Both 2X and StraightArrow were created to solve these industry problems and to enable a marketing function that delivers elevated revenue impact at significantly less run cost. With the addition of StraightArrow, 2X expands its leadership position in the MaaS space, now with nearly 1,000 employees globally.

2X Acquires Straightarrow To Form The World's Largest B2B Maas Organization

The Healthcare Digital Experience Platform Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 15%, a probability of reaching US$ 1.2 billion by 2033

Healthcare Digital Experience Platform Market aspires to achieve a CAGR of 15% and reach US$ 1.2 billion by 2033 | Future Market Insights

Refinement is the theme this month, focusing on improving features for better user experiences and functionality.

Marketo’s October 2023 releases: A manager’s guide

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Get the most recent info and news about Adobe Marketo on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Adobe Marketo Engage offers the leading Engagement Platform that empowers marketers to build brand value, grow revenue, and prove impact. Consistently recognized as the industry’s innovation pioneer, Adobe Marketo Engage is the trusted platform for thousands of CMOs thanks to its scalability, reliability, and openness. To learn more about the Adobe Marketo Engage platform, LaunchPoint® partner ecosystem, and the vast community that is the Marketing Nation®, visit www.marketo.com.

Adobe Marketo

I was reviewing some stats for and was curious about what email service top apps use; being particularly interested in transactional email services. Is there a way I can go through my mailbox, check product emails and check the service for each? Sounds like a fun experiment to give a shot. Mailintel Connecting my mailbox With my recent , connecting to my mailbox wasn’t difficult. I am using , a JS IMAP client. experiments with IMAP emailjs-imap-client ImapClient = ( ).default

;( { { confOption = { : { : process.env.EMAIL, : process.env.PASS
      }, : } (process.env.PORT === ){ confOption.useSecureTransport = } imap = ImapClient(process.env.HOST, process.env.PORT, confOption) imap.connect()
  } (e) { .log(e)
  }
})() const require 'emailjs-imap-client' async ( ) function try const auth user pass logLevel 'error' if '993' true const new await catch console My environmental variables look something like this: EMAIL= PASS= PORT= HOST= "myemail@yahoo.com" "mypassword" 993 "imap.mail.yahoo.com" If you are connecting to a Yahoo mail, you will need to . Using your real email password won’t work. generate an app password Gmail is a little more complex. To start with, you need to your account. You can then go with any of the options: enable IMAP access . But don’t forget to turn this off once you are done with the experiment. If you still can’t connect, you may need to . Allow less secure apps allow app access to your account (more secured option). Create an app password Checking product emails Getting product emails is a tricky one. How do you identify product emails from regular emails? How do you differentiate marketing from transactional emails? This can be done but the ideas I came up with were not worth the effort. In the end, I decided to pull all the emails instead. (This was also easier because I have a Yahoo mail dedicated to product signups, subscriptions and newsletters). ImapClient = ( ).default

;( { { imap.connect() box = imap.selectMailbox( ) start = +box.exists - ( ) { messages = imap.listMessages( , , [ , ]) (! .isArray(messages)) { } start += (start >= +box.exists) { }
    }
  } (e) { .log(e)
  }
})() const require 'emailjs-imap-client' async ( ) function try // …connection code await const await 'INBOX' // Reading 5k mails at once can choke the process so let's chunk into 50 mails per request. We are also assuming there are > 5k emails in the mailbox let 5000 while true const await 'INBOX' ` : ` ${start + } 1 ${start + } 50 'uid' 'body[]' if Array return // Do stuff with email here 50 if break catch console Checking the service provider How do I know the email service used for the mail? I checked a couple of email headers and noticed a couple of places the provider details can be extracted from. Here is what an email header looks like: At first glance at some headers, the header looks the most straight forward. Here are a couple of message IDs from 3 different mail headers. Message-Id Message-ID: <010001703764a668-4ebb47b9-4454-4081-afc4-e6448cd22897-000000@email.amazonses.com>
Message-ID: <ZCA0TmwnS-SqPHh2_-gciw@ismtpd0039p1iad2.sendgrid.net> Message-ID: < > 22.BD.09488.F97644E5@ar.mta1vrest.cc.prd.sparkpost By looking at the host part of the , it's easy to know the service provider. But not so fast. Looking at more headers, I noticed some have a host that is different from the sender value in the header. Below are examples from Bitbucket and Letsencrypt. (Some parts truncated for brevity). message-id message-ids received Message-ID: Received: by filter0225p1iad2.sendgrid.net with ~ < > pr-~@bitbucket.org Message-Id: Received: from mail132-5.atl131.mandrillapp.com ~ < > ~.expiry@letsencrypt.org The headers seem the most accurate place to get the provider but it poses its challenges. The headers are structured in different ways depending on how the mail is sent. After reviewing a couple of headers in Yahoo mail, I was able to find a pattern to match the provider. (Not 100% accurate). received received For more than one received header, match of the second header. by * received If that doesn’t exist or does not have a host address or there is just one received header, then match the of the first header. (EHLO *) received Now we can rewrite our script to use headers. To be able to easily extract this, I will be bringing in . received Mailparser ImapClient = ( ).default simpleParser = ( ).simpleParser PULL = ;( { sites = {} { confOption = { : { : process.env.EMAIL, : process.env.PASS
      }, : } (process.env.PORT === ) { confOption.useSecureTransport = } imap = ImapClient(process.env.HOST, process.env.PORT, confOption) imap.connect() box = imap.selectMailbox( ) exists = +box.exists (exists <= PULL) { .log( ) } start = exists - PULL ( ) { messages = imap.listMessages( , , [ , ]) (! .isArray(messages)) { } ( message messages) { mail = simpleParser(message[ ]) headers = mail.headers.get( ) esp (headers.length > ) { header = headers[ ] match = header.match( ) (match && match.length > && match[ ].indexOf( ) !== ) {
            esp = match[ ].split( ).slice( ).join( )
          }
        } (!esp) { header = .isArray(headers) ? headers[ ] : headers match = header.match( ) (match && match.length > && match[ ].indexOf( ) !== ) {
            esp = match[ ].split( ).slice( ).join( )
          }
        } (!esp) { } (sites[esp]) {
          sites[esp]++
        } {
          sites[esp] = }
      }
      start += (start >= exists) { }
    } imap.logout() imap.close()
  } (e) { .log(e)
  } .log(sites)
})() const require 'emailjs-imap-client' const require 'mailparser' const 10000 async ( ) function const try const auth user pass logLevel 'error' if '993' true const new await const await 'INBOX' const if console 'You specified a pull number more than or equal to the number of emails in the mailbox' return let while true const await 'INBOX' ` : ` ${start + } 1 ${start + } 50 'uid' 'body[]' if Array return for const of const await 'body[]' const 'received' let if 1 const 1 const /by ([^\s]*)/ if 1 1 '.' -1 1 '.' -2 '.' if const Array 0 const /EHLO ([^)]*)/ if 1 1 '.' -1 1 '.' -2 '.' if // Todo: Track failed matches continue if else 1 50 if break await await catch console console Results This was the breakdown after stripping the results to the top ones. Few notes: , and are from . As you know, Mailchimp provides marketing email service. Mandrillapp.com is the transactional email service for Mailchimp. It used to be a standalone service until it became deeply integrated into Mailchimp. rsgsv.net mcsv.net mcdlv.net Mailchimp is for . spmta.com Sparkpost is for , currently owned by Adobe. Provides marketing email service. marketo.org marketo.com Interesting to see intercom there. It's amazing the number of products that use . Intercom and belong to , obviously. Mailgun also recently acquired . Mailjet provides both marketing and transactional email service. It will take more deep-diving into the headers (or content) to figure if the mail was sent as a marketing or transactional email. mailgun.net mailgun.org Mailgun Mailjet , also like Mailjet, offers both marketing and transactional email service. It’s the most used from my experiment but it’s hard to know what fraction of that is marketing and what other is transactional. PS: they were recently acquired by Twilio. Sendgrid Conclusion I merged the same providers for a more accurate chart. This is only a fun experiment and doesn’t show the true market share of the services. Since the data is based on the product emails in just my mailbox, it is flawed by selection bias. However, it’s something you can run on your mailbox for the fun of it. You can also extend it to see what service your favourite product/app uses. Remember, you may need to look at the full headers of some of your emails to come up with the best way to know the service provider. (Originally published ) here

Here's How I Mined My Mailbox to Find The Top Email Service Providers

How AI-Powered Solutions are Shaping the Future of Marketing and Sales

The internet and rise of micro-entrepreneurship Sometimes in the economy, monolithic entities that serve many needs disintegrate into an ecosystem of single-purpose entities. When that happens, there’s a huge opportunity for startups. Take, for example, Craigslist. Since its founding 25 years ago, Craigslist’s horizontal breadth, coupled with its shallow feature set and stagnant product, has presented rich opportunities for startups to carve off . This is illustrated by the now-iconic of vertical-specific marketplace startups aiming to unbundle Craigslist and build optimized experiences for certain categories, from Coursera for education to Airbnb for short-term accommodations. vertical-specific niches market map Entering the “Unbundled Work” Era While the unbundling of Craigslist created billions of dollars of value, it pales in comparison to the unbundling we’re currently living through. Outside of commerce, unbundling is now affecting a much broader domain of everyone’s lives: work is being unbundled from traditional employment. The notion of the “organization man”—a term popularized by William H. Whyte’s seminal that describes the subsuming of individual agency in service of a large corporation—is giving way to the rise of “micro-entrepreneurs,” or free agents, creators, freelancers, and independent workers who utilize digital platforms to make a living by leveraging skills and knowledge in the absence of a traditional employer-employee relationship. Accelerated by digital platforms that help surface job opportunities, facilitate customer connections, and aid in setting up and operating a business, workers are empowered to go independent and to earn a livelihood outside the confines of a traditional company. 1956 book Tech platforms have removed gatekeepers and democratized access to customers, enabling people to do work outside of the traditional employer-employee relationship A 2017 McKinsey Global Institute showed that 20-30% of the working age population in the US was engaged in independent work, and that the proportion of such work mediated by digital platforms like Uber and Etsy was growing rapidly. This trend spans the gamut from individuals who convert their passions into professions—think of YouTubers, podcasters, and gaming livestreamers who’ve monetized digitally-native hobbies—as well as those whom we don’t traditionally think of as “creators,” but who are also similarly shifting to digitally-mediated self-employment, including , , , , and . study teachers salespeople farmers chefs personal shoppers What is driving this rearrangement of work? For one, it’s catalyzed by innate human desire: Freshbooks’ found that the primary motivations for those pursuing self-employment were : most individuals seek a combination of freedom, fulfillment, and career control. Author Daniel Pink’s theory of motivation corroborates this finding, arguing that humans are driven by autonomy (desire to be self-directed), mastery (urge to improve), and purpose (desire to do something meaningful)—all of which independent work can facilitate. 2019 study on self-employment non-financial Tech platforms have removed gatekeepers and democratized access to potential customers worldwide; direct payment models have made it viable for workers to earn a livelihood from even a ; and platform companies in the gig economy and have paved new paths to work. small number of loyal fans passion economy How to best support the unbundling of work: horizontal or vertical? For startups looking to support this trend of unbundling work from employment, a fundamental question is whether to pursue a horizontal or vertical strategy. What’s the difference? While horizontal companies support workers in an industry-agnostic way, vertical platforms are focused on a particular industry. Patreon is a horizontal SaaS platform that allows any type of content creator, from comic book authors to YouTubers, to set up a membership subscription. In contrast, vertical-specific companies are building products for a given industry. For instance, Substack has enabled writers to more easily earn income from writing, and Blok.fit and Playbook have enabled fitness instructors to run a virtual business. What is the best approach to take, and where are the opportunities? The opportunity for vertical-specific work platforms: “Shopify for X” New platforms are emerging that broaden access to or potentially create an entirely new type of work. The “ ” model, wherein companies provide individuals tools to build an independently-owned business for a given line of work, is inherently vertical, with examples including for grocery delivery businesses and for in-home daycares. business-in-a-box Dumpling Wonderschool The benefit of building for a particular vertical is . Startups are able to align execution to a particular type of work and provide greater value for workers in a specific industry. A vertical approach also means more focused marketing, sales, and user acquisition strategies. Given that the online creative economy is growing at nearly , verticalization is becoming an increasingly viable strategy as each vertical grows larger. And, in particular, COVID is an accelerant to new vertical platforms as and seeking new, turnkey ways to earn income through end-to-end digital platforms. focus 20% per year nearly half of the US is jobless : Vertical-specific platforms can excel in a few key ways versus horizontal products 1. They turn non-producers into producers, i.e. actually expand the market Vertical-focused platforms can actually the market of workers who can participate in a certain industry, by honing in on and removing the obstacles for prospective workers. Many vertical-specific platforms support productizing knowledge or skills in new ways, thereby normalizing and broadening new paths to work. In other words, a vertical focus can unlock productivity and economic value, turning . expand non-producers into producers Podcasting has been around since the early 2000s, but , a podcast platform launched in 2017 that simplifies podcast creation, was reported to be powering 70% of all new podcasts as of and believes that its monetization platform effectively the number of podcasts running ads. Anchor Q1 2020 doubled Prior to Cameo being founded in 2017, it would have been strange for celebrities to charge fans for personalized shout-out videos, but Cameo normalized this type of paid interaction—and anticipates . $100M in bookings this year 2. They provide deeper value in helping the worker to manage and grow their business Vertical-specific creator tools can focus on supporting the “ ” journey from launch to growth, starting from serving an individual hobbyist and scaling up with them as they eventually grow into a business. , a platform focused on helping designers launch apparel lines, offers a software tool accessible to everyone from design students to fashion brands. CALA’s founder Andrew Wyatt calls their internal framework of product design “solving the next biggest pain point”: “As a creator starts to have success on the platform, they begin having additional needs. If possible, they will source the solution on-platform, because there is already trust and everyone wants just one login.” enterprization CALA Vertical-specific tools can provide a depth of value for creators that is challenging for horizontal platforms to replicate. Shopify, which has stated that its is to “make entrepreneurship more accessible,” doesn’t just superficially enable the creation of an online storefront, but offers deeper functionality tailored to e-commerce merchants: a dedicated network of fulfillment centers, merchant cash advances, marketing & SEO, etc. This focus on the e-commerce vertical has enabled it to build a $114 billion business, blowing past horizontal website builders like Wix that also offer e-commerce functionality (market cap of $14 billion, as of 7/28/20). mission Vertical-specific platforms for independent workers are closely related to vertical SaaS, which and have covered extensively. The difference now is that , who is able to operate independently without a team by leveraging software. In the local services vertical, gives personal shoppers everything they need to run their own grocery delivery businesses, including a fully-funded credit card for purchasing orders, professional website, client-facing app, and business coaching. Bessemer Lightspeed the new SMB is oftentimes a single individual Dumpling 3. They can re-introduce services that workers lose when they are unbundled from companies Employment at a company is itself a bundle of various services and infrastructure, and there’s an opportunity for platforms to replace what workers lose when they leave traditional employment arrangements. For micro-entrepreneurs, the tradeoff of independence is a de-risked company environment for learning, pivoting, and risk-taking—and there’s an opportunity for platforms to foster this sense of “ .” Recently, Substack it was launching a program to provide legal support for writers on its platform: confidence and comfort announced Substack Defender is one of many initiatives that will form a comprehensive support structure for independent writers. [...] [S]oftware alone is not enough. We are committed to creating the conditions that allow independent writers to flourish, which means helping to restore the infrastructure that has been eroded by the continued dismantling of models and institutions that once supported a healthy free press. Other services that employers typically provide include the comradery of a team, office space, and other vertical-specific functions (for instance, in the case of Substack, editing, distribution, and design). There is potential for work platforms to not only enable participants to earn money, but to ease the transition to independent work by providing these services. Interestingly, platforms supporting the unbundling of work are also giving rise to a —in effect, creating new employers and organizations. On Substack, individual newsletter writers are already self-organizing into subscription , and some are teams and further professionalizing their content, effectively re-bundling into a new media organization (albeit, with a significantly different cost structure). re-bundling bundles hiring 4. They foster vertical-specific network effects: discovery of new creators or fan-to-fan interaction Discovery experiences make sense for verticals/use cases where customers benefit from repeated matching. For instance, the supplemental education platform is designed as a marketplace because parents and students find value in discovering new courses and teachers on a consistent basis. Outschool On the other end of the spectrum, fans often discover , a creator e-commerce platform, through a particular creator, and discovery makes less sense in this context and can even alienate creators. Facilitating discovery raises the issue that Ben Thompson has extensively covered: “Aggregators tend to internalize their network effects and commoditize their suppliers.” Pietra platform vs. aggregator Within a certain vertical, fans often want to connect with each other, given their affinity to what a creator represents. Substack’s initial foray into community consists of that publishers can activate. ’s social investing platform is predicated on this idea of “ .” As I earlier this year, “Frequently, premium content and community are bundled together to enhance the [user] experience by providing valuable social reinforcement and support.” Community experiences can benefit from being bundled into a verticalized platform given the nature of content and experiences users are connecting over. discussion threads CommonStock Come for the creator, stay for the network wrote Clearly, vertical-specific platforms can unlock tremendous value for independent workers. So what’s left for horizontal work platforms? Horizontal platforms supporting independent workers The key question for startups seeking to build horizontal work platforms is: what are the commonalities between workers such that a standalone, defensible product can be built by an independent company? Whether they’re hobbyists-turned-entrepreneurs, freelancers, or gig economy workers, independent workers regardless of industry share some common needs. Here’s where horizontal approaches can be better in supporting micro-entrepreneurs: 1. They act as a discovery destination for consumers Despite myriad attempts by startups to create better video consumption experiences aligned to a specific vertical, YouTube remains unbundled because it aligns to consumer usage patterns: there’s a large base of casual consumers who want to watch diverse content across categories, rather than visiting various destinations for different content verticals. As such, YouTube is an indispensable horizontal platform in the ‘entrepreneurship stack’ that supports independent creators across a variety of industries, from financial experts to unboxing video creators. Independent workers and creators will continue to leverage horizontal social platforms for discovery and audience building. Increasingly, social media is seen as a marketing channel for the unbundling of work: 2. They benefit from fragmentation of creator tools 22% of self-employed workers have multiple revenue streams, compared to 11% who work for an employer, according to a . With COVID, that percentage may be even higher as independent workers piece together income from different sources. 2019 Intuit survey The fragmentation of different platforms for engaging with and monetizing audiences presents a pain point that can be addressed by a horizontal platform that unites audiences. For instance, is a messaging platform that allows creators—often celebrities with presences across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube—to aggregate their audiences in one place and to text fans directly; its homepage markets the ability to “communicate one-to-one with millions, without getting buried by social feeds and algorithms.” Community 3. There are economies of scale Horizontal platforms excel when there are economies of scale. For instance, there are benefits of scale in the lending business, with a virtuous loop of scale of customers, stronger models for underwriting, higher approval rates, and accelerated customer acquisition. Across multiple verticals, independent workers often lack predictable income, which presents an opportunity for lending. Early products in this space include Patreon Capital (merchant cash advances for Patreon creators), Shopify Capital, as well as horizontal creator business platforms Karat and Stir. 4. They provide common infrastructure or services needed across verticals What do all micro-entrepreneurs have in common, that can be solved via an independent platform rather than being rebuilt by every vertically-focused platform? Independent workers, in general, aspire to grow their earnings, find new customers, plan for the future, run their own businesses, and manage incomes from different sources. For example, is a project management tool that helps creators manage projects and collaborations, invoice clients, and receive payments, serving the needs of all types of creators who earn income from brand deals. Moe Assist Employment at a company is itself a bundle of various services and infrastructure, and micro-entrepreneurs piece these together on their own. What are some ideas for horizontal platforms? (not exhaustive) 1. Single sign-on for fans With increasing verticalization by content type, a single login/authorization system can help superfans pay for a single subscription and access all of a creator’s content. For instance, paying for a creator on Patreon could grant access to their private Substack group, private Zoom events, paid podcast, etc. 2. Connections between different apps & automation of experiences Marketo—which was purchased by Adobe for $4.75B—develops marketing automation software for businesses to market to customers. Creators and independent workers are likewise seeking to re-engage and customize experiences for their fans/customers, but lack the tools to do so. For instance, if someone subscribes to a paid podcast, trigger an email inviting them to a private Facebook group, invite them to a local event, etc. : 3. Business services for 1099 workers When workers are , they lose access to many of the services and benefits that traditional employment conferred: income smoothing with automated tax withholding (i.e. a paycheck), healthcare, employer-sponsored retirement plans, as well as a sense of comradery and community. unbundled from institutions Employer-based healthcare in the US means that self-employed workers have a challenging time finding affordable and comprehensive coverage (or even view it as a blocker to leaving a full-time job); and the US tax code means being independent requires increased time, money, and complexity. Companies like , , , , , and others are facilitating self-employment by providing services related to the administrative side of freelancing. Creator communities—both online and offline—like , , and are filling the team and community support gap for micro-entrepreneurs. Hyke Catch Better Wingspan Decent Keeper Indie Hackers Type House TikTok houses 4. Learning, upskilling, and development Organizations spent globally on training in 2016. Employer-provided learning, development, mentorship, and coaching programs means that independent workers need to piece together these resources on their own. Startups like , , , , , and more are creating standalone learning and development resources that freelancers can leverage to advance in their self-crafted careers. $359 billion Walden Knowable HireClub Skillshare Udemy Looking ahead… A re-bundling and a new type of organization? At the turn of the 20th century, in the wake of the Industrial Revolution in America, agrarian society and cottage industries gave way to urbanization, mass production, and corporate employment. At the dawn of the 21st century, new internet platforms are empowering a shift in work once again, from traditional employment arrangements to independent work that allows for greater autonomy and monetization of uniqueness and creativity at scale. While past platforms largely focused on connecting consumers with workers and honed in on facilitating transactions, . To legitimize independent workers and creators, there needs to be dedicated tools—both vertical and horizontal—to support managing and growing their businesses, forging new connections, learning new skills, and connecting to work opportunities. there’s a lot more to work than just earning income Looking forward, as individuals professionalize and seek to take their businesses to the next level, I anticipate more re-bundling—whether it’s short term collaborations with other micro-entrepreneurs, or building out teams that work together for longer-term projects. There’s a massive opportunity for digital platforms that lower the barriers to micro-entrepreneurship to support the growth of these workers, in whichever directions they seek. If you’re building a company in this space, please — I’d love to chat. reach out Acknowledgements: Thank you Brandon Handoko for creating the graphic designs for this post! Originally published as " Unbundling Work from Employment "

The Unbundled Work Era: The Time Is Now

Chances are, you need better strategy, not more tools. Marketing Automation (MA) historically has been perceived as a magic solution for most businesses' growth problems. Many business and marketing “experts” are obsessed with automation, preventing them from strategically thinking about their customers and instead relying on tools to automate as much as they can without a clear or realistic goal in mind. Regardless of all the noise made by mainstream media and marketing technology companies, marketers still struggling with their jobs. According to , 40% of marketers have issues proving the effectiveness of their efforts to their bosses. Hubspot The Problem Why are they struggling? In simple terms, their approach is wrong. Most marketers lack a strategic approach to marketing automation and instead focus their attention on tools. This rather common approach leads businesses to automate their customer journey without context, forcing automation through the  funnel with arbitrary touch-points and  irrelevant content, generating friction points, jeopardizing customer relationships, and increasing CAC in the long run. The Solution This guide will teach you how to use marketing automation to acquire, convert and retain users and distills the overwhelming world of marketing automation into something easily actionable. By executing the concepts in this article you will have the apparatus to focus your attention on long term results while saving money on tools that aren’t contributing to your bottom line. To make this guide a complete reference for marketing automation, I’ve spent a few months fine-tuning it to include case studies and software reviews. You’ll learn what the research says about: How to use marketing automation on any type of business and how successful businesses use automation.How to take advantage of marketing automation without paying a fortune.How to use marketing automation to significantly improve customers LTV while reducing CAC. Interested? Good. If you aren’t willing to spend one to two years paying for tools/courses to get results with MA this guide is for you. Definition Before we dig deeper into marketing automation as a concept and its implications, it is important to define it: Marketing automation (MA) is an optimization process of the user journey through the application of technology to monitor, control and deliver meaningful marketing activities ( ). It aims to easily connect and map customer interactions across multiple touchpoints, in order to direct or influence the end-to-end experience. automation Important Considerations Before we get to specifics on how to effectively use marketing automation, I’d like to briefly cover three important concepts: Business LifecycleCustomer Lifetime ValueCustomer Acquisition Cost Business Life Cycle: According to , most businesses go through four phases: HBR StartUpGrowthMaturityDecline Everything you do should be prioritized based on your business phase. The Diagram Above Represents the Business Life Cycle & Marketing Automation Framework Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV) CLTV is a metric aiming to measure the profit your company can make from a customer over time. as businesses increasingly generate revenue from the creation of long-term relationships with their customers. The whole purpose of marketing should be maximizing customer lifetime value and customer equity. It is crucial for service-based economies Customer Lifetime Value — Visual Representation Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) CAC is a calculation of the total cost of acquiring a new customer and it must include the total marketing cost over the actual number of acquired customers. CAC will help you identify profitable marketing channels and activities. Source: D2C brands are driving up customer acquisition costs — and it’s time to course-correct How To Use Marketing Automation — A Step by Step Guide Now that you understand the above concepts, let’s determine whether or not you should start using marketing automation in your business As a rule of thumb, you should not invest in marketing automation if your business hasn’t achieved the following milestones: Value Proposition Validation (Product/Marketing Fit)Established two to three profitable acquisition channels — There’s no point in automating marketing when you don’t have a steady number of users coming to your site every month.Your business is generating a consistent MRR (monthly recurring revenue) at least $1000+ dollars over the last 6 months.You haven’t manually established processes for the marketing activities you need to automate. Marketing Automation Process Step 1: Identify Your Users’ Need (Jobs to Be Done Framework) Step 2: Define Your Customer Journey Map Step 3: Automate Marketing Activities (Marketing Automation process) Step 1: Identify Your Users’ Need (Jobs to Be Done Framework) First of all focus on audience needs. Remember, your audience is your business judge, jury and executioner. Every user within your audience is unique, but you can use certain attributes and behavioral triggers to predict what their pain points and expectations are. Use the . for categorizing, defining, capturing, organizing all your customer’s needs, and tying them up with customer-defined performance metrics. Jobs To Be Done framework Source: The Jobs-to-be-Done Market Discovery Template Step 2: Define Your Customer Journey Map A customer journey map is a visual representation of every experience your users have with your business regardless of the channel or device. Building a comprehensive customer journey map will help you assess your overall business experience from a customer’s perspective. “The end goal of a CJM is to improve customers experience at each touchpoint” Source: Customer Journey Maps: A Step-by-Step Guide Step 3: Automate Marketing Activities Marketing automation can be used throughout the whole customer journey, from building awareness to cultivating a dedicated user base. It is especially powerful in the conversion stage, helping you boost revenue. Source: The New Sales Funnel: How to Revitalize Your Messaging to “Wow” Today’s Consumer Marketing Automation for User Acquisition: Content Creation and Distribution Goal: Acquire as many qualified users as possible at the lowest possible CAC In early acquisition stages, marketing automation can help you identify successful marketing activities and content ideas/types that attract your audience around the product or service you’re offering. Once you are aware of effective marketing methods and content ideas, the distribution and optimization of these messages can be easily managed with marketing automation. Things like relevant posts on Facebook, the right blog post in the specific period of the month or a delivery method that fits the customers’ lifestyle could be a detail that makes a difference. Source: How to Acquire Customers: 19 “Traction” Channels to Start Testing Today Marketing Automation for User Activation Goal: Generate active engagement from acquired users before they’ve reached the point of buying intent (increase users’ probability of becoming a high-quality sales opportunity). Websites and products activate users by providing value. Marketing automation helps you address customers’ needs and expectations by easily delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. Make sure you always give your audience a reason to read your emails or visit your web pages, so your engagement metrics are good and customers don’t lose interest in your product over time. Generally speaking, a metric like TTV (Time to Value) will help assess your activation process — A short TTV normally means customers get a return on their investment of time faster — and that means they are more likely to stick around! Source: Time To Value Marketing Automation for User Retention Goal: Once you activate your users, you need to make sure users continue to use your product or service. Marketing automation uses customers' attributes and behavioral information to deliver personalized content/messaging (Follow-up email campaigns, A/B testing, etc) and optimize marketing operations. In short, everything is automated based on specific segments. Your Retention Rate depends on your business model and the product/service you’re offering, in general businesses with high ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) tend to have the lowest Churn Rate (a business with high churn rate would by default have a lower retention rate). Source: The world’s largest study on SAAS churn Marketing Automation for Revenue Generation Goal: User Monetization There are multiple monetization models (see image below), however marketing automation will help you monetize your audience regardless of the model. With marketing automation, you can automate cross-sell, upsell and promotions activities based on user behaviors by defining triggers and workflows — triggers are key events in the customer and business lifecycle and workflows are a series of automated actions that you can trigger to occur based on a person’s behaviors or contact information. Source: Digital Business Models Map: The Most Popular Digital Business Model Types Marketing Automation for Referral Marketing Goal: Encourage existing customers to drive their friends, colleagues, and family members to buy from you. Positive word-of-mouth can significantly drive your business growth when leveraged through a systematic rewards program for fans, customers, influencers, and affiliates. MA helps you optimizing the user segmentation process and automate the incentivization process via emails, landing pages or chatbots. Source: Dropbox grew 3900% with a simple referral program. Here’s how! Are You Ready For Marketing Automation? Interactive Checklist We have created an to help you find out whether or not marketing automation is a good idea for your business: interactive checklist Marketing Automation Interactive Checklist How Marketing Automation Tech Works “Marketing automation historically has really focused on static experiences while requiring the business to create every unique experience. “ — , Founder and CEO at ActiveCampaign Jason VandeBoom Nowadays every website collects lots of customer data through user interactions like emails, website visits, app usage, etc. This data is the lifeblood of a business and it is used by marketing automation tools to easily streamline the journey for multiple users providing a unique experience based on their attributes and behaviors. Here’s how marketing automation techs work: Three functional attributes every marketing automation system should provide : This is an essential function of marketing automation tools. It helps you analyze and understand who your customers are and provides intelligent insights for marketers to improve communications strategy and UX. Marketing intelligence: Tracking, experimentation and data segmentation personal and smart touchpoints based on user behaviors and attributes. Marketing automation: Content and Communications personalization — calable design and delivery of personalized customer journeys. Advanced workflow automation : Orchestrated and repeatable marketing activities—s History “Marketing automation” as a concept was first introduced by in a presentation at UC Berkeley in 2001. The concept initially referred to an automated marketing decision-making process supported on the internet and solving one essential problem: “What do we tell retailer X to do when customer Y arrives on Monday morning?” John D.C. Little He suggested businesses need to analyze the digital footprints of customer Y and use appropriate models to come up with meaningful managerial touchpoints across the whole purchase funnel. Such an automated marketing decision support promises enhanced productivity, better decision-making, higher returns on marketing investments, and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty through customization of marketing activities. Industry Overview — Trends and Statistics Marketing automation has been a growing trend for the last two decades. According to , the interest over time around marketing automation has grown exponentially around the world. Google Trends Marketing Automation Trends From 2014 to 2020 As pointed out in his , even though the landscape has grown by double digits year on year it seems like the industry is plateauing as the overall growth for 2019 was 3%. Scott Brinker 2019 research on the marketing technology landscape This isn’t the case for Marketing Automation Platforms, where over the last four years we have seen more and more evolving and tools entering the market (most traditional email marketing platforms now offer ). marketing automation solutions Source: chiefmartec.com 2017 vs 2015 = 42% growth 2019 vs 2017 = 35% growth Evolution of Marketing Technology Source: Is martech headed for its “dot-com moment” in 2020? As shown above, the future of marketing automation looks promising and it is expected to be adopted for more and more businesses as the industry evolves and prices decrease over time. But if you’re not familiar with MA, you might not be convinced that it’s worth your time or money. Here are some interesting stats highlighting the key benefits it offers your business. The average increase in sales productivity is up to 14.5%, which is a number that speaks about the power of automation.“Marketing automation drives a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.” “91% of marketers say that marketing automation is very important to the success of their marketing campaigns.” “44% of companies that implement marketing automation see a return on investment within six months, and 76% see it within the first year.” Adobe Instapage Marketo Case Studies — The Value of Marketing Automation on Small, Medium, and Large Businesses Some general benefits are obvious in the long run, and these are: — Productivity is an obvious benefit because the whole point of automating a process is to delegate repetitive tasks to machines. Productivity — Customer experience is another positive result of marketing automation, as it is easier to segment customers and send personalized content and communications. Customer Experience — Revenue represents the ultimate result of an effective marketing automation strategy. With the right revenue insights, your automation software can predict the future increase in sales. With these predictions, you can plan future investments for more effective marketing campaigns. Revenue Here are more specific examples across different types of business and how they are using marketing automation to grow: Small Business URL: https://www.homepainterstoronto.com/ Platform: Keap Marketing Activities: Landing Page OptimisationLead QualificationEmail Marketing Benefits: 30x lead flow velocity30% closing rate Medium Size Business URL: https://www.spaceship.com.au/ Platform: Autopilothq Marketing Activities: Landing Page OptimisationLead QualificationContent MarketingEmail Marketing Benefits: Automation marketing journeys for a few different types of usersProductivity Improvements Large Business URL: https://www.amerifirst.com/ Platform: Hubspot Marketing Activities: Landing Page OptimisationLead QualificationContent MarketingEmail Marketing Benefits: Website Traffic ImprovementsLead Generation Improvements5% increase in sales after 2 years Marketing Automation Tools—An Interactive Database Today, you can find an endless number of marketing automation tools, but there are only a few of them that are reliable according to the users. You will be surprised how a simple platform can dramatically increase your chances to get more customers in the long run. Find out more about the best platforms in . this list By clicking on the link above you’ll be able to easily filter important attributes for the most popular marketing tools in the world. Marketing Automation Tools — Interactive Database Top 3 Performers According to G2.com and Capterra 1. Marketo Medium Size Business to enterprise-level in a variety of industries — recommended for companies generating $5000+ MRR. Target customer: Product Overview Cloud-basedMarketing Activities include Email Marketing, Lead Management, Consumer Marketing, Account-Based Marketing, and Marketing analytics WYSIWYG editor for email and landing page creation ContentAI add-on application uses AI to recommend content across the web, based on CRM data 2. HubSpot Medium Size Business to enterprise-level in a variety of industries — recommended for companies generating $800+ MRR. Target customer: Product overview Free CRM Lead capture, management, scoring, nurturing, analytics, A/B testing, blogging, content management, social monitoring and publishing, email marketing and paid advertising Workflows and Automated Communication Solutions Email tracking from the user’s inbox, notifications when leads view site pages, and in-line information on competitor sites and emails users receive Mobile apps and integration with 100+ apps 3. Mailchimp Mainly SMBs Recommended for businesses generating 0 to 1000 MRR. Target customer: Product overview Integration with Ad platforms and Landing Pages Signup forms and basic customer relationship management Automated Workflows — Automated emails based on marketing triggers Testing: Provides A/B and multivariate testing tools to optimize campaigns Advanced Analytics and Segmentation Features Conclusion I hope this guide helped you better understand the marketing automation world. Now I’d like to turn it over to you: What was your favorite concept or resource from this guide? Or maybe you have an excellent piece of content that you think I should add. Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

Marketing Automation for Non-Technical Professionals [The No-Nonsense Guide]

Ever-growing business requirements and technology evolution make companies chase sophisticated software solutions that should be both powerful and attractive for end-users. Apart from the need to keep in step with tech trends, organizations also have to take care of their up-and-running systems, as well as ensure the cohesion and integrity of the IT environment. While solutions and IT ecosystems become more intricate, the risk of drawbacks within the software lifecycle augments substantially. As a result, companies constantly face a variety of software-related issues ranging from small bugs to severe code flaws that may harm the entire business. That’s why it is critical for every organization to not only focus on the software development process itself but also prioritize software quality assurance and testing activities that guarantee the following important aspects: · The implemented software performs well and fits business specifics optimally. · The software doesn’t contain vulnerabilities or security flaws, thus ensuring a safe work and robust protection of sensitive data. · The software matches users’ expectations and enables them to fulfill daily activities with the minimum effort. If you are looking for the optimal tech partner with the relevant software testing and QA expertise, here is the review of 30 companies. Each company was ranked according to a predefined set of criteria: online reviews, market presence, geographic strategy, industry experience, customer experience, portfolio. Each provider has its strengths, so you are welcome to find the one that fits your needs and budget best. 1. QualiTest QualiTest is a Software Testing Company that delivers quality assurance and software testing services. Advancing testing methodologies is the distinguished feature of the company. QualiTest strives to provide superior QA solutions and improve their customer’s software quality. 1997 Founded: USA Location: 1000–9,999 Employees: Philips, Microsoft, Intel Major Clients: Mobile Testing Services, Website Testing, Cyber Security Testing Core Services: Website: https://www.qualitestgroup.com/ 2. A1QA A1QA.com has delivered more than 1500 projects to the customers worldwide. Highly qualified staff provides independent software QA and testing services in various industries. The company is constantly improving their automated, manual and security testing methodologies to anticipate any changes in the field. <a href="https://medium.com/media/7403e222cbf5136c6b8f959dc3cd1e6d/href">https://medium.com/media/7403e222cbf5136c6b8f959dc3cd1e6d/href</a> 2003 Founded: USA Location: 250–999 Employees: Adidas, SAP, Acronis, Kaspersky Lab, Pearson, Telekom Austria Group, National Bank of Jamaica Major Clients: Application testing; Cybersecurity Core Services: 25$-49$ Rate per hour: Website: https://www.a1qa.com/ 3. Cigniti Technologies Limited Cigniti is a Software Testing Company with offices in India, USA, UK, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. The company provides enterprises with high-quality expertise and service. Offshore test execution and quality control procedures are the distinguished features of the company. 1998 Founded: USA Location: 1,000–9,999 Employees: Atom Bank, Subway, Southwest Airlines, Bank of America, Snapdeal, Hertz, HP, Ryanair Major Clients: Quality Assurance, Quality Engineering, Digital Assurance, Advisory Core Services: Website: https://www.cigniti.com/ 4. QATestLab QATestLab was founded in 2005 and has been delivering high-quality service for more than 10 years. The professional staff is ready to meet the challenges to ensure the best possible result in a variety of industries including E-commerce, Healthcare, Mobile, Media, and Entertainment, Training and Education. 2005 Founded: Ukraine 50–249 Location: Employees: Jobalign, Bosch, Shell, Snap, G5Games, Sweetrush, Wargaming.net, Cinemagram Major Clients: Manual Testing, Test Automation Core Services: Website: http://qatestlab.com/ 5. Abstracta Abstracta improves customers’ processes by implementing software quality engineering and testing. With 10 years of experience, the company applies cutting-edge tools to its projects in financial, retail and other technology-driven spheres. The agile partnership model is the company’s prominent feature. 2008 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: PedidosYa, Shutterfly, GeneXus, Republica AFAP, BBVA Major Clients: Test Automation, Mobile Testing, Performance Testing, Software Testing Core Services: $50 — $99 Rate per hour: Website: https://abstracta.us/ 6. QualityLogic QualityLogic combines a flexible service model and software testing procedures to deliver the best services to its customers. Technology experts from the company implement adaptable and scalable engagement model into the working process with in-house customers’ team. 2002 Founded: USA Location: 250–999 Employees: IBM, Broad Vision, Adobe, Riverdeep Major Clients: Automation Testing, Mobile QA, Manual Testing, Security Testing, Performance Testing, API Testing Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.qualitylogic.com/ 7. Testlio Testlio is serving its clients by implementing Testing as a Service model. The company helps to launch customers’ products adhering to 4 main principles: devotion to improving QA practices, commitment to consolidate testers community, meeting the highest standards in work and cooperate with reliable apps providers. 2013 Founded: USA Microsoft, Hotels.com, USA Today, OfferUp, Flipboard, Grammarly, GoDaddy, CBS Interactive, Vimeo Location: Major Clients: Mobile Testing, Functional Testing, Localization Testing, Automated Testing Core Services: Website: https://testlio.com/ 8. Ubertesters Ubertesters ensures the best launch of the product by providing mobile and web applications beta testing with a cloud-based, process management tool. Ubertesters professionals help organize and monitor the whole beta testing process for high-quality results and a perfectly working mobile and web apps. 2012 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: Verizon, T-Mobile, Orange, Houzz, Golf, Intuit Major Clients: Application Testing, Application Management & Support, Cloud Consulting & SI Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://ubertesters.com/ 9. Zymr Zymr offers expertise in product engineering and product support services. The company combines agile development culture with software development standards. Professional staff will the proven previous achievements focus on the customers’ needs and the requirements of end-users. 2012 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: ILearn2Trade, Vodafone, Nimbler World, FixStream Major Clients: Product Engineering Services, Product Support Services Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.zymr.com/ 10. QA Mentor QA Mentor professionals work in all time zones which guarantees anytime customers support. The distinguished feature of the company is a testing laboratory with more than 200 browsers and operating system combinations. The company uses its own special methodologies to ensure the highest quality of software testing. 2010 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: Zyto, HSBC, Citi, Hitit, Sterling, Morgan Stanley, DivisionOf, GameCloud, Chefmod, GrayHair, Nicopanda Major Clients: Agile QA Services, Automation QA Services, Security Testing Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.qamentor.com/ 11. QA InfoTech QA InfoTech is committed to delivering top-notch solutions for its clients. The company applies best practices and strategies to everyday activities and procedures. Client’s needs and goals are their main priority. 2003 Founded: India Location: 1,000–9,999 Employees: Fortune 500s to start-up companies Major Clients: Functional Testing, Automation Testing, Mobile Testing, Performance Testing, Security Testing, Usability Testing, Cloud Testing Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://qainfotech.com/ 12. ThinkSys ThinkSys offers tailor-made solutions for its customers. The company is the place where new software testing methodologies are developed. The professional staff strives to increase the productivity of their customers’ business processes and help to meet their client’s business aims. 2012 Founded: USA 50–249 Location: Employees: Shutterstock, WealthSage, Allegro, BlackBox, BayTech, ProActive Major Clients: Functional Testing, Security Testing, Usability Testing Core Services: Undisclosed Rate per hour: Website: https://www.thinksys.com/ 2012 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: Shutterstock, WealthSage, Allegro, BlackBox, BayTech, ProActive Major Clients: Functional Testing, Security Testing, Usability Testing Core Services: Website: https://www.thinksys.com/ 13. Testbytes Testbytes is a group of software testers who deliver the best results applying up-to-date software testing methodologies. Reusable automation frameworks, templates, and repositories are the key factors shaping the company’s success. 2011 Founded: India Location: 50–249 Employees: Avalara, Fixle, Taskr, iProgrammer, LearnPick Major Clients: Game Testing, Automation Testing Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.testbytes.net/ 14. QASource QASource concentrates on customized solutions and quality assurance services helping their customers’ control the whole process and expected results. Company’s quality assurance services help to anticipate and avoid any risks connected with the testing process. Being among the leading software QA providers, QASource professionals make every effort to deliver high-quality software testing services serving their customers’ needs. 2002 Founded: USA Location: 250–999 Employees: IBM, Broad Vision, Adobe, Riverdeep Major Clients: Automation Testing, Mobile QA, Manual Testing, Security Testing, Performance Testing, API Testing Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.qasource.com/ 15. TestingXperts TestingXperts is the company that combines the knowledge of major business processes and the best software development practices. The company strives to exceed the customers’ expectations by providing high-quality Functional and Non-Functional testing and Professional Expertise for Mobile and Cloud Technology. 1996 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: TestPlant, Query Surge, Smart Bear, Perfecto Mobile Major Clients: Functional Testing, Non-Functional Testing, Specialized Testing Core Services: $50 — $99 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.testingxperts.com/ 16. Testhouse Testhouse has been providing functional and non-functional test services for 17 years. The company specializes in Software Quality Management, Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and DevOps. Testhouse applies its expertise to a wide range of domains helping its customers to anticipate any risks. 2000 Founded: India, UK Location: 51–200 Employees: Purple Bricks, FlyBMI, DoveTail Services, Emirates NBD Major Clients: Managed Testing Services, Functional Testing, Security Testing, Mobile Testing, Performance Testing, Test Automation Core Services: Website: https://www.testhouse.net/ 17. BugRaptors BugRaptors delivers innovative solutions for obtaining optimal business results. They evaluate the customers’ needs in details before working out the full software development lifecycle. They offer a wide variety of services to exceed the customers’ expectations. 2016 Founded: India, USA Location: 250–999 Employees: the UK and US-based clients Major Clients: Standardised QA Services, Automation Testing Services, Specialized QA Services, Test Consultation Services Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.bugraptors.com/ 18. TestArmy TestArmy is a team of professionals offering Quality Assurance Consulting, Security Tests as well as Functional Testing and Performance Testing. Company’s employees support their customers from the start of the project and after launching the product. Certified testers are always ready to find the best solution to the client’s need. 2010 Founded: USA, EU Location: 50–249 Employees: Samsung Electronics, Philips, Yves Rocher, Empik, Nomtek Major Clients: QA Consulting, Functional Testing, Security Testing, Performance Testing, Test automation Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://testarmy.com/ 19. Acutest Acutest pays special attention to customers’ business, technical and user requirements. Software testing, business processes. The company always gives emphasis to the main business activities of its clients for delivering excellent testing service and superior results. 2002 Founded: UK Location: 1–50 Employees: BBC, Costa, Appian, FT, HP, Dell, SAP Major Clients: Managed Testing Services, Specialist and Non-functional testing, Test Automation, Test Transformation Core Services: Undisclosed Rate per hour: Website: https://www.acutest.co.uk/ 20. KiwiQA Being highly experienced in a variety of industries, KiwiQA is a company that not only ensures complete test coverage but also constantly checks the accuracy of software performance. Quality assurance and testing service are characterized by the innovative approach and on-time delivery. 2009 Founded: India Location: 10–49 Employees: Mercury, Lodie, SimpleTix, KPMG, ZingHR Major Clients: Automation Testing, Performance Testing, Mobile Testing, Security Testing, Code Verification, Manual Testing Core Services: Website: https://www.kiwiqa.com/ 21. TestMatick TestMatick provides high standard mobile app and software testing services. Company’s team is ready to solve any existing problem and improve current customers’ processes by performing technical tasks of any difficulty. Flexibility and strive for excellence are the key features that determine their work. 2009 Founded: USA Location: 50–249 Employees: Hubrick, Subscribe Pro, Dahmakan, Improbable Major Clients: Mobile Testing, Functional Testing, Automated Testing, Usability Testing Core Services: $25+ Rate per hour: Website: https://testmatick.com/ 22. CresTech CresTech is a customer oriented software testing company providing functional and non-functional validation for software applications. The company puts stress on effective communication with its customers by identifying their key technical requirements and business needs. 2005 Founded: India 201–500 Location: Employees: Pearson, Adobe, CSC, Siemens, HCL, Intel Major Clients: Test Automation Solutions, Mobile Testing Solutions, Product Quality Management Core Services: Undisclosed Rate per hour: Website: http://crestechglobal.com/ 23. QAwerk QAwerk is a software testing company that applies its experience and expertise to a wide range of industries including electronic government, business automation, and data mining. Professional business analysts and testers guarantee the quality of all the processes as well as bug-free on time and budget work delivery. 2015 Founded: USA 50–249 Location: Employees: Hosting.com, ClearData, Cygnet Cloud, MarketOne, Elsewhen, Unfold Major Clients: Web Solutions Testing, Mobile Application Testing, Desktop Application Testing, Manual Testing, Automated Testing Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://qawerk.com/ 24. TestFort Being the finalist of the European Software Testing awards 2016, TestFort QA Lab complies with the customers’ demand for excellence and professionalism. Its QA engineers have knowledge and expertise in manual and automated testing. The main goal of the company is to deliver exceptional software testing and QA services in different industries worldwide. 2001 Founded: Ukraine Location: 50–249 Employees: The Huffington Post, Symantec, Skype, RebelMouse, Dashlane Major Clients: Manual Testing, Automated Testing, QA Consulting Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://testfort.com/ 25. Global App Testing Global App Testing is known for its customer-oriented approach. Company’s DevOps and Agile teams are in a constantly developing process aimed at improving working process quality and speed. Crowdsourced testing platform for mobile and web apps was created for boosting customers’ development. 2013 Founded: UK 51–200 Location: Employees: Evernote, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, WhatsUp, LiveSafe Major Clients: Exploratory Testing, Test Case Execution, Mobile App Testing, Web App Testing Core Services: Website: https://www.globalapptesting.com/ 26. DeviQA DeviQA is a team of professionals in Quality Assurance and Testing. With over 10 years of experience and more than 100 clients, the company focuses on effectiveness and delivering reasonably priced Quality Assurance solutions. Transparency is their priority in the process of project teams set up. 2010 Founded: Ukraine Location: 50–249 Employees: Sprinklr, CipherHealth, LykeBox Major Clients: Full-cycle Testing, Automated Testing for Web, Test automation for Mobile, Performance/Load and Stress Testing Core Services: $25 — $49 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.deviqa.com/ 27. Codoid Codoid delivers top-level service providing its customers with a flexible team and quality control procedure during the whole process of testing. The company has been working successfully with companies of different sizes for more than 15 years and applied an integrated approach to its procedures. 2012 Founded: India Location: 50–249 Employees: Companies from different industries Major Clients: Application Testing, IT Strategy Consulting, Custom Software Development Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://codoid.com/ 28. Testrig Technologies Testrig works with the companies of different types and sizes. The company combines high-quality service and cost-effectiveness of the delivery process. Company’s employees do their best to simplify all the software testing processes as well as communication with the customer making it transparent and efficient. 2015 Founded: India 10–49 Location: Employees: Invezza Technologies, SEOSitecheckup, Cloudaeon, Avorra, BoardingSchoolReview, CompanyIQ Major Clients: Web and Mobile App Testing, Performance Testing, Security Testing, Automation Testing, Usability Testing Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://www.testrigtechnologies.com/ 29. iBeta iBeta delivers a wide range of software testing services including mobile testing and performance testing, acceptance testing and security testing. The company aims at customers who would like to outsource their testing quality activities and achieve effective results. 1999 Founded: USA 51–200 Location: Employees: Web Testing, Mobile Testing, Security Testing, Assessability Testing Core Services: Website: https://www.ibeta.com/ 30. UTOR The main goal of UTOR is to meet the customer’s needs. They work with companies of different sizes offering software testing services for the companies who do not have an in-house Quality Assurance department. The company is proud of its pioneering solutions designed for a particular customer. 2016 Founded: Ukraine Location: 10–49 Employees: Round Pegs, Itau, Lift and Squat Major Clients: Automation Testing, Performance Testing, Security Testing, QA audit Core Services: < $25 Rate per hour: Website: https://u-tor.com/

Top Software Testing Companies in 2019

For all of the current economic woes, few things have been more constant than marketing and advertising. There are no signs that this will decrease anytime soon. Marketing is a big business and it's only going to grow bigger. One reason for this is that marketers need to keep growing the list of data points about their target audience in order to grow their customer base as well. Another important reason is that a global digital economy needs an effective marketing tools to power it- that includes data-mining techniques, predictive analytics, and intricate website optimization techniques. A final reason is that brands need to make sure they have a full-spectrum approach to marketing. If your entire marketing budget is allotted to just one channel, chances are that you're not doing enough in terms of cross-channel promotion. Branding can't be limited by the sales cycle or channels – you need to offer customers new and exciting experiences and content delivery. The company's existing products (if there are any) have to be part of the mix as well. In a down economy, it's important to keep the sales pipeline active while increasing the effectiveness of your current activities. Here are some ideas that you can use to start right away: Start using a content management system (CMS) : A CMS is a digital way to store the content for any kind of marketing campaign. This can be about your product, its features, and the ways it can help your customers. It's also a good way to share knowledge and information about what you're currently doing in your marketing campaigns – and what you plan to do in the near future. It's not just an easy way to manage advertising materials in one place – it's also an opportunity for advanced data mining procedures. You can easily see which content is getting the most responses, then adapt your strategy accordingly. Use SiteCatalyst to see how you can increase your traffic: SiteCatalyst is one of the most powerful analytics tools that you can use to gather valuable data. It's a big part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud and it gives you real-time information about where your visitors are coming from and what they're looking for on your website. This will help you better understand how to improve your conversion rates, as well as find relevant data points that you can use in other digital activities. Use Adobe Analytics to monitor customer behavior: Adobe Analytics is also integrated with SiteCatalyst so that you can get the most out of their functionalities. We already know that people are busy and don’t want to spend their time learning the Adobe Analytics platform. So to make it as easy, efficient, and insightful for us as possible, the best way to do this for them is by giving all the insights aggregated so that people can see what their customers are doing in one location. Also, the Adobe Marketing Cloud is an integrated platform that can help you get a 360-degree view of your customers, then create a comprehensive marketing plan based on this data. From real-time analysis and predictive analytics to competitive intelligence and optimization techniques, there are tons of opportunities for you to capitalize on more sales. Start using Adobe's social media marketing tools : Social media is a powerful way to connect with your customers – it gives you an opportunity to showcase the best of your brand and products, as well as engage in conversations with potential customers. The Adobe Marketing Cloud has everything you need to build and manage a social media campaign that can maximize your results. This includes tools that allow you to track and analyze your content, respond in real-time, join the conversation and build relationships with influencers. This can all be done right from one place, so there's no need for complicated data management techniques. Global data marketer and analyst firm IDC predicts in an upcoming report that global spending on social media marketing will grow from $1 billion in 2011 to $4.4 billion by 2016. Marketers are spending more money on Facebook-owned social media marketing platform, Facebook Ads, than any other DSP (demand-side platform). In my opinion, the first step in growth marketing is to understand the essence of it. We need to identify why there are so many companies moving into growth markets and why they're doing that. This helps us to see that growth marketing is not as much about selling more products but finding out what people want and then trying to deliver that to them with the help of advertising and other methods. There are many other data mining tools that you can use to help promote your products, but these are the examples show you a good way to start immediately.

Secrets to Growth Marketing Data Engineering – Even in This Down Economy

Attracting customers to your business is crucial whether you have a 50-man team or you are handling everything yourself. But you just don't want to attract new customers; you want them to stay loyal customers for a long time. Conversion is crucial to your business's success, and knowing how to increase the chances of it happening can make a big difference. A/B testing can help you get there faster, whether you're just getting started or seeking to maintain or improve your current conversion rates. A/B testing compares two different versions of a web page to evaluate which performs better. It improves conversion rates by evaluating the outcomes with facts and statistics. You can figure out what your target audience wants by experimenting with one variable at a time, such as whether a video or an image is more appealing and results in the desired output. Well-Known A/B Testing Tools Here we a list of popular A/B testing tools to help you improve your , find solutions and engage with your ideal customers. digital marketing strategy A/B Smartly.com Knowledge-based and engineering-centric experimentation platform where multiple teams can run hundreds or thousands of simultaneous experiments without stepping on each other toes, with transparency to all stakeholders, and full visibility about possible interactions. Optimizely Optimizely is typically the preferred choice for top-of-the-line A/B testing software for larger firms. It is, nevertheless, simple to execute and suitable for even beginners and experts. With Optimizely extensive A/B testing capabilities, you can run several tests on a single page at the same time. Optimizely can be easily used and does not require . More advanced targeting, segmentation, and content personalization possibilities are also beneficial. As a bonus, you can use this tool with mobile apps and messaging platforms. prior programming experience Adobe Target Adobe Target is a business-level program that provides rule-based . It integrates easily with Google Analytics and generates reports that can be used for UX testing, personalization, and modifying marketing offers. Adobe Target is better suited for consumers who utilize the entire Adobe marketing suite since it provides smooth communication between products. A/B testing and personalization capabilities Like other A/B testing tools, the platform leads you through a three-step experimentation setup process that lets you quickly build variations, target audience groups based on your experiment hypothesis, and tweak the test's goals and settings. Omniconvert The goal of Omniconvert is to turn data into creative marketing concepts. You may run A/B split tests on your PC, tablet, or mobile device, wherever is most convenient for you. Omniconvert's ability to assign your control to the winners of your A/B testing, which helps with future testing, is a fantastic tool. In addition to A/B testing, the platform's functionalities can be used for web surveys, personalization, and traffic segmentation. One of these segmentation features is sorting by visitor behavior, geolocation, and other factors. HubSpot If you're searching for an all-in-one marketing solution and have a more significant budget, HubSpot's full suite of products might be suitable for you. It includes a CRM, a Marketing Hub (including an A/B testing tool), a Sales Hub, and a Service Hub. HubSpot has the advantage of providing a comprehensive set of capabilities in a single system, which can save you a lot of time. The HubSpot solution is excellent for businesses just getting started with A/B testing. It's also ideal for organizations to keep track of their testing results. The A/B testing tool, on the other hand, is not available for purchase separately. You'll have to pay for a professional package instead, which will cost at least $800 per month. Convert Convert enables you to build additional variations and tailored tests to meet your requirements. Its design will appeal to those who have used A/B testing and other marketing tools in the past. It creates your testing framework without writing code using its straightforward visual builder or switching to custom code for more flexibility. Convert's utility is further improved by its extensive reporting capabilities and several third-party tool integration options e g., WordPress, HubSpot, and Shopify. Developer shortcuts can also be used to choose child objects or containers. In addition to A/B testing, Convert enables multivariate testing, multipage experimentation, and detailed segmentation (e.g., you can segment customers by historical behavior or cookies). VWO Visual Website Optimizer (VWO)is a program that helps you to improve your website's performance. It is one of the most popular enterprise-level A/B testing systems. Hundreds of thousands of brands use Visual Website Optimizer (VWO) to conduct A/B testing on items, websites, and applications worldwide. With this A/B testing software package, you can A/B test anything. A/B testing can be done on every measure of your product, website, or app launch to see how it influences visitors. Visual Website Optimizer also supports split URLs and multivariate testing (VWO).In addition to testing, VWO offers VWO Insights, VWO Full Stack, VWO Deploy, VWO Plan, and VWO Engage. One of the essential features of VWO is that it allows users to develop and run tests without knowing anything about IT or coding. VWO's point-and-click visual editor will enable you to alter any component on the website, including text, background, images, and more. Additional fundamental and complex widgets and elements can also be added. Oracle Maxymiser Oracle Maxymiser is a software tool that improves Oracle's performance. Oracle Maxymiser is a testing and optimization software tool. Website testing, in-session customization, real-time behavioral targeting, and product recommendations are among its services for mobile apps and websites. Maxymiser is a robust stat engine that can help you make better judgments. You can create unified campaigns that cover all marketing platforms to boost conversions. Maxymiser has a visual editor that enables collaboration between technical and non-technical users. It simplifies executing any testing, such as A/B testing or multi-page funnel testing. Oracle Maxymiser is suitable for businesses of any size. With Maximymiser's testing and targeting features, you can determine which combination of your website's sections attracts visitors the most. A/B testing also allows you to quickly evaluate which elements work and lead to higher conversion rates. Zoho's PageSense For conversion optimization, personalization, and A/B testing, Zoho PageSense provides a one-stop-shop. This platform supports understanding your visitors' online behavior, quantifying crucial website metrics, and delivering a best-in-class website experience to visitors to convert them into customers. Zoho PageSense is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small to large. With ZohoPageSense, you can test photographs, colors, page layouts, website elements, messages, and more. With PageSense, you can set targets, limit all CTA clicks, and create multiple features to track your website's key metrics. Make a conversion funnel to determine which pages of your website are the most likely to be abandoned. It also has funnel analysis, session recording, and form analytics built-in. It also has a study segmentation feature that can be used to filter reports and analyze visitor behavior. Finally, PageSense heatmaps show you which of your website's pages are the most popular with visitors. Kameleon Kameleoon is customization and A/B testing platform powered by artificial intelligence that helps you optimize digital experiences. You may design customized experiences based on each visitor's conversion probability, calculated in real-time based on their actions. The pricing for Kameleoon isn't published on its website, although it's fair for this level. Starting prices are mid-range, but by the time you gain access to the platform's most advanced features, you'll be paying lower-enterprise rates. This is accurate business software, but it's also built to be user-friendly and intuitive, which isn't always the case with . You'll find the difference every time you use Kameleoon, but the most pleasing element of the software's UX is how simple it is to learn for new team members. enterprise CRO solutions Freshmarketer Freshmarketer is a conversion rate optimization and automation solution from Freshworks. Freshworks also offers a complete marketing and sales solution in different software products that operate together seamlessly. As a testing solution, Freshmarketer's WYSIWYG editor and reporting interface give a visual platform for creating A/B tests and split URL tests. While it isn't the most advanced testing platform on the market, it is unquestionably one of the most user-friendly and cost-effective. For small organizations wishing to get started with conversion optimization, Freshmarketer is an excellent option. You also get some basic customization options for collecting customer feedback, like surveys and suggested messaging. Finally, you get some helpful automation features, though you'll need to use them in conjunction with Freshworks' CRM (Freshsales) or other customer relationship management software. Monetate Monetate offers a suite of marketing capabilities to retailers, including AI product recommendations, hyper-personalization, customer data management, and more. Its testing and optimization software has unique capabilities to help busy retailers improve their online platforms without affecting their customers' experience. The platform's dynamic testing system automatically transmits more traffic to winning variations, allowing you to continue testing while meeting more goals. The platform also has algorithms for decreasing flicker, minimizing loading times, and avoiding content stops while your tests are running. Unbounce Unbounce is a famous landing page builder with powerful A/B testing options that may help you find the best-performing pages on your website. The testing platform can help you convert website traffic into leads, customers, and sales. The conversion intelligence insights provided by the testing tool strengthen your abilities and instincts, guaranteeing that every campaign executes optimally. Unbounce's main aim is to help you create and optimize landing pages for your website, and they do it exceptionally well. Furthermore, the application has a simple drag-and-drop editor that allows you to construct and publish landing web pages quickly and efficiently without the need for a developer. Google Optimize Google Optimize is a free version of Optimize 360, an A/B testing tool that enables you to build and test several versions of your website. It's based on Google Analytics, which you'll have to install to utilize the program. Even though it is free, the Google Optimize tool is a fantastic option. Simple A/B testing, multivariate tests, and split-page tests may all be done with the visual editor. You’ll also have access to extensive behavioral data and the ability to target any functional audience segments discovered by . It's incredible how much a business can achieve with this free tool. Google Analytics Leadformly Several A/B testing tools fail to test some of your site's finer details, which is necessary for running tests. This is especially true for web forms, which lack the depth of data you need to figure out which fields are causing users to quit your documents and why. To address these concerns, you'll need a tool like Leadformly, which provides in-depth form analytics and A/B testing tools to guide you in improving conversion rates at the final hurdle. There aren't many conversions that can be carried out without using a form. As a result, make form optimization a top priority in your conversion rate optimization efforts. Evergage Evergage, powered by machine learning, keeps us on the subject of experimentation and customization. However, suppose you want to build the finest possible customer experiences based on user behavior and all of the data you have at your disposal. In that case, Evergage is the solution for you. With Evergage, you get a comprehensive set of A/B testing options, as well as a lot more. Evergage allows you to personalize consumer experiences across different platforms to match their exact requirements and expectations. This is one of the most advanced testing, personalization, and optimization tools available; the only question is whether you need it all in one place. Once again, it relies on machine learning to crunch the numbers, track user actions, and automate optimizations based on these patterns. Conclusion Website owners should conduct to identify which combination of elements best attracts and converts visitors into customers. Alongside, it has a host of other benefits, as previously mentioned. If you're looking for the best A/B testing software, this article will undoubtedly help you narrow down your search. A/B testing Most of the above-mentioned A/B testing services are subscription-based. Only a few tools offer a free edition, while some offer a free trial period. Some of these technologies are best suited for large organizations, while any business can use others. Make sure you choose a tool that allows you to test your required variations at a fair cost.

Retain More Customers With these A/B Testing Tools

Voted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) as the personalisation is more than just a passing fad that has captured the imagination (and marketing budgets!) of digital brands across the globe. Marketing Word of the Year, 2019 Your customers need, demand, and expect to be treated as unique individuals. And, as marketers, you need to tailor-make highly contextual and meaningful experiences across the entire customer journey, at every digital touchpoint. A seamless, customised end-to-end experience on your website or mobile app that anticipates what your customers are likely to click, search for, add to cart, or purchase next becomes the foundation for driving higher conversions and retention. Set in this backdrop, marketers have their job cut out to identify the right vendor to power their personalisation strategies at scale. Here are 5 highly rated alternatives to take your personalisation efforts to the next level: 1. Netcore Smartech A leading AI-powered personalisation and multi-channel marketing automation platform, Smartech enables 5000+ brands to deliver hyper-personalised, contextual, and timely customer experiences at scale. Smartech’s advanced solution allows marketers to go beyond personalising your marketing campaigns, and additionally empowers you to: - Individualise the website or mobile app viewing experience: Based on their demographic and geolocation data, past search and purchase behaviour, needs, and intents - Personalise the entire website or mobile app navigational journey: This can include elements such as the product display or listing page, drop-down menu, etc. so your customers find exactly what they’re looking for - faster! - Embrace the power of patented AI algorithms: To provide the most relevant predictive product or content recommendations based on their probability to search for, click on, add to cart, or purchase high-intent items 2. Evergage Based out of Somerville, Massachusetts, USA; Evergage prides itself in its real-time personalisation and Customer Data Platform (CDP) capabilities. Their platform leverages behavioural analytics and ML to deliver 1:1 engagement across channels. Pros: Strong user-level analytics suite Good segmentation and targeting capabilities Effective A/B testing capabilities for web-based personalisation and onsite messaging campaigns Cons: Heavy focus on e-commerce and retail as an industry vertical Complex UI that can take time to get accustomed to Limited timely creative assistance and inputs on personalisation strategy Pricing model makes it unsuitable for startups looking to scale 3. Adobe Target A part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Target is an AI-driven omni-channel marketing automation platform. A legacy player in a space catering to predominantly enterprise clients, Adobe Target brings with it its own set of pros and cons. Pros: Customer-level targeting and personalisation can be effectively driven Strong predictive analytics capabilities Mostly reliable A/B and multi-variate testing capabilities Cons: Works best when integrated with different products within the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite. There remain major concerns around which reporting tool to use or refer to: Adobe Analytics or the one offered by Adobe Target itself Non-intuitive UI - particularly for those with no exposure to using Adobe products previously High cost of implementation and product, in general No KPI-focused approach Limited timely customer support that particularly hurts SMBs 4. Qubit Headquartered in London, UK; Qubit is a personalisation platform that primarily caters to e-commerce brands. They aim to help “e-commerce teams match trading demands with customer affinities to turn a visit into a sale”. Pros: While their platform is primarily built for e-commerce as a vertical, they help resolve strong use cases for other online businesses as well Easily navigable UI that allows for rigorous testing Intuitive block templates to get started once integration is complete Cons: Integration and configuration can be a challenge in the absence of user-friendly documentation. The process also requires above-average human intervention Below-expectation level clarity on conversion reporting and data visualisation Limited marketing channel personalisation that can reduce the impact of the individual customer journey towards conversion High cost might be a turn-off for smaller businesses looking for a cost-effective solution 5. Optimizely Optimizely enables businesses to deliver continuous experimentation and personalisation across websites and mobile apps. They help marketers deliver targeted messaging, personalised offers, and recommendations to their customers and users. Pros: Powerful A/B testing-driven platform that attempts to combine human expertise with ML Above-average reporting and performance analytics Strong online community to help resolve queries Cons: Clear focus on enterprise clients and prospects reflective in their constantly changing pricing plans. This is a major red flag for a large number of SMBs Driving personalisation at scale across a large number of pages on certain websites can produce underwhelming results Limited visual data representation while showcasing performance metrics Parting Thoughts Let’s face it - the perfect product doesn’t exist. Marketers need to evaluate vendors based on the following: Monthly volume of traffic on your website or MAUs on your mobile app Number of product or content categories KPIs that require impacting based on industry benchmarks Time and effort needed for integration Complexity and flexibility of the platform and resources aligned to its utilisation Ability to integrate with your existing martech stack to enable end-to-end customer journey personalisation Suitable pricing plans that account for future growth Availability of timely customer support Time within which your KPIs start moving in the right direction Quality of reporting to have complete visibility on the performance of your personalisation experiments Personalisation is not a linear journey and requires periodic optimisation to boost conversions across a website or mobile app. And, to scale sustainable results, marketers need to make an informed decision while locking down on a suitable personalisation solution.

ADOBE MARKETO

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ADOBE MARKETO

marketo.com

1K-5K employees

Since 2006

COMPANY RANKING

ADOBE MARKETO

EVERGREEN INDEX #6749

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