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The Hidden Mystery Behind Using AI to Create Awesome Customer Experience

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Using AI to Improve User Experience

Artificial intelligence (AI) changes the way we go about our everyday lives. Consider Apple’s line of mobile devices with Siri. And think about Amazon’s smart home products featuring Alexa. They make us comfortable interacting with a virtual assistant. These forms of AI make our lives easier and help us perform hands-free tasks. But the use of AI seeps into other industries like eCommerce too. Consider integrating AI into your own business model. Improve your company’s results. And provide customers with a better, more seamless user experience.

AI and Machine Learning

The words “artificial intelligence” and “machine learning” often work interchangeably. But a key difference exists between the two. AI refers to a machine’s ability to carry out complex tasks following a pre-developed algorithm. Technically, machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence. But it differs in that machine learning involves feeding information to a machine in order to teach it how to respond to specific information. For example, machine learning used on social media sites can identify when comments or post content is positive or negative.

Machine learning and AI go hand-in-hand. But it remains more advantageous utilizing a type of AI with the capacity for machine learning. Instead you should teach a machine how to look for specific triggers. And make it learn on its own. This works better than programming reactions for every single scenario the AI may encounter.

The Importance of User Experience

Integrate this type of valuable technology into your eCommerce store. You can vastly improve your customers’ shopping experiences. There exist so many eCommerce brands across the web. But you risk losing business to another competitor just from small issues like slow loading speed or a confusing navigation bar. Design your entire online shop around the user. Make their experience as easy as possible. This includes guiding them towards products they may like. It also means creating clear menu categories and informing shoppers of potential shipping costs.

AI and machine learning employ data collected on consumer interests to attract them to your business. And it provides them with products they are looking for without the hassle of endless research. If a customer has an excellent experience with your brand, they’re likely to return in the future and tell others about your company, potentially raking in more customers in return.

How AI Can Improve User Experience

If you’re not already implementing one or more of these AI eCommerce methods, you should begin experimenting with a few and watch the results. You may have even interacted with some common forms of eCommerce AI on other websites without even realizing it. These are some of the top uses for improving user experience through machine learning and AI.

Integrate Chatbots

Chatbots are one of the most common and easily integrated forms of eCommerce AI. Typically, chatbots are designed to handle customer service-like inquiries, which cuts costs on the business’s end as there’s no need to hire as many human customer support representatives. But, for shoppers, chatbots offer a convenient and quick way to connect with a business without having to wait for a return email or call a customer service line, which can take up time. Chatbots are a type of AI that is able to compute common inquiries and provide solutions in real time.

Many eCommerce companies also use chatbots as an outlet to deliver personalized suggestions. Through Facebook Messenger, chatbots will often reach out to shoppers who have previously bought from or visited your shop to improve social media advertising and revenue. Based on the items purchased or pages viewed, chatbots can deliver accurate suggestions, enticing consumers back to your store. You can also use chatbots to send discounts and coupon codes.

Provide Next-Level Personalization

Personalization, sometimes referred to as segmentation, in eCommerce marketing is an effective method for engaging with consumers. Using the available AI technology, eCommerce stores can send personalized emails to people who have visited your store or made a purchase based on how they interacted with the site. For example, abandoned cart emails can remind shoppers about items they left in their carts without completing the transaction.

This may entice people back to the site to finish the purchase. Customers enjoy personalized emails because it feels more tailored to meet their needs and may even result in discount or loyalty program campaigns should you choose to implement these strategies.

Suggest Higher Quality Recommendations

You can take personalization a step further to create a great user experience with recommendations based on consumer information. This type of data provides business owners with more in-depth insight on their target market and, for shoppers, eliminates the process of seeking out products.

In fact, most online consumers enjoy receiving personalized recommendations. The Retail Industry Leader Association found that 63 percent of shoppers are interested in receiving custom product suggestions even if it means providing personal information on their interests and habits.

You can send automated emails with item suggestions or integrate on-site features suggesting similar items to the ones viewed by the consumer or products typically bought along with a specific product.

Improve Retargeting Strategies

Anyone who browses the internet regularly has encountered some type of retargeting marketing. Have you ever researched a particular item only to see it advertised to you later on a different website? This is one of the most common retargeting strategies. Machine learning can utilize data on users’ web searches and product page views to remind them about items they still may be interested in purchasing. You can also implement retargeting strategies in emails rather than across web pages.

Predict Consumer Behavior

User experience is enhanced when businesses understand the wants and needs of their target market. AI technology can provide comprehensive consumer insights allowing a better understanding of how people engage with your brand, including which pages they typically land on when first visiting your site, how much time they spend on pages and which pages they’re on when they either leave the site or make a purchase. The better you understand how your consumer thinks, the better you’ll be able to market to them, making your store a more reliable and easy-to-use shopping outlet.

AI Integration Is Key to a Well-Rounded Marketing Strategy

Keeping up with the many new technologies developed each year is essential to creating a long-lasting business model with a loyal customer base. AI and machine learning capabilities provide eCommerce shop owners with beneficial tools to better understand their customers and construct an exceptional user experience. Combined with a comprehensive SEO and content marketing strategy, AI features like personalized recommendations and chatbots can lead your business to success.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “The Hidden Mystery Behind Using AI to Create Awesome Customer Experience” was first published on Small Business Trends



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3 Ways To Put Your Customers’ Needs First — And Increase Your Profits in the Process

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How to build a brand that thrives when customers succeed.


6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


When my company fails to make a sale I feel sick to my stomach, but not for the reasons you might think.

No, I’m not some greedy businessman, nor some scammy internet marketer living in my parents’ basement. My squirrelly stomach happens because our company, The Feel Good Lab, is centered on helping people. And when they don’t buy, I know that we’ve done them a disservice. We haven’t met their goals.

For modern brands to survive they need to be built around customer goals. Everything else must come second.  

Below are three steps we took to build our company with customers at the center. Plus, the surprising outcomes of doing so.

Step 1: Bridge the gap between “before” and “after.”

Think about your customers and ask yourself what their situation is before they purchase your product and where do they want to be after? Describe what they’re experiencing, thinking, feeling, both before and after your product enters their world. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Now, here’s the trick. Write down everything that’s holding them back from getting from before to after. For us, this revealed dozens of barriers that we could help our community overcome. Here are a couple of examples:

  • Our customers are hesitant to try new products because they feel like they’ve “tried everything.”

  • Our customers often get poor results from pain relief products because they’re not given easy-to-follow education on how to effectively use them.

The list goes on and on. What barriers are holding back your customers from getting from before to after?

Related: 11 Tips on How to Handle Customer Complaints

Step 2: Help customers overcome barriers.

Now, remember that your products are only part of the solution. Because everything you do as a brand should focus on making that path to after faster and easier.

Pin your customers’ barriers on a wall. Stare at them. Analyze them. Use them as inspiration for your next business move, even when it’s not clear how you’ll make money from it right away. The money will come when you’re genuinely helping people overcome what’s holding them back.

For us, this approach has led to dozens of decisions that have made an enormous impact on our business and the rate of success for our customers.

Our “Honest Shot” guarantee is a great example.

It was inspired by the two barriers listed above, that is, hesitation around trying new products and lack of easy-to-follow education. So, we offered folks a deal. Follow our instructions to a tee, and if you don’t feel a reduction in your pain, we’ll give you your money back. And like any fair deal, we considered it a two-way street. We put the burden on ourselves to create instructions that really worked and were simple to follow.

Here’s a challenge for you.

Imagine you were forced to offer a money-back guarantee on your product or service. If that makes you uncomfortable, that’s a signal that you have work to do. It’s time to start thinking of what support, services or education you could provide to make a guarantee that works for both your business and your customers.

Step 3: Make a “no inward-facing decisions” rule.  

For every business decision, we ask ourselves, “How does this benefit our customers?” If it’s a struggle to answer, we don’t do it. Easier said than done, let me tell you.

Want to play a fun game? Ask your CFO that question when they are trying to save some cash by cutting a few corners. (Spoiler alert: it won’t be a fun game.) But continuously having the conversation creates a culture of always putting customers first.

Pretend your customer is sitting beside you whenever you make a decision. How would you transparently explain why you’re about to make that decision? That’s the litmus test for doing good business today.

Related: 5 Customer Service Rules to Boost Your Profit by 18 Percent

A lot of good comes from focusing on helping customers before revenue and profit—not that we don’t care about those things. Here are three surprising outcomes this process has had for us:

Outcome 1: We never have to make hard sells.

When you wholeheartedly build your products and brand with the focus of helping people, there’s no need for any slimy sales pitch. It becomes about sharing what you’ve created because you know it will help. Sure, there’s still work to be done to elegantly show off what you have to offer, but if you do things right, you nor your salespeople will ever have to have that shady feeling of “selling.”

Outcome 2: Generating new ideas is easier.

The more we strive to help our customers, the more unique and exciting our ideas for future products become. Today, we have no shortage of ideas in our pipeline that we’re certain our customers will love and want to buy. Why? Because each idea comes from a deep understanding of what’s really going to help them.

Related: 3 Essentials for Building a Loyal Customer Base

Outcome 3: When our customers win, we win.

At the end of the day, we’re a business. And to grow as a business, we must make a profit. But even when we look at the profit metric we look at it through the lens of helping our customers. Because profit allows us to make more great products, create even better experiences, and reach more people that need some help.

Here’s the funny thing. The more we focus on helping, the more profitable we are becoming.

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Why Can’t Cops Tell Them Apart?

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Both plants are cannabis, but there are some key differences.


4 min read

Opinions expressed by Green Entrepreneur contributors are their own.


Last February, the Idaho State police pulled over a truck carrying 6,701 pounds of hemp and promptly seized it, allegedly claiming it was marijuana. Now the cultivators of that hemp, Big Sky Scientific, are suing the police, the county, and an attorney. If you’ve been following hemp news recently, then you have probably seen a few of these stories surfacing. Cops across the country seem to be mistaking legal industrial hemp with illegal marijuana (at least in some states like Idaho).. 

So what gives? Here’s why cops may keep confusing hemp for marijuana, and how to tell the difference.

Related: 5 Other Uses for Hemp You May Not Know About

The similarities

Before we can talk about why hemp and marijuana are different, let’s talk about how the two plants are similar. Both hemp and marijuana are members of the genus Cannabis. There are three distinct species of Cannabis: Sativa, Indica, and Ruderalis. What we refer to as marijuana belongs in both the Sativa and Indica family. Hemp, on the other hand, is solely a member of the Sativa species.

Both hemp and marijuana have similar smells, and to the untrained eye look very similar. This is especially true if you look at a side-by-side comparison of hemp and marijuana flower.

Here’s a picture of hemp flower:

Image credit: picture alliance | Getty Images

And here’s a picture of marijuana flower:

Image credit: rocksunderwater | Getty Images

The differences

To the untrained eye, hemp and marijuana can look similar, but there are some key differences. Hemp leaves look skinny while marijuana leaves often have a much broader appearance. Additionally, marijuana plants often look like a short bush while hemp plants look tall and skinny with most of the leaves growing at the top. That is not to say that marijuana plants can’t reach tall heights, but even the biggest plant will still have that bushy appearance.

To help give you a better visual, here’s a graphic showing the differences, courtesy of the Ministry of Hemp:

 

 

However, the most significant difference between hemp and marijuana is their chemical composition. Hemp plants contain a variable amount of the compounds CBD and typically less than 1 percent THC. The legal definition of hemp is that it must contain 0.3 percent THC or less, but some hemp plants will go over that percentage. Marijuana, on the other hand, typically contains 5 percent THC or more.

A business opportunity

One reason why cops keep confusing hemp for marijuana comes down to education and training. Ever since the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, hemp and marijuana have legally been considered the same substance. Consequently, law enforcement has never taken the time to learn how to distinguish the two plants; and why would they? If both hemp and marijuana are considered the same plant under the law, why bother learning the difference?

Even though the 2018 Farm Bill changed that legal definition, law enforcement has yet to change with it. Not only are police officers often unable to tell the difference between hemp and marijuana, but the equipment they use to determine marijuana is antiquated. Most roadside marijuana detection kits are designed to detect the mere presence of THC but not the concentration.

At the moment, there is no way for law enforcement to tell the difference between legal hemp and marijuana, but that may soon change. Earlier this year, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a notice that they are seeking companies that can provide test kits capable of telling the difference between hemp and marijuana. With any luck, an enterprising entrepreneur will come up with a device that allows the DEA to quickly resolve the issue and put to rest the long history confusing hemp for marijuana.

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Apply These 10 Clever Techniques to Improve Your Home Office on a Budget

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10 Clever Home Office Ideas on a Budget

More and more Americans work from home. And a growing number of employers recognize the well-being and retention benefits allowing their employees work from home flexibility creates. This creates a high demand for quality, practical and high-functioning home offices.

Home Office Ideas on a Budget

Do you find yourself among the millions of Americans who work from home? And do you want to improve your working environment to help enhance your productivity and creativity levels. Then take a look at the following ten clever home office ideas on a budget.

Give the Walls a Facelift

Don’t stare at dull, uninspiring and monotone walls all day. Because this environment won’t rouse your creativity.

But change the décor of the walls in your home office. Give them a new lick of paint in a bolder color. And choose a new style of wallpaper. Or simply hang up some striking artwork and imagery. Give you home office space an important décor boost. You’ll find this an effective and budget-friendly approach.

Organize Your Desk

A cluttered desk scattered in paperwork, printers, stationery and more, is not conducive with a clear mind and a productive day’s work.

One of the cheapest and easiest ways you can improve your home office environment is to organize your office space and throw away anything that isn’t needed.

Create More Natural Daylight

Research shows that offices with access to daylight can boost workers’ creativity by as much as 15%. If you can’t afford to cut out holes in your home office and install new windows, work on the windows you already have by changing heavy curtains with blinds to let more light in, decluttering the windowsills and, quite simply, giving the glass a good clean.

Hang Mirrors on the Wall

Another clever way to create more natural light in a home office is to hang mirrors on the wall. As well as looking stylish and funky, hanging a mirror opposite a window will mean the light gets bounced around the room, creating a greater sense of natural daylight in the office space to help boost your productivity levels.

Get Creative with Lighting

Of course, home offices can rarely rely on natural daylight alone. Rather than battling on in a dimly-lit space, which can make you feel drained, place bright and quirky lamps on the desk to bathe your workspace in light, without breaking the home office makeover budget.

Make Comfort a Priority with a New Office Chair

If your existing office chair isn’t too comfortable, now’s the time to swop the chair with a comfier alternative. Office chairs range quite significantly on cost but isn’t something you should scrimp on.

Opt for a well-made office chair that helps improve your posture at your desk and has a decent level of padding.

Inject a More Personal Touch into the Space

Whether you’re a one-man band working from home or are part of a small businesses working in a home environment, injecting some personality into your home office that captures the spirit of your business will go a long way in heightening the appeal of the office space.

Whether it’s redecorating the space with the colors of your business’s logo or even creating an accent wall that features your company logo, creating a personal touch in your home office is a cost-effective way to inject greater personality and appeal into the space.

Install a Chalkboard

Chalkboards need not be confined to toddlers’ bedrooms. On the contrary, chalkboards are another clever and inexpensive way to create a practical focal point in your home office that enables you to scribble down notes whilst you’re on a conference call and erase them with ease when they’re not needed any more.

Bring the Outdoors Indoors

Another cheap and clever trick to enhance the look and ambiance of your home office is to place indoors plants around the room.

Similar to natural daylight, the presence of plants in a working space can go a long way in boosting productivity and wellbeing as you work.

Invest in Some Air Freshener

Air freshener definitely won’t break the home office budget and is a quick, immediate and incredibly cheap way to ensure your home office smells nicer and is therefore a more desirable space to work in.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “Apply These 10 Clever Techniques to Improve Your Home Office on a Budget” was first published on Small Business Trends



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Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide

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Why You Must Beat the Small Business Digital Divide

Fast is the new big.

Small and medium sized-businesses (SMBs) already know that agility and responsiveness are often their advantages when competing against larger organizations. Like small fish swimming in an ocean of sharks and whales, what SMBs give up in terms of raw size and power can be made up for with the ability to dart in and out of danger, and move quickly to new areas of opportunity as currents change.

Embracing a fast, flexible business technology infrastructure is a sure sign of an SMB built to thrive in a global economy full of big, established players used to leaving the little fish scrambling to survive in their wake. A global survey of SMBs conducted by Salesforce and research firm  Techaisle found a sort of ‘ digital divide’ in the SMB world. Businesses capitalizing on the cost and speed advantages of cloud computing — including analytics and modular solutions built around core cloud technologies like  CRM — have a leg up on their counterparts when it comes to charting a course towards near- and long term sustainable success.

The four ‘digis’

While you may have first heard the term ‘digital divide’ in the context of education or social equality, in an SMB context the digital divide is defined by four other ‘digis’:

Digitization: The first step in embracing an agile, digital business approach, digitization refers to the process of replacing manual documents and tasks with digital alternatives.

Digitalization: Digitalization builds on digitized assets and tasks, delivering automated processes that streamline existing business practices.

Digital transformation:  Digital transformation refers to the development of net-new business capabilities based on the integration of digitalized processes to “deliver previously unattainable or un-imaginable outcomes.”

Digital business: Digital business isn’t really part of the digitization/digitalization/digital transformation progression. It is a generic term used to describe the application of digital competencies to business objectives.

According to Techaisle’s research, the SMB migration from digitization to digitalization to digital transformation is already underway. A modular approach to digital business built around cloud-based CRM can include marketing automation, cloud-based customer service, analytics, and more. And, no surprise, SMBs on the leading edge of digital business innovation are building significant operational advantages over the ‘have nots’ in the digital divide.

Why it’s smart to dive headlong into digitalization

Techaisle’s research segmented SMBs on the two sides of the digital divide according to digital strategy, cloud maturity, and cloud tactics. The results? You guessed it: The more cloud-native a business is, and the more holistically integrated their digital strategy, the better positioned they are to thrive in the future.

A few highlights:

  • SMBs that are born-in-the-cloud (BITC) and mature cloud adopters are developing business process advantages that will be difficult for even SMBs at an intermediate adoption level to overcome.
  • More than half of the mature/BITC group has reduced IT costs, as compared with just 5% of intermediate adopters, and that the advanced group is more than five times as likely to have reduced business process costs as their digital laggard counterparts.
  • The mature/BITC group is also about twice as likely as the intermediate users to have improved employee productivity and business agility.
  • Overall, SMBs using a holistic approach to digitalization are 52% more likely to reap the seven key benefits explored in the survey – increased revenue, improved profitability, better customer satisfaction and retention, increased sales reach, increased market share, improved upsell/cross-sell, and improved brand image – than firms in the inclusive or siloed categories.

These and other key findings from Techaisle’s research illustrate the advantages of SMBs going all-in on digitalization initiatives. Dipping a toe in the water isn’t enough when it comes to digitalization: leaders reap tangible business benefits, while laggards get lost in the digital divide.

Techaisle’s white paper,  Eat or Be Eaten: Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide explores how leading SMBs are building agile business strategies around  CRM,  marketing automation,  customer service, analytics, and more, to adapt to new opportunities and grow their businesses. The white paper addresses common concerns and challenges faced by SMBs considering a move to the cloud, and illustrates best practices and real-world outcomes associated with digitalization strategies.

Download the white paper and learn more about making holistic digitalization strategies a part of your SMB.

Republished by permission. Original here.

Photo via Salesforce

This article, “Why SMBs Must Beat the Digital Divide” was first published on Small Business Trends



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10 Sleep Hacks to Ensure Eight Glorious Hours of Shut-Eye

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An investment in sleep is an investment in yourself.


8 min read

Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.


There’s no rest for the weary — and that’s truer than ever in the present day. It seems everyone is fiending for a good night’s rest. If you’ve relegated great sleep to your bucket list, don’t fret: we’ve got you covered with 10 handy sleep hacks below. 

Besides our top picks for each category, we’ve also thrown in a couple of alternatives, in case you’re hankering for some variety.

10. Pillows 

Our Choice: Coop Home Goods – Eden Shredded Memory Foam Pillow

The Eden Shredded Memory Foam Pillow features breathable fabric plus cooling memory foam, which means sweaty bed head will no longer plague you. It’s calibrated for maximum support and comfort, and the secret is in its construction: the foam is shredded into cross-cut pieces and blended with poly fibers, which eliminates clumping and increases airflow. Bonus points for customizability: you can open the pillow up to add or remove as much memory foam as you’d like.

You can now get this premium pillow for $79.99.

Alternatives:

9. Sleep Mask

Our Choice: Alaska Bear Natural Silk Sleep Mask

This sleep mask is a pure luxury: it’s made of 100% top-quality silk sewn on both sides. It’s breathable and silky smooth, plus hypoallergenic to boot (perfect for anyone with skin sensitivities or allergies). Easily adjust the tangle-free headband, keep it in place thanks to the snug adjuster, and you’re set for the night. Bonus points: this mask boasts the coveted Amazon’s Choice distinction, on top of a 4.5 out of 5-star rating with 10,000+ customer reviews.

It’s just $9.99 right now, and you can choose from 13 color options.

Alternatives:

8. Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock by Philips

Our Choice: Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock with Sunrise Simulation

Clocking in with a light intensity of 200 lux, this lamp is clinically proven to boost your sleep quality and well-being. The secret is its natural light alarm, which is designed to mimic the sunrise — gently rousing you from bed. Other goodies include a snooze function and ten brightness settings, and the 90-day money back guarantee from Philips doesn’t hurt, either.

This alarm clock normally retails for $49.99, but you can grab it now for just $42.50 (or buy it open box for $38.13).

Alternatives: 

7. White Noise Sound Machine

Our Choice: Big Red Rooster White Noise Machine

If noise is the biggest factor in your sleep quality, here’s an easy way to ensure uninterrupted sleep. This portable white noise machine is perfect for easy usability, boasting six natural sleep sounds — rain, brook, ocean, etc. — that work to mask distracting background noises. Before hopping into bed, set the timer for 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Oh, and this is an Amazon’s Choice product with 4.2 stars out of 5 from a whopping 7,890 reviews.

The Big Red Rooster is valued at $29.99, but you can get it for just $19.99.

Alternatives:

6. Memory Foam Mattress

Our Choice: Leesa Multilayer Foam Mattress

Not all mattresses are created equal, and this multilayer foam mattress from Lessa proves it. It’s designed to cool, contour, support, and relieve pressure — giving you the sensation of sleeping on air. Tons of publications have given it the number one mattress distinction, including Wirecutter and Apartment Therapy. Trying it out is risk-free, too: shoppers can take advantage of a 100-night trial, plus free shipping and returns.

Choose from two affordable payment options: pay $845 upfront for it or just $47/month with the payment plan.

Alternatives:

5. Bed Sheets

Our Choice: L.L.Bean 280-Thread-Count Pima Cotton Percale Sheet Set

These high-quality bed sheets are woven from long-staple Pima cotton yams, imbuing them with a silky smooth touch for optimal sleeping comfort. In each set, you’ll get a flat sheet, fitted sheet, and two pillowcases (note: the twin set includes one pillowcase). Choose from one of eight easy-to-coordinate colors, and as an added bonus — take advantage of free shipping.

These start at $109 for a Twin set, and Full, Queen, and King options are available as well.

Alternatives:

4. Essential Oil Diffuser

Our Choice: URPOWER Essential Oil Diffuser

This handy diffuser is an easy way to keep the air in your bedroom moist and comfortable for optimal sleeping conditions. It operates quietly, produces scented mist to eliminate dryness, and automatically shuts off when it runs out of water. Plus, it comes with a groovy seven-color lamp feature. The ratings don’t lie: not only is it an Amazon’s Choice product, but it also boasts 4.5 stars out of 5 with over 31,800(!) reviews.

It’s normally listed at $24.99, but you can grab it for just $15.99 today — and choose from one of four colors.

Alternatives:

3. Blackout Drapes 

Our Choice: NiceTOWN Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtains

These two-panel, wrinkle-free blackout curtains are designed to shut out any sunlight that might prematurely rouse you in the early dawn (or during a midday nap). They’ll shut out up to 99% of all light and UV rays, insulate beautifully against heat and chill alike and reduce external noise with their built-in triple weave technology. Choose from one of 17 color options, and if you’re serious about light reduction — we recommend selecting one of the dark color curtains.

You can snag one for just $18.99.

Alternatives: 

2. Mattress Topper

Our Choice: Linenspa 2-Inch Gel-Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper

Not looking to replace your bed, but want to make it more comfortable? This two-inch thick gel memory foam mattress topper is a great solution. It’s infused with gel material designed to prevent overheating, and the memory foam is designed for even weight distribution — conforming to curves and alleviating pressure points that might distract from a full night’s sleep. 

You can get this premium mattress topper for $56.99 for the Queen size, or choose from the Twin, Twin XL, Full, King, and California King size options.

Alternatives:

1. Humidifier

Our Choice: Honeywell HCM350W Mist Humidifier

This humidifier not only adds cool moisture to dry air: it utilizes UV technology to kill 99.9% of all bacteria in the water. Its proprietary Evaporative Technology works by blowing moisture off a wicking filter, eliminating the risk of over-humidifying. It’s an easy way to keep humidity levels in your home in the optimal 40-60% levels — especially perfect when you’re trying to get some shuteye in dry weather, during allergy season, or when you’re sick.

You can get this humidifer for $63.99 right now — or if you prefer, buy it used for $50.11.

Alternatives:

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3 Effective Ways Machine Learning Improves Your Bottom Line

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3 Machine Learning Benefits

Your business operates under a rock on an isolated island in the South Pacific. So you know artificial intelligence (AI) is the big thing today. AI assists consumers in their day-to-day activities with or without their knowledge. Consider services like voice assistance, online shopping, content streaming, and even texting.

Machine learning (ML) is an application of AI. It gives machines the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience. And this happens without the need for previous programming. This makes AI and ML services very lucrative. And many reputable certifications and learning materials exist to get you started.

Over 50 years have passed since the term “Machine Learning” was first coined. And today businesses big and small get crack at the technology. Early adopters of AI reap appreciable results. Benefits include increased efficiency, cost reduction, revenue growth and more.

And yet, less than 30% of businesses and organizations incorporate AI in their business model. You’ll find many potential upsides of the AI revolution. So don’t let your business fall behind.

Machine Learning Benefits

Start to appreciate just how big a boon machine learning can be for your business. Check out three key benefits of ML for you to chew over.

Improves User Experience

It doesn’t matter whether you run an e-commerce store, a SaaS startup, or a design/marketing agency. User experience (UX) remains one of the most crucial factors to success. Do visitors are finding it difficult to navigate your virtual property? They won’t hesitate for an instant to leave and head elsewhere.

Netflix found customers give up after searching for a movie for more than 90 seconds. So the company uses machine learning to improve search results. And Netflix averts user frustration and customer churn. The company also saves $1 billion a year in potential lost revenue.

Amazon uses machine learning to provide highly relevant product recommendations based on the user’s purchase history, ultimately resulting in a pleasant and personalized online shopping experience.

So, basically, while users are browsing your website, you can use machine learning to provide them with personalized purchase recommendations based on their browsing history and previous orders. Furthermore, you can also offer discounts and special offers to returning customers to build loyalty and positive word of mouth.

Apart from personalization, machine learning also serves as the most efficient way to build chatbots – which are becoming more of a necessity for serious businesses than a mere good-to-have feature. Why? More than 53% of customers prefer to use online chat when they need assistance over calling.

Having a chatbot on your website can assist your customer service team by being the first responder to your customer’s inquiries. Chatbots can also help your customer service team by pointing users to various parts of your website, saving time and allowing your team to deal with more important tasks required to move users further down the conversion funnel.

Chatbots built using machine learning are far superior to rule-based ones, and serve to enrich the user experience and make a lasting good impression.

Automates Routine Tasks

For small businesses, every hour saved is a big win. Streamlining operations to make them more time-efficient is a big challenge for businesses.

Automating mundane tasks is the first step to streamlining your business operations. It would free up a lot of time for you and your team to focus on core, productive tasks instead of routine drudgery.

So, tedious tasks such as creating appointment reminders, responding to email, and sending invoices can all be automated effectively using machine learning.

Facilitates Smart Marketing

Marketing has gone fully digital. As discussed, website personalization and chatbots play a big role in determining your business’s user experience.

Now, when you consider the bigger picture of digital marketing for establishing your brand value, many constituents come into play.

For example, email marketing is still huge — it has one of the highest return-on-investment (ROI) at $38 for every $1 spent. Automating email marketing using tools like MailChimp is a great way to make AI work for you. Such automation allows you to create emails get sent automatically when triggered by a subscriber’s activity, inactivity, or a specific date like birthday or anniversary.

Essentially, if a subscriber takes a certain action, a machine-learned response is triggered, and so on down the line until the customer (hopefully) converts.

Next, you can also use machine learning to monitor and manage your business’s social media profiles quite effectively.

Machine learning actually plays a momentous role in modern digital marketing campaigns, from sentiment analysis and split testing to customer retargeting and predicting customer churn. Read this fantastic post to learn more about how machine learning is revamping digital marketing.

Final Words

Of course, implementing machine learning for your business is not exactly going to be a walk in the park. Sure, there are plenty of plug-and-play solutions to website personalization, automation, chatbots, and email marketing. But you’ll either need to hire a bunch of developers or learn how to do it yourself if you truly want to develop a customized solution tailored perfectly for your brand.

In the end, whether you like it or not, AI is here to shake things up in the business world, and it’s better to hop on board sooner rather than later.

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “3 Effective Ways Machine Learning Improves Your Bottom Line” was first published on Small Business Trends



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How to Start a Successful Online Business with Little to No Investment

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We all know the story about the guy who woke up one day, got a really cool idea, and started a successful online business from his basement. For example, Apple, Amazon and Google come to mind.

Live Your Dream Life with a Successful Online Business

Nowadays, in this fast-changing digital environment in which we can’t imagine a day without the Internet and social media, starting a successful online business seems more possible than ever. You don’t need advanced technology, a big team, or expensive resources to offer a service or a product that will find its way to customers all around the globe.

Moreover, as more and more people work remotely and use online services no matter where they are located, online business is something you should definitely consider as your next career stop. Plus, this kind of business will allow you to join a constantly growing community of digital nomads who live their dream lives while traveling the world.

If you believe that you need a large amount of money or a huge investment to launch a successful online business, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Instead, a good Internet connection, a computer, and an original idea are all you need to start.

The Internet is full of free resources, platforms, and tools you can use to turn your idea into a successful business story. For example, you can start a website or a blog for free. Or, sell any kind of products via Amazon or eBay with no inventory costs. Now, let’s take a look at a few online businesses you can start with little to no investment.

Have You Considered Drop Shipping?

No matter where you live or what kind of product you want to buy, you can do it without leaving your couch. What’s more, it takes only a single click.

In the last couple of years, traditional shopping as we once knew it has been redefined. Customers now use eCommerce platforms to order products that are delivered straight to their doorstep. This change brought drop shipping to the scene.

Basically, drop shipping is a retail method where a store doesn’t keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a customer orders a product, the store purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped to the customer. This means that the merchant will never see or stock the product.

How Can You Use This Mechanism for Starting Your Own Drop Shipping Business?

First, list products for sale on your website or well-known platforms like Amazon, eBay, or Etsy. Then, when one of your customers makes a purchase, you buy that product from a third-party company for a price that’s lower than your sale price. Finally, your drop shipper (a manufacturer or wholesaler) sends the product to the customer.

The great thing about this process is that it can be completely automated. Therefore, you have plenty of time to focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing.

If you find yourself considering this business option, do your best to find a reliable drop shipper. This is how you will make sure the product is delivered on time and that it fits your customer’s expectations. As you can see, drop shipping can easily become a successful online business.

Try Your Hand at Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be another great opportunity to create a successful online business with zero investment.

In short, affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another person’s or company’s product. As an affiliate, you promote a product and earn a piece of the profit whenever you help make a sale.

If you find this interesting, you can start by picking a profitable niche for your online business. Then, find an affiliate partner who offers products in that niche. Each product will have a unique link that tracks back to your account with your affiliate partner.

Thereafter, it will be your job to come up with creative ways to promote those product links. When a customer clicks on a link, they’re taken directly to your partner’s shopping cart. And once the purchase is made, you receive a commission.

It Requires No Shipping or Inventory

To successfully run this type of online business all you have to do is to handle the marketing to get your prospects to buy. You can spread the word via social media, email marketing, or blogging. The best part is that you don’t have to ship products or maintain an inventory. Also, if you don’t know where to find affiliate partners, start with Clickbank.com, Amazon.com or CJ Affiliate by Conversant.

Have You Ever Thought About Blogging?

Have a passion
for writing? Want to share your knowledge while earning money? A personal
blog is a great place to start. What’s more, blogging can lead, in time, to a
successful online business with little investment.

For example, with the WordPress platform you can start up your blog for free in no time. Simply choose your domain, secure hosting, and select your niche. Then, just start writing.

Here are a few things you should keep in mind if you want to monetize your blogging.

High-quality
written content is just the beginning. Also post photos, videos, or links to
other sites. The important part is to post on a regular basis and to create the type of content that is relevant to your target audience. This is the
best way to position better on Google and drive more traffic to your
blog.

Pair Blogging with PPC Ads and Affiliate Marketing to Generate Income

One proven
method for making money with a blog is advertising.
Pay-per-click ads are great options for a reason. Every time somebody clicks on
an ad on your site, you will make a few cents or more. While that might
not seem like much, it can accumulate over time. Just
get a code from Google and place it on your website. Then ads will
automatically appear on your blog.

Affiliate marketing is also a great option for bloggers. Simply include links to products related to your niche and wait for somebody to buy them. Before you know it, your commission will be on its way to you.

One way of getting people to click on your affiliate links is by writing product reviews. Let your readers know all the benefits of a specific product and then include a link to purchase it.

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO USE INFLUENCER MARKETING TO BOOST YOUR BRAND

This is how many influencers earn a living: They collaborate with big brands. Doesn’t this sound like a really cool way to have a successful online business?

successful online business 2

Creative Types Do Well with Online Videos

There’s a reason why video continues to be one of the most popular forms of content. Statistics say that 78% of people watch online videos every week. What’s more, 55% view them every day. As a matter of fact, by 2022, videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. This all means that videos are no longer simply a nice content option; they are a necessity. So, why not use this momentum? You could earn cash by creating original video content.

Thanks to platforms like YouTube, you don’t need any major investments to get started with this type of successful online business. Just find the niche in which you can share useful tips, knowledge, or any kind of advice.

Work on your concept and get good with storytelling. Finally, start uploading videos. Once you’ve got a good channel going, you can start making money with ad revenue. Simply enable monetization in your YouTube settings to let Google include short AdSense ads with your videos. Whenever your viewers click on these ads, you will get paid.

You Could Attract Paid Sponsorships

Another way of earning money with videos is through paid sponsorships. If you have a large enough community watching your videos, there will surely be some companies ready to pay you to promote their products and services in your videos. However, before you start down the path toward YouTube stardom, here are some tips for creating professional-looking videos.

  1. Always make sure the lighting is good and the camera or smartphone you use has good resolution.
  2. Make sure your audio is clear. The best way of ensuring good audio quality is by using a separate microphone (not the one on your camera or smartphone).
  3. Edit your videos after filming. Cut out any excess material. Also, include titles, calls to action, and so on.

Build a Successful Online Business Around Information Products

A successful online business doesn’t have to be only about selling physical products. Instead, you can focus on digital information products. For instance, could you create tutorials, courses, and the like?

While making a quality information product generally costs next to nothing, it does take time and knowledge. But if you feel like you have talents and skills worth sharing, why not give it a try? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

  • Audio: a recorded teleconference, interview, course, or audiobook
  • Video: a recorded webinar, a how-to, an interview, tutorials, presentations
  • Text: an eBook, an instruction booklet of some sort, a travel guide

No matter what kind of content you want to create, keep it engaging and useful. This is how you can make sure its popularity will grow and it will find its way to new customers.

Take Advantage of Endless Opportunities to Start a Successful Online Business

There are tons of opportunities for making money on the Internet. And thanks to all the free platforms and resources available, you can launch an online business with minimal upfront investment.

While it requires lots of time and effort, becoming a successful entrepreneur is far from impossible these days. Now it’s up to you to choose the approach that best fits your skills and personality. We wish you the best of luck with creating your successful online business!


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How to Become a Professional Fortnite Player

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Pro gamer Nick ‘Marksman’ Overton explains how to make money and have fun as he prepares for the Newegg + CLG Fortnite Challenge.


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Did your parents ever tell that video games would rot your brain? Did they also mention that video games could also make you fabulously wealthy?

Nick Overton makes a killing, literally and figuratively, as a professional Fortnite player. Last year, the 27 year old from Iowa better known in gaming circles as “Marksman” left a long trail of dead digital competitors in his wake — and made $500,000 in the process.

Entrepreneur caught up with the sharp-eyed assassin in advance of his appearance with other members of his esports team Counter Logic Gaming at the Newegg + CLG Fortnite Challenge, a Fortnite event being held at The Hulu Theater at MSG in New York City on April 24. The event, free to the public, will feature pro players, celebrities and amateurs putting their skills on full display. One lucky fan will have the chance to take home a “Game Like a Pro” package. (Get free tix here.)

Read on to learn what Marksman says it takes to become a professional gamer (spoiler alert: lots and lots of practice) and the unexpected obstacle that nearly derailed his career before it even started.

How do people react when you tell them that you are a professional video game player?

Usually, they’re intrigued. They’ve either heard of people who play games for a living or they’ve never heard of it and have no idea it could be done. Those people are usually in the older crowd, and question why anyone would want to watch someone else play a video game.

Were your family and friends supportive?

My friends were always cool with what I did since I kept it as a hobby for a long time before it ever became my job/career. My parents were a different story. They hated that I played so many games when I was younger. They’d take my controller/power chord from me and hold it ransom all the time. They did it enough times that when I was 12, my Dad took my Xbox and all the games and sold it on Craigslist while I was at school. I got home and didn’t have any gaming console anymore.

Related: The ‘Fortnite’ dance lawsuits are close to falling apart

Ouch! They’re probably not doing that anymore. How much money can a professional player expect to make a year?

This number fluctuates a lot! You have professional players in some games making around $20,000-$30,000 a year, while pros in some other higher-priority games make millions. It really boils down to how good you are, what game you’re competing in, and do you stream or create monetizable content in any way.

Where does that money come from? Prizes, advertising, sponsorship?

Money comes from a lot of different sources. You generate income from tournament winnings, sponsors, advertising played over your stream or YouTube videos, channel subscriptions on Twitch and fans who donate to say thank you for the content you provide.

What kind of training does it require? Are you playing for hours every day?

If you want to get really good at anything, it requires practice. Most pro players in Fortnite play for 5-10 hours a day consistently. Not all of that time is dedicated to hardcore practice, but a fair amount is. They need to practice their mechanical skills and decision making while playing. The best way to do that is to put yourselves into as many situations as possible and try different things to see what works best. The game is consistently updated though, so what works today may not work tomorrow.

Related: The CEO Behind ‘Fortnite’ Is Now Worth More Than $7 Billion

What first steps should someone who wants to be a pro gamer take? How do you break into this field?

This is one of the easiest and most difficult jobs to get into. Here’s why: pretty much anyone can become a pro in a game they love to play. It doesn’t take years of schooling to start, it doesn’t take a ton of upfront capital to get into. It’s very open and easily accessible. But it is very difficult to be in the top .0001% of players worldwide. That goes for almost every game. You have to play a crazy amount and really try to improve and win.

How do you explain Fortnite‘s insane popularity?

There’s a lot of reasons Fortnite has become successful. The game is pretty well made in comparison to its competition of other Battle Royales. It’s completely free to download and play, available on basically every platform, and it’s catered to kids and adults. It’s a shooting game but, there’s no blood or gory deaths in it. It also brought something new to the Battle Royale genre which was the building aspect, where you could create your own cover. It adds a lot of strategy and skill into the game where other Battle Royale games were mainly just about your aim and positioning.

Related: 3 Things Every Business Leader Should Know About Esports

How did you go about building your personal brand? What did you do to separate yourself from other players?

I spent years creating content on YouTube and live streaming gameplay to help grow my own brand and channels. I always tried to separate myself by showing high-end gameplay with informative content to help others improve. Then I added in a lot of funny content to add some diversity. I’ve always tried to do stuff that others aren’t doing to attract people though. Using interesting strategies, combinations of weapons or doing crazy plays that people would almost never be able to pull off. That’s helped to draw people in and keep them around.

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