Under the section of marketing, you will find different types of articles on everything related to marketing.

We offer insights into different strategies, tools and useful best practices. We also give you several tips that you can apply within your own business to get your marketing in better order.

Whether you want to build brand awareness, get more leads or improve customer loyalty, marketing is a crucial component within any organization. After all, you can't keep a business running or growing without good marketing.

How do I scale my webshop?

Your webshop is up and running, attracting customers and processing regular orders. A strong foundation has been laid, but then comes the next question: how do you scale up your webshop, without losing grip on your processes, your customer experience or your margins?

Scaling a webshop requires more than just running additional ads or expanding the assortment. Anyone who wants to achieve sustainable growth needs insight. Insight into behavior, performance and especially: where the real growth potential lies. Various elements determine whether a webshop is ready for the next step.

Scaling starts with understanding: data as the basis

Before making decisions about campaigns, tools or new markets, you need to have one thing clear: what is already working and what is not? Many e-commerce companies miss opportunities here, simply because they don't fully leverage their data. You may see the number of visitors in Google Analytics or have a rough idea of your conversion rate, but you miss the deeper connections.

Which products are most viewed but not purchased? Where do customers drop out in the payment process? Which campaigns generate traffic but hardly any conversions? Answering these kinds of questions requires more than superficial dashboards. This is where the power of data-driven work comes in. With our Next Level dashboards, you get answers to these questions and immediately have a clear overview of your data.

Optimizing conversions: not more traffic, but smarter traffic

A common mistake in e-commerce is blindly scaling up ad budgets in hopes of more sales. But more traffic does not automatically mean more profit. On the contrary, if your conversion isn't up to par, you're simply throwing money down the drain.

Smart growth, therefore, starts with conversion optimization. Think A/B testing for product pages, personalized landing pages based on origin, or smart recommendation modules that capitalize on previous behavior. This is also where content comes in: not as a "nice touch," but as a powerful tool to build trust, remove doubt and reinforce purchase intent.

The role of content: more than just SEO

Many Web shops produce content with SEO in mind, and rightly so. But content also plays a role in scaling your brand. Think of strategic blog posts that not only draw traffic, but also position your expertise. Or product descriptions that don't feel generic, but respond to the customer's real problem.

In fact, the more consistent and relevant your content is, the more trust you build with new visitors. And trust is the factor that determines whether someone buys for the first time or quits. Our content impact scan helps you gain insights into which content has the greatest effect on your target audience and enhances the customer experience.

Smarter customer contact with AI integrations

Another element that helps a growing webshop is smart use of AI. For example, through a chatbot that answers customer questions 24/7, makes personalized recommendations or even helps navigate your site. This reduces the pressure on your support team and increases customer satisfaction, even when your shop is attracting hundreds of new visitors a day.

The trick is in finding the right balance: automate where you can, stay personal where you have to. Thanks to AI, you can do this scalably, without compromising the experience.

Your infrastructure needs to scale with you

As your webshop grows, so do the technical demands. Your site must load quickly, your inventory management must be in sync with your sales, and your checkout process must remain trouble-free even when the number of orders doubles.

The question is then: do you have the right tools and systems in place to handle this growth? Think of links between your web shop platform and your CRM, or marketing automation that responds to customer behavior without you having to be constantly on top of it yourself.

A growth plan without chaos

Finally, growth does not come from chaos, but from structure. The better you know where your shop is now, and where you want to go, the easier it is to determine what to scale up. Is it your offer? Your visibility? Your customer experience?

A clear growth plan helps you make choices that yield returns. Without having to reinvent the wheel every month. Would you like support in setting up an effective plan that attracts and retains customers? Then contact us, we are happy to help.

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Why Chief AI Officers struggle with AI integration (and how to avoid it)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way businesses operate and compete. Yet it appears that even organizations with a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) are struggling to successfully implement AI. Without the right approach, AI does not lead to the hoped-for efficiency, innovation and competitive advantage. Where does it go wrong, and more importantly, how do you ensure that AI does have an impact within your organization?

The challenges in AI integration

Many companies underestimate what it takes to make AI work effectively. This leads to three major stumbling blocks:

1. Lack of AI knowledge among leadership

AI requires strategic insight, but many boards and managers lack sufficient knowledge of AI and its implications. As a result, unrealistic expectations are set, leading to wrong investments and disappointment in results. Without proper understanding, AI remains a "black box" for management.

2. AI is not integrated into business strategy

AI is often seen as a stand-alone technology addition, rather than an integral part of strategy. This causes AI projects to remain fragmented and not contribute optimally to business goals. Without an overarching vision, AI lacks impact and remains isolated experiments without true scalability.

3. Unclear ethical guidelines and governance

The impact of AI on privacy, transparency and decision-making is enormous. Yet many companies do not have clear AI governance. This poses risks, such as unintended discrimination in AI models or reputational damage from privacy issues. Without clear guidelines, AI becomes a threat rather than an opportunity.

How do you solve these AI challenges?

To successfully land AI within your organization, there are three crucial steps:

1. Invest in AI education for leaders and stakeholders.

The success of AI hinges on leadership involvement. Ensure that management and stakeholders understand what AI is, what it can do, and what its limitations are. Practical training, workshops and hands-on AI experiments help create realistic expectations and deploy AI strategically.

2. Make AI part of your business strategy

AI should not be an "extra," but an integral part of your strategy. That means incorporating AI into strategic decision-making, business processes and innovation plans from the beginning. Not leaving AI decisions to IT alone, but involving various departments, creates a strong foundation for impactful AI applications.

3. Develop clear AI governance and ethical guidelines

AI brings many benefits but, without clear rules, also risks. Develop transparent governance guidelines that safeguard ethical and compliance issues. Consider frameworks around data use, bias in AI models and responsible decision-making. This increases trust in AI applications and minimizes risks.

AI integration: from pitfalls to success

Many organizations get stuck implementing AI because they want to move too fast, without sound knowledge and strategy. By strengthening AI leadership, strategically integrating AI and establishing clear governance, you will avoid pitfalls and maximize the impact of AI.

Want to know specifically how to successfully implement AI within your organization? Then read 6 steps for successful AI implementation for a practical and widely applicable approach.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

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What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is a strategy that helps companies attract customers naturally and non-intrusively by creating and distributing valuable content. The power of this approach lies in attracting customers by providing them with relevant and useful content at the right times. This approach not only helps to gain more visibility, but also to gain the trust of the target audience.

The core of inbound marketing is to guide customers through their customer journey, from awareness to consideration and ultimately to purchase. By focusing on customer needs and providing content that matches their questions and interests, inbound marketing strengthens the relationship between brand and customer. This goes beyond a one-time interaction, inbound marketing focuses on building long-term customer relationships.

How does inbound marketing work in practice?

Inbound marketing starts with understanding your target audience. By analyzing customer behavior, search queries and interests, you can gain insight into what your target audience is looking for. With this knowledge, you create content that not only provides information, but also helps solve specific problems or questions from potential customers. This can come in the form of blog posts, videos, social media, e-books and more. Importantly, this content is not directly focused on sales, but rather on informing, inspiring and guiding the customer.

When visitors find your website or other channels through this valuable content, they begin to build a relationship with your brand. This is also where the element of conversion comes in. For example, if the visitor wants more information, they can sign up for a newsletter or contact you. This turns the visitor into a lead, who through further guidance can eventually become a customer.

In addition, inbound marketing does not end after a purchase. Retaining customers is just as important as attracting them. By sharing personalized emails, updates or other relevant content, you stay in touch with your customers and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases and brand loyalty.

The difference between content marketing and inbound marketing

Content marketing and inbound marketing are often confused, but there is a subtle difference. Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing content, such as blogs, videos and social media posts, to inform and inspire the target audience. Inbound marketing, however, goes further by using this content within a broader strategy aimed at attracting, converting and retaining customers.

Inbound marketing is all about the entire customer journey and the impact of content at each point in that journey. This means that inbound marketing uses content marketing, but also deploys tools and techniques such as SEO, email campaigns and marketing automation to streamline the customer journey. Our content impact scan helps you gain insights into which content has the most impact on your target audience and enhances the customer experience.

The role of data-driven insights in inbound marketing

To develop a successful inbound marketing strategy, understanding customer behavior is important. By analyzing data such as your target audience's search queries, the type of content they respond to most, and the times they are most engaged, you get a clearer picture of what drives them. These insights help to better align content and marketing strategies with customer needs, ultimately resulting in stronger relationships and more conversions.

At NXTLI, we provide data-driven solutions to our clients to gain greater insights into their performance. Using our Next Level dashboards, you can track customer behavior in real-time and understand which content adds value for your target audience and which channels to deploy. This way, you empower yourself to share the right content at the right time and increase your impact by using data smartly. It is not only important to know who your target audience is, but also to understand how to reach and engage them in the most effective way.

Why inbound marketing is important for businesses

Today, customers have an abundance of choice and therefore want more than just a product. They expect brands to provide valuable and relevant information beyond sales. Inbound marketing responds to this by attracting customers naturally and providing them with the information that helps them in their decision-making process. Companies that use inbound marketing well distinguish themselves by demonstrating genuine engagement and delivering value beyond the product or service itself.

With a strong inbound marketing strategy, you not only increase your brand's visibility, but also build customer loyalty and lasting relationships. By continuously providing value to your customers, you'll create a better customer experience and strengthen brand loyalty. Want support in creating an effective inbound strategy that attracts and retains customers? Then contact us, we are happy to help you.

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What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing is a form of marketing in which companies communicate directly with their target audience, without the intervention of traditional media channels such as television, radio or print. The goal of direct marketing is to elicit a direct action, such as a purchase, a request for more information or a subscription to a newsletter. This personalized approach allows companies to tailor their message to the recipient's needs, often resulting in higher engagement and better conversion.

How does direct marketing work?

Direct marketing is all about having personalized messages to your specific audiences. Instead of deploying a broad marketing campaign and distributing it to an unknown mass, direct marketing focuses on reaching people who have already expressed interest in a product or service or who fit into your target audience. Companies can use a variety of channels to communicate this message, including e-mail, physical mail, text messaging, and telemarketing.

Email Marketing

A common form of direct marketing is e-mail marketing. This involves sending emails to a selected group of recipients, such as existing customers or people who have signed up for the newsletter. Emails can contain promotions, as well as updates, personalized offers or event invitations. Because e-mail campaigns are easily personalized, companies can tailor their message to the recipient's interests.

Physical mail

Another form that has been especially popular in the past is physical mail, where mail is sent to customers or prospects. Examples include brochures, coupons or personalized letters. Direct mail can be effective in building strong relationships with customers but it also has drawbacks, such as higher costs and a negative impact on the environment due to the use of paper and transportation.

Telemarketing

Telemarketing involves contacting potential customers by phone, with the goal of making a direct sale or generating leads. Although telemarketing can sometimes be perceived as intrusive, it can be an effective way to offer more complex products or services because the conversation can directly address the customer's specific questions and concerns.

The benefits of direct marketing

One of the biggest advantages of direct marketing is its targeted approach. Instead of sending a broad message to a large group of people, you can choose specific audiences who are likely to be interested in your product or service. As a result, the likelihood of response is much higher. Because direct marketing is often personalized, the recipient feels more engaged with the message, which increases the effectiveness of the campaign.

In addition, direct marketing offers the ability to measure results directly. With digital forms such as e-mail marketing or text messaging, for example, you can track how many people open your message, click through on a link or respond. This measurability allows companies to quickly adjust or optimize campaigns based on results.

Direct marketing and customer relations

In addition to getting quick insights and responses, direct marketing also plays an important role in building long-term customer relationships. By staying in regular contact with your target audience, you can build customer loyalty and keep customers engaged with your brand. This is especially important in industries where repeat purchases are key, such as retail or service industries.

The role of data in direct marketing

An important part of successful direct marketing is the use of customer data. By analyzing customer data, such as previous purchases, website visits or preferences, companies can create targeted campaigns that better meet the needs of their target audience. This is especially effective when segmenting your customer base, so that you approach new customers differently than loyal ones, for example.

In practice, obtaining good data insights is often a major challenge for companies. Data from various online channels must be carefully collected, analyzed and converted into usable actions, which can be time-consuming and complex. That's why we developed our Next Level dashboards. These dashboards give you real-time insight into visitor behavior, making it easy to use the right data for personalized marketing campaigns.

The future of direct marketing: integration with AI

Direct marketing is constantly evolving, and one of the latest trends is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). By applying AI in direct marketing, companies can personalize and automate campaigns even further. For example, AI can help predict customer behavior and send the right message at the right time.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

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What is a content marketing strategy?

A content marketing strategy is a plan to reach and engage your target audience by creating, publishing and distributing useful content. The goal is not only to gain visibility, but also to build a relationship of trust with your (potential) customers and encourage them to take action. Instead of direct sales, a content marketing strategy focuses on delivering valuable information that helps and inspires the customer, which can ultimately lead to conversion.

Whereas general marketing is usually about promoting a product or service, content marketing is about providing relevant, useful content that benefits your target audience and builds a relationship with them. This process requires strategy and continuity, with content marketing supporting not only lead generation, but also customer retention.

What are the key elements of a content marketing strategy?

A successful content marketing strategy involves several steps. First, it is important to properly define your target audience and understand their needs, challenges and interests. This forms the basis for creating relevant content that appeals to and attracts them. In addition, setting clear goals is important: For example, do you want to increase website traffic, increase conversion or build brand loyalty?

Next, content creation is a crucial part of your strategy. This includes not only content writing (for which we use the help of an AI colleague ), but also the frequency and channel on which it is published. Therefore, it is good to have a content strategy as the foundation of your content marketing.

In addition to strategy, distribution is also an important part. It's not enough to just create content, you also need to know where and how to bring it to people's attention. This can be through your own channels, such as a website or newsletter, but also through paid channels or collaborations.

Finally, you need to regularly measure the performance of your content marketing strategy and make adjustments where necessary. We do that for ourselves but also for clients with dashboarding, in which we get real-time insights, which can be used to improve the strategy.

Why is having a content marketing strategy important for businesses?

Customers' expectations have changed: they want not only products, but also valuable information and inspiration. A content marketing strategy helps companies respond to this by creating relevant content that addresses the needs of their target audience. This contributes to a position as an expert in the field and strengthens the relationship with (potential) customers.

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What is marketing automation?

Marketing automation refers to the use of software or tools to automate and optimize marketing activities. This means that companies can perform certain marketing processes, such as sending emails or tracking customer behavior, automatically without manual intervention. Instead of performing the same tasks over and over again, marketing automation allows you to create personalized campaigns that cater to specific actions and preferences of your target audience. As a result, you can work more efficiently while providing a better customer experience.

How does marketing automation work?

Marketing automation ensures that your customers automatically receive the right information tailored to their behavior and the stage they are in. For example, if someone signs up for your newsletter, the system immediately sends a welcome email and can then follow up with relevant updates and offers. This helps to quickly familiarize new customers with your brand and keep them engaged through content that is valuable to them at that moment. This is a natural way to build a long-term customer relationship.

By using customer data, such as click behavior, pages visited or previous purchases, you can send messages that closely match the customer's needs. This goes beyond mere automation; it's a strategy to refine customer interactions, thereby increasing the likelihood of conversion. Using our data services, you can easily see customer behavior, presented in clear dashboards. This helps to better understand customer needs and send relevant messages at the right times.

The benefits of marketing automation

Marketing automation has many advantages. One key benefit is efficiency. Automating routine tasks such as sending emails or following up with customers gives marketing teams more time for strategic initiatives. In addition, automation ensures that customers are approached in a consistent and personalized way, strengthening their commitment to the brand and increasing loyalty.

Moreover, marketing automation is highly measurable. For example, you can measure how many people open a message, click on links or take action. This gives valuable insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns and helps you adjust and optimize marketing strategies.

Practical applications of marketing automation

In practice, marketing automation can be used in many ways. For example, it can be used to build strong relationships with leads by sending them valuable information at different stages of the customer journey that meets their needs. For example, when a potential customer views a product, the system can automatically send a follow-up email with additional information or recommendations relevant to their previous search behavior. These types of automated interactions help companies communicate with customers in an effective and targeted way that ultimately leads to higher conversions.

In addition, marketing automation plays a big role in winning back customers who dropped out. For example, if someone places products in the shopping cart but does not complete the purchase, the system can automatically send a reminder email with a link to the shopping cart or even a small discount to encourage the purchase. By automating these processes, the company can respond to customer behavior in a cost-effective way.

Why marketing automation is important

Marketing automation has become an indispensable part of digital strategy for businesses. Customers increasingly expect brands to communicate with them in a personal and relevant way, exactly at the times that are most convenient for them. Companies that are able to meet these expectations have a competitive advantage. Additionally, automation allows marketing teams to save time so they can focus on tasks that add more strategic value.

At NXTLI, we use AI colleagues, digital assistants who take over routine work for ourselves and for our clients. These AI colleagues analyze data, write content or create schedules. This enables companies to respond directly to their customers' needs based on data, making the marketing strategy data-driven and flexible. The result? More conversions and stronger, lasting customer relationships with no extra burden on the team.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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Google Analytics Alternatives

For years, Google Analytics has been a popular tool used by many companies to monitor Web traffic and user behavior. With the transition from Google UA to GA4 and companies struggling to understand the data and due to privacy concerns, many companies are looking around for alternatives. In this post, we discuss several alternatives to Google Analytics, including Snowplow, HubSpot Analytics, Shopify Analytics, Adobe Analytics and SimilarWeb.

Why look for an alternative to Google Analytics?

Although Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can do an awful lot, there are several reasons why companies may be looking for Google Analytics alternatives:

Complexity

If you're not a data analyst yourself and often deal with data, it can be quite difficult to understand how best to use and set up Google Analytics. After all, there is so much possible that it can be quite overwhelming. While the tool is well put together, it's completely understandable that you want a little more ease of use and simplicity. Especially when you want to share data with other colleagues and managers as well.

Privacy issues

The way data is collected and processed can cause concern, especially with the advent of strict privacy laws such as the GDPR.

Cost

Google analytics is free to use. So that's not where the cost goes. Want to get more out of Google analytics? Then you need to upgrade to Google Analytics 360, the premium version of GA. However, the costs involved are incredibly high. In fact, the starting price is 50,000 euros and can go up to around 150,000 euros per year. For small and medium-sized companies, this is often far too expensive and not worth the cost.

What are good alternatives?

Snowplow: Flexible and scalable data analytics

Snowplow is an open-source platform that allows you as a business to set up and track your own data collection and processing, giving you a lot of flexibility and scalability.

A big advantage of this tool is its flexibility and customization. You can set up your own tracking and data in the tool, allowing you to see the data you need and want. Furthermore, the tool can handle very large amounts of data, which makes it good to use even for fast growing companies and when you have a lot of traffic on your site. Another advantage is that not only simple reports but also advanced machine learning models can be seen with this tool.

The downside of Snowplow is that it can be very tricky to set up, you need quite a lot of technical knowledge to work your way through the tool. So this is not useful and feasible for everyone if you don't have this knowledge or background. So you will probably need help implementing it and being able to maintain it. So this can add up quickly in addition to the high price of the tool which is around $800. This makes it not the most scare tool for small to medium-sized businesses.

HubSpot Analytics: Integration with marketing and sales tools

HubSpot Analytics is part of the broader HubSpot CRM and marketing suite and provides comprehensive reports and insights specifically for marketing and sales. So in addition to analyzing your website traffic, the tool is also suitable for other purposes.

One advantage of using Hubspot is that you can easily intergrate it with Hubspot's other systems, such as their CRM or marketing tools, this allows you to do everything in one place, making it more manageable. This is then also directly a disadvantage, because you are dependent on the tool, if you use all their intergrations.

Another advantage of Hubspot is that it is fairly user-friendly and easy to navigate for people without a technical background. So you can get started quickly and are not spending a long time learning exactly how the tool works. Furthermore, it is nice that the tool sees sales and marketing as its starting point, so it is also set up with that focus. This makes it a powerful tool for optimizing your customer-focused strategies.

One drawback of Hubspot is the cost. Hubspot's price starts at $20 per month, but can go up to several thousand per month. especially if you use several of their tools. This can be a hindrance for smaller companies or startups, as well as if you are expanding later, as it can add up quickly.

Another drawback is the flexibility the tool gives you. The flexibility is limited compared to more technical solutions like Snowplow. This means you may not be able to perform all the custom analysis you would like.

Shopify Analytics: specifically for e-commerce


Shopify Analytics is designed with e-commerce in mind and offers highly relevant insights when you have a Shopify webshop. Shopify's analytics is completely focused on the system and on e-commerce. You can easily see data such as conversion rates, average order value and customer retention. So if you have a Shopify webshop, this can be valuable, mainly because the interface is so easy to use. Not only Shopify itself is easy to use, so is the analytics tool. You can quickly see at a glance how your website is doing.

What is a very big disadvantage of Shopify Analytics is that the flexibility you have is very limited. You can only use the dashboards they offer within the tool with the "normal" versions. In addition, it's not very useful to use if you don't have a dedicated ecommerce business. This is because it is really designed specifically for web shops. If you have a business that additionally offers some other kind of service, Shopify is usually not the best choice.

Furthermore, custom dashboarding is only possible within Shopify analytics if you have purchased a more expensive subscription, such as "Advanced Shopify." This costs $399 per month.

Adobe Analytics: advanced and robust analytics

Adobe Analytics is a powerful tool that provides advanced analytics capabilities and is often used by large companies. It is known for its powerful segmentation tools that allow you to perform detailed analysis on specific target groups.

The tool provides very high functionality and very advanced analytics capabilities, including machine learning and nowadays AI-driven insights. Furthermore, you can intergrate Adobe Analytics well with other Adobe tools such as the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Intergration of these works well, if you are in the ecosystem and have a good understanding of how the tool works.

It is difficult to learn how the tool works if you do not have a data analytics background. Furthermore, the cost can be staggering for the average company the cost will be around $25,000 per year. For large enterprises, it can go up to the $100,000 per year range.


SimilarWeb: Competitive analysis and market research


SimilarWeb gives you comprehensive insights into competitors' traffic and strategies, as well as detailed data on market trends and user behavior.

What SimilarWeb does very well is that you have comprehensive insights into competitors' traffic and strategies, which allows you to optimize your own strategies and stay competitive. In addition, the tool is great to use if you want to do market research. The platform provides detailed data on market trends and user behavior, which helps you better understand the broader context within your industry.

In addition, the tool is user-friendly and easy to use, even for people who do not have much technical knowledge.

One disadvantage of SimilarWeb is the price, especially for access to the more advanced features that are really useful. This can be a hurdle for smaller companies or startups and put them off. Another disadvantage is that you are also fairly limited in doing custom analytics or setting up dashboards. So if you have specific requirements, it is difficult to set up the tool accordingly.

Dashboarding from NXTLI

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) dashboard

Looking at all the tools we have just discussed, they all have one major drawback. Namely, it is not possible to take many different data streams together and have them in a dashboard. We saw this desire from clients in different industries, which is why we developed our own dashboard functionality with our data team.

Our tool allows you to see different data streams in 1 dashboard. Google analytics data, social media data from Facebook or Linkedin, Spotify streams and much more. The possibilities are endless. Because we can set up a dashboard in such detail, this has the advantage that it can be made exactly to your wishes, with all the data sources you would like to see.

From different data sources it is also possible to easily draw conclusions, as you can see connections between platforms and use our conversion monitor to map out exactly where improvement is needed.

In addition, we always found Google Analytics alternatives to be very high priced, hence our tool is readily accessible in terms of pricing to many different types of businesses.

What is the best choice

So, in short, there are numerous alternatives to Google Analytics, each with its own unique advantages and disadvantages. Whether you're looking for flexibility and customization, integration with marketing and sales tools, or like to do advanced competitive analysis, one of these aforementioned tools will suit every business.

Do you want a total dashboarding solution that is easy to use? Then we would be happy to help you. Please contact us.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

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Why native analytics is inadequate

The use of native analytics tools such as Google Analytics 4(GA4) is common today for many businesses looking to gain insight into their online performance. Although GA4 offers powerful functionality and is free, there are several reasons why this tool is not always sufficient for complete insight into your business data.

In this article, we discuss the limitations of native analytics and how using dashboarding tools can improve it.

Limitations of native analytics

Limited data sources

Native analytics tools such as GA4 are primarily focused on online data. This means they don't take into account offline data such as physical store sales, phone orders or other offline transactions. This leads to an incomplete picture of the customer journey and business results because (depending on what kind of business you have) much of the interactions and transactions are left out of the picture.

In addition, a tool like Google Analytics lacks the ability to integrate data from different sources such as benchmarks from competitors, Spotify data and organic data from platforms like Facebook and Instagram. As a result, your options are limited and you're really only looking at 1 piece of data from your online presence.

Lack of in-depth analysis

Google Analytics provides standard reports and visualizations that often lack depth if you want to perform complex analysis or are looking for just a particular piece of data. While these types of tools are useful for giving you a global overview, they can fall short if you want detailed insights and make strategic decisions based on them. The customization options within native tools are often limited compared to dashboarding tools from which you can use data from different sources and make connections based on them.

Silo-ed data

Data from different sources is often stored and analyzed separately, which can lead to inconsistencies and a lack of overview. This fragmentation makes it difficult to get a complete and accurate picture of your performance. Inconsistencies between reports from different platforms, such as ad platforms (e.g., Meta Ads) and GA4, can have significant differences due to different measurement methodologies and attribution models. This makes it difficult to determine which data is accurate and what you as a business need to focus on.

Benefits of Integrated Dashboarding


Full Data Integration

One of the key benefits of integrated dashboarding solutions is the ability to combine data from various sources. By integrating GA4 data with offline sales, subscription data, competitor benchmarks, Spotify data and organic data from platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, you get a complete and coherent picture of your company's performance. This full data integration helps identify trends and patterns that might otherwise be overlooked. Moreover, an integrated dashboard provides data visualization that is unified, giving you a consistent view of your data and all key metrics and KPIs.

Profound Insights and Analysis

Integrated dashboarding tools give you advanced analysis and visualization options that go beyond the standard reports of native analytics tools. This gives you deeper insights and also allows you to make better decisions based on them. With customized reports and dashboards, you can specifically address the piece that you as a business focus on and where any depth is needed. This gives you more relevant and better insights.

Enhanced Decision Making

With a fully integrated dashboard, you have a clear view of your business data, allowing you to quickly see where problems and opportunities lie or what is going well. This makes it easier for you to make a decision or discuss / present it to other stakeholders within your organization. Furthermore, integrated dashboards can provide real-time data, giving you access to the most up-to-date information at all times. This real-time insight is crucial if you as a company want or need to react quickly to changing market conditions and customer behavior.

Consistent Data

By bringing data from different platforms together, you can minimize discrepancies between different analytics or advertising tools. This gives you a more reliable picture that you can do something with. You avoid incoherence in the data, making your reports more accurate and reliable. This increases the efficiency of data analysis and ensures that decisions are based on the best possible information.

The constraints and the solution

While native analytics tools like GA4 are powerful for basic website analysis, they fall short when it comes to providing fully integrated and in-depth insight into your business data. By using a clear and uncluttered dashboard that combines your data streams, you can combine GA4 data with offline sales, subscription data, competitor benchmarks and more giving you a more complete picture and a better grip on your business.

Would you like to start using a dashboard for your business? We offer several solutions for your business, including a social media dashboard, analytics dashboard and more.

Contact us and ask about the possibilities. We will be happy to help you.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

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The ABCD principle: the 4 building blocks for digital growth

At a time when digital transformation is no longer a choice but a necessity, successful organizations distinguish themselves by cleverly combining four core elements: AI, Business, Content and Data. They reinforce each other and together create a lasting competitive advantage.

The four building blocks give you the tools to create value in an increasingly dynamic digital playing field. If you use the ABCD principle strategically, you will strengthen your position and build strong relationships.

AI as a smart extension of your organization

AI offers unique opportunities for organizations to turn raw data into valuable insights. This allows you to discover and understand trends and patterns, predict customer behavior and proactively respond to market developments. This can be done by using AI to analyze data.

In addition, you can also use AI to deploy AI colleagues to support you in various tasks that you do on a daily basis, for example, such as writing captions, content and analyzing data or writing content.

In addition to its practical applicability, AI can also support the creation of insights that are important for both operational improvement and customer experience. There are many applications and by deploying AI well, it can serve as a foundation for digital growth.

Business as a catalyst for digital growth

A Business Acceleration Scan helps map out how your business is doing. By continuously evaluating and optimizing your performance, you future-proof your business model. By using the framework and focusing on goals such as customer engagement and brand loyalty, you will optimize your processes and increase your value in the digital ecosystem.

In sectors such as the dance industry, organizations are using this framework to strengthen connections with fans and build brand value through data-driven insights. This shows how the framework increases not only operational value, but also the relationships and collaborations needed for growth in the digital world.

Content as an engine of engagement and value creation

Content plays an important role in building digital power by connecting with customers and fans. You build your customer journey with it. With the Content Impact Model you can fine-tune your content strategy by formulating clear goals around reach, interaction, conversion and customer retention. Content thus becomes more than just a communication tool; it becomes a strategic instrument to strengthen relationships and create sustainable value within the ecosystem. A music label that actively communicates through social media, for example, can build a long-term relationship with fans through this model that adds economic and social value for both the brand and the broader ecosystem.

Data as a strategic resource and fuel for growth

Data provides contextual insights within with digital ecosystem. Data, within the ABCD principle, fuels collaboration and insight. By cleverly combining data with AI, you can deepen your customer relationships, uncover market opportunities and strengthen collaboration within the ecosystem. By leveraging data not only internally, but also externally, you can gain contextual insights that strengthen your digital network. This is how you strategically build a digital capability that adds both economic and relational value.

The ABCD principle as a foundation for value creation

The four pillars of the ABCD principle can help your business create value no matter what industry you are in. Check out this page, to learn more about the ABCD principle within e-commerce. However, digital value goes beyond the sum of these components; it arises from the interaction of data, relationships and collaboration. At a time when technological developments are racing, a strong digital capability is important if you want to innovate and grow. By focusing strategically on AI, Business, Content and Data, you can secure your digital future and add sustainable value for both your customers and partners.

The ABDC principle provides the foundation for sustainable growth and enables you to not only survive, but thrive in the ever-changing digital world. Want help with this? Then get in touch with us.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday
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Introducing our Conversion Monitor

Do you ever ask yourself: Which channels deliver the most, or which changes really impact your conversions? The Conversion Monitor gives you real-time insights into your conversion performance and all the data you need to make strategic decisions. The Conversion Monitor shows you exactly which channels generate the most revenue, where visitors drop out and which adjustments have the biggest impact.

The Conversion Monitor lets you get the most out of your data. So you not only know what works, but also where there is room for improvement and how you can adjust your online strategy in a more targeted way.

Want more traffic or a higher conversion rate? With the Conversion Monitor, you'll discover exactly what it takes to achieve this.

Why choose the Conversion Monitor? Because every conversion counts

Many companies regularly make changes to their Web sites or launch new campaigns without knowing exactly what they are producing. The Conversion Monitor helps you gain insight into every detail of your marketing efforts. By means of clear graphs and conveniently arranged tables, you quickly get a complete picture of your most important KPIs (key performance indicators), such as conversion rates per channel and the behavior of your visitors on the site.

With these insights you can easily determine which adjustments actually have an effect and which still need extra attention. As a result, you no longer make decisions based on feelings, but on hard data that provide direct insight into the success of your approach.

The main functionalities of the Conversion Monitor

Understanding channel performance and revenue

Want to know which marketing channels contribute the most to your sales? The Conversion Monitor makes this crystal clear. You can immediately see which channels generate the most conversions, so you can optimize your marketing budget and focus on what really works.

See the impact of your optimizations

Have you recently made changes to your website and are you curious to see if they are actually producing results? With the Conversion Monitor you can easily see which changes have a positive effect on the conversion rate. By tracking performance over time, you will discover which changes are most successful and where further optimization is possible.

Conversion Monitor

Understanding visitor behavior and bottlenecks

By gaining insight into visitor behavior on your website, you know exactly where bumps in the conversion path lie. This allows you to make targeted improvements to remove these obstacles and optimize the user experience, which directly contributes to higher conversions.

Calculation of traffic targets per channel

The Conversion Monitor allows you to accurately calculate how much traffic you need to meet specific revenue goals. Based on the current conversion rates, you get insight into the required visitor numbers per channel. This helps you plan campaigns more efficiently and take targeted actions.

Conversion Monitor

How the Conversion Monitor helps you make strategic choices

With the insights provided by the Conversion Monitor, you can make important strategic choices. By analyzing which channels have the highest return on investment (ROI) and how much traffic is needed to reach certain goals, you can optimize your strategy and plan in a more targeted way. This dashboard not only provides insight, but also helps you measure the impact of each decision so you can continuously adjust for the best results.

You have two main points to make to get more conversions, increasing your website traffic and optimizing your conversion rates. The Conversion Monitor helps you with both by giving you data that allows you to see what is working. In both improving traffic to your website and increasing conversion rates, this tool is useful.

Stay ahead of your competitors with the right data instrumentation

One of the most valuable features of the Conversion Monitor is that it not only provides insight into performance, but also quickly reveals where data instrumentation is lacking or can be improved. After all, reliable data is the foundation of any effective marketing strategy. This dashboard helps you see immediately where optimization of tracking and measurement tools is needed.

Ready to deploy Conversion Monitor for your growth?

The Conversion Monitor is the tool for business owners and marketers who want to work data-driven and exceed their conversion goals. Whether you're looking to drive more traffic, higher conversion rates or use your marketing budget effectively, this dashboard provides the insights to make that happen effectively.

Are you interested in the Conversion Monitor? Then visit the Conversion Monitor page to read more about it and leave your details.

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