نوشته ها در دسته بندی: بازاریابی ویروسی

Market research tools have used machine learning for years, mostly for enterprise companies. But AI is now accessible for any business to study competing brands, market gaps, and more.

Here are four AI platforms for competitor research.

ChatGPT, Gemini

To test, I used paid versions of Gemini and ChatGPT. My prompt for both was:

I own a domain registrar and hosting business. My competitor is GoDaddy. Research this competitor and tell me the biggest pain points of its customers and how those points are opportunities for me. Return results in a table format: pain point => opportunity.

The results were similar from both platforms. I have reproduced the tables for this article.

ChatGPT quoted and linked to its sources:

Gemini provided no sources, but it did cite GoDaddy’s “Aggressive upselling techniques,” which, in my experience, is a frequent complaint. It also offered an option to export the table as a Google Sheet.

IdeaApe

IdeaApe analyzes the online sentiment of any keyword or brand and uses AI to return a detailed description of:

• Buyer personas,
• Pain points for each persona.
• Business opportunities based on the pain points.

In my testing, IdeaApe relied on Reddit, a known channel for discovering and verifying new business ideas.

IdeaApe doesn’t offer a free trial, so I tested it with the fashion brand Zara, one of the demo searches: “What’s annoying with the brand Zara?” IdeaApe produced multiple buyer personas, pain points, and opportunities.

Here are the results for “Ethical Shopper” and “Quality-Conscious Consumer” personas:

Ethical Shopper

• Pain Point 1: Concerned about Zara’s unethical practices, including exploitation of labor and support of controversial political actions, which conflict with their values.

• Pain Point 2: Frustrated by Zara’s environmental impact and the social injustice perpetuated by fast fashion, seeking more sustainable and ethical alternatives.

• Opportunity: Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Line. Launching a dedicated line that focuses on sustainable materials, ethical labor practices, and transparency in the supply chain would directly address the concerns of both the Ethical Shopper and the Socially Conscious Youth. This initiative could include partnerships with ethical brands, certifications to validate claims, and detailed product backstories to ensure customers feel aligned with their values when purchasing.

Quality-Conscious Consumer

• Pain Point 1: Disappointed by the poor quality of Zara’s products, including issues with construction, materials, and durability, leading to a waste of money.

• Pain Point 2: Annoyed by the inconsistency in Zara’s sizing, making online shopping difficult and often resulting in the need for returns or exchanges.

• Opportunity: Quality Assurance Program with Price Matching. Implementing a quality assurance program that guarantees the durability and longevity of products can address the concerns of the Quality-Conscious Consumer. Coupling this with a price-matching policy can also appeal to the Budget-Friendly Shopper, ensuring they feel they are getting the best value for their money. This dual approach would encourage trust and loyalty among customers who prioritize both quality and affordability.

Overall, IdeaApe’s findings were helpful but generic and obvious. It listed the Reddit threads used for the research, although not beside each pain point, which complicated the verification.

Pricing for IdeaApe starts at $24 per month for 50 searches.

Kompyte

Kompyte is a monitoring platform that tracks competitors’ reviews, on-site content, social media, ads, job postings, and more. The tool then uses AI to generate action items and business opportunities.

The platform is helpful for starting a business or keeping an eye on competing companies. (Crayon is a similar technology.)

Kompyte doesn’t offer a free trial. It reveals pricing only after watching a demo.

Data-driven customer segments enable brands to personalize marketing campaigns, improving engagement and conversions.

Yet first-party data remains an underutilized marketing asset of ecommerce companies. Most focus their promotional efforts on email, SMS, and even direct mail, missing the opportunity to use their data in advertising.

My company manages paid media for big and small companies. We see performance lifts of 25% or more from targeted segments versus a broader audience.

Here are 10 segments to jumpstart your ecommerce ad performance.

Advertising campaigns are more productive when targeted to customer segments.

Ecommerce Ad Segments

The larger the customer list, the more complex the segmentation. The number of segments depends on the company, the budget, and available creative messaging.

All customers

Start with the broadest audience: all purchasers. Remarket to them with product launches or sales, and exclude this segment from customer acquisition campaigns.

Top customers

Repeat customers make or break most ecommerce businesses. Creating a top customer segment — e.g., frequency of purchases, the time between purchases, total value — helps focus on those essential buyers.

Sale and non-sale purchasers

Sale purchasers are prospects for flash promotions and discount campaigns. Excluding non-sale purchasers helps maintain their full-price purchasing behaviors.

Gift purchasers

A checkout flow should include the option of marking the purchase as a “gift” or adding a gift message. It improves the customer experience and facilitates a gift purchaser segment. That audience becomes valuable during gifting holidays such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and the Q4 season.

Category purchasers

Category segments enable new-product campaigns and cross-sells. A customer who purchases from Category A is likely interested in those new or related products. Create messaging and campaigns to capitalize on that preference.

Unengaged purchasers

Lapsed or unengaged customers are another worthwhile segment. Use paid media to re-engage these buyers and reach them through a channel other than your own email solicitations.

Peak-season buyers

Brands with peak selling seasons beyond Q4 should create segments of customers who purchased during those periods. Timely targeting of those buyers often produces high ROAS.

Q4 customers

Most consumer brands depend on Q4 sales. Create a segment dedicated to those customers and message appropriately to maximize your impact.

Likely to purchase within x days

Predictive platforms such as Klaviyo, Bloomreach, and others can identify buyers who are “likely to purchase.” Create this segment and test various timeframes to avoid advertising to customers who would have purchased anyway.

Likely to have high AOV

Predictive platforms can also anticipate “high average order value” buyers. These segments can be lucrative and are worth testing.

Getting Started

To start, download customer segment lists from your ecommerce platform and upload them to Meta, Google, or other ad channels. Email addresses are required, and first name, last name, country, and postal code are helpful. Some platforms sync directly to ad channels. Klaviyo, for example, integrates with Meta and Google.

Next, activate campaigns that target these customers. In my experience, brands with extensive customer lists do not require look-a-like campaigns. With enough data, ad platforms can target broad-reach audiences as well or better.

Customize ad creative and messaging to the segment. If you’re trying to reach gift purchasers, for example, consider ads showcasing common gift products with dynamic gifting prices.

The global sporting goods industry will grow at a compound rate of 7% through 2027. That’s according to “Time to move: Sporting goods 2024,” a January 2024 report by McKinsey & Company.

The report foresees optimism by sporting goods industry leaders in 2024, coming off an uneven, inflationary 2023. McKinsey suggests caution, however, owing to shifting consumer preferences and sustainability concerns.

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The study addresses shifting consumer preferences from traditional organized sports to individual varieties such as pickleball (159% growth from 2019 to 2022) and off-course golf (57% growth during the same period).

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Challenges to the global supply chain continue. The McKinsey study included the results of its 2023 survey of worldwide supply chain leaders. Most are implementing renewed planning and resilience measures to counter supply uncertainties.

Internal linking is crucial for search engine optimization. It helps Google discover all pages on a site and assign value to each. The more links to a page, the more important it is.

A site’s structure produces internal links. Examples include navigation, footers, “related articles,” and “related products.”

However, the most impactful links are “contextual” because Google looks at the surrounding context to assign relevancy signals. A link in the body of this article is contextual.

Contextual links are hard to scale, especially for sites with thousands of pages, but AI technology can help. AI can spot phrase variations and synonyms to identify relevant pages.

Here are three AI-powered internal linking tools.

LinkWhisper

LinkWhisper

LinkWhisper is a WordPress plugin and Shopify app that analyzes contextual links (internal and external), identifies pages with zero or too few inbound links, and suggests where to add links. The tool focuses on contextual links only, ignoring those in navigation, widgets, and sidebars.

The report is also helpful for identifying broken and orphaned pages — those with no inbound internal links (accessible via external links or sitemaps).

LinkWhisper suggests relevant internal links while in the WordPress editor. It’s a handy reminder. The tool can additionally recommend internal links to a list of pages.

Pricing for LinkWhisper starts at $97 for a one-time WordPress license or $7 per month for the Shopify app with a 7-day trial.

LinkActions

LinkActions

LinkActions connects to Search Console to analyze a site’s structure and provide internal linking suggestions. It can also add internal links automatically. Just paste the LinkActions code snippet in your site’s header and enable internal link insertions.

Pricing for LinkActions starts at $64 per month for up to three sites and 1,500 pages. The free trial includes a limited report with no automation.

LinkStorm

LinkStorm

LinkStorm crawls a site and reveals:

• Immediate internal linking opportunities based on the content,
• Additional copy for each article to increase linking opportunities based on the semantic similarity of the two posts.

It also cites the optimal number of internal links for each page and shows where to place a link on the page and the preferred anchor. It does not automatically add the link, however.

LinkStorm costs $30 per month for 1,000 pages across unlimited sites. A free trial is available.

BGR is a media site covering consumer technology such as games and devices. Jonathan Geller launched the company in 2006 and sold it to Penske Media in 2010. He remains its president and general manager.

The site has long relied on organic search traffic, which it monetizes with advertising and affiliate commissions. But the tsunami of low-grade AI content has upended search rankings and thus BGR’s business.

He and I recently spoke. We addressed the future of search engines, the importance of branding, and more. The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Give us a rundown of who you are.

Jonathan Geller: I founded a site in 2006 called Boy Genius Report. We’re a tech-focused media company covering consumer gadgets, games, and entertainment. Penske Media acquired us in 2010, and we’re now known as BGR. I’ve been running it since then as president and general manager.

Penske is a collection of media brands and businesses that include Variety, Rolling Stone, Robb Report, South by Southwest, Golden Globes, New Year’s Eve Dick Clark Productions, Billboard, and more.

Working with Penske has been amazing. Selling was a huge decision, although for me it wasn’t an exit. Penske told me, “Sell your business, come on board, and let’s run this together — build it and grow it.”

My journey with Penske in the ever-changing media landscape has been incredible. I’m having fun.

Bandholz: Ecommerce is hard, but it seems media is getting slaughtered.

Geller: Everyone’s feeling it. It’s challenging for many digital publishers. BGR is digital — a website monetized through ads and affiliate revenue. Other businesses in the Penske portfolio have revenue alternatives such as events and subscriptions. Some still do print and licensing.

The last year or two has produced 10 times the change as the decade before. We’re in the age of AI and spammy, low-quality content, and it’s insanely challenging. No one has any idea what the future looks like. Google’s CEO has no idea what this will look like in two years, and neither do the CEOs of Microsoft and OpenAI. Everyone can guess, but no one knows with certainty. We’re in the interim, trying to make the best assumptions and forecasts.

Bandholz: AI content has swamped Google and other search engines.

Geller: It’s a crazy turbulent period. AI went from 0 to 100 overnight. But that’s starting to simmer down. I think search engines will normalize. We’ve all regarded Google as a preeminent technology company. The last 18 months have seen a tsunami of AI-generated content and a ton of black hat SEO. Folks are trying to take advantage of the algorithm, throwing up content. And it’s working. They’re ranking, getting traffic, and monetizing it.

Google launched its latest core algorithm update a few weeks ago. Its primary goal is “tackling spammy, low-quality content.” Hopefully it resets organic rankings in a good way.

But over the next couple of years, having a strong branded search presence will be essential for sites dependent on organic traffic. Shoppers query your company name because they want to access your site directly, which also signals to Google that your brand has authority and satisfies search intent.

Bandholz: Google is lost. Organic search rarely produces meaningful results.

Geller: Media sites see the same thing. Search results are advertising-focused. The optimist in me says that this will reset. Google is making changes. There’s a new head of search — the previous person came from the ad side. Hopefully, it means the results are more organic-centric. But, to be sure, the broad direction is pay-to-play.

Google has long been a huge traffic driver, but so have Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, NewsBreak, and SmartNews. You might not have heard of some of those platforms, but they offer scale and traffic. At some point, there will probably be a traffic alternative to Google. Until then, capturing visitors from organic search will be very challenging.

So from a merchant perspective, publishing content to rank organically is increasingly difficult. But authentic content that speaks to your audience remains worthwhile. It’s another reason for folks to visit your site. But, again, optimizing keywords via, say, Semrush or Ahrefs is a much harder strategy.

I see Google’s ad products growing significantly with broad keyword match, Performance Max campaigns, and getting rid of cookies. Unfortunately, we’re in a black box organically.

Bandholz: Where can folks find you?

Geller: Our site is Bgr.com. I’m @boygenius on X and @jonathangeller on LinkedIn.

A robust email list could be an ecommerce business’s best investment. Depending on the survey, email marketing returns as much as $40 for every $1 invested in 2024. The challenge is acquiring and retaining subscribers.

Fortunately, a simple change in perspective can unlock growth.

Many merchants offer a discount — typically 10 to 15% — to encourage signups but then engage subscribers solely with more deals and offers. The merchants train subscribers to buy only when items are on sale.

What would happen if those merchants — retailers, wholesalers, direct-to-consumer brands — approached email marketing like social media?

Content Marketing

Editorial emails are a content marketing tactic for attracting, engaging, and retaining customers. Including tips, instructions, and advice expands email from promotional to informative, giving prospects new reasons to subscribe, engage, and buy.

The process is similar to social media marketing and goes something like this:

• Create a compelling and product-relevant editorial newsletter.
• Attract subscribers.
• Include products in each newsletter.
• Optimize for sales.

Content

Step one is to create compelling content related to the products your business sells.

Take Masterbuilt as an example. The company’s products are grills and smokers. Its content and social media marketing focus on recipes — the product and the content work together.

Masterbuilt posts recipes on TikTok (shown here) as well as Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Masterbuild would require little additional effort to produce a grilling newsletter. It could bundle several of its recipes into a weekly round-up.

The approach is a proven winner. Consider these five email recipe newsletters and their reported subscriber counts in March 2024.

Subscribers

The next step is to attract subscribers. Social media algorithms show posts to like-minded users who might follow your business.

But many social media marketers also boost those posts via advertising. Something similar exists for editorial newsletters. Let’s consider four subscriber growth drivers.

Organic recommendations. Substack, which blends editorial newsletters with social media features, was among the first to offer organic recommendations. When someone subscribes to an editorial newsletter, the platform suggests others.

For example, “The Real Heroes of Ecommerce” is a newsletter on Substack from marketer Jason Shepherd. Subscribing to that newsletter produces Shepard’s recommendation of “The Human Voice.”

The author of “The Real Heroes of Ecommerce” recommends “The Human Voice.” Both are on Substack.

Paid recommendations. Newsletter publishers can acquire subscribers for about $3 each via Sparkloop, ReferralHero, and others. Recommendations are available only for editorial newsletters, not marketing.

Paid growth. Several newsletter growth businesses have emerged. These agencies — Email Crush, Paperboy Studios, GrowthLetter — place ads in various channels to attract subscribers.

Blog and forms. Let’s not forget your company’s blog and web forms. Double down on promoting newsletters.

Include Products

An editorial email must be worth reading. Don’t skimp on this part. And don’t forget to include products, as follows.

Treat products like sponsors. Editorial newsletters frequently have sponsors. No rule prevents a sponsor from being a company’s own offerings.

Make it a recommendation. Many editorial newsletters recommend products after the main content. Think of these as text ads for your products.

Treat them as editorial. Masterbuilt could publish a weekly editorial newsletter featuring three recipes, an interview with a barbeque pro, and a tip for using the company’s “Autoignite” system. This mention could push a subscriber to place an order.

In each example, set up tracking to attribute sales.

Optimize for Sales

The last step is to optimize the editorial newsletter to produce the most revenue.

• Measure the newsletter’s sales performance.
• Segment subscribers to the products they are likely to purchase.
• Monitor subscriber sources. Focus on folks who subscribed via an organic recommendation if they produce the most sales.

Here’s a batch of new ecommerce books for spring. There are titles on digital marketing, team development, content marketing, AI, launching a startup, and growing a business.

I compiled the list using Amazon. From the “Books” category, I selected “Business & Money.” From there I chose the “Processes & Infrastructure” sub-category and selected “E-commerce.” Then I handpicked titles from that group based on customer ratings and relation to ecommerce. I also selected a few titles from the “Business Development & Entrepreneurship” sub-category.

New Ecommerce Books for Spring 2024

Punchlines to Profit: How to Leverage The Power of Comedy to Create Revenue-Generating Content by Megan Nager

Punchlines to Profit

“Punchlines to Profit” explores the art of comedy in successful digital marketing. Whether for an established brand, a startup, or a content creator, adding humor to an online presence is a powerful way to establish a voice, entertain an audience, and gain a following. Discover the power of authenticity, the psychological effects of comedy, ways to implement comedy into your content and brand, and professional tips from stand-up comedians. Paperback $15.95.

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Reignition: Transforming Stuck Startups into Breakout Winners by Dave Hersh

Reignition

Drawing upon the author’s experience as an entrepreneur and investor, “Reignition” outlines how to transform a stagnant startup into a lean and focused organization — and remake an established company. Learn to avoid common mistakes around premature scaling. Gain the confidence to change a company, the skills to do it, and the reassurance that you are not alone. Hardcover $27.95; Kindle $9.99.

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Create Once, Distribute Forever: How Great Creators Spread Their Ideas and How You Can Too by Ross Simmonds

Create Once, Distribute Forever

“Create Once, Distribute Forever” guides entrepreneurs wanting to unlock efficiency, brand awareness, and sustainable digital marketing success through content distribution. Learn the ins and outs of content, how to overcome roadblocks, why remixing and republishing content is important, and how to uncover your business’s most profitable distribution channels. Hardcover $26.99; Kindle $7.99.

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Untrapping Product Teams: Simplify the Complexity of Creating Digital Products by David Pereira

Untrapping Product Teams

“Untrapping Product Teams” outlines tactics for working with product teams on digital products. Explore the product journey. Learn to recognize dangerous traps and the strategies to overcome them. Simplify decision-making, apply mindful product discovery, use delivery to accelerate value, and measure results beyond outputs. Craft product principles and set solid foundations for product teams. Paperback $39.99; Kindle $14.95.

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Time Is Now: A Journey Into Demystifying AI by Raj Verma

Time Is Now

“Time is Now” will help entrepreneurs and small business owners leverage AI and emerging technologies for practical decision-making. Through stories and relevant examples, explore AI and learn how today’s leaders must make decisions through a convergence of information, context, and choice. In the explosion of AI, leaders have a responsibility to learn before they act. Leverage today’s tools with the insight needed to benefit the future. Hardcover $27.99; Kindle $9.99.

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Simple Marketing for Smart People: The One Question You Need to Win Customers without Gimmicks, Hype, or Hard Selling by Billy Broas, with Tiago Forte and Ali Abdaal

Simple Marketing For Smart People

Cutting through the clutter of the modern digital marketing landscape, “Simple Marketing for Smart People” helps readers create simple yet authentic marketing to resonate with customers and clients. Learn techniques to instill beliefs necessary to compel customers to act. Craft essential and effective marketing content through email, social media, and a website. Kindle $7.99.

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The Covert Code: Mastering the Art of Digital Marketing by Anna Covert

The Covert Code

“The Covert Code” presents clear solutions to take control of your digital media strategy. Learn the insider rules for optimizing digital media, how to create a strategic budget, when and how to leverage search marketing, where remarketing will deliver optimal value, and more. Discover how to decode the digital marketing landscape and seize the opportunity to connect with the customers you need. Hardcover $32.99; Kindle $9.99.

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Zero Risk Startup: The Ultimate Entrepreneur’s Guide to Mitigating Risks When Starting or Growing a Business by Paulo Andrez and David S. Rose

Zero Risk Startup

“Zero Risk Startup” is designed to help entrepreneurs systematically reduce risk on the path to success. Mitigate entrepreneurial uncertainties through more than 100 practical tips and tools. Learn whether or not to start a business, how to identify and mitigate risks with the Zero Risk Startup methodology, strategies to get external funding, and AI technologies for risk mitigation. Hardcover $29.99; Kindle $8.99.

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Growing Your Beautiful Small Business by David Y. Choi

Growing Your Beautiful Small Business

“Growing Your Beautiful Small Business” is for small and early-stage companies experiencing challenges. Learn fundamentals and perspectives on entrepreneurship, practical business lessons, and intellectual exercises to develop growth strategies and plans. Paperback $14.95; Kindle $9.99.

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Stress-Free LLC: A Quick Start Blueprint to Easy Business Entity Formation by Wesley WealthGuard

Stress-Free LLC

“Stress-Free LLC” is a practical guide to forming an LLC. Get a clear seven-step plan for swift and efficient LLC formation. Learn actionable tactics to optimize your LLC’s tax structure and financial efficiency. Discover why an LLC is your gateway to protecting your assets and minimizing risks, ensuring a secure foundation for your entrepreneurial endeavors. Paperback $9.99.

Earlier this month, Google changed its definitions of “top ads” and associated metrics. The purpose is to clarify the meaning and dynamic nature of paid and organic listings on search result pages. The changes will not likely impact ad performance.

Top vs. Adjacent

Before the change, a top ad appeared above organic listings on search results, such as the example below.

A top ad appears above organic listings on search results.

Other ads show below the organic listings — with continuous scrolling there is no bottom of the page. For example, this Comcast ad appears below organic results.

Ads can also show below search results, such as this Comcast example.

Nonetheless, Google now classifies the Comcast listing as a top ad because it’s adjacent to the top organic listings. Hence a top ad could be in the 15th overall position — below the top four ads and 10 organic listings.

Moreover, Google now calls ads in the first position above or below organic listings “absolute top ads.” The term does not mean the ads will always appear there because Google inserts them dynamically.

Another new term in Google’s announcement is “prominence,” an estimation of an ad’s visibility on a search results page. An ad’s position and format determine its prominence. The higher the position, the greater the prominence and, likely, clicks. Similarly, ads with formats (formerly “extensions“) likely receive comparatively more clicks.

Example formats include:

• Sitelinks,
• Callouts,
• Structured snippets,
• Images.

The Google Ads interface includes no metric for prominence. It’s unclear if Google will create one or otherwise apply a similar metric, such as “Search absolute top impression share.”

Account Management

I see no material differences with daily management. The meaning of “top ads” and “absolute top ads” is changing, as are impression share metrics. For example, Google defines “Search top impression share” as “the impressions you’ve received among top ads divided by the estimated number of impressions you were eligible to receive among top ads.”

A Search top impression share of 80% once meant 80% of ads showed above the organic listings. It now means that 80% of ads show above or below the top organic listings.

The changes require reassessing the bid strategy of optimizing target impression share. Advertisers can set a percent impression share to target:

• Anywhere on the results page,
• Top of results,
• Absolute top of results,

For example, advertisers can target 75% of the impression share of top ads, those above or below the top organic listings.

Fundamentals Unchanged

Google will likely continue retiring position-based metrics or altering their calculation. For example, “average position” used to be a key metric. Ads above the fold typically received higher click-thru rates. But average position became less critical as right-side ads disappeared and search results contained more images, Shopping ads, and Google’s knowledge graph. The average position metric was retired because it was no longer useful for advertisers.

Prominence is now more important than position. While the first ad in search results remains desirable, all ads can utilize the same assets. Format-wise, there is no benefit to being first or even below the top organic listings.

To be sure, the higher the ad position, the quicker users will see it. Top and absolute top ads are important, but the specific position isn’t. The fundamentals of paid search still apply: Ads should contain targeted keywords and answer users’ queries. Responding to searchers’ needs is and will always be the key.

Remote teams and virtual meetings are commonplace post-Covid. Reviewing meeting recordings for takeaways and action items used to take hours. No more. AI has made this process much easier.

Here are six AI tools for creating meeting notes, to-do lists, and recaps. All offer extensive integrations with meeting platforms, calendars, customer management apps, and more.

Wudpecker

Wudpecker

Wudpecker transcribes and summarizes virtual meetings, with takeaways, action items, and recap-reminders of earlier sessions. It can also create an upcoming agenda based on prior activity.

Wudpecker’s AI assistant joins a meeting as a guest to record and take notes. Users can then pose questions to the assistant based on the notes.

The platform offers customized default settings for organizing and formatting notes.

Wudpecker’s free plan records and summarizes 10 meetings per month. Premium plans start at $16 per month and include the Ask Wudpecker feature.

Parrot

Parrot

Parrot is a virtual meeting assistant that supports multiple languages. It can create instant transcripts, summaries, and highlights. Clicking any highlight produces that part of the recording.

Parrot’s free plan includes five recordings per month and additional features such as screen capturing and summaries. The Pro plan starts at $24 per month, billed annually.

Otter

Otter

Otter offers similar AI-driven features — transcripts, notes, highlights — plus automatically adding slides to notes.

It can also summarize multiple notes and create actionable takeaways to email participants.

Otter’s free plan includes access to the Chrome extension and 300 monthly transcription minutes at 30 minutes per meeting. Paid plans start at $16.99 per month per user and offer advanced transcript search and collaboration.

Fireflies

Fireflies

Fireflies is an AI meeting assistant with a robust search to find key parts of a conversation easily. It offers powerful collaboration features, allowing team members to leave comments on the meeting notes, tag one another, and share (via audio) the most memorable moments from a meeting.

Fireflies’ free plan includes the Chrome extension and provides unlimited transcripts but limited AI summaries and 800 minutes of storage. Paid plans start at $18 per month with advanced searching and keyword tracking.

Tactiq

Tactiq

Tactiq is a ChatGPT-driven meeting assistant. The tool provides transcripts, notes, and summaries and composes follow-up emails based on the content. Users can create a knowledge base from the meetings.

Tactiq’s free monthly web plan and Chrome extension include 10 meeting transcriptions and five AI credits for notes, action items, or follow-up emails. Paid plans start at $8 per month.

MeetGeek

MeetGeek

MeetGeek creates meeting notes, “next steps,” and color-coded highlights.

MeetGeek’s free web plan and Android app include five transcription hours per month and storage for three months of transcripts and one month of audio files. Paid plans starting at $15 per month provide more storage, among other benefits.

Our weekly rundown of new tools aims to help ecommerce and omnichannel merchants. This installment includes updates on customer engagement tools, B2B payments, product discovery, digital marketing, fraud prevention, post-purchase solutions, and conversational commerce.

Got an ecommerce product release? Email [email protected].

New Tools for Merchants: April 2

Twilio launches Unified Profiles and Agent Copilot to combine customer data and AI. Twilio has launched two new products within Flex, its cloud-based engagement platform: Unified Profiles and Agent Copilot. Unified Profiles provides businesses access to a native data layer powered by Segment (Twilio’s customer data platform), enabling the collection and activation of real-time, consented data for personalized interactions. Agent Copilot leverages this data alongside AI to empower employees with automation and enhanced productivity.

Twilio Flex

TreviPay introduces B2B financing and payment application features. TreviPay, a B2B payments and invoicing network, has announced a self-financing option and enhanced payment application features to give sellers more control over their trade credit portfolio. The new services give B2B sellers choices over how they fund growth.

Digital River unveils eCompass to drive international expansion. Digital River, a platform for cross-border ecommerce, has launched eCompass to help brands identify and evaluate global expansion opportunities. Powered by transaction data from 150 million global consumers, eCompass gives brands market-level insights and access to Digital River’s proprietary benchmarking data through new interactive dashboards.

Post-purchase platform Route announces expanded integrations. Route, a post-purchase package tracking and protection service, has teamed up with Klaviyo, Recharge, Salesforce, Status, and Zendesk. The integrations allow merchants to integrate Route with their existing ecommerce systems, streamlining operations and optimizing customer experiences. Route states that it powers shipment tracking, package protection, and carbon offsetting for 13,000 merchants. Route’s integrations with leading platforms, tech tools, and carriers build upon its core post-purchase customer experience tools.

Route

Adobe introduces Firefly Services and Custom Models. Adobe has announced Firefly Services and Custom Models to change how brands create and produce personalized content at scale. With Firefly Services, brands can access over 20 generative and creative APIs, tools, and services that eliminate manual and repetitive tasks, from resizing assets to generating and expanding backgrounds for merchandising and ecommerce. These capabilities are embedded into Adobe’s Cloud applications.

Google launches updated product discovery tools for shopping. To provide users with a personalized shopping experience, Google is releasing product discovery elements, including style recommendations, brand preferences, generative AI for item search, and virtual try-ons. When users search for apparel, style recommendations will appear to rate options and provide personalized results. Brands can offer additional looks for more personalization. AI image generation provides realistic visuals to match a shopper’s vision. And virtual try-ons ensure apparel looks as intended.

Zorang introduces ContentHubGPT for Walmart Marketplace. Zorang, a content and commerce company, has released ContentHubGPT for Walmart Marketplace. This generative AI-based content suite allows Marketplace sellers to create engaging story-like descriptions for their product content. According to Zorang, ContentHubGPT for Walmart Marketplace is a comprehensive solution to generate search-engine-friendly product titles, feature bullets, descriptions, and more.

Walmart Marketplace – Zorang

Mastercard and Worldpay partner to prevent merchant chargebacks. Mastercard and Worldpay are enhancing the transaction experience by helping merchants resolve payment disputes faster and with fewer chargebacks. Through the partnership, Worldpay, a global payment technology provider, will offer Mastercard’s Alerts to its 1 million merchants worldwide. The service provides an early warning that helps prevent a dispute from becoming a chargeback, reducing fraud.

Claspo integrates with Shopify, enabling marketing widgets for merchants. Claspo, a website pop-up and widget-building platform, has announced its integration with Shopify. Claspo states that its Shopify app allows merchants to easily create widgets for various marketing goals without technical hurdles and extensive learning. Per Claspo, merchants can manage and scale widgets and boost sales globally with detailed geotargeting and dynamic languages, with minimal effort and reduced risk of errors.

Dashbot integrates with Amazon Lex for conversational analytics. Dashbot, a language data and conversational AI platform, has integrated with Lex, Amazon’s platform for building conversational interfaces. The collaboration harnesses Amazon Alexa’s natural language capabilities while providing insights through Dashbot’s analytics platform. Through Alexa, users gain granular visibility into communicating with Lex chatbots, identify conversational trends and sentiment, and pinpoint areas for conversation flows, refining chatbot responses based on real-world user data.

Bidpath unveils AuctionPay for online auction payments. Bidpath, a provider of online auction software, has launched AuctionPay, a payment platform. According to Bidpath, AuctionPay simplifies payment processing, offering affordability and efficiency to enhance core operations. Bidpath aims to boost bidder participation and reduce transaction fees by ensuring a seamless and secure payment process.

AuctionPay