• Can you share more about the specific goals you’re aiming to achieve with our product/service?
• What challenges are you currently facing in your [industry/business] that you hope our solution can address?
• How do you envision our product fitting into your existing workflow?

• Based on what we’ve discussed so far, can you see how our product/service might benefit your [specific need]?
• How does our solution align with your expectations for [desired outcome]?
• If we were able to address [customer’s primary concern], would you be ready to move forward?

• Personalize Timing: Consider the nature of your product or service and the customer’s buying cycle. Tailor your follow-up to align with these considerations, avoiding generic timelines.
• Vary Communication Channels: Mix up your communication channels to cater to individual preferences. Whether it’s a personalized email, a brief phone call, or even a thoughtful message on LinkedIn, diversifying your approach ensures a more engaging interaction.

• Plan A focuses on [specific features], whilst Plan B focuses on [different features].
• Standard delivery or Express delivery for a faster turnaround.
• Monthly, quarterly or annual payment plans.

Offering options to leads makes the sales process more collaborative, and ensures that they feel accomodated.

You can also couple this with a sense of urgency, say a timed discount on one of the options which may make it more alluring.

The post How to Ask for the Sale Without Being Pushy appeared first on Shout.com.

This enables teams to evaluate current practices, identify areas for improvement, and make decisions on what to start, stop, and continue.

Below, we’ll delve into the Start Stop Continue framework, explore examples, and discuss how to conduct a Start Stop Continue exercise.

New actions or practices that the team should begin implementing to improve their performance or achieve specific objectives. These can range from adopting new technologies, introducing innovative strategies, or exploring fresh ideas.

The stop category focuses on identifying activities or practices that have a negative impact. By recognizing and removing these elements, teams can reduce waste, streamline processes, and create a more productive work environment.

Emphasize the importance of acknowledging and reinforcing activities or practices that yield positive results. By continuing effective behaviors, teams can build on their strengths, maintain momentum, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

The Start Stop Continue framework offers several benefits for teams and organizations:

1. Action-Oriented Approach: It emphasizes the importance of taking concrete steps to improve and achieve desired outcomes.
2. Encourage change: Team members reflect on their own behaviors and practices. This reflection can lead to changes that positively impact team dynamics, collaboration, and overall performance.
3. Reduce Waste and Improve Efficiency: The stop category prompts teams to identify activities that add little value or waste resources. By reducing waste and streamlining processes, teams can become more efficient and allocate resources more effectively.
4. Positively Impact Team Performance: By identifying and continuing practices that yield positive results, teams can reinforce behaviors that contribute to success. This recognition and reinforcement boost team morale, engagement, and overall performance.

In the “start” category of this framework, teams identify actions or practices that should implement to improve performance. Here are a couple of examples:

Many project managers often find themselves grappling with inefficient processes and a lack of visibility into project progress.

By starting to implement a robust project management software, teams can streamline communication, centralize project data, and improve collaboration.

This new tool provides real-time updates on project milestones and resource allocation, ultimately enhancing project efficiency and overall team performance.

In today’s work landscape, achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial. By starting to introduce a flexible work schedule, teams can empower their members to have more control over their time.

This could include options such as flextime, compressed workweeks, or remote work arrangements. Such flexibility can boost employee satisfaction, reduce burnout, and foster a more productive and engaged team.

The “stop” category focuses on identifying activities or practices that have a negative impact. Let’s get into two real-world examples:

Meetings are often notorious for being time-consuming and unproductive. By stopping redundant meetings that don’t add value, people can reclaim valuable time and focus on more important tasks.

Instead, teams can explore alternative communication channels such as project management tools, collaboration platforms, or concise status updates.

Sometimes, teams find themselves engaging in tasks that consume significant time and effort without producing meaningful outcomes. By stopping such activities, teams can redirect their energy toward more valuable initiatives.

This may involve delegating the task, automating certain aspects, or evaluating the task’s relevance and impact on overall goals.

The “continue” category emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and reinforcing activities or practices that yield positive results. Here are two examples of Continue:

Recognizing and appreciating team members’ efforts is essential for maintaining motivation and engagement. By continuing the practice of providing regular positive feedback, teams can create a supportive and empowering work environment.

A few ways you can accomplish this are through one-on-one meetings, team-wide recognition, or peer-to-peer recognition.

You can even ask team members to provide feedback on each other, which will build stronger relationships and improve efficiency. This could be part of a 360 review campaign, but this may impact the kind of responses employee’s submit.

Although, you can encourage more open and honest responses with anonymous surveys. All you’d need to do is collect feedback from employees about their colleagues, and whip up a report containing the positive elements for each.

Continuous learning and growth are crucial for both individual team members and the overall team’s success. By continuing to invest in employee training and development programs, teams can foster a culture of continuous improvement.

This can involve providing opportunities for professional development, attending conferences or workshops, or assigning mentors to guide team members’ growth.

Before conducting a Start Stop Continue exercise, it is essential to set the stage for productive discussions. Here’s how to prepare:

1. Communicate the Purpose: Clearly communicate to the team the objectives and benefits of the exercise. Emphasize that it is a collaborative effort aimed at improving team performance and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
2. Provide Context: Share relevant information about the team’s current goals, challenges, and projects. This context will help team members generate more targeted and impactful suggestions during the exercise.

The Start Stop Continue exercise typically follows a structured process to ensure meaningful outcomes. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Brainstorming ideas: Encourage team members to brainstorm ideas individually and write them down on sticky notes. These ideas can include activities, practices, or changes that fall into the start, stop, or continue categories. Allow for open-ended thinking and creativity during this phase.
2. Group suggestions: Gather all the sticky notes and categorize them into the start, stop, or continue categories. Facilitate a discussion where team members collectively group similar suggestions and identify common themes.

Instead of using physical sticky notes, you could collect these suggestions with a survey. It would be as simple as using an open-ended question to gather suggestions, then performing an analysis in the digital report. This would work better for teams who work from home or are spread out geographically.

After grouping the suggestions, prioritize them based on their potential impact, and alignment with the team’s goals. This process can involve voting, dot-voting, or utilizing other decision-making techniques.

1. Creating an action plan: Based on the suggestions, create an action plan that outlines the steps required to implement them. Break down the actions into smaller, manageable tasks and assign responsibilities to team members. This will ensure accountability and progress.
2. Assigning responsibilities: Clearly define roles and responsibilities for each action item. Ensure that team members understand their roles, deadlines, and any dependencies. Encourage collaboration and designate team leads or champions to drive the implementation process.

The Start Stop Continue framework is a powerful tool for driving continuous improvement and enhancing team performance.

By evaluating actions, teams can decide on what to start, stop, and continue, leading to reduced waste, and improved efficiency.

Whether used in general team settings or within Agile and Scrum methodologies, the approach fosters a culture of learning, adaptation, and continuous growth. By leveraging this framework, teams can unlock their full potential and achieve sustainable success in their endeavours.

The post Start Stop Continue: Driving Continuous Improvement appeared first on Shout.com.

Let’s get into what makes for strong branding with a real-life example.

In 2013, Airbnb was struggling to gain traction in the market. They were losing money and struggling to attract customers. However, they decided to revamp their branding strategy, which paid off.

They realized their old logo design was outdated and did not reflect the company’s values. So they hired a design agency and created a new brand logo representing their values and vision.

They also created a new slogan, “Belong Anywhere,” which reflected their commitment to providing unique travel experiences to their customers.

The results were outstanding. In just a few months, Airbnb’s bookings increased by 30%, and they gained millions of new customers.

The power of branding your business cannot be overstated, and the right branding strategy can transform your business.

So, let’s get into some of our top tips for revamping your business branding in 2023:

Creating a strong brand identity is the first step to revamping your digital marketing business branding. A strong brand identity will help your business stand out and make a lasting impression on your customers.

You must define your brand story, values, and mission to create a strong identity. Your brand values should reflect your business’s core beliefs and principles, while your mission statement should reflect your business’s purpose.

Once you have defined your brand values and mission, you must create a brand voice. Your brand voice should reflect the personality of your target audience and should be consistent across all your marketing channels.

Your target audience will be comprised of your ideal customers, these are the people that you’ve created your product/ service for.

To identify your target audience, you’ll need to conduct market research. This will consist of a mix of communicating with prospective customers, building buyer personas, and competitor research.

You should also collect feedback from your existing customer base, most importantly your loyal customers. These can give you essential insight into what your business does well and why they have remained loyal to you.

You can even make this a win-win situation, by asking testimonial questions to collect feedback on your business and generate social proof.

It’s very simple to identify your most loyal customers, simply conduct a Net Promoter Score survey to measure customer loyalty. Those who score you a 9 or 10 on the scale are considered promoters, who are your biggest advocates.

Visuals are a powerful tool for branding. They can help your business create a memorable and lasting impression on your customers.

You need to be consistent across all your marketing channels when using visuals. Your visuals should reflect your brand values and personality and be unique to your business.

Some of the visuals you can use for branding include: 

• your logo
• website design
• social media graphics 
• marketing materials

Ensure your visuals are high-quality, appealing, and consistent across all channels.

Social media is an essential tool for digital marketing branding. It is a cost-effective way to reach a vast audience and build brand awareness. You must create a social media strategy reflecting your brand values and personality.

When using social media, ensure consistency in your messaging and visuals. Use hashtags and keywords to increase your visibility and engage with your audience.

Social media can help you build a loyal fan base, increase brand recognition, and even meet potential customers.

Your business name is an essential aspect of your branding strategy. It ought to be easy to remember, distinct, and memorable all at the same time.

In addition, your business name should reflect your brand values and personality and be relevant to your industry.

• Enigma – unique, memorable, and mysterious, making it perfect for businesses that offer innovative solutions.
• Spectra – reflects the diversity of the modern world, making it ideal for businesses that celebrate being inclusive.
• Ora – short and easy to remember, great for businesses that want to create a strong brand identity.
• Vantage – highlights a sense of ambition, innovation, and a forward-thinking approach.
• Luminous – a sense of creativity and enlightenment, showcases a unique approach to problem-solving.

When choosing a business name, ensure it is not already used and is easy to spell and pronounce. Make sure you can register a domain name using your company’s name. Consider a high-end domain to avoid legal issues.

Finally, you must focus on customer experience to revamp your digital marketing business branding. The customer experience is an essential aspect of branding, and it can make or break your business.

To create a great customer experience, you need to understand your customers’ needs and preferences. Then, you must develop products and services that meet their needs and provide exceptional customer service.

You can also leverage technology to improve customer experience. For example, you can use chatbots and AI-powered customer service tools to provide quick and personalized responses to your customers.

In conclusion, revamping your digital marketing business branding in 2023 is essential to stand out and attract more customers.

By creating a solid brand identity, using visuals to your advantage, leveraging social media, creating a memorable business name, and focusing on customer experience, you can transform your business and achieve long-term success.

Take inspiration from successful brands like Airbnb, and remember that the right branding strategy can change your business’s fortunes.

This article was written by Grant Polachek.

The post Revamp Your Business Branding in 2023 appeared first on Shout.com.

• Benefits of data analytics in business
  • 1. Better decision-making
  • 2. Personalize the customer experience
  • 3. Retention and loyalty
  • 4. Identification of potential risks
  • 5. Increase the efficiency of work
  • 6. Streamline operations
  • 7. Delivering relevant products
  • 8. Accurate measure of campaign ROI
  • 9. Track customer behavioral changes
  • 10. Complex supplier networks
• Wrapping up

The rich data generated by companies contains valuable knowledge, and data analysis is a way to open it up. Data analytics can help an organization customize a specific customer’s market presentation to identify and mitigate business risks. 

The global analytics market will grow from $ 10.5 billion in 2021 to $ 28.1 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.7% on average.

Various factors, such as the increasing use of AI and machine learning and the acquisition and promotion of new products in this market, are expected to stimulate the adoption of specialized software and services.

Let’s look at the benefits of using data analytics for your business.

Benefits of data analytics in business

Big data, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and machine learning (ML) are being introduced. Organizations now have access to specialized tools that can address a wide range of challenges:

1. Better decision-making

One of the key benefits of extensive data analysis is better decision-making in the long term. Instead of relying solely on knowledge, companies are increasingly looking at data before deciding.

Collecting data in real-time and analyzing historical data enables businesses to create predictive models and get ahead of the curve.

When big data is combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics, companies are better equipped to capture accurate data.

For example, WooCommerce variable pricing can help brands mention the price for different variables of the same product to make a purchase decision faster.

You use what you have accumulated over the years and use technology to quickly make decisions without example or error.

Another important use is AI classification tools for classification, such as cat identification versus suspect identification and guidance.

2. Personalize the customer experience

Companies collect sales data from various channels, including physical purchases, e-commerce, and social media.

Companies can gain information on customer behavior by creating detailed customer information from these data to provide a unique experience.

Shop at a clothing store that has physical and online services. A company can analyze its sales data and the data from its advertising pages and then create advertising campaigns to promote its electronic sales in product segments that customers have long been interested in.

Organizations can conduct behavioral analysis of customer data to improve customer service. For example, a company can use an information model for e-commerce transactions to determine which products can be recommended at checkout to increase sales.

3. Retention and loyalty

Studies have shown that data-driven marketing (e.g., social media marketing, email marketing, and behavioral analysis) can increase sales and customer loyalty.

Social media, online research, ethical analysis, and market research work together to help brands understand what people want from them.

One of the most effective methods of doing this is to conduct market research surveys to to develop this understanding.

4. Identification of potential risks

Companies today thrive in high-risk environments, but those environments require critical risk processes, and extensive data has contributed to developing new risk management solutions.

Big data can improve the effectiveness of essential simulations to predict future risk and make better planning.

5. Increase the efficiency of work

It can be helpful to analyze a large data sets quickly and present it in a structured way to help achieve your organization’s goals. It promotes a culture of efficiency and teamwork by allowing managers to share detailed information with employees.

Opportunities and improvements within the company are reflected, and actions can increase work efficiency and productivity.

6. Streamline operations

Organizations can use data mining to satisfy their needs. Collection and analysis of supply data can identify the reasons for production delays or question marks and help determine which four problems may arise in the future.

If the forecast shows that a particular vendor will not handle the required volume during the holiday season, the company may supplement or replace that vendor to avoid production delays.

In addition, many companies, especially in the retail sector, are struggling to meet their record standards. Analyzing the data can help determine the best offer for all the company’s products based on factors such as season, holidays, and weather conditions.

7. Delivering relevant products

Products are the blood of every organization and often the most significant investment companies. The role of the product management team is to identify trends that drive strategic innovation, action plans for new functions and services.

Good communication between other groups, where people express their ideas and opinions through research, helps companies stay competitive. Especially when customer needs change or new technologies are developed. It also makes it easier to see what the market needs to deliver a product before ordering.

8. Accurate measure of campaign ROI

Attribution has been a big problem in the market for a long time. Advanced analytics tools help you measure the impact of any advertising, communication, and tactics that increase customer engagement.

This knowledge provides organizations with a foundation for future planning: what methods, events, and content were more (or less) practical? This overview will also help companies better understand budget decisions.

For example, running an event survey before, during, and after an event will give you all the data you need to decide whether it’s worth repeating.

9. Track customer behavioral changes

In today’s world, consumers have a lot to choose from. If organizations do not pay attention to consumer needs and expectations, they will soon find themselves in a downward spiral. Consumers often change their minds as they face new information in this digital age.

Because of the large amount of customer data, it is almost impossible for organizations to understand all changes in customer data without using analytics.

Analytics gives you information about what your market thinks and whether there have been any changes. Therefore, responding to changes in customer behavior can provide an essential opportunity for companies to react more quickly to market changes.

Of course, there are a few methods you can employ to keep your customers happy and loyal to your brand in the meantime.

10. Complex supplier networks

By using big data, companies provide community sales or B2B links with greater accuracy and control. Service providers can avoid the pitfalls they often face by using large amounts of data.

By leveraging big data, consumers achieve the high level of technical intelligence required for their success.

Supply chain administrators now see this as a technological breakthrough, changing the foundation of the retail network to the four highest levels. This communication allows Internet users to apply new knowledge to existing problems or other perspectives.

Wrapping up

By now, the benefits of data analytics for your business should be clear. Successful companies continue to grow with extensive data records. Technology development is available to more organizations than ever before. Once the marketers have access to the data, they can carry out appropriate research to solve many problems.

The post The benefits of data analytics for your business appeared first on Shout.com.

• Top marketing strategies for technology companies
  • 1. Build a community
  • 2. Print a booklet & create an irresistible call to action
  • 3. Create a lead generation strategy with presentation templates
  • 4. Build a Brand for a Professional Audience
  • 5. Create Content that Customers Want
  • 6. Grow Your Company’s Reputation
  • 7. Use Paid Advertising
• Wrapping up

Technology companies operate in a space where there are a lot of possibilities. But, with so many choices, many of these companies feel lost. “What’s the right strategy to go for? How can we be sure that we’re heading in the right direction?”.

The right strategy depends on what your company needs and what resources you have. Even the most tech-savvy companies may not know the best marketing strategy for them.

Top marketing strategies for technology companies

Here, we take a look at some different marketing strategies for technology companies.

1. Build a community

The first marketing strategy for technology companies to consider is to build a community. You can build a community around your brand on social media. Every social media channel has space for a community.

For start-ups, a community of ideal customers is a great way to build a brand. Building a brand as a company known for great customer service is indeed the way to succeed with this strategy. This will also help you build a brand for a business audience.

You can do this by responding to all of the questions you receive on social media. You don’t have to give detailed, step-by-step instructions. Instead, respond to the customer’s question and show how you take pride in your job.

In fact, if you’re not in regular contact with your customers it may be time to review your customer communication strategy.

Customers are looking for ways to trust that companies are here to serve them, so showing a commitment to service will help you build a brand and a reputation as a trusted company.

Once you’ve built a community, you’ll want to learn as much as you can about them. Specifically, those who have already purchased your product or service.

You can do this by creating a survey to collect all the information you’ll need, which you would then use to build buyer personas. These are an overview of different customer segments, which are your first stop when creating any marketing campaign.

2. Print a booklet & create an irresistible call to action

Number two for our suggested marketing strategies is to create an irresistible call to action. Most technology companies use the sales funnel. And that includes the call to action.

Why not consider getting some branded collateral designed and manufactured, whereby one of the strategies would be to create a branded booklet, that comprises your company’s branded message, product list, current specials, and so forth. Although we are deep into the digital era, there is something to be said about being able to feel something tangible within the palm of one’s hands.

A branded booklet is something a potential customer can take with them, and refer back to when confirming product specs and pricing. The key to this branded booklet’s success is to make your call to action irresistible. Click here to print a booklet with Helloprint.

Coupled with creating a top-performing CTA, is a chance to create a ProductHunt-like site. When it comes to marketing a technology product, the best thing you can do is share it. If you can share your product, you may be able to generate more sales. That’s why a ProductHunt-like site is so important.

By incorporating this Hunt-like site with a strong CTA, you’re set to get your brand noticed and customers to increase and keep coming in.

3. Create a lead generation strategy with presentation templates

The next strategy is to create a lead generation strategy. When you’re a new technology company, you have to generate leads. Lead generation can take many forms. For example, you can send direct mail, run email campaigns, or create presentations.

You will need a method or system for qualifying leads, as this will help you focus on leads that are easier to convert.

When it comes to creating top-quality presentations, kick-start the whole process by opting for some great presentation templates. The trick is to employ the use of a presentation template that fits your brand style and tone. You will be able to find a great selection of options from this collection of stunning templates. Simply browse the catalogue and decide which template works best for you.

The most important lead generation strategy is finding ways to generate leads from your product. You can also generate leads by attending events, and creating digital events.

4. Build a Brand for a Professional Audience

For many tech start-ups, the goal is to build a brand for a professional audience within the business world. This includes companies whose main customers are other businesses.

Some of the quickest ways to do this are through your company’s website and blog. Create a blog that links back to all of your social media profiles and shares relevant content. Spend time on your website; make sure it is clear and concise. Remember that a website doesn’t have to be fancy, but it needs to be functional.

It’s also important to keep an eye on your competitors. This will help you understand what they’re doing that customers are engaging with, which will help you decide on what to do next. You can also decide if you want to try and do something similar, or figure out a new way to stand out among your competitors.

5. Create Content that Customers Want

Readers will be drawn to your brand based on its content. In particular, you want to build your brand around what your ideal customers are searching for and engaging with. Successful technology companies often have an expert status within their industry.

This can be done through an ongoing podcast, article, or video series. Going live on social media platforms, conducting live podcasting sessions or even doing webinars allows brand to create hype and increases virality factor. This will help you establish your name as an authority within your industry.

This can also be done through events where you speak to larger audiences. This can be done online or in person, but remember to use branded visuals when doing so.

All of the above are great examples of how you can create the content that your customers are looking for, and that will add value to your brand in the long run.

6. Grow Your Company’s Reputation

A great way to grow your company’s reputation is through word-of-mouth marketing. Perhaps one of the more under-rated forms of ensuring quality word-of-mouth marketing would be to do this by ensuring that your team members are always happy and satisfied with their jobs.

This will help your employees build a brand that they can spread among their own networks. This will help to grow your reputation because the general consensus is that happy employees are much better than satisfied customers.

Seeing as though technology companies face unique challenges when it comes to marketing, it’s important to dig a little deeper into the various strategies one can employ, while being mindful of the target goal for each marketing endeavor.

In a saturated market, it’s difficult to stand out. When you’re a tech company, your product is your marketing. It’s up to you to create demand and awareness for your product. With no existing user base, you have to build a community from scratch.

To succeed, you need to test different marketing strategies. Some strategies work better than others. But, if you take your time and test several strategies, you’ll see the results in sales, using your best-fit strategy.

7. Use Paid Advertising

The seventh marketing strategy for technology companies is to use paid advertising. Paid advertising is paid by the click and has a set cost per acquisition or impression.

In other words, it’s money you pay to have someone click on an ad. For paid advertising, you can use social media, online publications, trade publications, and of course, the biggest avenue of all: Google. The best place to start is with Google ads. You can also use Facebook ads, Pinterest, and Instagram ads too.

The great thing with these types of Paid Advertising avenues is that you can tailor your ad spend according to the campaigns and target phrases that are relevant to your customer’s search intentions.

Wrapping up

Marketing technology companies can be challenging, but there are strategies that you can use to help your company grow. You just need to find what works best for your company.

Successful marketing efforts are those that create a clear customer journey, which contains specific actions those customers can take to move on to the next step. Even your blog posts and other pieces of content should in someway help leads move through the pipeline.

Technology companies have many challenges when it comes to marketing. And, when you’re a new company it’s especially difficult to stand out.

As you can see, there are many marketing strategies for technology companies. It all depends on what you need to accomplish and what resources you have.

Which one are you going to try out?

Li-Anne Mcgregor van Aardt is a wordsmith who has written everything from editorials, blogs, and press releases to poetry and rap songs, to a South African travel book, which she magically knocked out in 24 hours. Expect deep hues and careening colors of various vibrancy when traipsing her cascade of words.

The post 7 Marketing Strategies for Technology Companies appeared first on Shout.com.

• What is GDPR?
  • GDPR compliant survey software
  • The importance of the GDPR
• Steps to becoming GDPR compliant
  • Make all of your employees aware of GDPR and the implications of it
  • Conduct frequent risk assessments and audits
  • Defend all points of access
  • Put together an incident response plan
  • Implement a policy management system
• Wrapping up how to ensure you are GDPR compliant

GDPR compliance is not an option. It’s something that all businesses need to take seriously, putting processes in place to ensure they are 100% compliant. 

There are a lot of high-profile businesses that have been fined for non-compliance with GDPR:

• Amazon received a whopping fine of $847 million.
• Google has also been fined $56.6 million.
• H&M received a fine of $41 million.
• WhatsApp has been fined $255 million.

Most businesses would not be able to come back from fines so significant. You must also consider any reputational damage if you’re found to be in breach of the GDPR.

It’s imperative to comply with privacy laws. In this guide, we’ll discuss some steps you can take to ensure your compliance. 

What is GDPR?

GDPR is the EU General Data Protection Regulation. It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation in place regarding privacy law. It made it obligatory for businesses to make considerable amendments to their data protection efforts or face monumental fines. Read this GDPR guide for more information.

This law came into full effect in 2018. Although it is a European law, it impacts the entire world. Any business that has customers in the European Union (EU) must adhere to the regulations.

The GDPR establishes the following:

• Significant penalties for non-compliance
• Mandatory breach reporting
• Increased duty for protecting data
• Enhanced personal privacy rights

GDPR compliant survey software

Shout is a privacy-first, cookieless survey tool with compliance enabled features. Get started with your Free Trial today.

Start your Free Trial

The importance of the GDPR

GDPR requires the protection of European data subject’s rights and provides clarification regarding what businesses need to do to safeguard these rights when processing the personal data of EU citizens.

All organizations and businesses that deal with data relating to citizens in the EU need to comply with GDPR, whether that is one customer or one million.

The data that the GDPR concerns are personally identifiable information (PII), which can include:

• Full names
• Email addresses
• Addresses
• Medical records
• Identification (e.g. driver’s licenses and passports)

However, knowing where to begin can be difficult, which is why we have put this post together. You may consider hiring a GDPR consultant who can evaluate your current efforts and put a manage your compliance practices.

Steps to becoming GDPR compliant

Now that you have an understanding of what GDPR is and why you need to follow it, let’s take a look at some of the steps your business should take to make sure that you are compliant.

You can also take a look at the features we’ve created at Shout to help bolster your compliance when collecting data.

Make all of your employees aware of GDPR and the implications of it

There is only one place to begin, and this is by making sure that your employees know about GDPR and how it pertains to their role within your business. 

A lot of cyber attacks happen due to employee errors, known as insider attacks. This is because workers have not received sufficient training on data concerns and how to protect personal information properly.

Decisionmakers and key personnel within your company need to know about GDPR and its impact.

After all, the GDPR says that workers must receive frequently information security staff awareness training, so this is something you will need to provide. This training is imperative in terms of making sure staff members have the required knowledge about company policies, legal requirements, and regulations that apply to their daily operations.

Businesses also need to prove that employees have read GDPR policies and that they fully understand them. If you are able to provide this evidence, it is going to put you in a much stronger position if something happens and you need to prove that your company takes privacy seriously and has put the required steps in place to reduce the risks of a breach.

We know that there are a lot of business owners that skip this because they feel that it is an unnecessary expense. However, investing in security training now can save you a lot of money in the future.

If you are a larger business, you may also be required to appoint a data protection officer to act as the representative for matters relating to the GDPR.

Conduct frequent risk assessments and audits

It is specified in the GDPR that businesses need to carry out frequent audits of any activities involving data processing and that they must adhere to a number of data protection principles that will assist them in terms of safeguarding data. 

As a business, you will need to determine all of the following:

• What data are you gathering?
• Where are you sourcing this data?
• Why are you collecting this data?
• How are you processing this data?
• How long are you holding onto data? 
• Where are you transferring data to?
• Is all of the data you are holding required?
• Who has access to data?

These are referred to as data protection impact assessments and must take place any time you put in place or change a process that collects personal data.

To stop data breaches from happening, businesses need to minimize access to sensitive data and lower the number of places where they physically store data. 

By carrying out audits on a frequent basis, businesses can make sure that an appropriate framework is established so that customers’ data is kept secure and risks are mitigated. 

Defend all points of access

To achieve complete GDPR compliance, businesses need to make sure that every endpoint is protected.

Sadly, a large number of data breaches that have happened could have been prevented if systems were patched properly. 

New vulnerabilities are discovered on a continual basis. If patches are not applied, hackers are going to break into the network by exploiting these vulnerabilities. 

To demonstrate that you are compliant with the regulations that are in place, you need to show that you have taken all of the steps that are required to secure your systems. 

Auditors may need reports of what patches were applied and when they were applied, so it is critical that you have the right systems in place so you can document the patches that have been issued accurately. Patches are critical in making sure your machines are stable, up to date, and safe from threats such as malware.

Put together an incident response plan

In addition to the points that we have discussed so far, it is imperative to put together an incident response plan to help guide your staff members.

As per the GDPR, all businesses need to disclose any personal data breaches to the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of detection. To efficiently and effectively comply with this, businesses must put together a plan that gives them the ability to respond to incidents in a quick, coordinated, and organized manner.

Your incident response plan should define the steps you plan to take to rectify the issue. It should also define roles and responsibilities of those in your organization. This will ensure that you can manage the situation effectively and make the right decisions. 

Putting together an incident response plan allows you to:

• Inform and educate staff members.
• Enhance stakeholder confidence.
• Improve customer confidence.
• Improve organizational structures.

It will also help in terms of lowering the possible financial impact after a major data breach.

Implement a policy management system

Last but not least, another critical step when it comes to complying with GDPR is putting together a successful policy management system.

Compliance can prove to be an impossible task if you simply use current communication methods, such as corporate intranet and email. Nevertheless, if you implement policy management software, you can streamline internal processes, as well as successfully target areas that present the biggest data security risk and showcase legislative compliance. 

A policy management solution will give your business a centralized and easy-to-use solution that will help you in terms of the creation, storage, and distribution of critical policy documents.

A successful policy management system will have a consistent method for policy creation, adding structure to the procedures in place at your business and making compliance easier to track.

Wrapping up how to ensure you are GDPR compliant

So, there you have it: everything you ended to know about GDPR and how to make sure you are compliant with this privacy legislation.

This article does not constitute legal advice. We recommend that you consult a GDPR expert for how it may impact your own business or data processing activities.

You only need to turn on the news today to find out about the latest data breach. It seems that there is a significant one every day! The last thing you want is your customers to suffer because you have not protected their data effectively. 

At the same time, all businesses have to respect consumer rights in terms of how a person’s data is used and what data we hold on individuals.

GDPR is simply not an option. It is a necessity. If you have not implemented data and privacy protection processes at your business, now is the time to do so. 

The post How to Ensure You are GDPR Compliant appeared first on Shout.com.

• 1. Simplify your website
• 2. Make It mobile-friendly
• 3. Improve your response time
• 4. Make important info clear
• 5. Grow with customers in mind
• Conclusion: keeping customers happy when they’re busy

You know first-hand just how busy life is, and the same goes for your customers. High customer satisfaction means repeat business and glowing reviews.

If you’re looking to improve experiences and reduce friction, take a look at these tips on how to keep your customers happy.

1. Simplify your website

Whether you sell products or services online or in-store, it’s important to create and maintain a high-quality website. ThinkWithGoogle found that over 60% of purchases began online, meaning your website will influence whether you make a sale.

So, it’s essential to maximize your brand’s visibility in search engines and ensure your website is both accessible and easy to navigate.

This rings true for existing customers as much as it does for prospects. If a customer has a question, it’s more than likely that they’ll go to your website for answers. If they can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll need to contact customer support, meaning more time out of their day.

Your website also needs to look good and function the way customers expect. An unreliable site host, slow page speeds, poor website design, and cluttered pages can all have a negative impact on customer experience.

2. Make It mobile-friendly

Between 2018 and 2021 the number of purchases made using mobile devices doubled, now accounting for around 50% of all eCommerce sales.

Because of this fact, it’s essential that your website is mobile-friendly to keep your customers happy. But, how do you go about this? Tt should be responsive, meaning all pages should load and function correctly, regardless of the user’s device.

You should also ensure that buttons and text are large enough for smaller screens. Here’s a great article if you want more tips on how to make a website mobile-friendly.

Usability isn’t the only reason to focus on a mobile-friendly design. Google now takes a mobile-first approach to index pages, encouraging all website creators to uphold the same standard for mobile as desktop. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile, you could see a drop in rankings (and traffic).

Test-drive it first to ensure nothing looks wacky when you zoom in or scroll. Most content management systems (CMS) will allow you to preview your page in desktop, tablet, and mobile modes, so you can make changes ad hoc.

Then you can use Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool to identify any problems with your pages. This tool won’t necessarily help you orient your pages for mobile-first indexing, but it will allow you to improve the experience of mobile users.

3. Improve your response time

Nothing is more aggravating than having a question or issue, but not being able to get the help you need. This is an issue many customers face and can leave them with a bad taste regarding your business.

If you have a large enough team, you can increase response times with social media customer service. This also means your customer interactions are in the public view, allowing for others to find answers quickly whilst also promoting your organization as one that cares about its customers.

Consider creating a separate handle for customer support. This will improve efficiency and separate issues from general comments and inquiries.

You can also use live chat, which will show response times and alert you to new conversations.

Other companies like HelpScout also allow you to track Time To Resolution (TTR), a customer service metric that averages the time it takes for support staff to resolve tickets.

A quick response time (and a quick resolution time) will keep your customers happy, making them feel valued and improving their overall customer service experience.

4. Make important info clear

If you notice certain questions keep popping up, put together an FAQ page to enable customers to get the answers they need. This also means you reduce the amount of time spent on responding to customers.

This is also a good place to include your return policy if you are selling merchandise. When questions you have addressed on your website are asked, you can quickly refer them to the FAQ page to save everyone time.

If you’re a SaaS business, you may have created help docs for your users. You can refer to the most common searches that still result in a ticket being created to determine what information is missing.

Then as your last line of defence, you must make your contact information readily available.

5. Grow with customers in mind

One of the best ways to build customer loyalty is through communication. Keep them up to date with regular email campaigns and always consult them before making any significant changes.

We also recommend you use surveys to collect customer feedback, demonstrating that you value their opinion and giving you vital data to inform decisions.

You should also create customer satisfaction surveys at least twice a year, to highlight areas for improvement, along with Net Promoter Score surveys to identify your loyal customers.

Another way to demonstrate value is to set up loyalty programs or to acknowledge milestones in the customer journey.

For example, has a customer been with you for a whole year? Show them your gratitude with a personal touch by offering a discount on their next purchase or by gifting them some promotional swag boxes which will help you establish an emotional connection with your long-term customers.

Conclusion: keeping customers happy when they’re busy

We live in a world that is constantly on the move and craves the next best (and fastest) thing. Keep your busy customers happy by creating a website that is both simple and mobile-friendly for ease of use on the go.

Increase your response time via social media and customer service apps, and don’t underestimate the power of a well-put-together FAQ page.

By streamlining the customer experience, you are putting you and those who matter most to your business on top.

The post How to Keep Your Customers Happy appeared first on Shout.com.

• Why timely payments are crucial
• Chasing outstanding invoices (in 7 steps)
  • 1. Send friendly payment reminders
  • 2. Get in touch with the payment manager
  • 3. Communicate with kindness
  • 4. Utilize outside resources
  • 5. Consider legal action for outstanding invoices
  • 6. Optimize your invoicing process
  • 7. Incentivize early payments
• Conclusion: Chasing outstanding invoices and collecting late payments

You’ve been operating as a business for a little while and some outstanding invoices have started to build up. It’s easily done when you’re focussing on providing an excellent service and maintaining a high level of customer experience.

But chasing overdue invoices and payments can be a daunting task. On one hand, you know customers should have no problem paying for the service you’ve provided. But on the other, you don’t want to taint your brand image by coming off as a loan shark (if you’ll excuse the hyperbole).

Thankfully, it’s entirely possible to get in touch with a customer about late payments without alienating them. And if you continue gathering customer feedback, you can mitigate any negative effect of chasing invoices and improve your overall customer engagement strategy in the meantime!

Why timely payments are crucial

Even if you’ve been a business owner for some time, you might still occasionally feel awkward chasing outstanding invoices from clients or customers. These conversations can feel uncomfortable, but you can’t afford to let late payments slide.

After all, as ZenBusiness notes, when your customers pay you on time, you can create more accurate projections for your company’s future and plan your financial investments for the upcoming months.

You’ll find it easier to estimate cash flow and identify what projects require more investment in the future.

Chasing outstanding invoices (in 7 steps)

If you’re currently waiting on late payments from your customers, here’s how you can collect the funds while maintaining positive relationships with these customers. 

1. Send friendly payment reminders

First, it’s important to simply remind your customer that they have outstanding payments. You can accomplish this by sending out friendly reminder emails. Ideally, it’s best to send out emails like this right after the due date passes without payment.

You can include a copy of the due invoice with the email. This gives your customer a chance to address the situation immediately – there’s always a chance that the invoice was accidentally deleted or lost, and they might not have realized what happened.

In a scenario like this, they will likely be apologetic and process your invoice as quickly as possible.

2. Get in touch with the payment manager

What if you’ve sent a couple of reminder emails, but you still haven’t received any response? Your emails might not be going to the relevant staff member’s inbox.

If you suspect that the employee who handles accounting and invoicing has not seen your invoices and reminders, it’s time to get their specific contact information and get in touch with them directly and request payment.

Once they hear from you, they might be able to remedy the situation within a day or two. An email would work fine, but a phone call to the right people would lead to a much quicker resolution.

3. Communicate with kindness

As you communicate with the customer and work to receive the late payment, you might find yourself feeling annoyed or frustrated. This is perfectly understandable, but you do not want to express these emotions to your customer.

Doing so could cause them to take their business elsewhere. Instead, aim to communicate with kindness, even in the midst of stressful situations.

Revechat recommends actively listening if your customer explains their reasoning for the late payment, showing empathy when necessary, and using positive language throughout your conversation.

Rather than criticizing your customer, emphasize the importance of collaborating to come up with a plan for moving forward, which could mean setting a new deadline or creating a custom payment plan. They will be grateful for your flexibility!

4. Utilize outside resources

What if you feel like you’ve tried every direct method to encourage your customer to make the payments, but they still haven’t paid what they owe you? At this point, it may be time to utilize an external organization such as a collections agency in order to handle the rest of the payment process.

As a business owner, you already have a lot on your plate, and there is only so much time you can afford to spend chasing down late payments. By outsourcing this responsibility, you can return to your more pressing responsibilities.

If you’ve never worked with a collections agency before, you might be confused about how to get started. Collection Agency Match suggests looking for an agency that is licensed in your state and has expertise in your specific industry.

You should also seek out a collections agency that uses communication methods you’re personally comfortable with – some agencies might contact debtors through letters, while others might call them on the phone.

5. Consider legal action for outstanding invoices

In the event that you’ve taken all the above steps to collect payment for outstanding invoices, you may be left with no option but to pursue legal action.

This is the last resort and in no way should be your first port-of-call. But it’s an eventuality that you should be prepared for. This process differs from country to country, so we’ll direct you to resources for the correct legal procedures for unpaid invoices in the UK and the same for the US.

6. Optimize your invoicing process

What can you do to avoid this situation from occurring again in the future? Now is a good time to review your invoicing process to see if you could implement any improvements.

For instance, have you been creating invoices from scratch with a word processing program and then sending them via email? This means that your invoices could get lost or raise formatting concerns, which can lead to delayed payments.

Instead, you could invest in invoicing software that will keep all of your invoices organized and send out automated reminders.

Here at Shout, we use Chargebee to manage our invoices and for receiving payments. Their accounting system allows us to control all of the above and chase outstanding invoices with customizable reminders.

But, there are plenty of options for accounting software out there for small businesses.

7. Incentivize early payments

This is also a good opportunity to look over your existing payment terms and decide if you should adjust them. For example, should you add late fees into your contracts? Do you want to shorten your allotted payment window from 60 days to 30 days? Which will boost your monthly cash flow and avoid long waiting periods for large payments.

If you want to encourage your customers to pay early in the future, you can incentivize early payments! For instance, you could start offering discounts for early payments. If they know they’ll save money, your customers will be eager to pay you ahead of time!

Conclusion: Chasing outstanding invoices and collecting late payments

No business owner enjoys the process of going after late payments. But this is just a necessary duty for entrepreneurs, and it will happen to every business owner eventually.

It does not have to spell out the end of your customer relationships. By following these tips, you can request payments for overdue invoices with ease and encourage timely payments in the future!

The post Chasing Outstanding Invoices Without Losing Customer Loyalty appeared first on Shout.com.