Articles by Vivian Wagner

A personalized shopping experience gives e-commerce sites an edge, and businesses increasingly have been seeking ways to make their customers feel welcome "Every business should make their customers feel like they are the most important customer in the world," said Rob Maille, head of strategy and customer experience at CommerceCX....

Chatbots have become an important part of the e-commerce shopping experience. They answer questions, provide information, and help customers along in their buying journey. Though they may never replace human beings entirely, they are central to many e-commerce-related interactions "Chat apps are effective in communicating with customers because the...

"Headless commerce" has become an e-commerce buzzword lately, but how can brands use it to their advantage? "In its most basic terms, 'headless commerce' refers to the decoupling of a website's presentation layer -- the front end -- from its commerce and business logic/function layer -- the back end," said Meghan Stabler, vice president of product ...

Influencer marketing, which sprouted from the burgeoning social media sphere, is one of the fastest-growing ways to get a message out there. It uses the popularity of people dubbed "influencers," who have many followers and a wide reach, to market products and sway opinions. It's very much a marketing strategy for the social media age "Influencer m...

Storytelling is a central part of e-commerce marketing, and it's vital that brands both know their own stories and understand how to tell them. Everything from brand loyalty to purchasing decisions relies on a company having an engaging and well-told story "Facts tell, but stories sell," remarked Samantha Reynolds, president of Echo Storytelling Ag...

Online learning platforms have made the process of offering workshops, courses, and educational content of all kinds easier than ever. In addition to the growth of online learning in traditional educational spheres like colleges and universities, there's been growth in the business world. Companies and organizations increasingly have been using online learning platforms both to train employees and to educate customers and clients...

From fountain pens and high-end pencils to unique paper notebooks, analog writing tools have legions of fans, in spite of -- or maybe because of -- the fact that we're living in a primarily digital world. It's precisely the physicality of analog tools that makes them appealing to many people immersed in a digital reality. They're grounding and rea...

Writing and publishing an e-book can be a great way to develop your brand, reach a broad audience, and potentially increase sales of your products or services "Publishing an e-book is part of building and promoting your brand as an authority and thought leader," said Liz Mays, director of sales and marketing for Pressbooks....

In this era of stress and anxiety, being able to slow down, breathe, and focus on the moment at hand are key skills for surviving and being successful. Mindfulness has become a vital commodity, and those who can coach others to live more mindfully are in particularly high demand. An industry has grown up that offers everything from streaming yoga classes to meditation apps.

Telling an engaging and effective story is vitally important for the success of a business. A good story draws people in, fosters loyalty, and brings your brand alive "It's important for brands to tell their story because the story is what actually resonates with humans," said Nathan Young, storytelling communication instructor at Storytelling Cons...

Gamification is one of the hottest trends in the business world. Incorporating game elements can be a great way to motivate and engage customers and employees alike -- using an activity that has appealed to humankind since its beginnings "Humans have been playing games for thousands of years. Some argue that games predate culture," said Brandon Mar...

With the advent of digital technologies and the radical growth of online shopping, it might seem that brick-and-mortar stores are on the way out. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Physical stores are likely to remain far into the foreseeable future -- though the nature of those stores will be fundamentally transformed "Most large st...

Jon Ferrara is the founder and CEO of Nimble, a social sales and marketing CRM company based in Santa Monica, California Nimble helps companies identify the right people for their businesses, with the goal of turning conversations into measurable outcomes. Its vision is to make the job of all customer-facing team members easier and more effective....

Gladys Kong is the CEO of UberMedia, a mobile location data company that is headquartered in Pasadena, California In this exclusive interview, Kong discusses the importance of making data actionable and the many opportunities available in the data science field, particularly those involving the use of mobile data....

Telling an engaging and effective story is vitally important for the success of a business. A good story draws people in, fosters loyalty, and brings your brand alive "It's important for brands to tell their story because the story is what actually resonates with humans," said storytelling communication instructor Nathan Cody Young....

Arturo Bentin is senior vice president of strategic engagement at Optymyze Optymyze works with companies globally to provide sales performance management solutions, including the management of sales compensation, sales quotas, sales territories and sales objectives. Based on a subscription model, Optymyze offers cloud applications, setup services, ...

Alexa Raad is the chief operating officer of Farsight Security, based in San Mateo, California. Farsight Security is a provider of real-time actionable Internet threat intelligence solutions In this exclusive interview, Raad discusses methods of curbing cybercrime by tracking bad actors through the trails they leave in the domain name system. She a...

Looking to raise capital, launch a product, and grow your business? Crowdfunding could be the answer "Crowdfunding is more than just the money," remarked Justin Giddings, CEO of The Kickstarter Guy.

Michelle Cirocco is head of global marketing for Televerde, a company focusing on business-to-business demand generation and inside sales solutions. Televerde staffs a portion of its contact centers with incarcerated women, providing them with training and helping them find career opportunities after their release.

Gamification is one of the hottest trends in the business world. Incorporating game elements can be a great way to motivate and engage customers and employees alike -- utilizing an activity that has appealed to humankind since its beginnings "Humans have been playing games for thousands of years. Some argue that games predate culture," said Brandon...