1. An Insecure Web Host

13 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

How to Design a Contact Page That Drives Engagement

How can your customer reach you? If a client arrives on your website after searching on Google, what can they do to take the next step in a relationship with your brand, without buying anything?

One of the primary aims of any website is to drive conversions. However, it usually takes between 5 and 8 touchpoints to generate a viable sales lead. People don’t want to convert straight away.

Since building a relationship with customers is crucial to success, it makes sense that the contact page would be an essential part of driving results. Unfortunately, a lot of website owners pay virtually no attention to that page. They ask their designer to create a page with their address and phone number on – and that’s it.

What many business owners don’t realize, is that the contact page is the door to deeper, more lucrative relationships with potential prospects. The design of this essential website element needs to be fantastic to drive results.

So, where do you start?

Defining a Well-Designed Contact Page

Let’s start with the basics, what makes a great contact page?

The complete answer to that question depends on the target audience. Some customers will want to see fun and friendly contact pages, complete with social media sharing buttons. Others will want to see a map that shows them exactly how to reach an office or business.

There are a few golden rules to keep in mind, of course. Contact pages should be:

Easy to find: Don’t hide the link to the contact page on the website footer. Make it easy for customers to find out how they can get in touch.
Simple: Don’t put too much content on this page or it will overwhelm your audience. Just let them know where they can go to get answers to various questions.
Professional: Even if you have a friendly brand personality, your contact form still needs to be grammatically correct and well-designed to show a professional edge.
Convenient: Make your phone number clickable so customers can use it on Skype. The same can apply for your email address. Provide easy access to social media profiles, and if you have a contact form – keep it short and sweet.
Informative: Include all of your contact information in the same place. This may include your address, a map to your location, social media pages, email addresses, and even forums.
Accurate: Ensure that the information on your contact page matches the information listed elsewhere. Check directories and Google my Business listings to be sure.
Attractive: Yes, a contact page needs to look good too. Plenty of white space will make essential information stand out. A good layout will guide the eye through the page.
Consistent: Make sure the contact form on your website matches the brand personality that appears on all of your other pages.

Take a look at the Tune Contact page:

It’s beautifully laid out, with clear information that’s easy to read. The company shows exactly why customers might want to get in touch and how they can reach out. As you scroll through the page, you’ll find additional office locations, email addresses for different teams (sales and support), and links to social media accounts too.

How to Drive Engagement on a Contact Us Page

A good contact page needs to look fantastic, showcase the company’s personality, and capture audience attention. However, there’s a big difference between a contact page that gets the job done, and one that convinces your audience they have to connect with you.

Here are some excellent ways to make your contact us page stand out.

Step 1: Using Color Correctly

Color and color psychology have a massive impact on user experience.

Studies constantly demonstrate the conversion powers of having the right shades on certain pages throughout your website. For instance, changing a CTA button from red to green can increase click-through rates by 27%.

However, every audience is different. The colors that drive engagement on a contact page for your company will depend on your target customer. A/B testing color palettes that match your brand personality is a good way to get started.

One interesting example of colors that make the right impact on a Contact Us page comes from Hubspot. Here, the brand maintains it’s brand color (orange), but it also introduces some new shades that convey trustworthiness and professionalism.

Blue is the most calming and credible color for any brand, The gradient that Hubspot uses here blends perfectly with its brand identity, allowing for a stunning contact page, with CTA buttons that still stand out.

Experiment with colors that can generate the right emotional response from your audience, but don’t ignore the golden rules of color in web design. You still need to showcase your brand identity, and you still need a way of making crucial information stand out.

Step 2: Humanizing the Customer Service Team

Some of the customers that arrive at a contact page are interested in your product or inspired by the potential of your service. Other customers will be looking for assistance because they’re frustrated with something or stressed out.

If you’ve ever had a problem with a product and wanted to reach out to the brand about it, you’ve probably noticed how annoying it is to find a blank contact page with nothing but an email address. The lack of effort and humanity in the contact page is enough to convince you that you probably won’t get a response.

But what if you add some happy smiling faces to the page?

Research indicates that brains are fine-tuned to recognize and appreciate human faces. Having a picture of your customer service team, or just any human being on your contact page makes you instantly more approachable. Your customers start to feel like they’re reaching out to a person – not an empty website.

Look at how engaging and personalized this contact page from Amber McCue looks:

Although you can show any human face on your contact page and potentially get results, showing your actual agents will be more likely to drive positive results. It’s a great way to showcase the authenticity and humanity of your team.

Step 3: Making it Easy to Find

A surprisingly large amount of the time, companies shove their contact information into the footer of their website, forcing customers to spend forever looking for them. However, your audience might not want to spend an age searching for your details if they’re in a hurry to get answers.

Stowing a contact page in a footer is also a problem for those visiting your website via mobile, as they might not be able to see all your footer details and links as well.

A Contact Us page doesn’t have to be a massive part of your website navigation if you don’t want it to be. However, it should be one of the first things your audience can see. Putting the information on the header of your website, or even sticking it to the top of the page as your users scroll is very helpful.

Zendesk makes it easy for customers to get in touch in multiple ways. First, the Contact section of the website is clear at the top of the page. Secondly, if you start scrolling through the Zendesk website, a “Get Help” button pops up, so you don’t have to scroll back to find assistance:

Remember, aside from making sure that your contact page appears in the right part of your website, it’s also worth ensuring that it’s easy to understand. Don’t use unusual terms like “Chat”, or “Chill with us”. Stick to tried-and-true options like Help, Contact, or Support.

Step 4: Making the Experience Relevant

There’s a reason why it’s practically impossible to find a one-size-fits-all contact page.

It’s because different customers need different things from your brand.

Some customers will be looking for the answer to a question; others will want to discuss something with your sales team. That’s why many companies are using adaptive contact pages that can change to suit the situation.

For instance, you may start by asking customers what they need help with. Zapier takes this approach with its Contact page:

By asking the client what they need straight away, Zapier can make sure that the visitor finds the right information, and the right number or email address for the appropriate agent. You can even scroll down the help page and look for something in the available help centre, using the search bar. Or you can click on View our experts to hire a Zapier pro.

Creating a dynamic and customized experience like this does a few things. First, it ensures that the customer will reach the right person to help them first-time around. This reduces the number of inappropriate calls your employees have to deal with, and the number of transfers.

Secondly, you deliver a better experience overall for your client, because they don’t have to repeat their issue to multiple people or start a massive email thread. They get the support they need immediately.

Dynamic contact pages can even save you some money and time. If clients decide to solve an issue themselves, using your resources, that’s great for your busy agents.

Step 5: Direct People to the Right Place

The central focus of your contact us page needs to be the available contact options. Centralizing the contact options on a page is an excellent way to make sure that they get the right amount of attention. Centralizing also means that your customers can spend less time searching for the contact details that they need, which is great for usability.

The Melonfree.com website uses a contact us form that’s centralized to immediately pull attention to the customer’s options for getting help.

Centralization isn’t the only way of using design principles to guide visitors on a contact page. According to Ray Hyman and Edmund Hick, increasing the number of choices on a page often increases the time it takes for people to make a decision.

When it comes to connecting with a brand, the right option for each customer will depend on the person and the situation they’re trying to overcome. For instance, a customer that needs to reset their password will probably be able to get the solution they need from an FAQ page.

On the other hand, someone who needs help using a new feature might need the guidance of a professional. To help guide customers to the right solution, Basecamp gives customers a variety of steps to follow to get the right solution fast.

The main purpose of the contact page is to help customers get the right answer with an informative form. However, there are unobtrusive alternative options available too. If all you’re looking for is a way to help yourself fix a problem, you can click on the help guides link before you ever scroll down to the form.

Step 6: Support the Contact Team Too

The best contact us pages aren’t just a great way to improve customer experience. Well-designed solutions also help the customer service team to save time and stay productive.

One of the primary metrics that companies consider when evaluating the success of a service team, is the number of replies required before an issue is resolved. However, if the initial question from a customer doesn’t contain enough information, this number often increases.

Using the design of the contact form to access the right information helps with:

Automatically routing people to the right team member: Companies can set up segmentation rules that automatically send certain emails to different employees based on keywords. You might have questions that go to the sales team, and separate queries that you direct straight to the customer service team.
Show appropriate support options and FAQs: Remember to give the audience a chance to help themselves before they reach out for extra support. Links to an FAQ page or self-service options can really reduce the pressure on a team. Some companies even add automated chatbots to the mix to help with self-service.
Prompt for extra context: Although not every customer will take advantage of an opportunity to add extra information to a form, some will. Adding a box to your contact form for “anything we need to know?” is a great way to generate more information. Ban.do includes a simple “question” box where customers can add as much detail as they like. An option to add screen shots or documents might be a nice touch too.

Building Your Own Contact Us Page

Every customer has their own specific set of needs. The right contact page for another business might not be the right one for you. That’s why it’s so important to take some time getting to know your customers and speaking to your support team.

When you’re planning your contact page, it helps to ask yourself some basic questions about what you want to achieve. For instance:

What kind of channels will our customers want to use to connect with us? Look at things like social media messaging, email, or phone calls. If you’ve got a relatively tech-savvy audience, then they might want to use things like instant messaging with chat bots too.
How can we direct clients to the appropriate channels in as little time as possible? Having a system in place to automatically route your customers to the right agent will reduce the time to resolution for your customers. The faster you solve problems, the better your reputation becomes.
What can we do to set customer expectations and build confidence before they speak to us? Designing a professional-looking contact page will increase customer confidence, while an FAQ section shows that you’re ready to answer common questions.
How can we showcase a unique brand personality without making the page complicated? Everything from using distinct brand colors on a contact page, to adding images and illustrations reminds customers that they’re in the right place.
What can we do to reduce the friction points in a customer’s path to contact? Avoid adding too many input options to a contact form and ensure that it’s easy to reach out when your clients have a problem.

Understanding exactly what your audience needs from you, and what they’re looking for when they come to your team for help reduces the effort involved for your client when they reach out for help. Remember, today’s digitally-savvy customers expect their interactions with companies to be as streamlined and simple as possible.

Make the Most of Your Contact Page

Contact pages are frequently an afterthought in the website design process. However, they’re one of the most valuable tools your company has. With a good contact page, you ensure that your customers can always reach you when they have problems. What’s more, you boost your chances of people wanting to reach out to the sales team too!

Good luck creating a contact page that encourages engagement from your target audience. Don’t forget to track your results from each design, and A/B test for optimization.

11 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

So, You’Ve Won An Exciting Redesign…What Now?

The transitioning of power is fraught with difficulties. Different teams have different values, different experience, different expertise, different priorities, and that leads to different tooling, and different methodologies.

It’s tempting to think of web design as an end-to-end process, starting with research and concluding with metrics. The reality is that most designers and developers join projects part-way through an ongoing process.

That leaves us with a difficult choice: do we try and meet the client’s expectations with our own toolset, or adapt to the tools and processes that are already in place?

For anyone who’s taking over a web project from a different designer/developer/agency (D/D/A), here’s a practical guide to help you make a success of the transition.

Step 1: Find Out What Went Wrong

99.99% of the time, something broke down in the previous client-D/D/A relationship.

In my experience it’s almost never about money. Most clients are willing to pay above the basic market rate if they believe they’re receiving a good return on their investment. A client that tells you the previous D/D/A is simply too expensive is anticipating negotiating your fees.

happy clients don’t shop around

Occasionally you’ll find that a freelance designer has been headhunted by an agency, and is no longer available. Occasionally the company outgrows a D/D/A, moving into areas that the D/D/A doesn’t support. But these situations are rare, happy clients — even moderately content clients — don’t shop around. If they’re speaking to you, something motivated them to do so.

It is alarmingly common that a D/D/A simply goes AWOL. It’s most common at the lower end of the market where the sums of money involved are less likely to prompt a legal dispute. Frequently, an unreputable D/D/A will ghost a client in favour of a better, newer opportunity.

Sometimes the client hires a new manager, and the new manager ushers in revised expectations that the previous D/D/A can’t meet.

Most commonly, the previous D/D/A has dropped the ball one too many times — mistakes happen, and reasonable clients will tolerate them provided they are rectified promptly, but everyone has their limits.

Most clients will be more than happy to explain what went wrong in the previous relationship; it will inevitably be a one-sided explanation, but it will help you to understand the client’s expectations.

Be extremely wary of a client who doesn’t know what went wrong. Be even more wary of a client who talks about “upgrading” their outsourcing — they’re trying to flatter you. In these cases the client may well be hiding something — like their failure to pay invoices.

Remember: at some point the previous D/D/A was new, and excited about having a new client, was optimistic about the project, and it didn’t end well. The best way to not repeat mistakes is to learn from them, and to do that you need to know what they were.

Step 2: Carry Out a Comprehensive Audit

We’re often so eager to secure new work, that we rush to have the client sign on the dotted line, expecting to be able to tackle any problems later.

It is imperative that as a professional, you keep your promises. Before you make those promises, take your time to understand the project and related business. If a client is invested enough to sign a contract with you they won’t mind you doing due diligence first.

Is There Still a Relationship With the Previous Designer/Developer/Agency?

Clients rarely have a full picture of their project — they’re not web professionals, if they were they’d be building their own sites. Your best source of information is the previous D/D/A.

Before you contact the previous D/D/A check with your client; it’s possible they don’t know they’re being replaced yet. If your client is fine with it, then reach out.

When you speak to the previous D/D/A be sensitive to the fact that you’re taking money out of their pocket. Certainly the previous D/D/A may tell you where to go, they may ignore you altogether, but most will be pragmatic about handing over a project if only to ensure their final invoice to their now ex-client is paid promptly.

Every site has its idiosyncrasies, if you can establish a friendly rapport with the previous D/D/A then the transition will be considerably less bumpy.

Who Controls the Domain Name(s)?

In my opinion a company’s domain name(s) should always be held by the company; it’s such an essential business asset that it should be guarded as jealously as the company’s bank accounts.

Unfortunately there are businesses that outsource everything to do with the web. If the break with the previous D/D/A is acrimonious then securing the domain name could be problematic.

It’s not your job to secure the domain name — you have no leverage, the client does. It is your job to impress upon the client how mission-critical the domain name(s) is.

Who Controls the Hosting?

Hosting arrangements vary from project to project. It’s not uncommon, nor unreasonable, for the previous D/D/A to be hosting the client’s site on their own space. If that is the case, be prepared to migrate it quickly either to your own server, or a dedicated space.

If you’re migrating onto a new space pay particular attention to the email provision. Taking over a project usually means taking over a live project, and that usually means email accounts.

In any case, you need full access to the hosting space. You certainly need FTP access, you probably need SSH access.

In addition to hosting, check if your client’s site uses a CDN, and if it does, who has control of it.

Backend Source Code

Once you have FTP access to the hosting server you can probably grab all backend code from the server.

The benefit of grabbing the code from the server — as opposed to accepting files from the previous D/D/A — is that you can be absolutely certain you’re getting the current (working) code.

If the client has broken with the previous D/D/A because they were unable to deliver on a particular task, you do not want to be working with files that have been partially modified.

Fresh Installs

If you’re working with something like a CMS, it’s often a good idea to run a fresh install on your server, and then copy across any templates, plugins, and migrate the database.

Frontend Source Code

When it comes to acquiring source code, frontend code is far more problematic than backend.

frontend code is far more problematic than backend

If the previous D/D/A is even part-way competent then the CSS and JavaScript on the web space is minified. Minified CSS is not too problematic and can be unminified fairly easily, but you do not want to be unpicking a minified JavaScript file — I once had a project in which a developer had minified his own code in the same file with all of his dependencies, including both Vue and jQuery [yes, I know].

Dealing with frontend source code can take on an additional dimension if you discover that the previous D/D/A used techniques you don’t — using Less instead of Sass, or writing scripts in TypeScript.

Unminifying CSS & JavaScript

Unminifying (or beautifying, or prettifying) code is reasonably easy. There are tools online that will help, including Unminify, Online CSS Unminifier, FreeFormatter, JS Minify Unminify, and more. You’ll also find plenty of extensions for code editors including HTML-CSS-JS Prettify for Sublime Text, and Atom-Beautify for Atom. You’ll find that some editors have the functionality built in.

A word of warning: code beautification does not restore comments, and in the case of JavaScript, does not unobfuscate variable names. Beautifying code is no substitute for a copy of the original, unminified source code.

Emergency Measures

If unminifying the source code isn’t possible for any reason, or more likely, the unminified JavaScript still looks like minified code — albeit nicely formatted minified code — then your last resort is to import the code and override it where necessary.

The first thing to do in this case is to explain the situation to your client. Make sure they understand this is a temporary patch that you’ll iron-out as you rebuild parts of the project.

Then, copy and paste the old minified code into a fresh project setup. For CSS that probably means creating a legacy.scss file, including the old CSS, and importing it into your own Sass. For JavaScript, create a legacy.js file, add all the old JS, and import that.

This will result in a much bigger set of files than necessary, you may end up using !important in your style declarations [yuck], and you’ll trigger lots of Lighthouse warnings about surplus code.

However, in the likely event that your client has a long list of changes they wanted live yesterday, this dirty hack will give you a working site that you can then rebuild piece by piece over time.

Assets

Assets normally means images, and images can normally be grabbed via FTP.

Occasionally — although less occasionally now image files rarely contain text — you’ll need the source files to make changes to images.

Whether or not the client has them, or if the previous D/D/A will hand them over, depends largely on the agreement between the client and the previous D/D/A.

Most businesses are reasonably aware of the importance of brand assets, so you’ll probably find they at least have a copy of their logo; whether it’s an SVG or a JPG is another matter entirely. Impress upon them the importance of locating those files for you.

Third Party Code

It is rare to receive a project that doesn’t rely on third party code. That third party code is probably entwined in the custom source code, and unpicking it is a time-consuming job.

It is very likely the previous D/D/A used a library or framework, and given the increasing number of them, it’s even more likely that the library or framework they used is not the one you prefer.

Whether you choose to unpick the code and swap out the previous D/D/A’s dependencies for your own preferences (usually faster in the long term), or whether you choose to work with what you’re given (usually faster in the short term) is entirely up to you.

In my experience it’s no hardship to pick up another CSS library; switching from one JavaScript framework to another is a substantially bigger job involving not just syntax but core concepts.

Beware Build Environments

Everyone has their own way of doing things. Some D/D/As embrace build environments, some do not. Some build environments are simple to use, some are not. Some build environments are adaptable to your process, some are not.

Unlike adopting a library, or even a framework, adopting a new build process is rarely a good idea

Build environments are numerous — Gulp, Grunt, and Webpack are all popular — and D/D/As are almost as opinionated about them as they are about CMS.

In lieu of raw files, it’s not uncommon for the previous D/D/A to tell you to “just run such-and-such CLI” command, to match up your local environment to theirs. Unlike adopting a library, or even a framework, adopting a new build process is rarely a good idea because you’re relegating yourself from expert to novice at a time when you’ve yet to earn your new client’s trust.

Stand your ground. Their approach failed, that’s why you’ve been brought in. You do you.

Who is Licensed?

Any third part code that has been paid for is licensed. Always check who holds these licenses. As well as being legally required, valid licenses are normally required for updates, bug fixes, and in some cases support.

Common pitfalls include: font licenses (which may be licensed under the previous D/D/A’s Creative Cloud, Fontstand, Monotype, etc. account); stock image licenses (which may be licensed for use by the previous D/D/A alone); and plugins (which are frequently bulk-licensed to D/D/As in bundles).

It’s depressingly common to find clients using unlicensed assets. On more than one occasion I’ve had to explain to a client the potential consequences of using pirated fonts.

Fortunately it’s increasingly common for third party providers to attach a licence to a specified domain, which means you may be able to claim the licence on behalf of your client. Major suppliers like CMS and ecommerce solutions frequently have an option for the previous developer to release a licence and allow you to claim it.

In the case of licensing, if you’re unsure, do not be afraid to reach out to the third party provider and check with them if your client is licensed once they break ties with their previous D/D/A.

The only thing that sours a client relationship faster than telling them they need to buy a license they thought they’d already paid for, is telling them they’re being sued for copyright infringement.

Protect your client, and protect yourself, by making sure everything is licensed properly. If you can get something in writing to that effect from the previous D/D/A, do.

Who Has the Research and Analytics?

One of the major benefits of taking over a site, as opposed to building from scratch, is that you have a measurable set of site-specific data to guide your decision making.

This only applies if you have the data, so ask to be added to the client’s analytics account.

There’s a strong chance that the design research carried out by the previous D/D/A is considered an internal document, not a deliverable, by the previous D/D/A. Check with your client: if they paid for the research (is it specified on an invoice?) then they’re entitled to a copy.

We Have a Blog Too…

Clients have a tendency to use the term “website” as a catch-all term for everything digital.

When you take responsibility for a website, you’re almost always expected to take responsibility for any digital service the client uses. That means, newsletter services like Mailchimp, customer service accounts like Intercom, and 227,000 page WordPress blogs that they forgot to mention in the initial brief.

Repeat the whole of Step 2 for every additional app, micro-site, blog, and anything else the client has, unless you are expressly told by the client not to.

Step 3: The Point of No Return

Up until now, you haven’t asked the client to sign on the dotted line. This whole process is part of your due diligence.

By checking these things you can identify unforeseen problems, and potential costs. Are you tied to an obscure build process? Do you need to relicense the CMS? Do you need to recreate all of the site assets?

Some of these conversations are hard to have, but the time to have them is now

If there is any question of the project being more complex than anticipated, have an honest conversation with your client — they will appreciate your transparency, and they’ll appreciate being kept informed. Any client who doesn’t value a clear picture of what they’re paying you for, isn’t a client you want.

Some of these conversations are hard to have, but the time to have them is now, not three months down the line.

This is the point of no return. From this point on, any problems aren’t the previous D/D/A’s, they’re yours.

Change the Passwords

For every service you have, from the newsletter login, to the CMS login, to the FTP details, change the password. (Make sure you notify the client.)

Set Up a Staging Site

You’re going to need a staging site so your new client can preview the work you’ve done for them.

Set the staging site up immediately, before you’ve made any changes to the code. In doing so you’ll discover early on if there are files missing, or issues with the files you do have.

Successfully Transitioning a Project

When a client commissions a site from scratch they are filled with expectation. The fact that they are leaving their previous D/D/A and seeking you out demonstrates that their experience fell short of their hopes.

You now have a client with realistic — perhaps even pessimistic — expectations. You have a benchmark against which your work can be objectively measured.

When problems arise, as they invariably will, never try to blame the previous D/D/A; it was your job to assess the state of play before you started work. If there is an issue with legacy assets, you should have brought it to your client’s attention early on.

If you learn from the previous D/D/A’s mistakes, you won’t be handing the project on to someone else any time soon.

Featured image via Unsplash.

9 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Popular Design News of the Week: November 2, 2020 – November 8, 2020

Actualités, Actualités, Business

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.

Gmail’s New Logo is a Mess – This Amateur Designer Fixed it

GitHub Source Code Leak

What’s the Average Web Designer’s Salary? A Deep Dive into 2020

All the Resources You Need for Front End Development

Flat Illustrations – 100 Neat Illustrations for Websites and Apps

15 WordPress Plugins Every Content Creator Needs

9 Essential Elements of a Modern Website Design

30 Classic Ideas that Serve as Logo Design Inspirations in 2020

Color Contrast Mistakes that Weaken Button Hierarchy

How to Improve Conversions Using Color Psychology

20+ Free Design Resources for Developers

CSS Grid Layout Module Level 3

25 Striking Logo Color Schemes to Inspire your Branding

Cirrus V0.6 – A Component Centric CSS Framework for Fast Prototyping

What is the Best Digital Marketing Strategy?

What Should I Build? – Project Ideas for People Who are Learning Web Development

Introducing the 1st Design-to-Development Platform

Free Typography Logo Maker

The Caretaker – A Pure CSS Horror/Puzzle Game

Getting the WordPress Block Editor to Look like the Front End Design

Copying is the Way Design Works

Six Principles of System Design

Apple Silicon Mac Event Announced

4 Types of Sales Visuals that Increase Conversions

Chasing the Pixel-Perfect Dream

Want more? No problem! Keep track of top design news from around the web with Webdesigner News.

8 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

L’expérience client future : les clients deviennent contributeurs

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

Les entreprises créent des plateformes ouvertes qui permettent aux clients de participer à tous les aspects de l’expérience, à la fois de manière active et de manière passive.

Le succès des plateformes ouvertes

Les clients ne se contentent plus d’être de simples consommateurs de biens et services, ils font partie intégrante du business model. Lorsqu’ils contribuent à la conception, production, commercialisation et utilisation de produits et services, la participation des clients est active. Quand ils acceptent de laisser les entreprises utiliser leurs données pour formuler et fournir des produits et services qui leur sont destinés, elle est passive.

Quoi qu’il en soit, les entreprises ne peuvent survivre sans créer des plateformes de données qui encouragent à la fois la participation active et passive des clients au développement de produits, de services et à l’expérience globale. Contrairement aux référentiels de données classiques qui ne servent qu’aux entreprises, ces plateformes ouvertes offrent de la valeur aussi bien aux clients qu’à l’entreprise.

Par exemple, plutôt que de devoir atteindre attendre la prochaine version d’une application de suivi alimentaire ou de cuisine, les clients ont accès à des plateformes ouvertes où les utilisateurs peuvent ajouter de nouveaux aliments, de nouveaux produits et de nouvelles recettes que d’autres personnes peuvent rechercher et utiliser. Les entreprises agroalimentaires et culinaires boostent la fidélité des clients et parviennent à développer leur plateforme de manière exponentielle, ce qui nécessite que très peu d’investissements supplémentaires.

Toutes ces données offrent aux entreprises agroalimentaires des informations inestimables sur la façon et l’endroit les plus adaptés pour développer leur activité. La plateforme devient le socle de l’entreprise et fournit une visibilité incroyablement riche sur le client, ce qui permet de définir une orientation
stratégique pour l’avenir.

D’autres entreprises, comme les fournisseurs de matériels agricoles ou fabricants de réacteurs d’avions, créent également des plateformes qui surveillent leur utilisation et encouragent la participation. Au fur et à mesure que ces plateformes deviennent plus intelligentes et que de nouvelles fonctionnalités sont ajoutées, la participation devient plus facile, créant ainsi un cercle vertueux. En échange de leur créativité et de leur expertise, les clients s’attendent à recevoir de meilleurs produits et services, bien sûr, mais apprécient aussi le statut, la reconnaissance, le sentiment d’appartenance et le sens issus de leur contribution à quelque chose qui leur tient à cœur.

Les clients s’attendent de plus en plus à contribuer à leur expérience des quatre façons suivantes :

En tant qu’utilisateurs

Les entreprises les plus performantes intègrent désormais les données client à l’expérience client, ce qui permet aux clients d’en tirer directement parti. Avant, par exemple, les montres connectées constituaient à elles seules l’expérience. Aujourd’hui, ce sont des dispositifs d’entrée qui alimentent les plateformes de données afin que les clients puissent profiter d’expériences beaucoup plus riches qu’ils ne pourraient le faire avec le dispositif seul (par exemple, records personnels, concours collectifs, rencontres et partage d’itinéraires).

En tant que créateurs

Les entreprises mettent des plateformes numériques à disposition du client pour libérer son imagination. Plutôt que de laisser les clients attendre la prochaine version de leur jeu vidéo, par exemple, les éditeurs créent des plateformes ouvertes sur lesquelles les joueurs peuvent créer de nouveaux niveaux et modules à destination de toute la communauté. D’autres permettent aux clients de suggérer de nouveaux concepts de produits.

En tant que producteurs

Les clients contribuent activement à la fabrication de produits. Par exemple, si les systèmes d’énergie renouvelable permettent aux clients qui produisent de l’électricité excédentaire de la vendre au réseau, les fournisseurs de repas en ligne livrent quant à eux aux clients des ingrédients et instructions pour qu’ils préparent eux-mêmes leurs repas à la maison (quoi de plus important qu’un repas fait maison et pris en famille ?).

En tant que soutiens

Les clients privilégient de plus en plus les entreprises qui leur permettent d’être actifs, de participer visiblement aux trois 3 R (réduction, réutilisation et recyclage) et à des programmes de recommerce (ou commerce inversé) (9). Les produits pouvant être facilement reconvertis, revendus, démontés et recyclés donnent satisfaction aux personnes préoccupées par le changement climatique, d’autant plus que les trois R sont en train de devenir un enjeu moral pour un nombre croissant de clients (voir « Les valeurs définissent la valeur »).

Quelles sont les étapes suivantes pour votre entreprise ?

Créez de la valeur à partir de la participation passive

Généralement, les clients acceptent de fournir leurs données en échange de valeur, surtout s’ils n’ont rien à faire. Par exemple, après avoir obtenu l’autorisation des clients d’accéder à leurs données bancaires et de carte de crédit, les sociétés financières utilisent des algorithmes de Machine Learning, des outils d’analyse et d’immenses référentiels de données pour créer des rapports d’investissement pertinents, sans que les clients n’aient à bouger le petit doigt.

De la livraison de produits finis à la mise à disposition de plateformes ouvertes

Appréhendez les clients comme de véritables partenaires, capables de participer à n’importe quelle étape de la chaîne de valeur. Donnez-leur les moyens d’agir avec une partie du produit, comme des jeux vidéo en ligne ouverts ou des services de repas qui permettent aux clients de préparer eux-mêmes leur repas. Engagez-vous dans un concept de copropriété à long terme en collaborant avec vos clients et d’autres entreprises, et en prenant soin de vos clients.

Expliquez la contrepartie

Expliquez clairement au client la valeur qu’il reçoit en échange de ses contributions à la chaîne valeur. L’expression créative, les liens communautaires, la reconnaissance et les expériences personnalisées, en plus de la valeur du produit lui-même, sont des exemples de ce que les clients pourraient obtenir.

Publié en anglais sur insights.sap.com

Références

(9) Alissa Marchat, “Consumers Prefer Reverse Vending Machines for Bottle Recycling, Survey Finds,” The Shelby Report, April 27, 2018, http://www.theshelbyreport.com/2018/04/27/consumer-recycling- preference-survey/. Brandon Gaille, “27 Recommerce Industry Statistics and Trends,” Brandon Gaille, January 22, 2018, https://brandongaille.com/27-recommerce-industry-statistics-and-trends/.

The post L’expérience client future : les clients deviennent contributeurs appeared first on SAP France News.

6 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

9 Ways To Boost Your Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a ranking metric that predicts how well a site will rank online. It goes by a scale of 1 to 100 — the closer you are to 100, the better your odds of ranking in search engine result pages (SERPs), thus giving you more clicks.

To see how your site currently ranks, visit Moz’s free Link Explorer to test your DA. Just type your website URL in the search bar and click “Analyze”. Just remember: don’t kick yourself if your DA is smaller than 30 to 50. If you follow these 9 tips today, you’ll most definitely see your DA score improve.

1. Domain Name Age

You know that old saying, right? Wisdom comes with age. Well, guess what? The same is true for your domain name. If your domain name doesn’t have an ‘old’ age, then it’ll rank lower, and users online might not see your site as legitimate.

But with an older domain name, not only will users see your site as more legitimate, but it’ll also have a much higher DA score than younger domain names. In other words, every time you change your domain, you might be doing more harm than good to it, since you’re actually knocking down the credibility you’ve built up over the years by starting from scratch.

Therefore, pick an easy-to-remember domain name that’s not only relevant to your niche, but it’s also something that you’re willing to keep for a very long time.

2. On-Page Optimization

Then, it’s time to optimize all the following on your pages:

Code;
Content;
Site structure;
Metatags;
Other on-page elements (H1, Title tags, Image alt tag, Site architecture, etc.).

Improving your DA with optimization can make your site be more search-engine-friendly.

3. Create Great Content

Want to attract high-quality links from multiple domains in your niche? Good news! More attraction to your site comes from creating high-quality content that appeals to your target audience. Otherwise, poor-quality content will only scare people away.

So, in providing the best content possible, that will definitely help you improve your DA score (and even give you many additional SEO benefits).

4. Internal Link Improvement

Why worry about earning external links when your internal links need the most attention? Yes, focusing too much on external links can make you lose sight of linking internally.

So, why internal links? These links help nudge visitors to what they’re trying to look for on your website. In that way, visitors are getting the best user experience, while you reap the rewards of having an increased DA score.

5. Link Profile Clean-Up

Having a clean link profile is essential, since it helps you obtain and maintain a great DA score. So, to clean up your link profile, you must remove the bad links from it.

In this process, you can use tools like:

These tools help you figure out any inappropriate or unwanted links.

After the link audit is complete, contact the website owners to have them either delete the link or add the “nofollow tag” (devalues the link). If this doesn’t work, use the Google Disavow tool to remove said links from your profile.

6. Know Your Niche

When running a site, it’s important for you to be the expert in what you have to offer online – and your DA is no exception to this. Becoming an authoritative figure in your niche allows you to gain the confidence of readers, while providing expert advice to the community.

If you have amazing content (i.e. guest blogs on industry-related forums) and clever ways to engage your target audience, then people will see you as an authority to your niche. This not only enhances your brand, but also increases your DA score.

7. Be Mobile-Friendly

Nowadays, people are on their phones, tablets, etc. Whatever device that they can use on the go, they’ll use. In other words, mobile isn’t just the way of the future – it’s happening right now, outpacing laptops since 2014. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly yet, then now is the time to fix that!

If your website hasn’t been optimized for mobile use yet, not only will it hurt your search rankings (since Google favors mobile-friendly sites), but you’ll also lose out on users visiting your site to begin with.

So, go to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, and then run a test for your domain. Afterwards, Google will give you a detailed report of how mobile-friendly your site is, and what you can do to improve it.

8. Improve Page Speed

Let’s face it: No one likes to wait for a webpage to load; they want quick results. So, if your site isn’t loading fast enough, then users will get frustrated and most likely go to another site. So, why not improve your page speed?

First, find the cause of your website running slower than it should. You can do this by running your website through Google’s PageSpeed Insights; it’ll analyze the speed of your site. And then, it will identify some effective ways for you to make your site faster and consequently improve your DA score.

9. Utilize Social Media

Finally, it’s important to increase your social signals, when it comes to gaining more authority with your domain. While search engines like Google won’t insist that sites make social signals a priority to increase their rankings, site runners must still take advantage of social media to do the following:

Promote their sites;
Promote their products and services;
Tell people about any events and contests.

As a result, sites are more likely to get likes, shares, and tweets through social media, versus going solo in search engines.

Conclusion

Domain authority is extremely important for your site. First, DA allows you to analyze how well your website does in the search space. Plus, it allows you to compare the performance of your website with that of your rival sites, thus showing you where you stand in search engine results.

So, why not get your site thriving today by improving and maintaining your DA score today? Your site will thank you for it!

Featured image via Unsplash.

6 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

SAP et Qualtrics lancent Qualtrics® XM for Suppliers pour améliorer l’expérience d’approvisionnement de bout en bout (Source- to-Pay) des solutions Procurement de SAP

Actualités, ERP & Applications, Innovation, Non classé, SAP

Paris — le 6 novembre 2020 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) et Qualtrics ont annoncé le lancement de Qualtrics® XM for Suppliers, une nouvelle solution permettant aux organisations d’identifier les points d’amélioration des processus Achats, depuis le sourcing jusqu’au paiement (souce-to-pay) afin d’aider à sécuriser des ressources critiques, accroître les économies, atténuer les risques et améliorer l’agilité de l’entreprise.

Qualtrics XM for Suppliers combine les données issues des solutions SAP® Ariba®, SAP Fieldglass® et SAP S/4HANA® avec les informations collectées en temps réel auprès des fournisseurs et analysées par l’intelligence artificielle de Qualtrics, une entreprise du groupe SAP.

Une majorité (66%) des directeurs des achats et des directeurs supply chain déclarent que leur fonction joue un rôle dans la réduction des risques fournisseurs, selon une étude conduite par Oxford Economics et SAP. Toutefois, seuls 51% d’entre eux indiquent pouvoir trouver rapidement des solutions alternatives pour leur approvisionnement, et 46% ont des difficultés à obtenir de la visibilité sur la performance d’un fournisseur. Qualtrics XM For Suppliers aide les organisations à améliorer leur processus source-to-pay en se basant sur l’écoute et l’analyse des feedbacks des fournisseurs puis la mise en place d’actions appropriées aux moments clés.

« Quand les organisations donnent la priorité à l’écoute, à la compréhension et à l’action sur la base des retours des parties prenantes, l’impact business et le ROI suivent naturellement », explique Brian Stucki, vice-président exécutif de Qualtrics et directeur général de Customer XM. « Qualtrics XM for Suppliers met les feedbacks des fournisseurs au cœur de l’interaction acheteur-fournisseur et devient une part intégrante de la prise de décision et de la construction de la relation. Les équipes achats obtiennent ainsi une vision holistique du processus global du point de vue des fournisseurs afin de régler les écueils, recommander des améliorations et trouver des solutions innovantes. »

En tant que leader en matière d’expérience client et créateur du concept d’Experience Management (XM), Qualtrics ajoute son expertise à cette nouvelle innovation au travers des fonctionnalités clés de la plateforme Qualtrics XM, comme le moteur Qualtrics iQ, pour offrir :

Des analyses prédictives et de l’intelligence. Accès instantané aux feedbacks des fournisseurs et aux indicateurs prédictifs pour favoriser la prise de décisions en matière de dépenses dans l’ensemble de l’entreprise.
Des workflows automatisés, fluides et homogènes. Mise en place de plans d’actions automatisés et partagés avec les équipes concernées afin de réduire les écarts d’expérience tout au long du processus source-to-pay.
Des informations en temps réel pour agir rapidement. Collecte des informations fournisseurs sur l’ensemble des points d’interaction afin de permettre aux équipes achats d’identifier précisément les changements et décisions à mettre en œuvre.

« Cette année nous a appris que la résilience et l’agilité peuvent seulement être atteintes s’il est possible d’anticiper les disruptions avant qu’elles arrivent, d’améliorer les synergies primordiales avec les fournisseurs et de savoir quand activer les solutions alternatives », explique Jason Wolf, senior vice-president et directeur général de SAP Intelligent Spend and Business Network « C’est désormais encore plus simple d’y arriver avec Qualtrics XM for Suppliers pour les solutions SAP Ariba, SAP Fieldglass et SAP S/4HANA. »

Qualtrics XM for Suppliers permet aux équipes achats, finance et supply chain de :

Sécuriser les ressources critiques et apporter de la résilience aux entreprises en identifiant et en atténuant les zones de risques pour minimiser l’impact sur l’activité des perturbations éventuelles et répondre proactivement aux retours des fournisseurs les plus importants.
Accélérer les économies en utilisant les informations et les recommandations révélées par l’IA sur l’ensemble du processus source-to-pay afin d’identifier les écarts d’expérience au sein de la supply chain et influencer les termes des contrats qui ont l’impact le plus positif sur le ROI.
Innover rapidement en s’appuyant sur les feedbacks obtenus sur les différents points d’interaction afin de promouvoir la collaboration avec les fournisseurs et utiliser leur expertise pour identifier les possibilités d’améliorations.

SAP Press Room : Globale / France. Suivez SAP sur Twitter : @SAPNews

The post SAP et Qualtrics lancent Qualtrics® XM for Suppliers pour améliorer l’expérience d’approvisionnement de bout en bout (Source- to-Pay) des solutions Procurement de SAP appeared first on SAP France News.

6 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

SAP finalise l’acquisition d’Emarsys

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

SAP (NYSE : SAP) a annoncé aujourd’hui avoir procédé à l’acquisition d’Emarsys, fournisseur de plateforme d’engagement client omnicanal. Les conditions de la transaction n’ont pas été précisées.

Les offres Emarsys ont été ajoutées au portefeuille de solutions existantes de SAP en matière d’expérience client.

« Emarsys fait maintenant officiellement partie de SAP Customer Experience. Nous sommes impatients à l’idée de travailler ensemble, d’apprendre à mieux nous connaître et de créer un portefeuille de produits qui aille bien au-delà de la somme des deux parties », déclare Bob Stutz, Président de SAP Customer Experience. « Grâce aux atouts de nos solutions actuelles et à l’intégration d’Emarsys, SAP Customer Expérience permettra de créer des mécanismes d’engagement personnalisés et omnicanaux, pour aller à la rencontre des clients lorsqu’ils le souhaitent,, sur leurs canaux de prédilection et selon leurs préférences. »

À propos d’Emarsys

Emarsys met à la disposition des responsables de marketing digital et responsables business la seule plateforme d’engagement client omnicanal conçue pour accélérer les résultats business. En alignant rapidement les résultats business souhaités sur des stratégies d’engagement client omnicanal reconnues (crowdsourcées par des grandes marques de votre secteur d’activité), notre plateforme vous donne la possibilité d’accélérer le Time to Value, de proposer des expériences client 1:1 de qualité et produire des résultats mesurables … rapidement. Rejoignez les 1 500 entreprises internationales qui font déjà confiance à Emarsys pour générer les résultats prévisibles et rentables que leur entreprise exige, mais aussi bénéficier des expériences client omnicanales hautement personnalisées que leurs clients méritent. Plus plus d’infos, rendez-vous sur https://emarsys.com/fr

À propos de SAP

La stratégie de SAP vise à aider chaque organisation à fonctionner en “entreprise intelligente”. En tant que leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nous aidons les entreprises de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs à opérer au mieux : 77 % des transactions commerciales mondiales entrent en contact avec un système SAP®. Nos technologies de Machine Learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT) et d’analytique avancées aident nos clients à transformer leurs activités en “entreprises intelligentes”. SAP permet aux personnes et aux organisations d’avoir une vision approfondie de leur business et favorise la collaboration afin qu’elles puissent garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Nous simplifions la technologie afin que les entreprises puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent – sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications et de services de bout en bout permet aux clients privés et publics de 25 secteurs d’activité dans le monde de fonctionner de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun. Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site www.sap.com.

Contacts presse

Emarsys

emarsysfrance@teamlewis.com
Morgane Joffredo / Julia Dubois
01 85 65 86 34/12

SAP

Daniel Margato
Directeur Communication
daniel.margato@sap.com
06 64 25 38 08

The post SAP finalise l’acquisition d’Emarsys appeared first on SAP France News.

5 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Branding 101: Creating the Visual Identity for Your Business

There are so many things to think about when first starting a business. What will your business offer? How will this differ from existing solutions? Who will benefit most from your offering? And why are you so passionate about this?

If you haven’t done so yet, work through this exercise to come up with your brand identity and business name.

Once you’ve figured out your brand identity, you have to create a visual identity — also referred to as brand imagery — to go along with it.

While you could easily throw together visual elements that speak to you, your goal should be to choose visuals that resonate with your audience. So, building your visual identity is going to require some work.

In the following post, we’re going to look at how your brand’s visual style can give off certain signals to those who encounter it (and how to use those to your advantage). We’ll also break down what you need, to piece together your visual identity.

The Power of Visual Identity

Each of the design choices you make that website visitors, social media followers, and customers can see will impact how they approach your brand. Are you a fun-loving company that caters to a younger crowd? Do you create high-tech products that solve serious global problems? Are you a successful entrepreneur who’s reshaping the way we talk to one another?

When done right, our brand visuals convey our brand’s personality, values, and mission without having to use any words.

Think about your favorite clothing brand. What do you picture? Let’s use Athleta as an example.

The logo is probably the first visual element that comes to my mind:

The grey radial shape is one I’m very familiar with. It’s on their website, their social media, and it’s usually imprinted somewhere on their clothing.

The second thing I think about when I think of Athleta is its physical imagery:

Rather than include images of the clothing on its own, there’s often someone wearing Athleta clothes while hiking along a trail, walking on a beach, or working out in a studio.

There’s so much that just these two visual elements tell us about this brand:

Athleta targets active female consumers; we see this in its images and CTAs. The fine touches and shape of the logo may suggest this as well.
Athleta creates understated but highly functional clothing; we see this in the product photos as well as in the brand’s use of neutral colors and fonts across its designs.
Athleta’s mission is to help customers have a healthier and more balanced life; we see this in its product photos, but we also get a sense of this from the simple symmetric structure of the logo.

There are overt ways to use visuals in your branding (usually through your choice of photos or illustrations). But there are also ways to subtly convey more about your company, what it does, and for whom you work through your choice of colors, fonts, structure, and more.

How to Create a Visual Identity for Your Brand

Let’s walk through each of the elements you need to pull together to create your visual identity:

The Color Palette

Like with everything else in business, you’re here to give your audience something they need, so they have to be at the forefront of your decisions — including which colors you put into your brand’s palette.

So, where do you start in choosing a color palette for your site and other marketing channels?

Let’s take a systematic approach.

1. Choose a Primary Color

Go to the Canva color meanings and symbolism tool.

Have a look through the colors and find one that feels good to you. Open up the page and read more about what the color means:

You’ll find the following on each page:

A brief history on the color;
How it’s been used by people over the years;
What it’s symbolized over the years and around the world;
How to use the psychology of the color to affect people (i.e. your audience);
Alternate shades and colors if this particular one doesn’t send the right signals;
Colors that pair nicely with this one.

While it’s important to consider how colors evoke different emotions, it shouldn’t be the only driving force. Your primary focus should be to choose colors that positively affect the user experience. In other words, you don’t want them to get in the way or distract prospects from getting to know your brand and eventually converting.

2. Create a Full Color Palette

Once you’ve picked a primary color, you need to come up with a color palette. You’ll want one or two colors to use in your logo and a full color palette for your website and other branded channels.

You can use Canva’s palette suggestions (in the top-right corner of the color page) to create a basic color palette.

For something a little more robust, use Material Design Palette:

Color options are a bit limited, but it does a good job of spelling out where you should use each color. You can then adjust the color palette as you see fit.

Typography

The design and pairing of your fonts can greatly impact the way people respond to your brand and the words you’ve written about it.

So, the goal with typography is to make your words easy to read while also giving hints about your company’s personality and style.

1. Understand Font Styles

Figure out what style of font goes best with your brand identity.

This is the simplest way to categorize fonts:

Sans serif: These are simple fonts without any “feet” (lines at the ends of letters).
Serif: These are more traditional-looking fonts (the kinds you see in literature and newspapers) with feet.
Script: These are cursive and curly fonts that mimic handwriting.
Display: These are fonts designed specifically to appear in logos, hero images, and advertising because of their large, bold styling.
Monospaced: These are fonts with characters that comprise the same amount of horizontal space, often resembling typewritten text.

You can break these down even further and really get to the root of the style. Fonts.com has a great explainer page on each of these classifications:

Here are some sources to help you find fonts for your brand:

2. Settle on Two or Three Fonts

Choose two or three fonts for your brand. Max. Anything more than that will create a distracting and overwhelming interface for your audience.

You’ll need:

A font for your header text. It needs to look good in big sizes, be easy to read, and easy to identify from other text when scanning through a page or document.
A font for your body text. It needs to look good in small sizes (16 pixels and up) and be highly legible.
Optional: A font for your logo and hero images. It wouldn’t stray too far from the style of your headers, but if you need something a bit more decorative or unique, you can use a different font family for this.

If you find that you need more variety in your fonts to create a clearer hierarchy on the page or to call out certain elements, use superfamilies with dozens or even over a hundred different styles. That way, your users’ eyes won’t get fatigued from having to switch between too many font types.

3. Learn Font Pairing Rules

To pair fonts, use styles that contrast yet complement one another. Ultimately, you want the pairing of your fonts to send a cohesive message to your audience.

For example, a sans serif header and serif body are a common way to combine fonts. Like this pairing of Fira Sans and Merriweather from the FontPair website:

This modern-looking duo sends the message that: “Your comfort is priority #1 for us. Take your time reading and enjoy.”

There are tons of ways to make varying styles play off one another while sending the right signals to your audience: A safe serif with a retro cursive header font to come off as a playful, yet professional brand; a futuristic header and a neutral sans serif body font to give your product pages a very techy feel; and so on…

Once you have one or two fonts you like the vibe of, use FontPair to track down a good complement to the one you want to use.

Imagery

We can use this as a blanket category for any visual content you might use in your branding:

Photos
Videos
Illustrations
Icons
Backgrounds
Textures
Animations or GIFs

But just because there’s all this content to use, that doesn’t mean it should all appear on the same site to represent the same brand. You’ll want to narrow it down based on your company’s personality and how the style of imagery fits with it.

1. Photos vs. Illustrations

You can alter your brand’s voice and style based on the kind of imagery you use.

For instance, tech companies like Stripe often use illustration in their brand designs:

Even though SaaS companies sell one type of product, their audiences are usually quite vast, so it would be hard to find photos that represent everyone. And it’s not like users are focused on their relationships with the people behind the scenes. These companies put technology into the hands of their users, so it’s best to let the product shine and not the people. This opens up the door for some fun and creative possibilities with illustrations.

That said, choosing photos over illustrations doesn’t completely bar you from using vector graphics and icons. You can mix-and-match those visuals so long as they blend well with one another. What you don’t want to do is to mix two very different styles that say different things about your brand at once.

To decide what’s best for your brand, approach this from your users’ point-of-view. What kind of visuals will help them connect to your brand and what you sell?

2. Style

It’s not just the type of image you use that impacts your brand identity. It’s the style you apply to those visuals that can transform your visuals, putting visitors in a different time, place, or headspace.

Will you apply a filter to give your photos a similar look and feel?

Will you place each of your product photos against the same backdrop for a uniform look?

Will you use a completely new style of imagery for one of your product lines the way Apple has done for the iPhone 12?

There’s nothing wrong with using out-of-the-box imagery. However, if they don’t give off quite the right tone, don’t be afraid to use your design skills to make adjustments and cater them to your own style.

Logo

Your logo is the last of the visual elements you’ll need to invest some time in. The good news is that you’ve already done most of the legwork:

You’ve defined your brand’s identity.
You’ve given your business a name.
You’ve selected the main visual components that will represent your brand: colors, fonts, and images.

That’s really all you need to create a logo that is relevant, unique, attractive, potent, and memorable.

That and a way to bring it all together. You have a few options.

Option #1: If you’re a graphic designer, you can create your own from-scratch.

Option #2: If you want help getting started, you can use a tool like Wix Logo Maker:

You’ll fill out a short questionnaire and then receive dozens of pre-made logos to start with. You’ll later have the chance to customize the design to your liking.

Option #3: You can hire someone to design a totally custom logo.

Wrapping Up

In the next post in this three-part series, we’re going to look at the next step:

Getting your business online.

We’ll take everything you’ve done so far in coming up with a business name, brand identity, and now visual identity, and put it towards your website and the marketing channels that are best for your business.

4 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

BNP Paribas a signé un accord de distribution des produits SAP au sein du Groupe

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

BNP Paribas annonce la signature d’un accord de distribution des produits SAP au sein du Groupe. L’usage des technologies de SAP permettra de développer de nouvelles solutions innovantes et de répondre aux demandes de plus en plus complexes des régulateurs du monde entier en matière de gestion financière, de risque et de reporting. Le contrat porte notamment sur les solutions SAP HANA et SAP S/4HANA pour accélérer la transformation.

Le Groupe BNP Paribas est une banque de premier plan en Europe avec un rayonnement international. Il est présent dans 71 pays, avec près de 199 000 collaborateurs, dont plus de 151 000 en Europe. Le Groupe détient des positions clés dans trois grands domaines d’activité : Domestic Markets et International Financial Services, dont les réseaux de banques de détail et les services financiers sont regroupés dans Retail Banking & Services, et Corporate & Institutional Banking, centré sur les clientèles Entreprises et Institutionnels.

BNP Paribas fait face à l’évolution de son secteur et contribue à sa transformation. Pour parvenir à plus d’efficacité opérationnelle, le Groupe mise sur la digitalisation de son activité et sur la contribution de SAP à cette stratégie.

Des solutions nouvelle génération pour plus « d’intelligence » dans la gestion de l’activité

Les banques doivent s’adapter aux nouvelles exigences d’un secteur en constante évolution, notamment en matière d’analyse de gestion des risques et d’évolution des marchés. La base de données SAP HANA répond à ces attentes grâce à des outils d’analyse avancés et des moteurs de traitement de données multi-modèles intégrés – plus de 1,5 milliard d’informations seront ainsi traitées chaque jour. Cette plateforme de base de données permettra également de développer des applications nouvelle génération. Grâce à des analyses avancées en temps réel, l’entreprise gagne en agilité et évolue en maîtrisant ses coûts. La solution SAP HANA permet ainsi de :

Moderniser l’architecture existante de suivi des risques de marché et d’améliorer les performances
Créer de nouvelles capacités de reporting et d’analyse des risques en temps réel
Améliorer la production des reporting réglementaires, par l’augmentation des volumes des données traitées, leur fréquence et leur diversité.

L’ERP intelligent et intégré SAP S/4HANA fait également évoluer la fonction financière. Il va permettre de perfectionner la gestion prévisionnelle des achats, grâce à des processus comptables plus digitalisés et prédictifs permettant d’accélérer la clôture de fin de période, de garantir une conformité permanente et une expérience utilisateur de qualité pour une productivité plus élevée.

« En tant qu’acteur de longue date dans le secteur des services financiers, SAP possède une connaissance et une compréhension approfondies des exigences et des défis auxquels les banques sont confrontées au niveau mondial », a déclaré Luka Mucic, Chief Financial Officer de SAP. « Nous sommes fiers de collaborer avec le Groupe BNP Paribas pour soutenir leur initiative de transformation numérique. »

À propos du Groupe BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas est une banque de premier plan en Europe avec un rayonnement international. Elle est présente dans 71 pays, avec près de 199 000 collaborateurs, dont plus de 151 000 en Europe. Le Groupe détient des positions clés dans ses trois grands domaines d’activité : Domestic Markets et International Financial Services, dont les réseaux de banques de détail et les services financiers sont regroupés dans Retail Banking & Services, et Corporate & Institutional Banking, centré sur les clientèles Entreprises et Institutionnels. Le Groupe accompagne l’ensemble de ses clients (particuliers, associations, entrepreneurs, PME, grandes entreprises et institutionnels) pour les aider à réaliser leurs projets en leur proposant des services de financement, d’investissement, d’épargne et de protection. En Europe, le Groupe a quatre marchés domestiques (la Belgique, la France, l’Italie et le Luxembourg) et BNP Paribas Personal Finance est le 1er acteur spécialisé du financement aux particuliers en Europe. BNP Paribas développe également son modèle intégré de banque de détail dans les pays du bassin méditerranéen, en Turquie, en Europe de l’Est et a un réseau important dans l’Ouest des Etats-Unis. Dans ses activités Corporate & Institutional Banking et International Financial Services, BNP Paribas bénéficie d’un leadership en Europe, d’une forte présence dans les Amériques, ainsi que d’un dispositif solide et en forte croissance en Asie-Pacifique.

À propos de SAP

Contacts presse :

Daniel MARGATO, Directeur Communication : 06 64 25 38 08 – daniel.margato@sap.com
Pauline BARRIERE : 06.13.73.93.11 – presse-sap@publicisconsultants.com
SAP Press Room : Globale / France. Suivez SAP sur Twitter : @SAPNews.

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