B2B Connection

Delivering a great customer experience today also means managing your online presence. For a contact center or sales teams to achieve customer success you need to offer an amazing, omnichannel customer experience.  Digital experience software allows you control over each new customer’s first time. You can customize their interactions with your site and give them a personable, human experience. The best digital experience platform out there is one that fits your needs. We talk about some important tips to help you pick the best digital experience platform for your customer-centric team. What is a Digital Experience Platform Digital experience (DX) software-as-a-service (SaaS) can be used to grow your customers by gaining insight into their experience with metrics like their real-time sessions on your site. With that information, you can improve the overall usability of your eCommerce site and improve conversions.  A digital experience platform (DXP) is used to optimize the satisfaction of your virtual consumers and your overall operations. For a more in-depth view of DXP software see our definition article here. How Can I Use Technology To Provide A Better Customer Experience? A DXP can offer your team an abundance of valuable capabilities to improve your workflow and your […]

The amount of data storage required by companies is vast, and only going to continue to grow. Data warehouse storage options are one method of solving this ever-expanding problem. Just as their needs are increasing, the market is evolving rapidly. In order to stay on top of such a fast-paced market that touches dozens of industries, up-to-date info is essential. That’s why we have compiled a list of the hottest data warehouse statistics for 2022 and beyond. We cover categories such as: Data Warehouse Market Scope and Scale Data Warehouse on The Cloud Data Warehouse Buying and Implementation Data Growth and Need Database Warehouse Concerns  Finally, we will explore three of the most important trends in the data warehouse sphere.  Top 24 Data Warehouse Statistics Data Warehouse Market Scope and Scale The global data warehousing market size was valued at $21.18 billion in 2019. (Allied Market Research 2021) The global data warehousing market is projected to reach $51.18 billion by 2028. (Allied Market Research 2021) Data warehouse has the highest adoption of data solutions, used by 54% of organizations. (Flexera 2021) Data warehouse options are by far the most popular platform-as-a-service data solution for beginners, with 47% of organizations at […]

Communication is key for all relationships, especially your customer relationships. You want your consumers to always be able to reach you at a reliable and recognizable number, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. Today you not only need to be able to offer reliable high-quality calls, but also chat messaging, SMS, and email.  One solution local and remote companies will use is a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) business phone system. This software can allow calls and messages over the internet for better speed and reliability. What Is a VoIP? A VoIP essentially allows you to call and receive calls over the internet. This can allow you more convenience if you’re a remote or hybrid team that doesn’t want to be tied down to a landline. The overall VoIP phone system costs can actually be lower than your current traditional phone plans.  For more information, you can see our definition article that explains how a VoIP works and its general benefits here.  How much does a VoIP service cost? VoIP software can be a cost-effective way to connect with clients, but that does not mean all subscriptions are cheap. You’ll find the general costs in this article range from […]

If you’re still using a static content management system (CMS) for digital content delivery, you’re getting left behind. Digital experience platforms (DXP) allow you to create the seamless, personalized experiences your customers expect. The best DXP solutions help you elegantly align content, user data, and analytics. As useful as DXPs are, their cost can be prohibitive. We have selected three products with free, open-source options that give you the benefits of DXP on a budget. Depending on your needs, you can work within these limitations to get the benefits for free. You won’t need to rely on vendor-led demos or free trials, which push you towards the paid product. Product Pros Cons Notable Features Best For Pimcore All core DXP features for freeExtensions add extra features You may have to search for or build the extensions you needCommunity extensions aren’t guaranteed to stay up-to-date Flexible and modular, able to fit many different use casesFree demo available online Managing and using lots of product data alongside customer data Jahia DXP Lots of templates and guided tutorials30-day free trial of full platform Free edition excludes personalization and A/B testingFree edition is limited to 1 site with 25 concurrent visitors Out-of-the-box support for […]

Accounting has a reputation for being boring, but the market is fierce. With the needs of accounting changing as fast as the industries it services, accounting software is bigger than ever. The right tools can enable a department to provide forecasting insight, analytics, and more while staying up to date on tracking and tax compliance.  With the essential nature of this industry, staying current is vital. Because of this, we have compiled a list of the most essential statistics for you to be aware of. We have also covered some of the hottest trends in accounting software and the market as a whole.  Top 15 Accounting Software Statistics The accounting software market was valued at $12.01 billion in 2020. (Mordor Intelligence 2020) The accounting software market is expected to reach $19.59 billion by 2026. (Mordor Intelligence 2020) Only 6% of accountants said they don’t believe automation can help with any business tasks at their firm. (Sage 2020) 40% of accountants say they intend to automate invoicing and accounts payable processes and workflows. (Sage 2020) 45% of accountants say they intend to automate repetitive, time-consuming accounting tasks, such as data entry and number-crunching. (Sage 2020) 58% of accountants said technology has […]

Providing the best virtual customer service is its own art form. You need to achieve conversion, satisfaction, and usability wrapped into a digital experience. A consumer’s digital experience depends entirely on your ability to control and improve it.  A digital experience platform’s goal is to provide you with the tools to improve customer journeys. You can streamline your team’s workflows with analytics, customer management, and automation. This is why so many companies have opted to use the many digital experience cloud services available.  What is a DXP? Digital experience (DX) software-as-a-service (SaaS) can be used to retain and even grow your customer base. This is done by gaining insight into their experience interacting with your brand. Insights are gathered through analytics including metrics from real-time sessions on your site. With that information, you can improve the overall usability of your eCommerce site and improve conversions.  A digital experience platform (DXP) is used to optimize the satisfaction of your virtual consumers and your operations. There are three types of DXP: monolithic, composable, and hybrid. For a more in-depth view of DXP software, see our definition article here. What Are The Benefits Of A DXP? A DXP can offer your team valuable […]

*Revised on 04/29/2022 BY EXECUTING AN ORDER FORM THAT REFERENCES THIS AGREEMENT, THE INDIVIDUAL ACCEPTING THIS AGREEMENT IS ACCEPTING ON BEHALF OF A COMPANY OR OTHER LEGAL ENTITY AND REPRESENTS THAT THEY HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO BIND SUCH ENTITY TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. THE TERM “CUSTOMER,” AS FURTHER DEFINED BELOW, WILL REFER TO SUCH ENTITY. IF THE INDIVIDUAL ACCEPTING THIS AGREEMENT DOES NOT HAVE SUCH AUTHORITY, OR DOES NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, SUCH INDIVIDUAL MUST NOT ACCEPT THIS AGREEMENT AND MUST NOT USE TRUSTRADIUS SERVICES. SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENT 1. DEFINITIONS “Agreement” means this Subscription Agreement, each Order Form entered into hereunder and any and all referenced and incorporated exhibits. “Authorized Users” means either the unlimited number of Customer’s employees and independent contractors whom Customer has permitted to use Customer’s subscription to the TrustRadius Services on behalf of Customer, or the limited number of seats ordered by Customer for users of TrustQuotes for Salesforce, as applicable. “Base Subscription Fee(s)” means the total fees for a given Subscription Period for any TrustRadius product or service without any type of discount applied. “Customer Content” means any information, materials, names, trademarks, service marks, logos, text, images, videos, marketing materials, product or […]

Customer service is the most powerful way a company can grow. It’s especially integral for the success of sales and call center agents. Finding the right solution to operate your call center can save you money and streamline your team’s workflow. One of the fastest and cheapest options is voice over internet protocol or VoIP. You can make calls over the internet, receive inbound calls, and text, all in one easy-to-use interface.  What Is a VoIP? VoIPs are software that essentially allows you to talk, text message, and video call over the internet. VoIP call options are often called softphones because they are literally software phones you can use virtually on Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. Many business softphones will have a private branch exchange (PBX) system. A PBX refers to a multi-line telephone system. They can provide more convenience if you’re a remote or hybrid team that doesn’t want to be tied down to a landline. For startups and small teams, VoIP phone service expenses can often cost less than your traditional phone plan.  The main capabilities of a VoIP subscription plan are calling, SMS messaging, and video calling. Some will specifically have conferencing and video conferencing separate […]

Small businesses will go far if they have amazing customer communication. If you want to keep fostering strong customer connections you need an online presence, starting with a reliable phone and messaging system. One great phone solution for small business owners is voice over internet protocol (VoIP), which is essentially a virtual phone system. VoIP phone systems can often be cheaper than traditional phone landlines and offer important business communication features.  You can improve call quality, use mobile app versions, and take advantage of team collaboration features. A VoIP service provider could satisfy your business needs in unimaginable ways. What is a VoIP? VoIPs are software that essentially allows you to talk, message, and video call over the internet. They can provide you with more convenience if you’re a remote or hybrid team that doesn’t want to be tied down to a landline. For startups and small teams, VoIP phone services expenses can often be lower than your traditional phone plan.  For more information, you can see our definition article that explains how a VoIP works and its general benefits here.  VoIP Systems For Small Businesses The most common VoIP business phone services include unlimited calling, unlimited video conferencing, and […]

If you’re a small business looking to grow at scale, expand your market share, or even stay afloat, marketing intelligence is becoming increasingly essential. This is especially true in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on small businesses. Most people associate marketing intelligence initiatives with large enterprises.  Smaller businesses that use available data sources and market insights will gain an extra edge over competitors.  What is Marketing Intelligence? Marketing intelligence is crucial to discover where your business stands against competitors. This involves gathering information on competitor activities and consumers. You’ll need to collect data on different products, including how they’re priced and how well-liked they are. Having this information enables you to identify market trends and how you can fit into them.  A better understanding of the market allows companies to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This greater self-awareness can also help you identify market opportunities and potential pitfalls. Competitor analysis can give you a good idea of how you match up against rival companies within your niche market.    Other terms encompassed by (but often confused with) marketing intelligence include: Market research: used to collect data on a target audience Business intelligence:  gathering information on the […]

Help desks are a vital tool for companies to make a good impression on customers when its most important: when things aren’t smooth sailing. Your product or service can be sensational, but everything made by, run by, or sold by humans will go wrong. Enter your help desk system and software.  Help desk tools have to be as changeable and responsive as the industries they serve, which is to say, most of them. As a result, the most up-to-date information is essential for buyers, sellers, and employees in the sector. We have compiled some of the most important stats for you, in the following categories: Industry stats Customer Service Usage Impact of Help Desks Inside Perspective on Customer Service The Impact of Covid-19 on Customer Expectations Overall Customer Expectations We also touch on some essential trends to be aware of, including: A Focus on User and Employee Experience Help Desk Proactivity Automation is looking Different First, here are the stats Top 26 Help Desk Statistics  Help Desk High-Level Stats Only 28% of customer experience teams offer a knowledge base. (Salesforce 2020) The help desk software market share is projected to reach $11 billion by 2023. (Transparency Market Research, 2021) The […]

We need your feedback to understand which type of demo is most helpful to you when you are looking to find product demo information when searching for software to purchase.  Context: Put yourself in the shoes of a person who is seeking a solution in the form of a software product to solve a problem you are facing at their company. In order to understand which solution is a best fit for your needs, you are seeking product demo information about the products on your short list of possible solutions. All of these demos would be ungated so you would not have to speak to the vendor before viewing the demo of their product. For this experiment, we do not need you to watch every single video from start to finish but we do urge you to watch enough of the video to get an understanding of what the flow and content is like. After you’ve watched the videos, please fill out the survey below. The survey should take about 3 – 5 minutes to complete. Thank you! Video 1: Software Unboxing This type of video shows a user who has never used a software a product “unboxing” of that […]

Marketing automation allows for a marketing team or individual to amplify their work to thousands of people. With the right people, these tools can give well-crafted campaigns a scale otherwise impossible. With such huge ROI and use-case potential, staying up-to-date is vital. First, we cover the hottest marketing statistics in the following categories: Market Scope Marketing Automation Success Why Use Marketing Automation? Barriers to Marketing Automation Adoption What do Marketers think about Marketing Automation? How is Marketing Automation being used? And then we discuss some of the most important trends in marketing automation: Marketing Automation is Becoming Personal Marketing Automation is Getting Crowded Data-Driven Marketing Automation Top 24 Statistics for Marketing Automation Market Scope The global marketing automation market is projected to reach $14.18 billion in 2030. (Research and Markets 2021) 56% of companies are currently using marketing automation. (mailmonday 2022) 40% of B2B companies plan to adopt marketing automation tools. (mailmonday 2022) Of all those who weren’t using marketing automation, 26% said they were looking to in the next year. Marketing Automation Success 80% of marketing automation users saw an increase in the number of leads using marketing automation software. (Invesp 2021) 77% of marketing automation users saw an […]

Marketing to and connecting with consumers on social media networks is an almost mandatory practice for eCommerce platforms. Shoppers need to know you exist and social media posts are one of the cheapest ways to do so. Another equally important motivation is that customers want businesses to respond when they message them or tag them, or form a hashtag around them.  You will miss a lot about your own company if you’re not careful. Implementing a social media marketing strategy will be significantly easier if you can access free social media management platforms and free content creation tools.  We discuss some very innovative applications to streamline your workflow and personalize your brand’s communications. What is Social Media Marketing? Social Media Marketing (SMM) is where small businesses, enterprise marketing teams, or marketing agencies post branded content and ads on social networks. It requires extensive research, creativity, engaging graphics, and maintaining an active presence on social media platforms.  SMM can generate organic traffic so you don’t always have to run ads on social media platforms. Ads aren’t the only expense that can be saved, content creation, social media management of campaigns, and everyday communications can be very expensive when using agencies of […]

The ace in the hole for many small business owners could be social media marketing. You can increase your brand awareness and website traffic all while connecting with consumers. Social channels are some of the most important spaces to be because that’s where consumers spend most of their free time. How do you get started and where do you even begin? We’re going to explore some of the most asked questions about social media marketing and its costs. What is Social Media Marketing? Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a multi-step practice of communicating with consumers, posting branded content, and advertising on social networks. It requires plenty of research, creativity, content creation, and maintaining an active presence on social media platforms.  It can be an incredibly expensive endure depending on what your team plans to do. One way to save money is to create your own accounts, graphics, and run them yourself.  For a professional appearance while saving time you can use ad agencies or freelancers. Agencies or freelancers can handle managing, creating, and promoting your brand for you. Many also provide valuable social media consulting services. If you’re worried about SMM costs, we’re going to break down the different factors […]

Having a website today means managing programs, data, and databases: you can’t even think of them all at once.  You need to manage the site itself to ensure customers make it to the checkout screen, but you also need to drive traffic with marketing and then follow up to keep customers coming back. This web of tasks and research can overwhelm small businesses and startups. If you want to transform your platform and workflow all at once, you might consider digital experience software. What Is Digital Experience Software? A digital experience (DX) itself is the virtual interaction between a user and the organization behind the website. The organization controls the website and therefore controls most aspects of the experience. A DX software’s goal is to manipulate and change the experience provided to the consumer.  Digital experience software-as-a-service (SaaS) is the fusion of content management systems (CMS) and customer relationship management (CRM) software into one tool or platform. DX software can be used to grow your customers by gaining insight into their experience with metrics like their real-time sessions on your site. With that information, you can improve the overall usability of your eCommerce site and improve conversions.  This kind of […]

Web Accessibility has become an important agent for equality on the internet. How else would you expect those with visual impairments to be able to buy your product without alt text? How someone who is deaf understands your demo video without closed captions? Website accessibility is simply part of doing good business by your consumers. If you’re completely new to this and have a small budget and a small team making your web platform accessible will look daunting. The silver lining is there is an abundance of software that can streamline the process of making your website accessible. What is Web Accessibility? Web accessibility is the concept that everyone should have access to public products and information. Those with disabilities will need modifications made to web platforms to remove barriers for them. You need alternative formats for your information so others can perceive it in different ways. A web page should be compatible with assistive technology like screen readers so someone with visual impairments can understand the content. Your video content should have closed captions so that someone with hearing impairments can understand what you’re saying. It may not be your intention, but not providing these alterations to your site […]

You need to market where the people are, so…where are they? Today everyone is on social media to communicate, collaborate, entertain themselves, and shop brands. You can cancel the newspaper ad and radio commercials, because just having an active Facebook business page will take you to the moon. Social media marketing (SMM) is one fast and simple way to make human connections with consumers whether by responding to tweets or by implementing a targeted ad campaign. A glass screen is all that separates your ideas, services, and thought leadership from potential customers. What is Social Media Marketing? SMM is a form of B2C marketing through social media networks. Advertising teams research which social media channels their ideal demographics regularly use. With that valuable information, they increase their social media presence with posts, video content, polls, surveys, and ads placed on the social media site itself. Some marketers also utilize influencer marketing, where content creators are sponsored by a company so they can then inform their followers on their social media channels. It’s particularly effective if business owners choose influencers applicable to either their product or target audience. This type of social media marketing strategy is especially popular on video content […]

Pricing is a key consideration for most software buyers. If you’re looking to improve business decisions with marketing intelligence, pricing plans can have an important impact on costs and on your ability to build successful marketing strategies, increase market share, and grow at scale. Marketing campaigns that track costs improperly can endanger your whole business.        What TrustRadius Research Says Pricing for Marketing Intelligence Software will vary depending on data sources, feature set, number of users, and payment structure. Software offering cloud-based lead generation or in-depth industry information will typically have a higher price range than tools focused on digital marketing, market research, or web analytics. Access to sophisticated competitive intelligence tools will also increase costs. While many vendors will provide detailed pricing plan information, others require buyers to contact them for customized pricing.  Free trials and free versions are available, but you are unlikely to get most of the features you’re looking for. Paid versions typically range from around $75 to $500 per month, though customized enterprise plans will be more expensive.  To give buyers a more complete picture of what to expect, we’ve put together a complete pricing breakdown for four top-rated Marketing Intelligence Software in 2022.      Product Price […]

The progress of the modern world increases the power and necessity of the internet with each passing day. Businesses use the internet for commerce, connection to consumers, and spreading information. Web accessibility evens the playing field for those that would otherwise struggle to use search engines, open social media apps, and buy goods over the internet. Everyone deserves equal access to the same opportunities, and that includes websites on the internet. What is Web Accessibility? Website accessibility means that web platforms need to provide alternative solutions so that those with disabilities can use their services. This can be basic things like navigating a website so that they can buy shoes, groceries, or new phones. One way to do this is by adding alt text to all your images. Those with visual impairments like low vision and color blindness use alt text to interpret what a product is. You can also make your site compatible with keyboards for those with low mobility to use the tab key to navigate pages. Most importantly, your site should have the functionality to be used with assistive technology. Assistive technology is any tool a disabled person would use to make the web more perceptible and […]