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Consider the early days of the internet, when websites like NBC News and Amazon cluttered their pages with flashing banners and labyrinthine menus. In the early 2000s, Steve Krug’s book Don’t Make Me Think arrived like a lighthouse in a storm, advocating for simplicity and user-centric design.

Today’s digital world is flooded with choices, information, and data, which is both exciting and overwhelming. Unlike Krug’s time, today, the problem isn’t interaction complexity but opacity. AI-powered solutions often lack transparency and explainability, raising concerns about user trust and accountability. The era of click-and-command is fading, giving way to a more seamless and intelligent relationship between humans and machines.

Expanding on Krug’s Call for Clarity: The Pillars of Anticipatory Design

Krug’s emphasis on clarity in design is more relevant than ever. In anticipatory design, clarity is not just about simplicity or ease of use — it’s about transparency and accountability. These two pillars are crucial but often missing as businesses navigate this new paradigm. Users today find themselves in a digital landscape that is not only confusing but increasingly intrusive. AI predicts their desires based on past behavior but rarely explains how these predictions are made, leading to growing mistrust.

Transparency is the foundation of clarity. It involves openly communicating how AI-driven decisions are made, what data is being collected, and how it is being used to anticipate needs. By demystifying these processes, designers can alleviate user concerns about privacy and control, thereby building trust.

Accountability complements transparency by ensuring that anticipatory systems are designed with ethical considerations in mind. This means creating mechanisms for users to understand, question, and override automated decisions if needed. When users feel that the system is accountable to them, their trust in the technology — and the brand — deepens.

What Makes a Service Anticipatory?

Image AI like a waiter at a restaurant. Without AI, they wait for you to interact with them and place your order. But with anticipatory design powered by AI and ML, the waiter can analyze your past orders (historical data) and current behavior (contextual data) — perhaps, by noticing you always start with a glass of sparkling water.

This proactive approach has evolved since the late 1990s, with early examples like Amazon’s recommendation engine and TiVo’s predictive recording. These pioneering services demonstrated the potential of predictive analytics and ML to create personalized, seamless user experiences.

Amazon’s Recommendation Engine (Late 1990s)

Amazon was a pioneer in using data to predict and suggest products to customers, setting the standard for personalized experiences in e-commerce.

TiVo (1999)

TiVo’s ability to learn users’ viewing habits and automatically record shows marked an early step toward predictive, personalized entertainment.

Netflix’s Recommendation System (2006)

Netflix began offering personalized movie recommendations based on user ratings and viewing history in 2006. It helped popularize the idea of anticipatory design in the digital entertainment space.

How Businesses Can Achieve Anticipatory Design

Designing for anticipation is designing for a future that is not here yet but has already started moving toward us.

Designing for anticipation involves more than reacting to current trends; it requires businesses to plan strategically for future user needs. Two critical concepts in this process are forecasting and backcasting.

• Forecasting analyzes past trends and data to predict future outcomes, helping businesses anticipate user needs.
• Backcasting starts with a desired future outcome and works backward to identify the steps needed to achieve that goal.

Think of it like planning a dream vacation. Forecasting would involve looking at your past trips to guess where you might go next. But backcasting lets you pick your ideal destination first, then plan the perfect itinerary to get you there.

Forecasting: A Core Concept for Future-Oriented Design

This method helps in planning and decision-making based on probable future scenarios. Consider Netflix, which uses forecasting to analyze viewers’ past viewing habits and predict what they might want to watch next. By leveraging data from millions of users, Netflix can anticipate individual preferences and serve personalized recommendations that keep users engaged and satisfied.

Backcasting: Planning From the Desired Future

Backcasting takes a different approach. Instead of using data to predict the future, it starts with defining a desired future outcome — a clear user intent. The process then works backward to identify the steps needed to achieve that goal. This goal-oriented approach crafts an experience that actively guides users toward their desired future state.

For instance, a financial planning app might start with a user’s long-term financial goal, such as saving for retirement, and then design an experience that guides the user through each step necessary to reach that goal, from budgeting tips to investment recommendations.

Integrating Forecasting and Backcasting In Anticipatory Design

The true power of anticipatory design emerges when businesses efficiently integrate both forecasting and backcasting into their design processes.

For example, Tesla’s approach to electric vehicles exemplifies this integration. By forecasting market trends and user preferences, Tesla can introduce features that appeal to users today. Simultaneously, by backcasting from a vision of a sustainable future, Tesla designs its vehicles and infrastructure to guide society toward a world where electric cars are the norm and carbon emissions are significantly reduced.

Over-Promising and Under-Delivering: The Pitfalls of Anticipatory Design

As businesses increasingly adopt anticipatory design, the integration of forecasting and backcasting becomes essential. Forecasting allows businesses to predict and respond to immediate user needs, while backcasting ensures these responses align with long-term goals. Despite its potential, anticipatory design often fails in execution, leaving few examples of success.

Over the past decade, I’ve observed and documented the rise and fall of several ambitious anticipatory design ventures. Among them, three — Digit, LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones, and Mint — highlight the challenges of this approach.

Digit: Struggling with Contextual Understanding

Digit aimed to simplify personal finance with algorithms that automatically saved money based on user spending. However, the service often missed the mark, lacking the contextual awareness necessary to accurately assess users’ real-time financial situations. This led to unexpected withdrawals, frustrating users, especially those living paycheck to paycheck. The result was a breakdown in trust, with the service feeling more intrusive than supportive.

LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones: Complexity and User Experience Challenges

LifeBEAM Vi Sense Headphones was marketed as an AI-driven fitness coach, promising personalized guidance during workouts. In practice, the AI struggled to deliver tailored coaching, offering generic and unresponsive advice. As a result, users found the experience difficult to navigate, ultimately limiting the product’s appeal and effectiveness. This disconnection between the promised personalized experience and the actual user experience left many disappointed.

Mint: Misalignment with User Goals

Mint aimed to empower users to manage their finances by providing automated budgeting tools and financial advice. While the service had the potential to anticipate user needs, users often found that the suggestions were not tailored to their unique financial situations, resulting in generic advice that did not align with their personal goals.

The lack of personalized, actionable steps led to a mismatch between user expectations and service delivery. This misalignment caused some users to disengage, feeling that Mint was not fully attuned to their unique financial journeys.

The Risks of Over-promising and Under-Delivering

The stories of Digit, LifeBEAM Vi Sense, and Mint underscore a common pitfall: over-promising and under-delivering. These services focused too much on predictive power and not enough on user experience. When anticipatory systems fail to consider individual nuances, they breed frustration rather than satisfaction, highlighting the importance of aligning design with human experience.

Digit’s approach to automated savings, for instance, became problematic when users found its decisions opaque and unpredictable. Similarly, LifeBEAM’s Vi Sense headphones struggled to meet diverse user needs, while Mint’s rigid tools failed to offer the personalized insights users expected. These examples illustrate the delicate balance anticipatory design must strike between proactive assistance and user control.

Failure to Evolve with User Needs

Many anticipatory services rely heavily on data-driven forecasting, but predictions can fall short without understanding the broader user context. Mint initially provided value with basic budgeting tools but failed to evolve with users’ growing needs for more sophisticated financial advice. Digit, too, struggled to adapt to different financial habits, leading to dissatisfaction and limited success.

Complexity and Usability Issues

Balancing the complexity of predictive systems with usability and transparency is a key challenge in anticipatory design.

When systems become overly complex, as seen with LifeBEAM Vi Sense headphones, users may find them difficult to navigate or control, compromising trust and engagement. Mint’s generic recommendations, born from a failure to align immediate user needs with long-term goals, further illustrate the risks of complexity without clarity.

Privacy and Trust Issues

Trust is critical in anticipatory design, particularly in services handling sensitive data like finance or health. Digit and Mint both encountered trust issues as users grew skeptical of how decisions were made and whether these services truly had their best interests in mind. Without clear communication and control, even the most sophisticated systems risk alienating users.

Inadequate Handling of Edge Cases and Unpredictable Scenarios

While forecasting and backcasting work well for common scenarios, they can struggle with edge cases or unpredictable user behaviors. If an anticipatory service can’t handle these effectively, it risks providing a poor user experience and, in the worst-case scenario, harming the user. Anticipatory systems must be prepared to handle edge cases and unpredictable scenarios.

LifeBEAM Vi Sense headphones struggled when users deviated from expected fitness routines, offering a one-size-fits-all experience that failed to adapt to individual needs. This highlights the importance of allowing users control, even when a system proactively assists them.

Designing for Anticipatory Experiences

Anticipatory design should empower users to achieve their goals, not just automate tasks.

We can follow a layered approach to plan a service that can evolve according to user actions and explicit ever-evolving intent.

But how do we design for intent without misaligning anticipation and user control or mismatching user expectations and service delivery?

At the core of this approach is intent — the primary purpose or goal that the design must achieve. Surrounding this are workflows, which represent the structured tasks to achieve the intent. Finally, algorithms analyze user data and optimize these workflows.

For instance, Thrive (see the image below), a digital wellness platform, aligns algorithms and workflows with the core intent of improving well-being. By anticipating user needs and offering personalized programs, Thrive helps users achieve sustained behavior change.

It perfectly exemplifies the three-layered concentric representation for achieving behavior change through anticipatory design:

1. Innermost layer: Intent

Improve overall well-being: Thrive’s core intent is to help users achieve a healthier and more fulfilling life. This encompasses aspects like managing stress, improving sleep quality, and boosting energy levels.

2. Middle layer: Workflows

Personalized programs and support: Thrive uses user data (sleep patterns, activity levels, mood) to create programs tailored to their specific needs and goals. These programs involve various workflows, such as:

• Guided meditations and breathing exercises to manage stress and anxiety.
• Personalized sleep routines aimed at improving sleep quality.
• Educational content and coaching tips to promote healthy habits and lifestyle changes.

3. Outermost layer: Algorithms

Data analysis and personalized recommendations: Thrive utilizes algorithms to analyze user data and generate actionable insights. These algorithms perform tasks like the following:

• Identify patterns in sleep, activity, and mood to understand user challenges.
• Predict user behavior to recommend interventions that address potential issues.
• Optimize program recommendations based on user progress and data analysis.

By aligning algorithms and workflows with the core intent of improving well-being, Thrive provides a personalized and proactive approach to behavior change. Here’s how it benefits users:

• Sustained behavior change: Personalized programs and ongoing support empower users to develop healthy habits for the long term.
• Data-driven insights: User data analysis helps users gain valuable insights into their well-being and identify areas for improvement.
• Proactive support: Anticipates potential issues and recommends interventions before problems arise.

The Future of Anticipatory Design: Combining Anticipation with Foresight

Anticipatory design is inherently future-oriented, making it both appealing and challenging. To succeed, businesses must combine anticipation — predicting future needs — with foresight, a systematic approach to analyzing and preparing for future changes.

Foresight involves considering alternative future scenarios and making informed decisions to navigate toward desired outcomes. For example, Digit and Mint struggled because they didn’t adequately handle edge cases or unpredictable scenarios, a failure in their foresight strategy (see an image below).

As mentioned, while forecasting and backcasting work well for common scenarios, they can struggle with edge cases or unpredictable user behaviors. Under anticipatory design, if we demote foresight for a second plan, the business will fail to account for and prepare for emerging trends and disruptive changes. Strategic foresight helps companies to prepare for the future and develop strategies to address possible challenges and opportunities.

The Foresight process generally involves interrelated activities, including data research, trend analysis, planning scenarios, and impact assessment. The ultimate goal is to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the future to make more informed and strategic decisions in the design process and foresee possible frictions and pitfalls in the user experience.

Actionable Insights for Designer

• Enhance contextual awareness
  Help data scientists or engineers to ensure that the anticipatory systems can understand and respond to the full context of user needs, not just historical data. Plan for pitfalls so you can design safety measures where the user can control the system.
• Maintain user control
  Provide users with options to customize or override automated decisions, ensuring they feel in control of their experiences.
• Align short-term predictions with long-term goals
  Use forecasting and backcasting to create a balanced approach that meets immediate needs while guiding users toward their long-term objectives.

Proposing an Anticipatory Design Framework

Predicting the future is no easy task. However, design can borrow foresight techniques to imagine, anticipate, and shape a future where technology seamlessly integrates with users evolving needs. To effectively implement anticipatory design, it’s essential to balance human control with AI automation. Here’s a 3-step approach to integrate future thinking into your workflow:

1. Anticipate Directions of Change
   Identify major trends shaping the future.
2. Imagine Alternative Scenarios
   Explore potential futures to guide impactful design decisions.
3. Shape Our Choices
   Leverage these scenarios to align design with user needs and long-term goals.

This proposed framework (see an image above) aims to integrate forecasting and backcasting while emphasizing user intent, transparency, and continuous improvement, ensuring that businesses create experiences that are both predictive and deeply aligned with user needs.

Step 1: Anticipate Directions of Change

Objective: Identify the major trends and forces shaping the future landscape.

Components:

1. Understand the User’s Intent

• User Research: Conduct in-depth user research through interviews, surveys, and observations to uncover user goals, motivations, pain points, and long-term aspirations or Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD). This foundational step helps clearly define the user’s intent.
• Persona Development: Develop detailed user personas that represent the target audience, including their long-term goals and desired outcomes. Prioritize understanding how the service can adapt in real-time to changing user needs, offering recommendations, or taking actions aligned with the persona’s current context.

2. Forecasting: Predicting Near-Term User Needs

• Data Collection and Analysis: Collaborate closely with data scientists and data engineers to analyze historical data (past interactions), user behavior, and external factors. This collaboration ensures that predictive analytics enhance overall user experience, allowing designers to better understand the implications of data on user behaviors.
• Predictive Modeling: Implement continuous learning algorithms that refine predictions over time. Regularly assess how these models evolve, adapting to users’ changing needs and circumstances.
• Explore the Delphi Method: This is a structured communication technique that gathers expert opinions to reach a consensus on future developments. It’s particularly useful for exploring complex issues with uncertain outcomes. Use the Delphi Method to gather insights from industry experts, user researchers, and stakeholders about future user needs and the best strategies to meet those needs. The consensus achieved can help in clearly defining the long-term goals and desired outcomes.

Activities:

• Conduct interviews and workshops with experts using the Delphi Method to validate key trends.
• Analyze data and trends to forecast future directions.

Step 2: Imagine Alternative Scenarios

Objective: Explore a range of potential futures based on these changing directions.

Components:

1. Scenario Planning

• Scenario Development: It involves creating detailed, plausible future scenarios based on various external factors, such as technological advancements, social trends, and economic changes. Develop multiple future scenarios that represent different possible user contexts and their impact on their needs.
• Scenario Analysis: From these scenarios, you can outline the long-term goals that users might have in each scenario and design services that anticipate and address these needs. Assess how these scenarios impact user needs and experiences.

2. Backcasting: Designing from the Desired Future

• Define Desired Outcomes: Clearly outline the long-term goals or future states that users aim to achieve. Use backcasting to reduce cognitive load by designing a service that anticipates future needs, streamlining user interactions, and minimizing decision-making efforts.
  • Use Visioning Planning: This is a creative process that involves imagining the ideal future state you want to achieve. It helps in setting clear, long-term goals by focusing on the desired outcomes rather than current constraints. Facilitate workshops or brainstorming sessions with stakeholders to co-create a vision of the future. Define what success looks like from the user’s perspective and use this vision to guide the backcasting process.
• Identify Steps to Reach Goals: Reverse-engineer the user journey by starting from the desired future state and working backward. Identify the necessary steps and milestones and ensure these are communicated transparently to users, allowing them control over their experience.
• Create Roadmaps: Develop detailed roadmaps that outline the sequence of actions needed to transition from the current state to the desired future state. These roadmaps should anticipate obstacles, respect privacy, and avoid manipulative behaviors, empowering users rather than overwhelming them.

Activities:

• Develop and analyze alternative scenarios to explore various potential futures.
• Use backcasting to create actionable roadmaps from these scenarios, ensuring they align with long-term goals.

Step 3: Shape Our Choices

Objective: Leverage these scenarios to spark new ideas and guide impactful design decisions.

Components:

1. Integrate into the Human-Centered Design Process

• Iterative Design with Forecasting and Backcasting: Embed insights from forecasting and backcasting into every stage of the design process. Use these insights to inform user research, prototype development, and usability testing, ensuring that solutions address both predicted future needs and desired outcomes. Continuously refine designs based on user feedback.
• Agile Methodologies: Adopt agile development practices to remain flexible and responsive. Ensure that the service continuously learns from user interactions and feedback, refining its predictions and improving its ability to anticipate needs.

2. Implement and Monitor: Ensuring Ongoing Relevance

• User Feedback Loops: Establish continuous feedback mechanisms to refine predictive models and workflows. Use this feedback to adjust forecasts and backcasted plans as necessary, keeping the design aligned with evolving user expectations.
• Automation Tools: Collaborate with data scientists and engineers to deploy automation tools that execute workflows and monitor progress toward goals. These tools should adapt based on new data, evolving alongside user behavior and emerging trends.
• Performance Metrics: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness, accuracy, and quality of the anticipatory experience. Regularly review these metrics to ensure that the system remains aligned with intended outcomes.
• Continuous Improvement: Maintain a cycle of continuous improvement where the system learns from each interaction, refining its predictions and recommendations over time to stay relevant and useful.
  • Use Trend Analysis: This involves identifying and analyzing patterns in data over time to predict future developments. This method helps you understand the direction in which user behaviors, technologies, and market conditions are heading. Use trend analysis to identify emerging trends that could influence user needs in the future. This will inform the desired outcomes by highlighting what users might require or expect from a service as these trends evolve.

Activities:

• Implement design solutions based on scenario insights and iterate based on user feedback.
• Regularly review and adjust designs using performance metrics and continuous improvement practices.

Conclusion: Navigating the Future of Anticipatory Design

Anticipatory design holds immense potential to revolutionize user experiences by predicting and fulfilling needs before they are even articulated. However, as seen in the examples discussed, the gap between expectation and execution can lead to user dissatisfaction and erode trust.

To navigate the future of anticipatory design successfully, businesses must prioritize transparency, accountability, and user empowerment. By enhancing contextual awareness, maintaining user control, and aligning short-term predictions with long-term goals, companies can create experiences that are not only innovative but also deeply resonant with their users’ needs.

Moreover, combining anticipation with foresight allows businesses to prepare for a range of future scenarios, ensuring that their designs remain relevant and effective even as circumstances change. The proposed 3-step framework — anticipating directions of change, imagining alternative scenarios, and shaping our choices — provides a practical roadmap for integrating these principles into the design process.

As we move forward, the challenge will be to balance the power of AI with the human need for clarity, control, and trust. By doing so, businesses can fulfill the promise of anticipatory design, creating products and services that are not only efficient and personalized but also ethical and user-centric.

In the end,

The success of anticipatory design will depend on its ability to enhance, rather than replace, the human experience.

It is a tool to empower users, not to dictate their choices. When done right, anticipatory design can lead to a future where technology seamlessly integrates with our lives, making everyday experiences simpler, more intuitive, and ultimately more satisfying.

Data has become the lifeblood of successful product development in today’s competitive market. Companies no longer rely solely on intuition or past experiences; instead, they harness the power of data to make informed decisions that drive innovation. 

But raw data alone is not enough. This is where data analytics consulting comes into play. It converts vast amounts of information into actionable insights that can make or break a product. 

This blog post will explain how partnering with data analytics experts can significantly enhance every stage of product development enhancement and ensure that your next big idea meets and exceeds market expectations.

An Overview of Data Analytics in Product Development

Data analytics in product development involves systematically analyzing various data points to gain insights that inform product creation, design, and improvement. It encompasses collecting, processing, and interpreting data to understand 

• User needs
• Market trends
• Potential areas for innovation

This approach ensures that decisions are grounded in factual evidence rather than assumptions, leading to more successful product outcomes. 

Key Metrics and Data Points

Have a look at the key metrics and data points involved in data analytics consulting for product improvement:

1. Customer Feedback: Gathering insights from user reviews, surveys, and social media interactions to understand preferences, pain points, and areas for improvement.
2. Market Trends: Analyzing industry trends, competitor products, and emerging technologies to identify opportunities and threats in the market.
3. Performance Metrics: Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as product usage, customer retention, and sales data to evaluate how well a product meets its intended goals and where adjustments may be necessary.

Role of Data Analytics Consulting

Data analytics consulting provides expert guidance in interpreting complex data. It ensures that insights are actionable and aligned with business goals. 

Consultants bring specialized knowledge in data science and industry-specific trends, helping companies navigate the vast landscape of available data.

Their expertise allows businesses to focus on strategic decisions, reducing the time and effort needed to extract meaningful data insights for product strategy from raw data.

Key Benefits of Data Analytics Consulting in Product Development

Look at the advantages of integrating data analytics consulting into product development, ensuring a clear understanding of how these benefits contribute to overall success.

Informed Decision-Making

Businesses can make strategic decisions backed by concrete evidence by analyzing comprehensive data sets. This ensures that every step of product development is guided by insights that reflect actual customer behavior, market conditions, and emerging trends.

Data analytics services help identify potential risks and challenges early in the development process. This reduces uncertainty, allowing companies to launch products with greater confidence and a higher likelihood of success.

Enhancing Product Design and Features

Businesses can deeply understand what their customers want through data analytics in product design. By analyzing feedback, usage patterns, and market demands, companies can design products that resonate with their target audience.

Data-driven design allows for iterative improvements based on user interactions and feedback. This continuous refinement ensures that the product meets and exceeds user expectations, leading to a more satisfying and engaging experience.

Accelerating Time-to-Market

Data analytics identifies inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the development process, allowing teams to streamline workflows and eliminate delays. This optimization leads to faster product development cycles and quicker time-to-market.

By leveraging predictive analytics, businesses can forecast market demand and prioritize development efforts accordingly. This proactive approach helps align product launches with market needs, ensuring relevance and timeliness.

Cost Optimization

Data analytics enables precise resource allocation by identifying areas where investment will yield the highest returns. This ensures that resources are used efficiently, maximizing the impact of every dollar spent.

By focusing on data-driven strategies, companies can reduce the costs associated with unsuccessful product features or strategies that don’t align with market demand. This minimizes waste and improves overall profitability.

Competitive Advantage

Data analytics provides insights that allow businesses to position their products effectively in the market. Companies can differentiate their offerings by understanding competitors and market trends and capturing a larger market share.

Data-driven insights fuel innovation by revealing unmet needs and opportunities for differentiation. This leads to developing unique products that stand out in the market, giving companies a competitive edge.

Challenges in Implementing Data Analytics in Product Development

Have a look at the key challenges companies face when trying to implement data analytics in product development, providing a realistic view of the hurdles that need to be overcome.

Data Integration: One of the primary challenges is integrating data from various sources. Startup product development services often require data from multiple channels, including customer feedback, sales data, and market trends. 

Consolidating this information into a unified, actionable dataset can be complex, especially when dealing with disparate systems and formats.

Cost Considerations: Implementing data analytics has its costs. The investment required for data analytics consulting and the necessary tools and technologies can be significant. 

This can be a barrier for smaller companies or those with limited budgets, making it essential to carefully weigh the potential return on investment.

Talent Gap: A successful data analytics strategy requires skilled professionals who interpret complex data sets and translate them into meaningful insights. 

However, there is often a talent gap in the market, with a shortage of data scientists and analysts with the expertise needed to drive product development. This gap can hinder a company’s ability to leverage data analytics in its processes fully.

How to Choose the Right Data Analytics Consulting Partner?

Focusing on the following key areas can help you select a data analytics consulting partner who aligns with your needs, enhances your product development process, and drives meaningful results.

1. Experience and Expertise

You must seek the following expertise and skills when choosing a Data analytics consulting partner. 

Key Qualifications: Look for firms with extensive experience in data analytics, particularly in your industry. Expertise in relevant tools, technologies, and methodologies is crucial.

Industry Knowledge: Ensure the consulting partner deeply understands your specific market and product development needs. This knowledge helps in providing insights that are not only accurate but also actionable within your industry context.

Technical Skills: Evaluate the firm’s proficiency in advanced data analytics techniques, such as machine learning, predictive modeling, and data visualization. These skills are essential for deriving meaningful insights from complex data sets.

2. Customization and Flexibility

Look for the following factors when you choose a Data Analytics partner that offers flexibility and customization features. 

Tailored Solutions: Choose a partner that offers customized solutions rather than one-size-fits-all approaches. Your product development needs are unique, and a tailored approach ensures that the analytics strategies align perfectly with your specific goals and challenges.

Adaptability: It is crucial to adjust strategies and methods as your project evolves. A flexible consulting partner can accommodate changes in project scope, priorities, and emerging data needs, ensuring ongoing relevance and effectiveness.

3. Proven Track Record

Before choosing the right Data Analytics partner, you must look for the client testimonials and their past reviews.

Past Successes: Review the consulting firm’s portfolio of completed projects to assess their success in similar contexts. Look for case studies or examples of how their analytics solutions have positively impacted other companies.

Client Testimonials: Seek feedback from previous clients to gauge their satisfaction with the firm’s services. Positive testimonials and references can provide valuable insights into the firm’s reliability, communication, and effectiveness.

Future Trends in Data Analytics and Product Development

These trends are shaping the future of data analytics in product development, making processes more efficient, responsive, and aligned with evolving market needs.

AI and Machine Learning

• Automating Data Analysis: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are increasingly used to automate complex data analysis tasks. These technologies can analyze large volumes of data more quickly and accurately than traditional methods, uncovering insights that might be missed otherwise.
• Enhancing Product Development: AI and ML algorithms can also be applied to the product development. For instance, they can help identify patterns in user behavior, optimize product features based on usage data, and even assist in designing new products by predicting customer preferences.

Predictive Analytics

• Anticipating Market Needs: Predictive analytics uses historical data and statistical algorithms to forecast future trends. This can be invaluable for product development, allowing companies to anticipate market demands and adjust their strategies accordingly.
• Informed Decision-Making: By leveraging predictive models, businesses can make more informed decisions about product features, launch timing, and market positioning, reducing the risk of product failures and enhancing overall success rates.

Real-Time Analytics

• Immediate Decision-Making: The ability to analyze real-time data transforms how decisions are made in product development. Real-time analytics allows teams to respond quickly to new information, user feedback, and market changes, ensuring product development stays aligned with current conditions.
• Dynamic Adjustments: This trend supports more agile development processes, enabling continuous improvements and adaptations based on live data. As a result, products can evolve rapidly to meet user needs and market demands more effectively.

Conclusion

In a world where consumer preferences and market conditions are constantly changing, the ability to harness data effectively is the difference between a product’s success and failure. 

Data analytics consulting services empower businesses to navigate this uncertainty confidently, turning raw data into strategic insights that fuel innovation and drive success. 

By integrating data-driven decisions into product development, companies can meet and exceed customer expectations, ensuring their offerings remain relevant and competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace.

Featured image by Lukas

The post How Data Analytics Consulting Enhances Product Development appeared first on noupe.

Checkbox and radio button hacks are the (in)famous trick for creating games using just CSS. But it turns out that other elements based on user input can be hacked and gamified. There are very cool examples of developers getting creative with CSS games based on the :hover pseudo-class, and even other games based on the :valid pseudo-class.

What I’ve found, though, is that the :target pseudo-class seems relatively unexplored territory in this area of CSS hacking. It’s an underrated powerful CSS feature when you think about it: :target allows us to style anything based on the selected jump link, so we have a primitive version of client-side routing built into the browser! Let’s go mad scientist with it and see where that takes us.

Unbeatable AI in CSS

Did I type those words together? Are we going to hack CSS so hard that we hit the singularity? Try to beat the stylesheet below at Tic Tac Toe and decide for yourself.

The stylesheet will sometimes allow the game to end in a draw, so you at least have a smidge of hope.

No need to worry! CSS hasn’t gone Skynet on us yet. Like any CSS hack, the rule of thumb to determine whether a game is possible to implement with CSS is the number of possible game states. I learned that when I was able to create a 4×4 Sudoku solver but found a 9×9 version pretty darn near impossible. That’s because CSS hacks come down to hiding and showing game states based on selectors that respond to user input.

Tic Tac Toe has 5,478 legal states reachable if X moves first and there’s a famous algorithm that can calculate the optimal move for any legal state. It stands to reason, then, that we can hack together the Tic Tac Toe game completely in CSS.

OK, but how?

In a way, we are not hacking CSS at all, but rather using CSS as the Lord Almighty intended: to hide, show, and animate stuff. The “intelligence” is how the HTML is generated. It’s like a “choose your own adventure” book of every possible state in the Tic Tac Toe multiverse with the empty squares linked to the optimal next move for the computer.

We generate this using a mutant version of the minimax algorithm implemented in Ruby. And did you know that since CodePen supports HAML (which supports Ruby blocks), we can use it secretly as a Ruby playground? Now you do.

Each state our HAML generates looks like this in HTML:

<div class="b" id="--OOX----">
  <svg class="o s">
    <circle></circle>
  </svg>

  <a class="s" href="#OXOOX----">
    <div></div>
  </a>

  <svg class="o s">
    <circle class="c"></circle>
  </svg>

  <svg class="o s">
    <circle class="c"></circle>
  </svg>

  <div class="x"></div>

  <a class="s" href="#O-OOXX---">
    <div></div>
  </a>

  <a class="s" href="#O-OOX-X--">
    <div></div>
  </a>

  <a class="s" href="#O-OOX--X-">
    <div></div>
  </a>

  <a class="s" href="#O-OOX---X">
    <div></div>
  </a>
</div>

With a sprinkling of surprisingly straightforward CSS, we will display only the currently selected game state using :target selectors. We’ll also add a .c class to historical computer moves — that way, we only trigger the handwriting animation for the computer’s latest move. This gives the illusion that we are only playing on a single gameboard when we are, in reality, jumping between different sections of the document.

/* Game's parent container */
.b, body:has(:target) #--------- {
  /* Game states */
  .s {
    display: none;
  }
}

/* Game pieces with :target, elements with href */
:target, #--------- {
  width: 300px;
  height: 300px; /
  left: calc(50vw - 150px);
  top: calc(50vh - 150px);
  background-image: url(/path/to/animated/grid.gif);
  background-repeat:  no-repeat;
  background-size: 100% auto;
  
  /* Display that game state and bring it to the forefront  */
  .s {
    z-index: 1;
    display: inline-block;
  }
  
  /* The player's move */
  .x {
    z-index: 1;
    display: inline-block;
    background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml [...]"); /** shortened for brevity **/ 
    height: 100px;
    width: 100px;
  }
  
  /* The browser's move */
  circle {
    animation-fill-mode: forwards;
    animation-name: draw;
    animation-duration: 1s;
    
    /* Only animate the browser's latest turn */
    &.c {
      animation-play-state: paused;
      animation-delay: -1s;
    }
  }
}

When a jump link is selected by clicking an empty square, the :target pseudo-class displays the updated game state(.s), styled so that the computer’s precalculated response makes an animated entrance (.c).

Note the special case when we start the game: We need to display the initial empty grid before the user selects any jump link. There is nothing to style with :target at the start, so we hide the initial state — with the:body:has(:target) #--------- selector — once a jump link is selected. Similarly, if you create your experiments using :target you’ll want to present an initial view before the user begins interacting with your page. 

Wrapping up

I won’t go into “why” we’d want to implement this in CSS instead of what might be an “easier” path with JavaScript. It’s simply fun and educational to push the boundaries of CSS. We could, for example, pull this off with the classic checkbox hack — someone did, in fact.

Is there anything interesting about using :target instead? I think so because:

• We can save games in CSS! Bookmark the URL and come back to it anytime in the state you left it.
• There’s a potential to use the browser’s Back and Forward buttons as game controls. It’s possible to undo a move by going Back in time or replay a move by navigating Forward. Imagine combining :target with the checkbox hack to create games with a time-travel mechanic in the tradition of Braid.
• Share your game states. There’s the potential of Wordle-like bragging rights. If you manage to pull off a win or a draw against the unbeatable CSS Tic Tac Toe algorithm, you could show your achievement off to the world by sharing the URL.
• It’s completely semantic HTML. The checkbox hack requires you to hide checkboxes or radio buttons, so it will always be a bit of a hack and painful horse-trading when it comes to accessibility. This approach arguably isn’t a hack since all we are doing is using jump links and divs and their styling. This may even make it — dare I say —“easier” to provide a more accessible experience. That’s not to say this is accessible right out of the box, though.

Time Travelling CSS With :target originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Quite a fun article I worked on with Philip Braunen. Do you know that little bit of elasticity you get when scrolling beyond the viewport when browsing the web on a mobile device? iPhone calls it a “rubber-banding” effect. And you know it’s cool because Apple has previously fought to hold a copyright on it.

Anyway, Philip wrote into Smashing Magazine with a clever approach to mimic rubber-banding in CSS — not only for non-mobile UI but also applied to any sort of container you like.

But what about sticky headers and footers? If those have to be pinned to the container’s block edges, then how in heck do we include them in the rubber banding? Phillip’s trick is an extra div before the header, though we can get more concise markup using pseudos instead.

Sticky Headers And Full-Height Elements: A Tricky Combination originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

“Wrapping the around the is fine, and is sufficient for conformance on its own, however adding explicit association with for and id is still necessary in practice.” —James Edwards

Quick Hit #17 originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Did you know that 55% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand if they love its story? Or that businesses with a strong brand story have a 22% higher valuation than those without? These statistics highlight a powerful truth in the field services industry: storytelling matters.

Brand storytelling has emerged as a game-changer in an environment in which 89% of companies compete primarily based on customer experience, making brand storytelling increasingly important in business today. No longer simply fixing items or providing services; now it’s about building lasting connections and forging relationships that transcend simple transactions.

Let’s examine why brand storytelling in field services is vital and how it can transform your business.

Why Stories Matter in Field Services

Field services is all about solving customer needs and improving lives, so our priority should be doing an outstanding job and satisfying customers – but there’s another aspect which shouldn’t be neglected: telling your brand’s story.

Real-life Example

• HVAC business owner struggling to differentiate from competitors
• Started sharing his business’s journey
• Results:
  • Customers saw the business differently
  • More loyal customers
  • Increased word-of-mouth referrals

How to Tell a Good Brand Story

Key Elements

• How You Started: Share your beginning (e.g., starting in a garage, one van and a toolbox)
• What You Believe In: Highlight company values (e.g., eco-friendliness, community involvement)
• Success Stories: Share how you’ve helped customers
• Your Future Plans: Share your big dreams (e.g., new services, new technology)

How Stories Help Connect with Customers

Building Trust

• Importance of trust in field services
• Open and honest storytelling builds trust
• Trusted businesses often chosen over cheaper alternatives

Creating Emotional Connections

• Better memory retention of stories vs. service lists
• Emotional connections can turn one-time customers into repeat clients

Standing Out

• Differentiation in a crowded market
• Use your story in marketing to be memorable

What’s Coming Next in Brand Storytelling

Current trends show that 55% of people are more likely to buy from a brand if they love its story, and 44% will share the brand story with others. As we use more online marketing, businesses that tell good stories on social media and blogs will have an advantage. 

Another emerging trend is personalized storytelling, which means sharing stories that fit different groups of customers.

How to Start Telling Your Brand Story

Steps to Begin

1. Think About Your Journey: Reflect on big moments, problems faced, and wins
2. Get Your Team Involved: Include your team in storytelling
3. Share Your Story Everywhere: Maintain consistency across all platforms
4. Let Customers Join In: Encourage customers to share their experiences

Field Promax: Enhancing Your Brand Story Through Efficiency

Field Promax is a comprehensive field service management software that can significantly support and enhance your brand storytelling efforts.

Key Features

• Scheduling optimization
• Mobile app for technicians
• Automated billing and invoicing
• Real time tracking and reporting

Supporting Your Brand Story

1. Improved Customer Experience
   • Faster response times
   • More accurate appointment scheduling
   • Seamless communication between office and field
2. Professionalism and Reliability
   • Digital documentation and signatures
   • Prompt and accurate invoicing
   • Consistent service delivery
3. Data-Driven Storytelling
   • Use analytics to showcase your efficiency
   • Share improved metrics as part of your success story
4. Empowering Your Team
   • Technicians equipped with necessary information
   • Reduced administrative burden allows focus on customer interaction
5. Adapting to Modern Expectations
   • Demonstrates your commitment to using cutting-edge technology
   • Aligns with stories of continuous improvement and innovation

Simple Tips for Brand Storytelling in Field Service Businesses

1. Craft a Signature Service Style

• Develop a unique approach to service delivery
• Create catchy names for your service packages

2. Highlight Your Tools and Tech

• Showcase the specialized equipment you use
• Explain how your tools benefit customers

3. Feature Your Team’s Expertise

• Share employee certifications and training
• Create “meet the expert” profiles for your technicians

4. Document Your Problem-Solving Process

• Use before-and-after imagery of your work
• Create a step-by-step visual guide of your service process

5. Celebrate Local Connections

• Highlight partnerships with other local businesses
• Share stories of community involvement and impact

6. Develop a Mascot or Character

• Create a memorable mascot representing your services
• Use the character in marketing materials and social media

7. Showcase Your Environmental Initiatives

• Highlight any eco-friendly practices or products
• Share your company’s sustainability goals and progress

8. Create a “Day in the Life” Series

• Follow a technician through a typical workday
• Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your operations

9. Establish a Unique Company Tradition

• Create an annual event or challenge related to your services
• Share stories and photos from these traditions

10. Develop a Customer Recognition Program

• Highlight “Customer of the Month” stories
• Share testimonials in creative, visual formats

Remember, your brand story is what makes you special. It’s not just about fixing things or providing services. It’s about connecting with people and showing them why your business is awesome. By incorporating tools like Field Promax into your operations, you’re not just working faster – you’re making more time to really talk to your customers and reinforce the promises your brand story makes.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive field services landscape, a compelling brand story can be the difference between being just another service provider and becoming a trusted partner in your customers’ lives. It helps build trust, create emotional connections, and set you apart from the competition. As you move forward, consider how you can weave your unique story into every aspect of your business, from your marketing materials to your daily interactions with customers. With a strong brand story and the right tools to support it, you’ll be well-positioned to create lasting relationships and drive your business to new heights of success.

The post Brand Storytelling in Field Services: Connecting with Customers Through Narrative appeared first on noupe.

Welcome to this collection of what has been catching our eye on the web over the past month.

Mobile devices have revolutionized the dynamics of human interaction with the digital world drastically. They are now one of the essential things in our lives, determining various aspects like shopping and entertainment among others. Similarly, there is a surge in mobile affiliate marketing due to this shift in consumer behavior which has created a lucrative opportunity to enrich both businesses and individuals.

As mobile users are constantly rising, mobile advertising campaigns have successfully

driven the rapid growth of the affiliate marketing industry. Therefore, this sector provides a

great chance for affiliate marketers to reap significant rewards as it is expected in 2024, the industry will grow to $15.7 billion by 2024.

Key Strategies for Mobile Affiliate Marketing Success

To thrive in the field of mobile affiliate marketing, you must use extensive strategies to grasp the unique features of mobile gadgets and its user preferences. Focusing on these areas will enable you to optimize and refine your campaigns for maximum effectiveness as well as generate substantial returns:

1. Deep Dive into Mobile Optimization

Websites and content that is optimized for mobile devices is very important for keeping mobile users engaged successfully, ultimately leading to increased conversion rates and improved user experiences. 

• Responsive Design: Make sure that your website fits different screen sizes and orientations to deliver an uninterrupted user experience.
• Mobile-Specific Content: Create mobile device specific content that meet the user preferences, keeping in mind their shorter attention spans as well as limited size of screens.
• Image Optimization: All images should be compressed to reduce load times on mobile devices and improve their performance.
• Simplified Navigation: Use navigation menus that are easy to read on small screens but give concise information about where each menu item leads to.
• Touch-Friendly Elements: Design other aspects of your site that can be tapped and work optimally with touchscreen mobile phones.

2. Leveraging Mobile-Specific Channels

Mobile devices offer various channels for reaching and engaging the target audience. By the effective use of these channels, you may expand your reach and increase your odds of succeeding.

• Social Media: Use social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat to reach mobile users with some engaging content, particularly for services like food delivery apps and taxi apps.
• SMS Marketing: Send targeted text messages promoting your affiliate offers directly to their mobile devices to boost conversions.
• Mobile Apps: Create your own application or collaborate with existing ones to engage a target audience and offer them a better experience.
• Mobile Messaging Apps: Apps like WhatsApp and Telegram can also be used as platforms for interacting with customers and providing personalized recommendations.

3. Utilizing Mobile-First Analytics

Mobile-specific analytical tools should be used to make fact-based choices and enhance mobile affiliate marketing campaigns. Analyzing and monitoring mobile traffic, user patterns as well as conversions would provide insights needed for improvement.

• Google Analytics: This tool helps to track user behavior, mobile traffic and conversions thus providing important insights for optimization.
• Heatmaps: They are used to visualize the areas where mobile users click or scroll on these websites subsequently indicating the areas of focus and some recommendations for improvement.
• User Testing: Carry out user testing on mobile devices so as to identify any usability issues and collect feedback regarding your site or application.
• A/B Testing: Use various designs and content specifically tailored for mobile users to increase the chances of attracting them and figure out what works best for them.

4. Offering Mobile-Exclusive Incentives

By giving incentives that are specifically for mobile users, you will be able to entice them as well as promote sales.

• Special Discounts: By offering exclusive discounts or promotions to mobile users, it enhances their purchasing power.
• Mobile-Only Content: Develop content that only mobile users can access like exclusive videos, write-ups, or other interactive experiences
• Mobile-Specific Features: Introduce distinct and custom features for mobile users specifically in your app, such as any touchscreen elements.
• Gamification: Integrate video game-like elements in your marketing campaigns to promote engagement and customer loyalty.

5. Mobile-Focused Business Partnerships

Collaboration with mobile-focused companies can assist you in attaining a broader audience and expand your reach in the mobile ecosystem.

• App Developers: Work together with app developers so that you can promote your affiliate offers through their applications to your target audience.
• Mobile Influencers: Partner with influencers having a large fan following in the mobile market to promote your products or services.
• Mobile Marketing Agencies: Work alongside mobile marketing agencies when it comes developing campaigns tailored to the mobile landscape and employ their expertise.
• Mobile Payment Providers: Partner up with providers of mobile payments to offer convenient and secure payment options for your customers, ultimately improving the shopping experience on mobiles.

Additional Tips for Mobile Affiliate Marketing Success

To ensure that you get the most out of mobile affiliate marketing, below are other strategies to consider:

1. Stay Updated with Trends

The latest technologies and trends are quickly changing the mobile landscape. To keep your campaigns updated and effective, you should consider 5G, AR and AI which are the latest trends in mobile marketing.

2. Prioritize User Experience

User experience plays an important role driving conversions and building customer loyalty. Therefore, it is important that your website or app is easy to use, looks good visually, as well as optimized for small-screen devices. Factors such as loading time, proper calls-to-action and user-centric design should not be ignored either.

3. Test And Iterate

To find out what works best for their audience it is essential for marketers to constantly test and adapt their mobile marketing campaigns. It could entail trying out various strategies, messages or offers to improve outcomes. Using A/B testing helps one compare different versions of a campaign thereby evaluating its effectiveness by measuring some of its key performance indicators “KPI”.

4. Measure and Analyze

Track your performance and analyze your data, so you can identify opportunities for improvement. Use analytical tools to understand user behavior, including demographics, interests and buying patterns. This information will help you to customize your campaigns better and boost the ROI.

5. Establish a Good Reputation

It is important to build trust with your audience in the highly competitive field of mobile affiliate marketing. Disclose any affiliate relationships you have, recommend products honestly and objectively, as well as keeping promises.

6. Collaborate with Other Affiliates 

Networking with other participants in this field can provide a wealth of experience, partnership opportunities and support that may prove useful. To connect with others who share your interests, think about joining online forums that deal with affiliate marketing.

7. Diversify Your Affiliate Portfolio

Do not depend only on a single affiliate program. To reduce the risk while raising potential profits, broaden your scope. Take some time to research different niches for products affiliated with these programs so you can ensure that they fit your interests and expertise.

8. Stay Patient and Persistent

Making money from mobile affiliate marketing business takes time and sweat. Have a lot of patience because it will take months before any fruits can be seen; therefore don’t allow frustrations to get to you easily after a minor setback. It’s all about constant learning, adapting to new situations and improving strategies for long-term success.

Final Thoughts

To tap into the vast potential of mobile affiliate marketing and generate huge profits, it is crucial that you make use of the tactics discussed within this article. Make sure to prioritize mobile optimization, use mobile-specific channels, turn the power of analytics in your favor, offer exclusive incentives as well as partner with businesses that focus on this area.

Maximize your success by staying updated with mobile trends, focusing on user experience, testing the campaigns repeatedly, as well as measure and analyze what you generate. Therefore, if you follow these rules with precision then expect long-term success as far as the dynamics of mobile affiliate marketing are concerned.

Featured image by SpaceX on Unsplash

The post How to Skyrocket Your Profits with Mobile Affiliate Marketing? appeared first on noupe.

Entrepreneurs, startup founders, and small business owners all share a common goal: building a thriving brand. But in today’s competitive landscape, achieving success requires more than just a great product or service. You need effective marketing strategies that resonate with your target audience.

Something few entrepreneurs consider is that the structure you choose for your business can influence the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, making your life easier or harder depending on the stage of growth your business is in.

In this article, we’ll explore how a Limited Liability Company (LLC) structure empowers you to cultivate brand success through well-defined marketing strategies.

The Limited Liability Company (LLC) structure

An LLC offers a business structure that combines the flexibility of a sole proprietorship with the personal liability protection of a corporation. This means you have more control over your business operations compared to a corporation while also shielding your personal assets from business debts and lawsuits.

Benefits of forming an LLC

LLCs are popular business structures for small and medium-sized businesses for the following reasons:

• Limited Liability Protection: This is one of the LLS structure’s main advantages. Personal liability protection means your personal finances are safeguarded from business liabilities, offering peace of mind when investing in new initiatives.
• Pass-Through Taxation: LLCs avoid double taxation for their members (corporate tax and personal income tax). Profits and losses “pass through” the business to the owner’s personal tax returns. This simplifies tax filing and can offer better tax efficiency than other business structures, depending on your individual tax situation.
• Flexibility and Management: LLCs offer more management flexibility than corporations. Decision-making is streamlined, allowing for quicker adaptation to market changes. There’s a less complex corporate hierarchy to navigate, empowering you to seize fleeting marketing opportunities or respond to sudden shifts in consumer preferences.

The LLC structure’s downsides

Despite the advantages, LLCs do have some cons:

• Less Credibility: Compared to corporations, LLCs may be perceived as less established, especially when dealing with larger companies or securing significant funding. This can be a hurdle to overcome, particularly in industries where a corporate image is important.
• Profit Sharing: Profits and losses pass through to the owners, potentially impacting their personal tax brackets. This can be a consideration, especially for businesses with high profits.

Steps to form an LLC

The process for forming an LLC varies by state but is usually quite simple and streamlined (especially compared to corporations). In many US states, you can complete the whole process online.

Forming an LLC generally involves:

1. Filing Articles of Organization with your state’s Secretary of State.
2. Paying a filing fee.

Some states may also require filing an Operating Agreement, a private document defining ownership and profit sharing, outlining management structure, and detailing voting rights, among other specifics of the business.

Though a simple process, consulting with a lawyer or legal service to ensure you complete the process accurately is advisable.

What is a marketing strategy?

A marketing strategy defines your overall approach to reaching your target audience and achieving your business goals. It outlines your brand messaging, target markets, marketing mixes, and budget allocation. It’s the foundation upon which you build your marketing efforts.

The LLC structure enables better marketing strategies. To understand why and how, we must first clearly separate a marketing strategy from two related terms wrongly used interchangeably: a marketing plan and marketing tactics.

Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan vs. tactics

You can think of your marketing strategy as the “big picture” roadmap to connect with your potential customers and reach your marketing goals.

A marketing plan, on the other hand, translates that strategy into specific, actionable steps. It details tactics, timelines, and performance metrics for your marketing initiatives, forming the nitty-gritty that brings your marketing strategy to life.

The tactics outlined in your marketing plan are the specific actions you take to execute your strategy. For example, in a digital marketing strategy, tactics could include social media campaigns, email marketing, content creation,  and others.

How the LLC structure enables more effective marketing strategies

The unique advantages of an LLC structure can significantly enhance your marketing efforts in different ways:

Increased flexibility

LLCs are more flexible legal entities than other structures like corporations. This flexibility allows businesses to create and promote a unique brand identity, enabling them to tailor marketing messages to specific target audiences, increasing resonance and engagement.

An LLC structure also makes it less cumbersome to form partnerships and collaborations with other businesses, influencers, or organizations. By leveraging these partnerships, LLCs can extend their reach, access new customer segments, and benefit from shared resources, amplifying the impact of their marketing initiatives.

A more agile structure

LLCs’ lower organizational and hierarchical complexity means there’s less momentum to overcome when changing direction. In other words, marketing virtual assistants can change and implement marketing strategies with minimal bureaucracy.

This agility is crucial for seizing fleeting opportunities and addressing challenges promptly, helping businesses stay ahead of competitors and maintain relevance in the eyes of consumers.

Limited liability protection

Knowing your personal assets are shielded from business liabilities allows for bolder marketing investments. You can confidently allocate resources to advertising, promotions, and other marketing activities critical for brand recognition, something you may be hesitant to do if you’re running your business as a sole proprietorship.

In short, the financial freedom brought about by personal liability protection empowers you to experiment with a broader range of marketing strategies without the fear of risking your personal finances.

Smaller size equals better connection with customers

Many LLCs operate on a local scale, fostering a closer relationship with their customer base. This allows them to gather valuable insights into consumer preferences and tailor marketing campaigns that speak directly to their target audience.

This proximity also allows them to participate in community events and support local causes. Such involvement with the community not only fosters customer loyalty but also enhances brand reputation, leading to more effective word-of-mouth marketing.

More streamlined decision-making

In LLC structures, decision-making isn’t bogged down by complex corporate hierarchies and bureaucracy. This agility enables faster adjustment to market changes and execution of novel marketing tactics.

Real-world LLC marketing success stories

Here are some inspiring examples of how LLCs have leveraged their structure to develop winning marketing strategies:

SpaceX’s  digital marketing strategy

SpaceX, the famous aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company founded by Elon Musk, operates as an LLC. This unicorn startup is now worth $175 billion. It’s second only to Boeing in the aerospace industry, making it one of the clearest examples of how an LLC can grow to become wildly successful.

SpaceX’s marketing strategy has been unconventional and highly effective. They’ve used social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) to create a buzz around their ambitious space exploration endeavors, generating excitement and attracting a passionate following.

Elon Musk himself is a passionate CEO who frequently posts on social media about the company’s latest successes. This social-media-driven approach perfectly complements the LLC structure’s flexibility and allows SpaceX and its directives to directly engage with its target audience, generating brand awareness and increasing brand reputation.

Airbnb’s affiliate program

Airbnb, the hospitality service that allows people to list, rent, and find vacation rentals, initially started as an LLC. Airbnb’s key marketing strategy revolves around affiliate marketing. Its innovative affiliate program, where travel bloggers and websites could earn commissions by promoting Airbnb listings, is a prime example of how LLCs can leverage partnerships for effective marketing.

In fact, LLC is a recommended business structure for affiliate marketing companies. This strategy allowed Airbnb to tap into a vast network of influencers and reach a wider audience without incurring significant upfront marketing costs.

The Bottom Line

The LLC structure offers a unique blend of flexibility, agility, and financial security that can empower your business to develop and implement highly effective marketing strategies. By understanding the advantages of an LLC and how it aligns with your marketing goals, you can unlock significant growth potential for your brand.

Remember, a well-defined marketing strategy is the cornerstone of building brand success, and the LLC structure provides a solid foundation upon which to build your marketing efforts.

Featured image by Pixabay

The post Cultivating Brand Success: Leveraging LLC Structure for Effective Marketing Strategies appeared first on noupe.

Google Analytics is great, but not everyone in your organization will be granted access. In many places I’ve worked, it was on a kind of “need to know” basis.

In this article, I’m gonna flip that on its head and show you how I wrote a GitHub Action that queries Google Analytics, generates a top ten list of the most frequently viewed pages on my site from the last seven days and compares them to the previous seven days to tell me which pages have increased in views, which pages have decreased in views, which pages have stayed the same and which pages are new to the list.

The report is then nicely formatted with icon indicators and posted to a public Slack channel every Friday at 10 AM.

Not only would this surfaced data be useful for folks who might need it, but it also provides an easy way to copy and paste or screenshot the report and add it to a slide for the weekly company/department meeting.

Here’s what the finished report looks like in Slack, and below, you’ll find a link to the GitHub Repository.

GitHub

To use this repository, follow the steps outlined in the README.

• https://github.com/PaulieScanlon/smashing-weekly-analytics

Prerequisites

To build this workflow, you’ll need admin access to your Google Analytics and Slack Accounts and administrator privileges for GitHub Actions and Secrets for a GitHub repository.

Customizing the Report and Action

Naturally, all of the code can be changed to suit your requirements, and in the following sections, I’ll explain the areas you’ll likely want to take a look at.

Customizing the GitHub Action

The file name of the Action weekly-analytics.report.yml isn’t seen anywhere other than in the code/repo but naturally, change it to whatever you like, you won’t break anything.

The name and jobs: names detailed below are seen in the GitHub UI and Workflow logs.

The cron syntax determines when the Action will run. Schedules use POSIX cron syntax and by changing the numbers you can determine when the Action runs.

You could also change the secrets variable names; just make sure you update them in your repository Settings.

# .github/workflows/weekly-analytics-report.yml

name: Weekly Analytics Report

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 10 * * 5' # Runs every Friday at 10 AM UTC
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering

jobs:
  analytics-report:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    env:
      SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
      GA4_PROPERTY_ID: ${{ secrets.GA4_PROPERTY_ID }}
      GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 }}

    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20.x'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm install

      - name: Run the JavaScript script
        run: node src/services/weekly-analytics.js

Customizing the Google Analytics Report

The Google Analytics API request I’m using is set to pull the fullPageUrl and pageTitle for the totalUsers in the last seven days, and a second request for the previous seven days, and then aggregates the totals and limits the responses to 10.

You can use Google’s GA4 Query Explorer to construct your own query, then replace the requests.

// src/services/weekly-analytics.js#L75

const [thisWeek] = await analyticsDataClient.runReport({
  property: `properties/${process.env.GA4_PROPERTY_ID}`,
  dateRanges: [
    {
      startDate: '7daysAgo',
      endDate: 'today',
    },
  ],
  dimensions: [
    {
      name: 'fullPageUrl',
    },
    {
      name: 'pageTitle',
    },
  ],
  metrics: [
    {
      name: 'totalUsers',
    },
  ],
  limit: reportLimit,
  metricAggregations: ['MAXIMUM'],
});

Creating the Comparisons

There are two functions to determine which page views have increased, decreased, stayed the same, or are new.

The first is a simple reduce function that returns the URL and a count for each.

const lastWeekMap = lastWeekResults.reduce((items, item) => {
  const { url, count } = item;
  items[url] = count;
  return items;
}, {});

The second maps over the results from this week and compares them to last week.

// Generate the report for this week
const report = thisWeekResults.map((item, index) => {
  const { url, title, count } = item;
  const lastWeekCount = lastWeekMap[url];
  const status = determineStatus(count, lastWeekCount);

  return {
    position: (index + 1).toString().padStart(2, '0'), // Format the position with leading zero if it's less than 10
    url,
    title,
    count: { thisWeek: count, lastWeek: lastWeekCount || '0' }, // Ensure lastWeekCount is displayed as '0' if not found
    status,
  };
});

The final function is used to determine the status of each.

// Function to determine the status
const determineStatus = (count, lastWeekCount) => {
  const thisCount = Number(count);
  const previousCount = Number(lastWeekCount);

  if (lastWeekCount === undefined || lastWeekCount === '0') {
    return NEW;
  }

  if (thisCount > previousCount) {
    return HIGHER;
  }

  if (thisCount < previousCount) {
    return LOWER;
  }

  return SAME;
};

I’ve purposely left the code fairly verbose, so it’ll be easier for you to add console.log to each of the functions to see what they return.

Customizing the Slack Message

The Slack message config I’m using creates a heading with an emoji, a divider, and a paragraph explaining what the message is.

Below that I’m using the context object to construct a report by iterating over comparisons and returning an object containing Slack specific message syntax which includes an icon, a count, the name of the page and a link to each item.

You can use Slack’s Block Kit Builder to construct your own message format.

// src/services/weekly-analytics.js#151 

    const slackList = report.map((item, index) => {
      const {
        position,
        url,
        title,
        count: { thisWeek, lastWeek },
        status,
      } = item;

      return {
        type: 'context',
        elements: [
          {
            type: 'image',
            image_url: ${reportConfig.url}/images/${status},
            alt_text: 'icon',
          },
          {
            type: 'mrkdwn',
            text: ${position}.  <${url}|${title}> | *${x${thisWeek}}`* / x${lastWeek}`,
          },
        ],
      };
    });

Before you can run the GitHub Action, you will need to complete a number of Google, Slack, and GitHub steps.

Ready to get going?

Creating a Google Cloud Project

Head over to your Google Cloud console, and from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, click Select a project, and when the modal opens up, click NEW PROJECT.

Project name

On the next screen, give your project a name and click CREATE. In my example, I’ve named the project smashing-weekly-analytics.

Enable APIs & Services

In this step, you’ll enable the Google Analytics Data API for your new project. From the left-hand sidebar, navigate to APIs & Services > Enable APIs & services. At the top of the screen, click + ENABLE APIS & SERVICES.

Enable Google Analytics Data API

Search for “Google analytics data API,” select it from the list, then click ENABLE.

Create Credentials for Google Analytics Data API

With the API enabled in your project, you can now create the required credentials. Click the CREATE CREDENTIALS button at the top right of the screen to set up a new Service account.

A Service account allows an “application” to interact with Google APIs, providing the credentials include the required services. In this example, the credentials grant access to the Google Analytics Data API.

Service Account Credentials Type

On the next screen, select Google Analytics Data API from the dropdown menu and Application data, then click NEXT.

Service Account Details

On the next screen, give your Service account a name, ID, and description (optional). Then click CREATE AND CONTINUE.

In my example, I’ve given my service account a name and ID of smashing-weekly-analytics and added a short description that explains what the service account does.

Service Account Role

On the next screen, select Owner for the Role, then click CONTINUE.

Service Account Done

You can leave the fields blank in this last step and click DONE when you’re ready.

Service Account Keys

From the left-hand navigation, select Service Accounts, then click the “more dots” to open the menu and select Manage keys.

Service Accounts Add Key

On the next screen, locate the KEYS tab at the top of the screen, then click ADD KEY and select Create new key.

Service Accounts Download Keys

On the next screen, select JSON as the key type, then click CREATE to download your Google Application credentials .json file.

Google Application Credentials

If you open the .json file in your code editor, you should be looking at something similar to the one below.

In case you’re wondering, no, you can’t use an object as a variable defined in an .env file. To use these credentials, it’s necessary to convert the whole file into a base64 string.

Note: I wrote a more detailed post about how to use Google Application credentials as environment variables here: “How to Use Google Application .json Credentials in Environment Variables.”

From your terminal, run the following: replace name-of-creds-file.json with the name of your .json file.

cat name-of-creds-file.json | base64

If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the base64 string returned after running the above and add it to the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 variable in your .env file, but make sure you wrap the string with double quotation makes.

GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64="abc123"

That completes the Google project side of things. The next step is to add your service account email to your Google Analytics property and find your Google Analytics Property ID.

Google Analytics Properties

Whilst your service account now has access to the Google Analytics Data API, it doesn’t yet have access to your Google Analytics account.

Get Google Analytics Property ID

To make queries to the Google Analytics API, you’ll need to know your Property ID. You can find it by heading over to your Google Analytics account. Make sure you’re on the correct property (in the screenshot below, I’ve selected paulie.dev — GA4).

Click the admin cog in the bottom left-hand side of the screen, then click Property details.

On the next screen, you’ll see the PROPERTY ID in the top right corner. If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the property ID value to the GA4_PROPERTY_ID variable in your .env file.

Add Client Email to Google Analytics

From the Google application credential .json file you downloaded earlier, locate the client_email and copy the email address.

In my example, it looks like this: smashing-weekly-analytics@smashing-weekly-analytics.iam.gserviceaccount.com.

Now navigate to Property access management from the left hide side navigation and click the + in the top right-hand corner, then click Add users.

On the next screen, add the client_email to the Email addresses input, uncheck Notify new users by email, and select Viewer under Direct roles and data restrictions, then click Add.

That completes the Google Analytics properties section. Your “application” will use the Google application credentials containing the client_email and will now have access to your Google Analytics account via the Google Analytics Data API.

Slack Channels and Webhook

In the following steps, you’ll create a new Slack channel that will be used to post messages sent from your “application” using a Slack Webhook.

Creating The Slack Channel

Create a new channel in your Slack workspace. I’ve named mine #weekly-analytics-report. You’ll need to set this up before proceeding to the next step.

Creating a Slack App

Head over to the slack api dashboard, and click Create an App.

On the next screen, select From an app manifest.

On the next screen, select your Slack workspace, then click Next.

On this screen, you can give your app a name. In my example, I’ve named my Weekly Analytics Report. Click Next when you’re ready.

On step 3, you can just click Done.

With the App created, you can now set up a Webhook.

Creating a Slack Webhook

Navigate to Incoming Webhooks from the left-hand navigation, then switch the Toggle to On to activate incoming webhooks. Then, at the bottom of the screen, click Add New Webook to Workspace.

On the next screen, select your Slack workspace and a channel that you’d like to use to post messages, too, and click Allow.

You should now see your new Slack Webhook with a copy button. Copy the Webhook URL, and if you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the Webhook URL to the SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL variable in your .env file.

Slack App Configuration

From the left-hand navigation, select Basic Information. On this screen, you can customize your app and add an icon and description. Be sure to click Save Changes when you’re done.

If you now head over to your Slack, you should see that your app has been added to your workspace.

That completes the Slack section of this article. It’s now time to add your environment variables to GitHub Secrets and run the workflow.

Add GitHub Secrets

Head over to the Settings tab of your GitHub repository, then from the left-hand navigation, select Secrets and variables, then click Actions.

Add the three variables from your .env file under Repository secrets.

A note on the base64 string: You won’t need to include the double quotes!

Run Workflow

To test if your Action is working correctly, head over to the Actions tab of your GitHub repository, select the Job name (Weekly Analytics Report), then click Run workflow.

If everything worked correctly, you should now be looking at a nicely formatted list of the top ten page views on your site in Slack.

Finished

And that’s it! A fully automated Google Analytics report that posts directly to your Slack. I’ve worked in a few places where Google Analytics data was on lockdown, and I think this approach to sharing Analytics data with Slack (something everyone has access to) could be super valuable for various people in your organization.