system, but only a tiny part that users may not see. PoC is made up of theoretical data: results of marketing research and surveys; reactions of potential customers to the announcement of the application; effects of technical analysis. PoC analysis can take a toll on competitiveness, timing, budgets, and the use of specific technical tools. The main task of PoC is to show whether it is theoretically possible to create a product. 3. Talk to Your Potential Audience When you have compiled a portrait of the target audience, you need to communicate with it, or conduct surveys to find out: how much they would pay for a service or product where it is more convenient for them to place an order what essential features do they expect on your platform You can interview potential customers on particular services such as or . It is software that helps businesses collect customer feedback and improve service. It allows the brand to create surveys in minutes, distribute them across multiple channels, and quickly analyze the results with automated real-time reports. Survicate CustomerGauge These platforms work for any use case (product research, marketing, customer success, etc.) and support 19 one-click built-in integrations. By covering all of the customer touchpoints, they enable you to engage your interested audience and make customer reviews the backbone of your business. The more detailed you get to compose a portrait of the future buyer, the better. For example, finding outage, geography, and interests is not enough. Best of all: find out how the product will cover pain and help customers. For example, beaded jewelry will be an affordable gift for teens who want to show their friendship with a loved one but do not have the money for something more substantial. 4. Start as Small as Possible You have already tested the idea on yourself and potential customers, and now you need to start launching a startup to push the proposal's internal functionality. A successful startup can be achieved with a minimum viable product. It can be used to create any product, but it is needed for software development and digital services, so if you start an online business, you cannot do without an MVP. The main goal of creating an MVP is to reduce the time spent testing the market reaction to an idea. It allows you to attract real users to the project as guides who will help you adjust the business model and essential characteristics of the future product and outline development directions. Positive results at the MVP stage show the way for developing a complete product version. The minimum viable product allows an entrepreneur to: Using the data obtained, confirm the idea's viability and test the hypotheses about the project. Identify features that can be used when developing the full version of the product. Minimize the risks of financial losses in the event of an unsuccessful product release. Reduce development costs by identifying unclaimed functions. Speed up the search for product errors. Build a base of potential customers before a full-scale launch. Occupy a market niche and attract investors. The data collected using the MVP will allow you to understand if the project has prospects, help generate new ideas, and develop a product development strategy based not on assumptions but on facts. How to Make a Business Idea Viable Since there is no one definite way to find out how good your business idea is, you need to try all the testing options in demand. After going through all the stages, you understand that this startup will not bring the profit you expected; you should not immediately abandon the project. In the era of digital technology, an entrepreneur can modernize the business and adapt to a potential audience with the help of marketing features. Remember that if you have a quality proposal that solves people's problems and you are not afraid to implement software to improve the quality of service, your business will find its customers.

What Are Some Simple Ways to Find Out if Your Business Idea Is Any Good?

Which of you, when you have to buy an airplane ticket, is not looking for the cheapest and more convenient solution from or similar? And which one of you, once aware of the prices of the big airlines, doesn’t try to take a look at EasyJet or Ryanair? Honestly, for flights of less than 3 hours, the price paid plays a decisive role in my personal decision. SkyScanner Looking from another point of view, once you had bought a Ryanair or EasyJet ticket, who of us relied on God’s benevolence, praying that everything would go well? And I’m not talking in the sense of “fear of flying”, but worried that something might go wrong ruining the whole experience. Pushing us so far to initiate some voodoo rituals to avoid to get in touch with unresponsive customer services. What’s an airline ticket? Is it just an agreement to carry you from point A to point B? Or is there more to it? What do you honestly think a ticket is? It is a seat on a plane, and that’s all, or it includes services that traditionally came with a seat, such as baggage checking, seat reservations, and even the ability to pay by credit card? Confronted by long-term industry financial losses, and struggling to re-establish profitability, numerous airlines in the United States and elsewhere have introduced a business model to separate the ancillary services (and fees connected). Welcome to the unbundled skies. Unbundling is the practice of separating as many cost components as possible — in the case of air travel, baggage, boarding, meals, miles, wi-fi — and selling them apart from the basic fare. Champions in that kind of business remodelling are airlines such as Ryanair, EasyJet, AirAsia, SouthWest and many others. One, in particular, has caught my attention: . Spirit Spirit is an extreme example of the “unbundling effect”: while airlines separate services and charge ancillary fees, consumer frustration has grown exponentially. To joke about Spirit’s Customer Experience is easy as hitting an easy target. Have a look at the following tweet, for instance: Replies to that tweet: “Imagine a greyhound bus in 1999. Now imagine it is in the air.” “They call it Spirit because you pay the difference with your soul.” “Don’t do this to yourself.”“Imma pray for you.” In Reddit I found interesting comments about Spirit. The tone doesn’t differ a lot from the above tweets: I can see the disgusted faces of my friends with expressions ranging from anger to shame. I also see the light in the eyes of the Net promoter Score Talibans: the flames of hell appear soft lights of a wellness center in comparison. CXPA What about Customer Experience? What about creating the “wow’ effect” winning the loyalty of our customers? What about the strong relationship between willingness to recommend and long term revenues? Let’s have a look at Spirit from a different angle. Let’s crunch the financial and operational figures. Spirit is profitable. Since 2009, its operating margin has consistently been well above the industry average, peaking at an astonishing 24% in 2015 (compared with an industry average of 15%). Revenue has climbed from about $700 million in 2009 to $3.7 billion in 2019. It’s still growing — the carrier just completed an and invested in a USD 250 million campus headquarters near Fort Lauderdale (Florida). order for 100 new Airbus The Spirit stock shows as well an interesting performance with a strong Consensus EPS met or beaten in the last 4 quarters and an analyst price target at USD 50.60 vs the current price at USD 42.80. Analysts’ recommendations are also very positive with a clear BUY or STRONG BUY trend. A serious financial analysis should consider the performance of Spirit comparing the industry. . Analysing Spirit vs industry and competitors gives us a picture of a strong and successful Company On the other side, a recent study on airline Tweeter mentions found that . the worst of any carrier considered in that study. The Net Promoter Score observed by shows a -4, slightly below the industry average. 69% of Spirit related tweets are negative customer.guru It raises my provocative question: Customer Experience and Net Promoter experts are forever telling us that this scenario is simply impossible; eventually a negative popular image will crush your business in the longterm. There are also several academic papers investigating the effects of “unbundling” fees in the airline industry and . In all these papers conclusions bring to the point ancillary fees are perceived negatively by customers leading them to “non-loyal” behaviour. their consequences on customer behaviour If that’s the case, how do we explain Spirit financial success year after year? To find a possible answer to this question, I looked in two specific directions to better understand customer behaviours: the effects of unbundling on customer behaviour the effect of marketing promise on the customer experience expectations The first direction is clearly more related to the airline industry, while the second has a more general aspect valid in all industries. On the other hand, the effect of unbundling can be found in other industries as well, e.g. telecommunications. The research adopts an interesting perspective that suggests much stronger negative effects other than a variance in perceived fee benefits. The study incorporates perceived betrayal as a means to understand customers’ anger with airline fees as well as retaliatory customer behaviour. The conceptual framework is summarised in the following chart: The important node of this framework is the “FEE-RELATED ANGER” which creates two specific outcomes: RETALIATORY BEHAVIOUR and AVOIDANCE OF FEES. In our specific case we are more interested in RETALIATORY BEHAVIOUR because the practical outcomes are relevant to the Spirit Airline case. Retaliatory behaviour is defined as “efforts made by the customer to punish and cause inconveniences to a firm for the damages it caused them” (Grégoire and Fisher, 2008). Customer retaliation can include three forms: vindictive complaining, negative word-of-mouth (WOM) and third-party complaining. Without going to deep in the study, we can say that if customer doesn’t perceive benefits, or it is not able to rationalise the price structure of the airline fees, he will then perceive a FEE-RELATED ANGER leading him to a RETALIATORY BEHAVIOUR. This explains a lot of the retaliatory behaviours of Spirit customers. This study surveyed 464 customers of a large travel agency to investigate consumer perceptions of ancillary airline fees and the relationship on negative emotions such as anger and behavioural outcomes. The results show that airline fees lead to customer anger and, subsequently, to various forms of retaliatory behaviour. I personally think one important conclusion of that paper is “It can equally be said that the airlines have not recognised the public relations consequences of such a drastic pricing strategy change, failing to educate consumers to the realities of airline travel and to the value being created by branded travel products and unbundled pricing, by which a passenger chooses and pays for desired amenities rather than some being subsidised by others for their use.” This is an extremely important conclusion when we will link it to customer experience. Let’s now link that cause-effect to the perceived Customer Experience. The effect of marketing promise on the customer experience expectations — A framework for managing customer expectations (J. SHETEH, B. MITTAL, Journal of Market Focused Management, 1, 137–158, 1996) Customer Experience Management is not a “new topic”. Pine and Gilmore (1998 and 1999) were some of the first writers to address the notion of the customer experience (see also Lou Carbone and Haeckel 1994 and Johnston 1999). In their paper in 1998; “Welcome to the Experience Economy” and their book the following year; The experience economy — Work is a theatre and every business a stage, Pine and Gilmore observed that as services are becoming more commoditised leading-edge companies are competing on experiences. What becomes extremely important in this context is to understand how marketing generates expectations vs the delivered experience. In our particular case, how airlines manage customer expectations and, how they educate consumers to the realities of airline travel in an unbundled pricing model. Marketing scholars have argued that firms should meet or exceed customer expectations in order to achieve customer satisfaction. Often, however, customer expectations may be unjustified, infeasible, or unproductive to meet. Customer expectations can be accommodated or shaped. Given the high costs of expectation failure (Nyquist, Bitner, and Booms, 1985) it is important for a firm to ensure that its customers hold realistic expectations about its products and services. Thus, the process to shape them (shaping) become vital to be successful (win-win outcome). Shaping is the marketer’s use of communication and other cues intended to alter customer expectations. The authors of the paper propose three paradigms for shaping expectations: the human resource management paradigm, the framing paradigm, and the compliance paradigm. The human resource management paradigm where marketing managers must manage customer expectations just as they manage employee expectations — by shaping them. Where properly segmenting the customers and shaping the right message to the segment is the key success factor. Correct segmentation and targeting allow not only more-well fitting product or service offering, but they also permit more realistic promises to lure customers.The framing paradigm where framing is the perspective people employ to view a scene and perspectives are known to change the view. For instance, a shopper who accidentally wanders into a store might be delighted to find a 20% price markdown; but a shopper lured by a hyping a “tremendous” sale might be disappointed with the same 20% markdown. Since expectations are reference points (perspectives) the can be utilised for shaping some customer expectations.The compliance paradigm. theory of framing The third paradigm for expectation shaping is mandated compliance. Compliance has been defined as “behaviour by subjects or actors that conforms to the requirements of behavioural prescriptions” (Young 1979). Three ‘sources’ of prescriptions are utilised: prescriptions by government regulation (e.g. mandatory infant seat for car passengers less than 12 years old), by a group and social norms (similar to the government but promoted by lobbying entities), and by business procedures. Example of business procedures is minimum purchase requirements, merchandise return policy, airplane seat policy, free cabin baggage allowance. Connect the dots Airlines must manage fee-related anger and educate customers in order to set correctly the expectations of their customers. The airlines can set expectations working with the 3 paradigms I introduced in the previous paragraph. I did a quick mystery shopping exercise with Spirit to check how they shape my expectations while I’m booking a ticket. Opening the Spirit website I was able to immediately recognise a link where Spirit explains BAG PRICES and OPTIONAL SERVICES. The explanations are extremely user-friendly and clear. That part of the website is very easy to navigate and contains a lot of information with prices related to all services on top of the basic fee. The seat selection is also well communicated: “Every Guest has the opportunity to select their favorite spot on the plane. Maybe you want a sweet window seat or an aisle up front — go for it. If you don’t select a seat, we’ll assign random seats at check-in for free, but we can’t guarantee that you will get to sit with your friends or family. And for those who want some space to stretch out, grab a Big Front Seat®: wider seat, extra legroom, and an even more comfortable flight.” I have to be honest, the choice of options is immense. Especially if you go to the OTHER section you can find things such: boarding pass printed at home, boarding pass printed at the airport kiosk, group booking, shortcut security, shortcut boarding, and many others. If this is your first flight with Spirit, probably you run the risk to forget something… and to get a bitter surprise later. I did anyway my mystery shopping session booking a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. A positive experience with a well designed UX with a lot of information spots to clearly explain each possible option. As you can see from the screenshot above, my Customer Journey on the website was clearly presented and each step in that journey — in total 7 steps — well presented to me. Unfortunately I could not test it in reality, but I can tell you last summer I booked a couple of flights from Almeria to Milan Malpensa with Ryanair and I received exactly what the booking process set in my expectations. Of course, Ryanair didn’t promise me to fly business class, and that was not my expectation. My conclusion, on the Spirit booking experience, is positive. I fly often with EasyJet, less with Ryanair, and I cannot complain about them: I got the Customer Experience I was promised and I’m ok with it. Would I recommend EasyJet or Ryanair? Yes, sure! If you want to save money, it is an honest option. During the booking process, Spirit has clearly shaped my expectations. It was clear to me what are the options, how much they cost, and everything was bundle- or unbundle-able with just a few clicks. Conclusions Managing customer experience doesn’t mean wowing your customers and offers unforgettable experiences. Placing the sole focus of Customer Experience Management on continually exceeding customers’ expectations seems to be a very wrong objective to me. Continually exceeding customer expectations to be able to deliver a positive customer experience and grow your business is a myth that comes with a strong price tag: impact your P&L and EBIT. If we consider the Spirit case, but also in other industries, customers regularly ask for the lowest possible price. Let’s be honest, we love to be the guy that paid the lowest airplane ticket price. It is a medal of honor! And let continue, to be honest, we all know a very low price comes at a cost, too. And this price/cost very well can relate to customer experience in one way or the other. Customer Experience Management, according to Paul Greenberg “is a business science that has the purpose of determining the strategy and programs that can make the customer feel good enough about the company to want to continue to do business with the company”. I love “feel good enough”, it is definitely not exceeding customer expectations, isn’t it? Delivering a good customer experience, make your customers feel good enough, starts immediately when you set the expectations of your customers. You must be honest, set the right expectations, and walk the talk. Not overpromise. In a few words, don’t pretend to be EasyJet and Singapore Airlines at the same time. It is simply impossible. (Originally published ) here

What Happens When You Make Product Decisions to WOW your Customers [A Case Study]

The 6 Types of Code Refactoring That Every Programmer Should Know

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact on the healthcare industry. From improving patient outcomes to enhancing medical research and even streamlining healthcare operations, the potential of AI in healthcare is massive. AI-powered tools also help medical practitioners to detect diseases early and develop individualized treatment plans. Consequently, many healthcare organizations are heavily investing in AI. As per , as of 2021, around one-fifth of the surveyed healthcare organizations were in the early stage of AI adoption. It was also seen that the most common kind of AI software being used in the healthcare industry was related to natural language processing (NLP) and healthcare data integration. Statista That being said, many healthcare providers face massive challenges when it comes to seamless AI integration, such as data privacy and integration with legacy systems. To address these challenges, they must partner with AI developers who can help them successfully navigate real-world healthcare problems. It is predicted that the impending 5 to 10 years will be critical for the expansion of AI in the healthcare industry. Thus, progressive healthcare organizations need to collaborate with AI developers to make the most of this technology and deliver superlative patient outcomes. Understanding AI in Healthcare Artificial Intelligence is all set to become a transformational force in healthcare. Essentially, AI in healthcare is an umbrella term that is used to define the application of ML algorithms along with many other cognitive technologies. In other words, AI is when a machine mimics human cognition and becomes capable of learning, discerning, and making informed decisions. AI in healthcare helps to evaluate and predict patient outcomes based on past medical data gathered through electronic health records. Here are some of the most notable uses of AI in healthcare. Medical Imaging: AI algorithms can help medical providers analyze medical images, such as X-rays and MRI scans, to find signs of disease. This can help them make more accurate diagnoses and develop more effective treatment plans. Personalized Medicine: AI can help medical providers develop individualized treatment plans for patients based on their individual medical history, genetics, and lifestyle. This can lead to better outcomes for patients. Drug Discovery: AI can help researchers identify new drugs and treatments for diseases by analyzing vast amounts of data and predicting how different compounds will interact with the human body. Virtual Assistants: AI-powered virtual assistants, such as chatbots, can help patients schedule appointments, ask basic medical questions, and get information about their health without much delay. Predictive Analytics: AI can help medical providers predict which patients are at risk for certain diseases, such as diabetes or heart disease, and intervene early to prevent or treat the disease. Overall, the use of AI in healthcare can help medical providers provide better care to patients, improve medical research, and streamline healthcare operations. Importance of Collaboration between Healthcare Providers and AI Developers Collaboration between healthcare providers and AI developers is critical for improving patient outcomes, reducing healthcare costs, and driving innovation in healthcare. By collaborating with AI developers, healthcare providers can gain access to cutting-edge technology and data analysis tools that can help them make better-informed decisions. Additionally, AI developers can help healthcare providers identify gaps in data collection and develop tools to collect more accurate and complete data. This, in turn, will ensure quality data that helps in accurate diagnosis. Collaboration between healthcare providers and AI developers can also lead to the development of new and innovative technologies and approaches to healthcare. By working together, healthcare providers and AI developers can identify unmet needs and develop solutions to address them. At Algoscale, we can help you collaborate with expert AI developers who can build even highly complex yet sophisticated AI software for healthcare. As a leading , we have developed several specialized software to help healthcare providers streamline their medical processes as well as enhance patient outcomes. Artificial Intelligence Company Here is how Algoscale helped its clients in the healthcare industry. Case Study: ML-Based Analytics Solution for a Healthcare Supply Chain Platform In a highly regulated field like healthcare, transparency in the supply chain is immensely critical. Long lead periods and slow-moving products may cause a lack of visibility in the supply chain, resulting in stock shortages. It may also increase unnecessary expenditures associated with erroneous inventory counts. To resolve this, Algoscale developed a solution that generated business intelligence from data that is dispersed throughout the organization. We developed an ML-based integrated platform for advanced Spend Analytics, offered the client complete visibility on the spending process, and gathered insights to standardize their medical business processes. . Read to know more Case Study: Optimizing Costs for Healthcare Supply Chain with Predictive Analytics Business Intelligence is very important in the healthcare supply chain. Without it, healthcare organizations may face increased costs, substandard patient outcomes, and a loss of business opportunities.With this in mind, Algoscale helped its client, a provider of a cloud-based SaaS purchasing platform, to bring greater transparency to its supply chain. We built a global database to handle massive amounts of data and standardize it across all regions. We gathered info on product catalogs from all the leading healthcare equipment industries by crawling across sources. All this data was used to enrich the database.Our developers also built an end-to-end healthcare eCommerce platform for the Indian healthcare market. The platform included an AI-based recommendation engine that studied past history to provide recommendations and further simplify inventory replenishment for customers.Our solution helped the client discover new-fangled opportunities for savings and generate new revenue. It helped him check spending and supply chain analysis with a vast network of products and suppliers. . Read to know more Challenges of AI in Healthcare AI in healthcare indubitably has many benefits. However, there are also a few challenges that must be addressed. From the point of view of healthcare organizations, the most pressing challenges are as below: Data quality The quality of data is a leading challenge in integrating AI in healthcare. AI systems rely on massive amounts of data to train and enhance their accuracy. Therefore, the data provided by these systems must be complete, accurate, and reliable. Poor-quality data can result in faulty predictions and diagnoses. Privacy and security The use of personal health information raises concerns about privacy and security. AI systems must be designed to protect patient data, comply with privacy regulations, and prevent unauthorized access. Ethical considerations There are ethical considerations when developing and implementing AI in healthcare, including issues around bias, transparency, and accountability. AI models must be developed in a way that is fair and unbiased and that takes into account the potential impact on patients. Adoption and acceptance Healthcare providers may be hesitant to adopt new AI technologies, particularly if they are not familiar with them. It may take time to gain acceptance and trust in AI systems. Integration with existing systems Integrating AI systems with existing healthcare systems can be challenging, particularly if those systems are outdated or not designed for interoperability. AI must be able to work seamlessly with existing systems to be effective. To reach its full potential in the healthcare industry, AI developers can help to overcome the most daunting barriers to adoption. For instance, AI developers can improve and boost engagement with healthcare providers to support AI training which has the potential to increase the likelihood of AI adoption in the future. Similarly, close collaboration between AI developers and healthcare organizations can ensure the highest quality of data. AI developers can implement data governance to comply with the legal and ethical norms of conduct and ensure good practices for the collection, storage, and use of sensitive patient data. Finally, the developers can also streamline the process of AI integration with legacy systems, ensuring complete interoperability. How Algoscale can collaborate with Healthcare Providers to Adopt AI-powered Healthcare Solutions? At Algoscale, we can help you scale your IT team and work with certified developers who are well-versed in all AI technologies. Our specialized can meet the demands of your organization in unique ways. Whether it is a short-term project or a long-term one, our AI developers can help you run your IT operations smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. staff augmentation services We follow a stringent screening process that carefully evaluates each professional in categories like mathematical reasoning, technical proficiencies, and soft skills. With our services, your organization can reduce costs and improve productivity while still maintaining quality standards. Get in touch with our reps today to schedule a free consultation.

The Importance Of Collaboration Between Healthcare Providers And AI Developers

La importancia de la colaboración entre proveedores de atención médica y desarrolladores de IA

L'importance de la collaboration entre les prestataires de soins de santé et les développeurs d'IA

स्वास्थ्य सेवा प्रदाताओं और एआई डेवलपर्स के बीच सहयोग का महत्व

医療提供者と AI 開発者のコラボレーションの重要性

A importância da colaboração entre profissionais de saúde e desenvolvedores de IA

Tầm quan trọng của sự hợp tác giữa các nhà cung cấp dịch vụ chăm sóc sức khỏe và nhà phát triển AI

医疗保健提供者和人工智能开发人员之间合作的重要性

It smells because there are likely many instances where it could be edited or improved. Most of these smells are just hints of something that might be wrong. Therefore, they are not required to be fixed per se… (You should look into it, though.) Previous Code Smells You can find all the previous code smells (Part i - XXXVII) . here Let's continue... Code Smell 186 - Hardcoded Business Conditions You are FTX and your code allows special cases TL;DR: Don't add hard business rules to your code. Problems Open / Closed Principle Violation Hardcoding Testability Solutions Reify the condition. Create configuration options and set the exception on the configuration behavior. Don't use . Settings/Configs Context According to , in a recent FTX scandal, there was a hardcoded condition to skip risk controls to its own portfolio. Reuters The code was explicit and developers were aware of that rule. Sample Code Wrong if (currentExposure > 0.15 && customer != "Alameda") {
  // Be extra careful not to liquidate
  liquidatePosition();
} Right customer.liquidatePositionIfNecessary(0.15);
  
  // This follows the Tell, Don't ask principle Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can search for primary hardcoded conditions (related to primitive types). We might have more false positives than actual problems. Tags Hardcoding Conclusion If you make code reviews, pay special attention to this kind of hard coding. Relations Code Smell 133 - Hardcoded IF Conditions Code Smell 29 - Settings / Configs More Info Reuters on FTX Crash Credits Photo by on Alexander Mils Unsplash Computer science inverts the normal. In normal science, you're given a world, and your job is to find out the rules. In computer science, you give the computer the rules, and it creates the world. Alan Kay Software Engineering Great Quotes Code Smell 187 - If/Else Backwards The first thing we read after the if the condition is the IF TL;DR: You have the important else condition on the else. Problems Readability Solutions Swap the conditions. Context It is not as straightforward as it appears to write IF clauses in an elegant manner. There are lots of variants and choices. We need to pay special attention to readability. Sample Code Wrong fun addToCart(item: Any) {
    if (!cartExists()) {
        // Condition is negated
        this.createCart();
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
        // Repeated Code
    }
    else {
        // Normal case is on the else clause
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
} Right fun addToCart(item: Any) {
    if (cartExists()) {
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
    else {      
        this.createCart();
        this.cart.addItem(Item);
    }
}   

fun addToCartShorter(item: Any) {
    if (!cartExists()) {
        this.createCart();
    }
    this.cart.addItem(Item);    
} Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can find negated expressions on IF conditions and check for this anti-pattern. Tags IFs Conclusion We need to read code like prose. Humans read the standard case first and the exceptional one after it. Relations Code Smell 51 - Double Negatives Code Smell 156 - Implicit Else More Info Know the Code Credits Photo by on Karol Kasanicky Unsplash Beauty is more important in computing than anywhere else in technology because software is so complicated. Beauty is the ultimate defense against complexity. D. Gelernter Code Smell 188 - Redundant Parameter Names Use contextual and local names TL;DR: Don't repeat your parameters' names. Names should be contextual. Problems Duplication Readability Solutions Remove the repeated part from the name Context When using names, we often miss that words are contextual and need to be read as a whole sentence. Sample Code Wrong class Employee
  def initialize(@employee_first_name : String, @employee_last_name : String, @employee_birthdate : Time)
  end
end Right class Employee
  def initialize(@first_name : String, @last_name : String, @birthdate : Time)
  end
end Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can check our parameter names and try to find duplication. Tags Naming Conclusion Use short and contextual names for your parameters. Relations Code Smell 174 - Class Name in Attributes Code Smell 87 - Inconsistent Parameters Sorting Credits Photo by on Wolfgang Hasselmann Unsplash As a rule, software systems do not work well until they have been used, and have failed repeatedly, in real applications. David Parnas Code Smell 189 - Not Sanitized Input Bad actors are there. We need to be very careful with their input. TL;DR: Sanitize everything that comes from outside your control. Problems Security Solutions Use sanitization and input filtering techniques. Context Whenever you get input from an external resource, a security principle requests you to validate and check for potentially harmful inputs. is a notable example of a threat. SQL Injection We can also add and invariants to our inputs. assertions Even better, we can work with . Domain Restricted Objects Sample Code Wrong user_input = "abc123!@#"
# This content might not be very safe if we expect just alphanumeric characters Right import re

def sanitize(string):
  # Remove any characters that are not letters or numbers
  sanitized_string = re.sub(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9]', '', string)
  
  return sanitized_string

user_input = "abc123!@#"
print(sanitize(user_input))  # Output: "abc123" Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can statically check all the inputs and also we can also use penetration testing tools. Tags Security Conclusion We need to be very cautious with the inputs beyond our control. Relations Code Smell 121 - String Validations Code Smell 178 - Subsets Violation Code Smell 15 - Missed Preconditions More Info Wikipedia Credits Photo by on Jess Zoerb Unsplash Companies should make their own enterprise systems as often as network security companies should manufacture their own aspirin. Phil Simon Code Smell 190 - Unnecessary Properties Stop thinking of data as attributes. They are only needed to back your behavior TL;DR: Don't focus on accidental properties. You won't need many of them. Problems Anemic Models Properties bloating YAGNI violation Solutions Create attributes only to support your methods (behavior). Context Whenever they want to model a person or an employee, junior programmers or students add an attribute or without thinking if they are really going to need them. 'id' 'name' We need to add attributes 'on-demand' when there's enough evidence. Objects are not 'data holders'. Sample Code Wrong class PersonInQueue
  attr_accessor :name, :job

  def initialize(name, job)
    @name = name
    @job = job
  end
end Right class PersonInQueue

  def moveForwardOnePosition
    # implement protocol
  end
end Detection Semi-Automatic [x] We can detect unused attributes. But in many cases, we need an excellent designer to validate the actual need. Tags Anemic Conclusion Start designing your objects from the protocol. Add attributes only when needed. Relations Code Smell 144 - Fungible Objects Code Smell 01 - Anemic Models Code Smell 40 - DTOs Code Smell 109 - Automatic Properties Credits Photo by on Melanie Pongratz Unsplash Object thinking focuses our attention on the problem space rather than the solution space. David West 5 more code smells are coming soon…

How to Find the Stinky Parts of Your Code [Part XXXVIII]

Extending Power Virtual Agent with Power Automate and SharePoint You might have read my beginner-level step-by-step kick-starters and might have implemented Caller ID detection in your bot. This article is here to dig a little bit deeper and demonstrate how to use data to personalize the customer journey within the bot. to create your first (voice-) bot CRM Motivation With the integration capabilities of Power Automate, your can take the next step in your digital customer service journey. Using CRM data can be used to make automated voice bot conversations more personal and relevant to your customer. Power Virtual Agents-based (voice-) bots There is no need to annoy your customer and ask for details you already know. Automating repetitive processes frees human experts to take care of more complex tasks and customer interactions. Power Virtual Agents is not just another chatbot platform. It is part of a whole ecosystem with frontend, backend, and middleware layers to help you to do more with less and to speed up your digitalization journey. SharePoint List as a data source In this guide, I will use a simple SharePoint list as a data source for your bot's "CRM" Data. Other data sources can be used accordingly. Create a simple list with the following columns: title, name, surname, phonenumber, customernumber Power Automate flow to fetch customer data Next, we create a new Power Automate flow to fetch the calling customers' data from the list; we use the caller's phone number - we already extracted it from the channel data - as input for the flow. First, we define "phonenumber" as an input in Power Automate: Figure 3: Input variable Next, we initialize four variables as temporary storage for our CRM data. Next, the "get details from (SharePoint) list" action fetches the calling customers' data. The Filter Query is to select the data of the calling customer. We use the phone number as an index. phonenumber eq 'phonenumber'


 "value": [
      {
        "@odata.etag": "\"2\"",
        "ItemInternalId": "3",
        "ID": 3,
        "Title": "Mr",
        "name": "Holger",
        "surname": "Imbery",
        "phonenumber": "+49xxxxxxxxx",
        "customernumber": "4477",
        ....

}
] The array we get as an output of that step will be used to append the created variables via "Apply to each". Usage of CRM Data The data we acquired from our SharePoint list is stored in "bot." variables; therefore, the variable and its content are available globally. It can be used in every (new) topic. There is no need to ask for the following: name, surname title phone number customer number or all other information you find in your data sources. You can use speaker verification systems like to verify the user's identity. You will then have two factors, Caller ID and confirmed identity via voice. Nuance Gatekeeper or Phonexia Voice Verify Assets of all Power Automate connectors list of all Microsoft published connectors list SharePoint Connector Featured Image by on Unsplash Andrew Neel Also published here.

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