Category Archives: Group Chat

12 Ways Companies Are Using Live Chat For Growth

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Live chat is a great way to bring people together, increase engagement and get leads. Yet, you might be wondering what a successful live chat experience looks like in practice. To inspire your next live chat experience, check out these creative approaches to live chat.

These 12 companies are Using Live Chat – and doing it right

1) Boost Engagement In Virtual Events Like Grip Events

Grip Events organizes live chat experiences to enrich its virtual events. Instead of sitting back and passively watching content, they can ask questions and interact with other attendees. That’s not all. Event organizers can also use Live Chat for lead generation. No more scrambling to ask virtual event attendees for contact details so you can follow up.

2) Keep Fans Engaged Like Van’s Channel 66

Marketers spend a lot of time and energy attracting customers to their websites and digital experiences. Keeping your audience engaged is a different challenge. Vans, the shoe, and apparel company, uses Live Chat to enrich its online “Channel 66” experience.

Available in video streaming or audio-only formats, Channel 66 lets music fans come together to chat about their favorite songs. In addition to music, Channel 66 also features live commentary on bands, DJs, and other music topics.

3) Reinventing the IPO Like Nubank

For decades, initial public offering (IPO) events were formal events. Executives and investors would celebrate a company’s success on the stock exchange. There might be a ceremony, a party, and news coverage. 

Nubank, a bank from Brazil, decided to do something different in their 2021 IPO event. Anitta, a Brazilian superstar, sits on the bank’s board of directors. She also performed at the company’s IPO event. This event also included a chat experience for fans to connect. The lesson from Nubank – you can add fun to formal corporate events! 

4) Give Multiple Interaction Options Like Reuters’ Strategic Marketing Virtual Event

Reuters held the Strategic Marketing 2021 event in October 2021. The event stressed interactivity in several essential ways. First,  Reuters offered live chat, including polls and Q&A sessions, which was vital for the event’s value. Second, Reuters offered a networking “match-making” option. That platform allowed attendees to interact directly with speakers and other attendees. Third, the event included discussion boards for longer-form discussions.,

5) Keep Discussions On Your Website Like The Daily Telegraph

Sometimes we want to talk to someone about what’s happening in the world at that very moment. Most of the time, we run to our social media and start posting, whether that’s Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

But, with Live Chat embedded in your website or blog, there’s no need to go anywhere else to post and discuss the news. People can talk right there and then what’s on their minds!

And that’s exactly what the Daily Telegraph is doing on their portal.

6) Reinvent Church Services With Live Chat Like City Gates

Since the pandemic started, many churches decided to go online for their services. For this experience to be more involving and personal, many of them also chose to use a Live Chat. During the church service, church members can talk about it, share their thoughts and pray together virtually.

City Gates is one of the churches following this tactic. They perform services on Sundays, and the chat is available during this period. 

7) Empower Students To Get Answers: The Bridgend College Story

This UK college found a way to help students through the internet. Due to the pandemic, virtual education has become a necessity. Using a Live Chat, the student asks their question and someone responsible for this service will answer them right away. They can get their questions answered about various subjects, from financial aid to work placement assistance.

8) Make NBA Coverage More Engaging Like Fox Sports

Fox Sports became a reference for Live Chat usage during the NBA games. They created an online community for basketball lovers; that is just amazing. Any sports and games can have a discussion page where fans can talk about their favorite moments.

For some games and sports news, chats are only open for a limited time. You can see what was discussed during the live session when closed. When closed

In addition, they also used Live Chat for a live Q&A in an interview with Tom Morris. It was a huge hit, fans loved it, and the sports company will probably use it more times!

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9) Appeal to Disc Golf Fans

Still on the sports subject, this is a website to watch disc golf games, follow news about the sport, find information about athletes, and a calendar to see the upcoming games. 

The Live Chat here is available when a match is happening, making a big difference for spectators. They can talk about the game, comment on their favorite moments, and share their overall thoughts on the match.

10) Encourage Virtual Business Network Like Dynamics Con

This was an event about business-related subjects. It had several lectures on technology, finances, etc., where participants could watch live and discuss with the speakers through the Live Chat tool.

Webinars are pretty popular nowadays, and the Live Chat can help spectators to get their questions answered, just like it happened during this event.

11) Boost Public Health Awareness Like Toronto’s CityNews

This news website from Toronto used Live Chat to engage its readers during a public health Q&A about coronavirus. The topic was fresh, and people were interested in it. You can still read some answers on the website page and check all the saved questions on the chat.

12) Start The Diversity Discussion Like Diversity Live

Diversity Live was an event that happened during the pandemic in 2020, with many lectures on various themes related to diversity like diversity in sports, marketing, and diversity on social media. Like other online events, the Live Chat helped transform the whole experience for the spectators and speakers alike.

While spectators talked and contributed their thoughts, speakers could hear some questions and lead their speeches accordingly.

The Next Step To Add Live Chat Takes Just 10 Minutes

Planning a virtual event takes significant time and effort. You might think that adding a live chat capability to your event is too challenging to try. That’s why Arena Live Chat is designed for a fast setup. Most users can set up and install Live Chat in less than 10 minutes. Don’t believe us? You can try our Live Chat for free. Sounds great, right?

Scale Your Digital Agency Following this Guide| Arena

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Building a business that’s predictable, sustainable, and scalable without negatively impacting output is a primary goal of most agencies. A scalable agency is one that adds revenue at a much faster rate than costs. If you’re looking to scale your agency, this guide is for you. It covers different strategies, ideas, and tools you need to create a scalable agency. 

How to Scale Your Agency

The inability to scale is one of the biggest challenges facing agencies. To overcome these hurdles, use the following tips on how to scale your agency. 

Build Scalable Lead-Generation Systems

To scale your agency, it’s important to have a continuous inflow of new leads. Avoid relying only on one-time campaigns or word-of-mouth referrals. You need to create lead-generation systems that can grow with your agency. An all-in-one system is the best way to do this. 

Whether you use organic search, email marketing, social media advertising, or referrals, you can combine them to achieve optimal results. Instead of looking at your marketing strategies as individual channels, understand how each of them work together to get results. It’s also important to have a marketing strategy that integrates with your sales strategy.

Dominate Your Niche

Some agencies have trouble scaling because their niche is too broad. They try to serve too many different audiences, and they never become the leader in their niche. That’s why it’s so important to pick a specific niche and focus only on serving clients in that pool. 

Let’s look at a simple business example. Someone who needs a software tool to help them build a high-rise skyscraper has two options. The first option is to use a software that serves the construction industry. The second option is to use a software tool that specializes in helping people build high-rise skyscrapers. Construction managers are far more likely to choose the software that specializes in their specific skyscraper project. 

By niching down, you can become the “go-to” leader in that area. This makes it easier to scale because you’ll understand more about your specific customers’ needs, and prospects are more likely to hire you due to your specialized expertise. 

Try Result-Based Pricing

Another way to scale your agency is by switching up your pricing structure. Many agencies either bid on projects or offer fixed-priced packages. To attract more customers, offer them results-based pricing. By doing this, you take the risk burden off your customer because they only pay for the results you generate. 

Before trying this, make sure you’re confident that your agency can deliver results for the customer. This pricing plan puts the risk on your agency, but customers appreciate it and are more likely to sign up. It’s smart to have enough overhead to cover any losses if you fail to succeed. 

Understand Your Client Journey

The client journey refers to every touchpoint between your agency and your client. The journey starts when a client enters the pipeline, and it lasts through final post-delivery communication. By standardizing this process, you can more easily scale your agency. 

To create a standardized process, you must first map out the customer journey. A simple example is by categorizing new clients into referrals and outbound sales. If these two types of clients are onboarded differently, include boxes and arrows on your customer journey map that correspond to the proper onboarding strategy. Referrals may be onboarded using process one, and outbound sales leads may be onboarded using process two. 

By creating a visual chart of this process, you’ll be able to streamline onboarding operations, connect sales and project management processes, and more easily scale your agency. 

Enhance Your Analytics

Improving your data analytics allows you to gain better insights into your customers, scale your agency, and show off ROI to prospects and clients. To enhance your analytics, invest in a software tool or hire an analytics specialist who specializes in areas relevant to your agency. These can help you improve the common types of analytics listed below. 

Descriptive Analytics

Descriptive analytics is done by taking content or data and determining what happened. It uses both historical and current data to reveal relationships and trends. You can use descriptive analytics to see how many customers downloaded an eBook, how many likes your social media post got, or how many people viewed your video. 

Diagnostic Analytics

Diagnostic analytics uses data to determine what causes certain correlations and trends between variables. Diagnostic analytics can be done manually, with statistical software, or by using an algorithm. An example of diagnostic analytics is testing the color scheme of a landing page and seeing which generates the best results. 

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics uses historical data, machine learning, and statistical algorithms to make future predictions. Predictive analytics can be used to optimize your marketing strategy by revealing what type of campaigns are most likely to work best, which customers are most likely to generate the largest revenue, and the best time to reach out to customers. 

Prescriptive Analytics

Prescriptive analytics takes the data collected from predictive, diagnostic, and descriptive analytics to make a recommendation on how to optimize your agency going forward. It uses algorithms, artificial intelligence, business rules, and machine learning to make a recommendation. Prescriptive analytics can reduce human error, create a long-term business plan, and save time for agencies. 

Tools for Collecting Data and Improving Engagement

One tool you can use to collect data from your users is through a customer data platform (CDP). Arena CDP can help by collecting and analyzing data from multiple touchpoints to form unique customer profiles. 

By integrating the CDP with Arena Live Chat, you can analyze what the user says online and use it to understand their interests and preferences. A live chat tool is also great for enhancing user engagement.

They can be paired with live virtual events to add instant messaging, group live chat, Q&As, polls, and other engagement features. Another tool for improving engagement, creating a superior live stream event, and collecting user data is through Arena Live Blog. 

This tool’s analytics dashboard lets agencies analyze audience behavior and monitor performance. It can also be used to provide quick, interactive updates during live stream events. 

For information on enhancing your live stream through engaging virtual event scripts, check out our free eBook.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to scale your agency, try some of the five strategies covered in this guide. Create lead-generation systems that are comprehensive and scalable. Pick a specific niche and dominate it. Try results-based pricing instead of a fixed pricing structure. Map out and understand each type of client’s journey. 

It’s also helpful to ramp up your descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. You can also use Arena’s CDP, Live Chat, and Live Blog tools to collect customer data, enhance engagement, and improve a live event experience.

Metaverse: virtual world experiences using CDP

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The next phase of the Internet – the Metaverse – is coming. There’s a lot of hype and uncertainty around how to make the most of the Metaverse. The technology underpinning metaverse experiences are still evolving. For a quick introduction to the Metaverse and what it means for marketing, check out our post “4 reasons the metaverse matters to marketers and what to do now.”

In addition to technology, two factors will drive metaverse success: good content built on a foundation of customer insights.

Why The Metaverse Is Like Fire

Fire was one of the most potent forces in early history. Used effectively, fire helped us thrive in hostile environments, prepare food, and more. Yet, fire can also hurt people and destroy buildings if used poorly. The difference between fire creating warmth and value and disaster lies in planning and skills. Finding success in the Metaverse is no different.

What does this have to do with the Metaverse and marketing, you ask?

Without the right plan, a poorly executed Metaverse virtual world may hurt your brand. Launching an irrelevant metaverse experience that does not speak to your audience’s interests will consume your team’s time without creating much value.

The Twin Pillars of a Successful Virtual World Experience

As a newer technology, it will take experimentation and patience to succeed in the Metaverse. However, random trial and error efforts take far too long. That’s why you need to think

Content

You might object to focusing on content first in the metaverse experience. Indeed, there is excellent value in emphasizing community and connection among your audience. That said, we need to give your audience why they should join your metaverse experience instead of doing something else with their time. Engaging content, therefore, forms a vital pillar of an engaging virtual world experience.

The type of content you create for a virtual world will vary depending on the technologies and scope of your plans. Use the following list as a starting point to create your content experiences.

  • Event scripts. You may feature presentations, speeches, and talks in your virtual world. Taking the time to create an engaging script and visual aids will make your event more enticing. 
  • Worldbuilding content. To create an immersive experience, every facet of the world must be planned. Do you want to create a virtual town experience? Or scale down to a virtual booth at a conference?
  • Narrative experiences. Take inspiration from the successful video games experiences that feature virtual worlds. Users have the experience to act out stories and interact with other characters. This storytelling approach is another way to use content in your company
  • Gamification ideas. Gamification means using video game mechanics (e.g., experience points, in-game rewards, leaderboards, etc.) to drive engagement. Your virtual world may use these types of mechanisms to encourage people to spend time in the virtual world.

Customer insight

The other pillar of a thriving virtual world is customer insight. Without this insight, you might create an entertaining world that fails to speak to the needs of your audience. A customer data platform is a virtual resource to inform the creation of virtual world experiences. Assuming you have collected data for at least a few months, you will be able to validate your virtual world content ideas.

Here are some helpful questions to sort through which virtual event experience ideas are worth pursuing.

  • What is your customer profile?

Ideally, you want to have quantitative (e.g. age, gender, location) and qualitative insights (e.g. what ideas and concepts get them excited).

  • What questions do customers ask most often?

Check your; live chat platform and staff to see what questions come up most often. For example, you may notice that a large percentage of your customer base asks technical support questions. In that case, your virtual world experience should start with a high degree of technical support.

  • What digital content has driven the highest engagement and conversions?

When possible, look for content linked to conversions (e.g., purchases or lead generation). If this information is not available, look for content that has driven the highest engagement in user time, likes, and similar metrics.

If you lack robust customer insights, get started today with the Arena customer data platform.

Using your customer data platform in the Metaverse

There are several ways to use your customer data platform to create and optimize virtual world experiences.

Plan and create a virtual world

A customer data platform can give you valuable insights about the kinds of content your users have enjoyed the most in the past. Based on this information, you can plan more successful metaverse experiences. For example, if your customers like virtual events that emphasize networking, then you can plan a virtual event with a focus on virtual events

Run a virtual world

A customer data platform can support running a virtual world. For example, you may use tracking links and discount codes to track purchases back to metaverse experiences. Tracking customer behavior is especially important when you offer large virtual worlds with many different experiences. Without tracking, you will not know which experiences and content resonate most with customers.

Optimize a virtual world experience

Once a customer leaves a metaverse experience, they will continue interacting with your brand. They might share feedback about what they liked and disliked in response to a survey or mention it during a live chat session. With a customer data platform, you can keep all of these forms of feedback organized.

Get Started The With Arena Customer Data Platform

Before investing time and effort in a virtual world, you need to understand your customers first. To keep your staff organized, install the Arena customer data platform. Once you have the application installed, you will have a single place to view customer activity. You can see the entire customer journey – website chat sessions, interactions with the sales team, and purchases – in one place. Get started today by learning more about the; Arena customer data platform.

Amazing Virtual Events Trends for 2022

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The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic paired with the rise of innovative technology spurred a shift from in-person events to virtual ones. Organizers have experienced the vast number of benefits from allowing events to be accessed by attendees online, and this trend is expected to continue in 2022. This guide covers what virtual and hybrid events are, their expected trends in 2022, and helpful software tools that can enhance these events. 

What are Virtual Events?

Virtual events are those in which attendees meet and experience events online rather than meeting in-person at a physical location. Virtual events can be large conferences with thousands of attendees or small sessions with just a few people. While virtual events have been around for years, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic skyrocketed the need for them. 

Virtual event types include courses, happy hours, conferences, networking events, concerts, festivals, webinars, and more. Virtual events can also be meshed with an in-person event to form a hybrid event. Hybrid events combine aspects of both types, letting attendees choose to show up in-person or join digitally. 

Virtual and Hybrid Events in the Future

While the future of the pandemic remains uncertain, it is clear that virtual events aren’t going anywhere. According to a LinkedIn survey of 1,800 professionals, organizers of in-person events are predicted to continue delivering “digital twin events”. This means that one or more components of their in-person events will be available to online attendees. 

It also found that 42% of in-person event organizers will continue searching for virtual event services to improve sustainability. In-person events often involve the use of consumables like plastic, and they require people to use transportation to get to and from events. By letting people attend online, companies can create more sustainable events. 

Hybrid Events

Before we dive into trends, it’s important to understand how hybrid events work. Hybrid events give companies the option to host in-person events while also letting people attend online.

Hybrid Event Benefits

The main benefit of hybrid events is flexibility. By setting up a hybrid event, companies ensure their event is hedged against risks. For example, if there are last-minute restrictions to public health guidelines, event organizers can easily pivot to an all-virtual event. This is also helpful if there are issues with the event venue. 

Another benefit of hybrid events is the added reach organizers can have. Every venue has capacity limits, and travel expenses can cause people to decide against attending. For example, people in the U.S. face significant barriers to attending an event in London. A hybrid event allows organizers to fill up a venue while also broadcasting to millions of others around the world. 

Virtual and hybrid events also give organizers better access to event data. By hosting an event virtually, organizers have more detailed information on how their content is being consumed. Organizers of in-person events don’t get the same access to this information. 

Virtual Event Trends for 2022

A study by Event Manager Blog indicates that 71% of event organizers will continue implementing digital strategies even when in-person events are completely back to normal. 

The following are some predicted trends for virtual events in 2022. 

  • More flexible participation options
  • Increased socializing and virtual networking aspects
  • More on-demand content
  • Shorter events
  • Greater focus on personalized content and small groups
  • Higher frequency of micro-events and virtual events
  • Increased access to sponsorship opportunities

Virtual Event Monetization

Physical events give organizers the opportunity to charge for tickets, food, drinks, merchandise, and more. Only 9% of virtual events were paid events in 2021, and virtual event ticket prices averaged only 20% of the price of in-person event tickets. Therefore, organizers will need to find better ways to monetize virtual events going forward. 

Virtual Event Sponsors

Virtual event sponsor expectations are changing going into 2022. Sponsors are encouraging an increased investment in digital event aspects and less investment in physical event aspects. They also expect a better understanding of ROI statistics from both virtual and physical attendees, which increases the importance of having helpful analytics tools. 

Emphasis on Attendee Safety

Because the Covid-19 pandemic is still a large concern, events are expected to continue high safety regulations going into 2022. Mask mandates, specialized cleaning crews, air-filtration systems, socially-distanced events, pre-screening requirements, and proof of vaccination of negative tests will continue to influence events. Safety concerns will also continue the trend towards offering virtual event options to online attendees. 

Virtual Event Software

There will also be a greater need for virtual event software that can do the following. 

  • Uncover rich data sets
  • Use gamification, matchmaking, and scheduling to improve events
  • Create pre-event, event, and post-event communities
  • Encourage audience interaction and participation
  • Create a unique virtual experience for users
  • Build a seamless user experience

How Arena can Enhance your Virtual Event

For help increasing your audience engagement, setting up user profiles, and enhancing your virtual or hybrid event experience, consider using one of Arena’s helpful software tools. Arena is trusted by thousands of customers like Swoogo and Cloud Conventions to help them run their hybrid and virtual events.

Arena Live Chat

Arena Live Chat is a tool that can be seamlessly integrated with your virtual or hybrid event. With this live chat tool, you can let attendees interact with each other, ask questions, and respond to polls during your event. With this tool, online attendees can share ideas and give feedback as if they were attending the event in-person. 

Arena Live Blog

Organizers can also enhance their virtual or hybrid event using Arena Live Blog. A live blog tool lets you share quick updates as your event unfolds. This tool lets you share maps, live scores, videos, text, images, and more. This ensures your online attendees are kept informed about speakers, interviews, ideas shared, and other details relevant to your event. 

Arena Customer Data Platform

Due to increased restrictions on cookies and data privacy, companies must find new creative ways to understand their customers. A customer data platform (CDP) fills this need by collecting data from different touch points and creating unique customer profiles. Event organizers can pair Arena CDP with its live chat and live blog tools to understand customer journeys and preferences. 

Additional Resources

For more information on how to create an unforgettable virtual event experience, check out our free eBook. 

If you want a comprehensive guide covering what to say during an event, we also have an eBook with live event scripts. 

For those who want to learn how to get the best results using live ecommerce, check out our guide. 

Conclusion

Public health concerns, innovative technology, and the recent success of virtual events have created a shift away from in-person-only events. Virtual and hybrid events offer increased flexibility, better access to data, and greater attendee reach. These events are expected to continue into 2022, and several new trends are expected to come to fruition. 

To improve the experience of your virtual or hybrid event, consider adding one of Arena’s software tools. Tools like Arena Live Chat, Live Blog, and CDP encourage attendee interaction, keep attendees engaged, and secure insightful attendee analytics. For more information on improving your live events, download our free eBook by clicking the link below. 

CDP and the Metaverse: how to control your data

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Before you launch your first metaverse project, there is a critical question you need to answer. How will you control metaverse data?

3 Reasons Why To Control Your Metaverse Data

Controlling your data in a metaverse environment is vital for a few reasons.

It won’t be easy to get feedback to improve customer service and future metaverse projects without control over your data. By controlling your data in this new area, you can stay competitive with future expectations.

  • Data and Security Compliance. 

Your customers expect you to protect their data. At a minimum, you should fulfill local regulatory requirements like California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or GDPR. Even if those laws do not directly apply to your company, it may be worth meeting those requirements to protect your requirements.

Finding success in marketing requires a commitment to testing and innovation. By tracking what works and what doesn’t in your metaverse, your continuous improvement efforts can continue.

Now let’s look at some of the data you might want to control in the metaverse.

Four Types of Metaverse Data Should You Protect

The specific kinds of data you put into the metaverse and get out of it will vary depending on your approach. A company that creates or uses a persistent virtual world such as Roblox will manage a significant volume of data. In contrast, a company offering a virtual metaverse event once or twice per year will have far fewer customer data profiles to manage.

Your metaverse experience will require a variety of types of content to engage customers. For example, you might create images and videos. For live virtual events in the metaverse, you may create a virtual event script. You might create metaverse content in-house, work with consultants or agencies. Before putting your content into a metaverse environment, get clarity on copyright and intellectual property first. For example, do you retain rights to the content, or are there any limitations to keep in mind?

  • Customer Data And User Data

You may welcome several kinds of users to your metaverse environments: customers, potential customers, and partners. Given the effort required to track users effectively, it is probably wise to focus on customers. The best approach is to use a platform like the Arena Personas. It makes it easy to track customer activity across multiple platforms, including website usage, interactions with sales, social media, and more.

Protecting analytics data related to your metaverse events and environments is essential. For example, you might offer a series of metaverse events aimed at different audiences like small business owners vs corporate executives. At a minimum, track time usage metrics like how long users stay in the metaverse environment. Further, track how many of your users interact with your metaverse offerings. Low usage rates may suggest that your approach to the metaverse may not be appealing.

Qualitative data is meant to capture any other kinds of feedback you may receive about your metaverse environment. For example, users may use Live Chat on your website to ask technical support questions. Keeping track of these questions and feedback is essential. If users struggle to access metaverse content, it is wise to respond to that feedback so you can keep improving. Further, you may also get comments on social media and email about your offering. These comments may give some valuable insights worth reviewing with your team.

How To Control Metaverse Data Step By Step

Use the process to control your metaverse data so that you achieve your business goals.

1. Create A Customer Data Inventory

While you may have multiple types of participants – customers, prospective customers, and influencers – in your events, it makes sense to focus mainly on customer data. The answer is simple. Ultimately, your business goals are likely mainly focused on customer loyalty, customer service, and revenue. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on controlling and managing customer data.

To build your customer data inventory, start with the following examples.

  • Customer Orders and Invoices.

Customer purchase activity gives you rich insights about which products are most popular with which customers. You can also use this data to identify your “VIP” customers by purchase activity.

  •  Customer Relationship Management.

Whether you use Salesforce or another CRM, these tools give valuable insights into customer interaction. For instance, a B2B company might want to identify and invite multiple stakeholders to a metaverse event (e.g., executives, technical experts, procurement, and more) to maximize engagement.

Track which customers are interacting with you on social media. If you are active on multiple platforms, consider focusing on the top 2 platforms with the most followers.

The questions customers ask during live chat sessions can offer valuable insight. This data should be collected and protected.

Website analytics and usage data can provide insights on which content and products customers are most interested in. Protecting this data is worthwhile because it helps you optimize your marketing efforts.

2. Classify Your Customer Data

It takes time and energy to protect customer data. Therefore, it makes sense to focus your effort on the customer data that is most valuable. At a minimum, verify that you meet legal standards applicable to your company and jurisdiction. Some industries like healthcare and financial services may have additional data privacy and security requirements to meet.

 After legal considerations are considered, look at the value of your customer data. You might emphasize live chat data logs from a marketing perspective because the questions help you create more effective marketing. When you first start customer data classification, it is best to keep your system simple with a few categories. You might use the following categories: Very Important, Important, and Minor Importance.

3. Identify Relevant Data For The Metaverse

In the previous steps, you created a company-wide inventory of your most significant customer data assets. As you develop your metaverse engagement, it is essential to identify which data will flow in and out of the metaverse. As a starting point, consider the following.

  • Customer Engagement Data
  • Questions
  • Product Data. Specifically which products generate the most interest in terms of purchases and inquiries.
  • Survey Data. Check if you have a recent customer satisfaction survey data set to reference.

In addition to the above data examples, it is vital to consider data flows. You will probably have data flow into the metaverse, and data flow out of the metaverse. An example of data outflow from the metaverse would be engagement data, such as which virtual experiences draw the most interest from your audience.

4. Test Your Data Tracking Capabilities With A Metaverse Sandbox

Testing your customer data with a metaverse sandbox is an excellent next step. A sandbox is a testing environment where you can see if your systems and processes are working effectively. You might ask a handful of employees to create dummy customer accounts and then interact with your company’s assets in the metaverse. Following the event, verify if your customer data platform was updated based on metaverse user activity (e.g., measure which users logged into the metaverse).

If data is not flowing out of the metaverse into your customer data platform, it is vital to quickly diagnose and fix that problem.

5. Update Your Privacy Policy and Procedures

Once you have a functioning link between your customer data platform and the metaverse, it is time to assess your approach to privacy. Your customers may ask how you will protect their data if they use your metaverse experience. Protect your company reputation by reviewing and updating your privacy policy to cover metaverse experiences.

In addition, discuss user privacy safeguards with any third parties you work with to create metaverse experiences. Once the privacy policy is updated, create training materials for your customer service support to address privacy questions if they come up.

6. Launch A Metaverse Experience

Your next step is to launch your first metaverse experience with live customers. When you first get started with new technology, plan for additional support. For example, you might want to add additional technical support staff to your live chat to help users. After your metaverse experience ends, send out a survey to users to gather their feedback.

7. Put Your New Metaverse Data To Use

Finally, evaluate the new data you have generated from your metaverse event. Start by checking the fundamentals like whether customer data profiles were updated to reflect participation in the metaverse. Second, look for additional insights like which aspects of the metaverse experience generated the most engagement. Based on these insights, you can make better decisions about your next marketing campaign.

The One Must-Have Technology For The Metaverse

You might think that virtual reality headsets are required to offer metaverse experiencers. Such hardware can help, but it is not required. The critical technology is a customer data platform! Without a CDP in place, evaluating whether your metaverse experiences are generating ROI will be very difficult. Click here to find out more about Arena Personas.

The Absolute Best Live Streaming Tips

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Live streams are used by companies and content creators to engage audiences, monetize content, inform customers, and much more. When creating a livestream event, it’s important to understand best practices to achieve the greatest results possible. This guide uncovers the meaning of live streaming and shares five insightful tips to use during your next event. 

What is Live Streaming?

While basic streaming can be pre-recorded, live streaming is the act of creating and sharing a live video on the internet in real-time. 

People livestream webinars, news broadcasts, social media videos, sporting events, video game content, and more. Companies use live streaming to increase brand awareness, retain and engage viewers, build a wider audience, and monetize their websites. 

How to Enhance Your Live Streams

Use the following tips to improve the effectiveness of your next livestream. 

Pick the Right Platform

The two main types of livestream platforms are social media platforms and platforms that specialize in live streaming. 

When deciding which to use, consider where your audience spends their time. If most of your audience interacts with you primarily through one social media platform, you can use it to host your live streams. 

For example, travel bloggers may prefer Instagram, video gamers may prefer Twitch, and software professionals may prefer YouTube. YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and Twitch are examples of social media platforms you can broadcast on. 

If your audience uses multiple social media platforms or has less of a social media presence, it’s better to use a platform that specializes in live streams. Examples of these include Restream, Dacast, and Brightcove. 

These platforms let you stream on websites and multiple social media platforms simultaneously. They also provide monetization tools, analytic reports, tech support, and more. 

Market Your Livestream

Before you host your livestream, it’s important to build awareness for it. You can do this by creating excitement on your social media pages, sending informational emails to your list, and having viewers pre-register for your livestream. 

Within your marketing material, make sure to include specific details on how to join the event, what time the event will begin and end, and what to expect during the livestream. 

To create anticipation, you can include exclusive sneak peek videos, hint at potential discounts, and ask users to submit questions and ideas for the event. It’s also helpful to include reminder emails, push notifications, or texts leading up to the livestream. 

Optimize Lighting and Audio

To create an exceptional livestream presentation, make sure your lighting and audio is optimized. 

Lighting

First, ensure all presenters are wearing solid colors and simple fabrics. Colors that are too bright or shiny, and patterns that are too complex are less optimal for your camera. 

You should also be careful if filming outdoors. The sun can often be too bright and make it difficult for your presenter to be seen. When in doubt, film inside a well-lit room. 

Finally, avoid backlighting your presenter. If the dominant light source is coming from behind your presenter, it can display a silhouette of him or her. Instead, have your primary light source in front of the presenter to ensure the best lighting. 

Audio

First, beware of adding music that you aren’t permitted to use. There are laws that require you to receive permission from the artist before playing their music for a public performance. When in doubt, leave out licensed music. 

Second, always keep in mind when a mic is on. If someone accidentally says something irrelevant or inappropriate with a live mic, it can come off as unprofessional. Make sure everyone who is not presenting remains quiet throughout the streaming event.

Finally, use a lapel mic if you’ll be streaming on the go. A lapel mic easily attaches to your shirt, reducing the need to hold one up to your mouth. Lapel mics can also reduce background noise from cars and planes. 

Do a Test Run before Going Live

It is critical to do a test run and practice before launching your livestream. Start by defining a clear goal for your livestream. Do you want to grow your audience, build a stronger relationship with your customers, or sell a product or service?

Once you have a clear goal for your stream, create an outline of key topics you aim to cover. Next, ensure everyone on your team is informed about the event and its timeline. Ensure your Wi-Fi is strong enough to support your stream, and you can run a speed test to measure your bandwidth. 

Finally, test all equipment including microphones, cameras, and computers to ensure everything runs smoothly. You can also conduct recorded practice runs to make sure you’re ready for the live event. 

Incorporate Engagement and Monetization Tools

Once you start your livestream, use tools that let your audience engage in real-time and that let you monetize your stream. The best ways to do this are through a live chat or a live blog. 

Live Chat

A tool like Arena Live Chat lets livestream viewers interact with you and other viewers in real time. This can take the form of instant messaging, community polls, and Q&A segments. By increasing engagement through live chat, you ensure your audience is actively participating during your event and less likely to lose interest. 

Live chat tools also let you monetize your livestream event. This can be used to collect tips for a helpful presentation, donate gifts relevant to your stream, or raise funds for a charity event. Arena Live Chat integrates with PayPal and will offer integration with Stripe in the near future to collect donations, gifts, and tips during events. 

Live Blog

Live blogs are a way to share quick updates as a livestream event unfolds. A tool like Arena Live Blog lets companies and content creators send out quick, informative updates that keep users engaged during a livestream. A live blog can improve engagement during virtual business conferences, online news broadcasts, live sports streams, and more. 

Live blogs can also monetize livestream events by collecting ad revenue. Arena Live Blog can be paired with DFP, Google AdSense, and other ad platforms to monetize your livestream. Integrating ad platforms is an easy process that lets users seamlessly add additional income streams to their event. 

Conclusion

We shared these tips to help you develop the best livestream event possible. By selecting the right platform, marketing your event, optimizing lighting and audio, conducting test runs, and adding engagement and monetization tools, you’ll be able to create a superior livestream experience. 

If you want to learn more about enhancing your livestream events, download our free eBook by clicking the link below. 

Download the Enhance your Live Stream eBook for free

Virtual Events: Stats and Trends You Need To Succeed

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Virtual events have continued to increase in popularity in 2021. To put the year’s virtual events in context, this year in review will reveal the virtual event stats, key trends and opportunities you need to succeed next year.

4 Facts You Need To Know About Virtual Events

Recent industry research commissioned by LinkedIn reveals essential insights about the evolving nature of business events.

1. Majority of Event Organizers Have Launched Virtual Events. 

Across Germany, UAE, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, most event organizers arranged a virtual event, webinar, or online talk in 2020.

2. Fully Virtual Events Grow In Popularity. 

50% of events organized in the UK and Ireland have focused entirely on virtual events.

3. Critical Drivers For Virtual Events. 

Health concerns related to the pandemic are not the only driver for virtual events. In addition, one-third to one-half of event organizers think that virtual events are more cost-effective than traditional events. Further, saving travel time and environmental concerns are other key motivations for virtual events.

4. Virtual Event Content Quality. 

A significant number (44% in the UK and 38% in Germany) of event professionals agree that content development is a key priority. As expectations for event quality increase, there’s no need to start your virtual event planning from scratch. Download a copy of Arena’s Live Events Ebook to make your next virtual event more engaging.

Virtual Event Best Practices: 3 Ways To Maximize Engagement

In the past, organizing a virtual event or webinar was something of a novelty. That novelty has long since worn off. To keep your audience engaged in your content, aligning with the following best practices is vital.

1. Adjust Session Length. 

Asking attendees to sit through hour-long lecture-style events may not be effective any longer. Instead, consider adjusting your approach to emphasize shorter presentations. For inspiration, see the TED website, which features a significant number of presentations less than 20 minutes long.

2. Encourage Participant Interaction. 

Use live chat capabilities to allow attendees to ask questions. If there is no easy way to interact, you run the risk of attendees becoming disengaged. To get started in live chat, check out our post What Is Live Chat?

3. Invite Multiple Speakers. 

Offering diverse perspectives gives you more opportunities to connect with your audience. Use the live events script ebook to organize your content. Once your content is developed, invite multiple people from your company to give a presentation. If you have the budget, invite an outside speaker or influencer to deliver a short talk.

From Presentations To Live Shopping

Traditionally, virtual events like webinars and virtual conferences emphasized sharing content and networking. Those types of events are still important and worth organizing. That said, traditional virtual events do not directly drive revenue in most cases. If your company needs to grow revenue faster, you need a different approach: live ecommerce. In a live ecommerce event, you have the opportunity to present products to your audience and drive immediate sales. Livestream e-commerce sales in the US are projected to grow to $17 billion in 2022, up from $6 billion in 2020, according to Statista.

To plan your next live ecommerce event, use Arena’s Live Ecommerce ebook as your starting point.

The Most Successful Virtual Events of 2021 And What You Can Learn From Them

It is easier to plan your next virtual event with your team when you have examples to discuss. Use this list of events

Collins Aerospace: Keep Events Focused With Moderation

Remember when virtual meetings were disrupted by “Zoom bombing”? In its most extreme form, some of these disruptive participants posted harmful and alarming content. This kind of disruption is a risk that needs to manage in virtual events. Thoughtful event moderation can go a long way to prevent disruptions and keep attendees focused.

The; Collins Aerospace’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering virtual event was aimed at young girls to encourage them to consider careers in aerospace and engineering. In February 2021, the company invited students from five local schools to meet engineers and Joan Higginbotham, a former NASA astronaut. By using moderation, special guests, and a small invite list, the company created an engaging experience.

Virtual Event Lessons

There are a few lessons to adapt from the Collins Aerospace experience.

  • Consider Small Events. Events with a few dozen participants can be successful. Large scale events with hundreds or thousands of attendees tend to get all the attention but smaller events
  • Family-Friendly Event Design. The company’s decision to focus on teenage girls meant moderation was important. Arena Live Chat offers built-in moderation features so you can create a family-friendly experience.

YouTube Launches Multi-Day Virtual Shopping Event.

Short duration events of 1-2 hours are popular, but they are not the only approach. In November 2021, the video streaming platform ran the event YouTube Holiday Stream and Shop. The event drew participation from multiple YouTube personalities like Gordon Ramsay, Patrick Starrr, Jackie Aina, and MrBeast.

Virtual Event Lessons

There are two key lessons to draw from YouTube’s live ecommerce virtual events.

Delivering surprises to attendees is the crucial learning from YouTube’s 2021 entrance into live shopping. In a recent survey, 75% of shoppers agreed that the video platform “enhances the traditional shopping journey by delivering unexpected inspiration.” This is a crucial lesson as you plan your virtual event. For example, how can you offer exclusive product news, limited editions, or access to exciting presenters? Take inspiration from YouTube’s live shopping development to engage customers.

Consider organizing events over several days and connecting those events back to a seasonal trend. In the case of YouTube’s virtual events, the event was tied to the holiday shopping season.

Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue

Held in March 2021, this virtual event was sponsored by Siemens Energy, ING Bank, and other companies. The event’s approach to attendee engagement included the event moderator highlighting comments from attendees.

Virtual Event Lessons

The Berlin event offers a key lesson for you as you plan your event. Event moderators encouraged attendees to post questions for speakers on Twitter. Seeking input from attendees is a great idea. However, there is a downside to relying on social media sites. Event attendees might get distracted by conversations unrelated to the event and disengage. A better approach is to use Arena Live Chat to keep attendees on your website while they ask questions.

Keeping attendees on your website also means you can form direct relationships with customers. Traditional Google cookies are disappearing due to privacy changes. Keeping virtual event attendees on your website makes it far easier to use a customer data platform to understand audience behavior.

Hybrid Events

In addition to entirely virtual events, many organizations and organizers are developing hybrid events. In this type of event, an attendee has the option to participate virtually or in person. For example, Social Media Marketing World is offering four kinds of tickets for its next event. The higher-priced tickets include in-person access to the event. At the same time, Social Media Marketing World also offers “streaming” and “on-demand” tickets to accommodate virtual-only attendees.

Without careful planning, keeping everyone engaged in a hybrid event can fail. Virtual event attendees may feel left out of the conversation happening in the conference center. Using Arena Live Blog to share live updates from your event as it unfolds makes it easier for virtual attendees to feel involved.

How To Get Started With Virtual Events

Virtual events and hybrid events are here to stay. Your only question is to decide when you will take advantage of this way to engage with customers. Adding Arena Live Chat and Live Blog to your website is fast to make your virtual events more engaging.

What’s The Difference Between SDK and API?

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Adding new capabilities to your business used to be complicated. You had to hire a small army of developers and wait months or years for a result. That’s all changed in recent years thanks to a few new critical technologies: API and SDK. Find out how SDKs and APIs work and the role play in making business more efficient.

What Is An API?

API is a commonly used technology abbreviation that stands for Application Programming Interface. An API operates as a middle man between two different software applications. It is a common way to add new features to a business with minimal expense. There are more than 10,000 APIs in RapidAPI marketplace’s marketplace alone.

In addition, APIs come in different types, and not all of them are freely accessible. Usually, application programming interfaces (APIs) are grouped into three categories

  • Private or internal APIs. These APIs are created for internal company use only. For example, the US business unit of a company could use an API to share information with another business unit in another country more efficiently. In some cases, a software company may pilot test a new API as an internal API before offering it to other organizations.
  • Partner APIs. This type of APIs is available to only a small number of people. Typically, partner APIs are a value add to software as a service (SaaS) products. Some companies charge an additional fee for API access, while others include API access as a standard feature.
  • Public APIs. This type of APIs is available to anybody who wants to use them. For example, the US government offers multiple APIs such as the National Weather Service (NWS) API. Anybody can review the API documentation and explore adding that software to their organization.

Advantages of an API

There are several powerful advantages to using an application programming interface. The exact functionality you can obtain varies significantly between APIs, however.

Imagine you wanted to share a weather forecast with users before they booked a flight. Instead of manually checking the forecast each day, you could connect your product to the National Weather Service API instead. This type of automation saves time for the company and gives users more data.

  • Launch new products faster.

With an API, you can add new features that have already been tested quickly. As a result, there is a reduced burden on your development team to build new features. In some cases, they can simply use an API to add a new feature.

Disadvantages of an API

Like any technology, APIs have their downsides as well. Keep these points in mind as you consider whether to use any particular API in your organization.

  • Variable quality of API Documentation.

Poor quality API documentation makes life painful for developers and engineers. When the workings of the API are unclear, your team will have to spend additional time testing. In some cases, you might end up creating your internal API documentation.

Popular APIs are an attractive target for some hackers because of the wealth of data they contain. If the API provider underinvests in IT security defense, your organization’s security risk may be increased. That’s not all. Some API providers provide little explanation of how they ensure IT security protections are in place and updated. This lack of API transparency translates to a greater burden on your security staff.

What is A SDK?

An SDK is a standard technology abbreviation that stands for software development kit. In one sense, it is similar to an API. Both an SDK and an API can be helpful ways to add new features. However, there are significant differences in what these technologies can do for your company.

An API creates a connection between two pieces of software. That connection is powerful, but there are limitations to what you can achieve. In comparison, an SDK is like having access to a fully equipped technology lab. You have more choices and flexibility when it comes to adding features. That’s not all. Many SDKs also include an API to facilitate data sharing.

Advantages of an SDK

  • High level of flexibility.

A SDK can give your developers many different ways to build new features. You could use an SDK to create brand new applications nobody has ever seen before. For example, Apple offers an iOS SDK to make it easier for developers to create new apps for the iPhone and other Apple devices.

  •  Higher innovation potential.

Your ability to innovate with a modern SDK is close to unlimited. You only need the ambition to come up with a new app. You can turn features on and off and make a variety of modifications.

Disadvantages of an SDK

The main disadvantage of an SDK is complexity. It can take a lot of time to review SDK documentation and imagine what is possible. If you are in a rush to launch something new, be realistic. It takes developers time to learn their way around a new SDK.

Introducing The Arena SDK

The Arena SDK is a lightweight JavaScript capability that makes it easier to create chat applications. The SDK makes it easy to add chat users, chat reactions, and moderate chat sessions. You can use it to enhance customer support, gather feedback from users, and more. The Arena SDK also makes it easy for users to send direct messages when they want a more private conversation. You can also use it to run question and answer events internally or with your customers.

To find out more about the Arena SDK, please visit our; GitHub page.

How To Start Your Next Live Event In Less Than 24 Hours

Running a live virtual event used to be painful. Attendees had to sit through a one-way event. Asking questions and connecting with other people in the audience was tough. With Arena, you can add a live chat capability to your website in less than 10 minutes. Arena Live Chat is a lightweight technology that runs on WordPress and other popular web platforms.; Click here to try Arena free for 14 days.

Streaming Live Sports Best Practices for Engagement

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Pairing a live chat or live blog with your live sport stream is one of the best ways to update and involve your audience. Before you set either one up, you need to know the basics for using them effectively. This article goes over the best practices for adding a live chat or live blog to your live sport stream. 

How to Make the Best Live Chat and Live Blog Experience Possible

If you’re not already familiar with live chat or live blog, they are tools you can use to boost connection and engagement with your fans and customers. Follow the guidelines presented below to create the best experience possible. 

1. Motivate Your Audience

The first best practice when implementing your live chat or live blog is to show your viewers that you value them. Thank viewers for joining your live stream, encourage their feedback and engagement, and answer any questions they have. 

When someone joins your live chat, send them a welcome message like “Welcome [user first name]! Thanks for joining our live stream today!” Avoid creating a one-way conversation by letting viewers comment through live chat. Allow them to ask questions and do your best to answer as many as you can. 

You can encourage your audience to engage by asking questions of your own. You can then ask them to give their best answer or prediction. For example, you could ask, “How many points will the Nuggets score this quarter?” Offer a reward to anyone who guesses correctly, increasing the chance that people will comment. 

It can incentivize people to join your event if you create a free live sports streaming event. A free live sports streaming event can set you apart from competitors who charge money to view their stream. You can then encourage them to comment in the live chat or view your live blog. 

2. Capitalize on Down Time

When people watch live sports, it’s common to experience breaks in the action. 

Football and basketball games have timeouts, injuries, and halftimes. Baseball games have inning and pitching changes. Tennis matches have side changeovers. No matter which type of live sports event you’re broadcasting, you’ll have opportunities to capitalize on down time. 

There’s a chance that viewers will log off during these breaks, but you can use a live blog to keep them interested. Post relevant content like team schedules and highlights, coach and player interviews, and rules explanations. 

You can also use live blog and live chat simultaneously during breaks. For example, you can post a team’s remaining schedule during a timeout. 

Then, you can ask your audience to predict how many more games the team will win. To encourage more engagement, you can offer a product discount to a randomly selected commenter on your question. 

3. Minimize Technical Problems

The best way to quickly send your audience to a competitor’s live stream is to host a stream filled with technical problems. These include freezes and audio glitches. You need a smooth connection to let your audience watch live sports without issues. 

To create a stream that’s as clean as possible, ensure you have a strong connection and are set up on a good streaming platform. Some of the best platforms we recommend are Restream, Dacast, and Brightcove.

Another way to reduce technical errors is by using live chat to help your viewers troubleshoot common problems. For example, you can provide tips on the best browser to use, recommend users to move closer to their routers, or offer other advice for unfreezing video and audio. 

4. Plan Ahead

When running a live blog, you’re under pressure to post relevant content quickly. This can be stressful so make sure you create a plan before the live sports event. Come up with at least four to five pieces of content you can post in certain slots. These can include statistics, highlights, interviews, and more. 

If you don’t want to create entire pieces of content beforehand, you should have a rough outline or set of notes for what to post. 

Not all content should be pre-made because that would eliminate the purpose of a live blog. However, planning some of your content out will allow you to quickly post when you’re struggling to think of ideas. 

It also helps to invite at least one teammate to join you. This allows you to collaborate on ideas and divide the workload. You could have one team member post content while the other team member edits. You could also alternate which team member is in charge of posting so no one gets burned out. 
Fox Sports Australia, for instance, leveraged automated features like social stream, auto score update and auto play-by-play to free up its editors to perform other tasks during online transmissions. This allowed the sports media company to offer over 500 monthly sports event in it website without losing efficiency.

5. Eliminate Inappropriate Messages

The internet is full of “trolls”, or people who post inappropriate, irrelevant, or offensive comments online. If you set up a live chat, you’ll be sure to encounter these types of posters. They might be insulting other users, sporadically posting comments, or using profane language. 

You need to monitor these messages, so your live chat doesn’t become unattractive to your audience. If someone joins your live chat that’s full of unhelpful or harmful messages, they’ll likely leave the chat. To prevent this, consider using a software like Arena Live Chat. 

With Arena Live Chat, you can monitor, identify, and remove internet trolls. The software also lets you automatically block profane language. This is especially important if you expect children to attend your live stream. By cleaning up your live chat, you’ll ensure everyone is comfortable and the discussion stays on topic. 

Conclusion

Once you have a live sports event in mind and a platform to let your audience watch live sports, add a live blog or live chat. A live chat is a way for the audience to share their opinions and interact with you, and a live blog lets you quickly post updates in real-time. 

When using these tools, keep in mind the five best practices covered in this guide. 

First, always make sure to value and encourage your audience. Take advantage of breaks in the action by sharing informative content. Always ensure your live stream is running smoothly. Plan some of your live blog content ahead of time. Finally, never tolerate live chat misbehavior. If you want more great tips you should check out our Best Live Streaming Tips article.

To quickly set up a live chat and live blog, download Arena’s software today. The tools can be set up in minutes, and the software has been trusted by thousands of customers including Fox Sports, Microsoft, and Sony Music. Click the link below to try Arena for free. 

Sign up for Arena today!

Black Friday: 7 Trends You Need To Know About

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Black Friday 2021 is coming up in a few short weeks. To make the most of this holiday sales season, there are seven trends you need to know.

Black Friday history goes back to the 1960s when some started to point out heavy shopping traffic on the day after Thanksgiving. For some retailers, Black Friday deals also represent an opportunity to from the red (i.e., running at a loss) to the black (i.e., earning a profit).

Trend 1: Plan Black Friday Deals Early Or Else

Your Black Friday marketing strategy and planning needs to start weeks or months in advance. There are three significant reasons to start early: logistics, marketing, and competition.

Logistics: A Key Challenge for Black Friday Deals

Logistical challenges are continuing to impact stores around the world. A recent survey found that two-thirds of logistics managers shift to local and regional suppliers rather than international suppliers (source). Multiple companies have faced shortages getting products shipped from Asia. Placing orders early and allowing for additional shipping time is one way to mitigate this threat.

Black Friday Marketing Is Getting More Competitive

Research indicates that customers start to think about Black Friday sales far in advance from a marketing perspective.; Keap, a leading ecommerce software company, encourages businesses to start talking about Black Friday deals several weeks in advance. To take advantage of those early conversations, make an effort to have your content marketing assets and social media updates ready early.

Competitive Pressure

The days of running a Black Friday sale on a single day appear to be over. Several major retailers are approaching the event differently. For example, Amazon has created its shopping event, “Prime Day,” which lasts several days. According to; Jungle Scout, some customers are starting their holiday shopping as early as October.

In 2020, several companies like Sam’s Club, Best Buy, Target, and Kohl’s started their Black Friday promotions before Thanksgiving (source). In addition, a growing number of companies are focusing their efforts on “Cyber Monday” sales. Cyber Monday promotions generated approximately $10 billion in sales in 2020, according to; CNBC.

The lessons are clear. To be competitive in Black Friday promotions, you need to act early. It is also wise to plan out different kinds of promotions before and after Thanksgiving. For example, you could run pre-Black Friday, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday deals. You don’t have to choose one option in the Black Friday vs Cyber Monday debate – you can offer other sales on each day.

Trend 2: Use Live Streaming Events To Attract Attention 

Standing out in the crowded marketplace of Black Friday deals is getting complicated. However, there are still ways you can stand out without cutting prices further. For example, you can use live streaming events to showcase your products.

Take note of the following live stream events that generated attention and sales over the past year:

  • Macy’s. In 2020,; Macy’s had a virtual live stream parade instead of the traditional in-person event. If an event with a ninety-year history can go virtual, anything is possible! Flexibility in marketing Black Friday is necessary.
  • Instagram. Instead of waiting for Black Friday promotions to arrive, Instagram has pioneered something new. On Sept 1, 2021, the company announced ten days of live shopping events. According to; Social Media Today, 27% of shoppers have tried Live Shopping in the past year, and many are planning to increase their Live Shopping this year.

Running these live stream events takes some planning. It’s not enough to hold your products up to the camera. To help you create an interesting virtual event, download our virtual events ebook.

Trend 3: COVID-19 Isn’t Gone Yet!

Businesses have to face facts: the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us in 2021. While public health measures and vaccines are making progress, the effort is far from over. That means that your stores may be closed or subject to limits. That’s not all. Some customers may be reluctant to gather in large crowds, even for amazing Black Friday deals.

As a business, there are a few ways you can address the pandemic and the suffering it has caused in your community.

Companies like Dollar General, Instacart, Kroger, and McDonald’s (source) have all announced efforts to encourage employees to get vaccinated. Offering paid time off to get vaccinated is one crucial way to make infection less likely.

  •  Offer curbside pick-up and delivery options.

As a result of 2020, an increasing number of employees have shifted to buying online. To stay competitive, offer online purchases. For delivery service, companies have multiple options like traditional delivery companies and newer options like DoorDash. Offering these options means you can still succeed even if your physical stores are closed.

Spacing out your sales can help to relieve pressure on your employees. Pushing employees too hard may cause some wonder, “Is Black Friday a holiday?” and call in sick that day!

Trend 4: Black Lives Matter #BlackoutBlackFriday

Your Black Friday marketing strategy should consider social justice movements like Black Lives Matter and #BlackoutBlackFriday. For example, companies are aiming to help address racial equality by purchasing products from Black-owned companies. According to the; 15% Pledge, multiple companies have already commited to buying at least 15% of their products from Black-owned businesses like J Crew, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and Old Navy.

Signing up for the 15% pledge isn’t the only way to get involved, either. Take a look at how other companies are addressing racial issues.

  • Sephora. According to the; Washington Post, the fashion company has announced that it will reduce the number of security guards at its stores and buy more products from Black-owned companies. The company is also training its staff to greet customers equally to reduce racial bias.
  • Learn About; #BlackoutBlackFriday. A growing number of consumers are expressing their displeasure with companies by boycotting them. According to Blackout Friday, activists encourage people to avoid Walmart, Best buy, and national chains and buy from small, locally owned businesses instead.

Trend 5: Use Inventory Shortages As An Advantage

Scarcity is one of the best ways to sell products. In 2021, your business might struggle to keep every product in stock. You can turn those shortages into an advantage. How?

On your website, highlight products that have limited inventory: “X units remaining in stock.” Low inventory can nudge customers to act more quickly to purchase products.

For example, Best Buy runs a “Deal of The Day” promotion with limited quantities of each product. In this case, the company creates scarcity by putting a deadline of 24 hours on each sale item.

Trend 6: Get More Reviews For Your Products

When more people share their reviews and opinions of your products, it’s easier to sell your products. Getting more reviews on your products takes work. Keep in mind that you can keep those reviews on your website for months and years to come! So it is well worth the effort to get more reviews.

To help you get more reviews, use these tips.

  • Review customer feedback. A large number of customer complaints on the Better Business Bureau website is a bad sign. For example, Zaful has more than 200 complaints on the Better Business Bureau website. It is wise to address ongoing customer complaints before requesting additional reviews.
  • Ask For Reviews. Considering putting an insert in the box asking customers to leave a review. Specifically ask customers to leave positive reviews is a good idea as well. When you receive positive reviews, consider sending a thank you card to customers to show them that you care.
  • Influencers. Sending a free product to influencers or paying for a sponsored post isn’t the same as a customer review. However, customers may still perceive it as a credible option. Several services can help you to find influencers relevant to your brand. For instance,; Upfluence has services and software that make finding influencers to promote your brand easier. Remember that influencers with a smaller following are usually cheaper to work with than influencers with a larger audience. According to; Influencer Marketing Hub, nano-influencers (i.e., 1,000 to 10,000 followers) typically charge between $10 to $100 per post.
  • Can we mention here something related with customer review in the chat. Live Review to live shopping?

Trend 7: Earn More Sales With CRO and ML

Machine learning technology is here, and it can help you to make more sales during Black Friday. Of all the trends mentioned here, machine learning is one of the more complex opportunities. If your company has limited technical expertise, consider revisiting machine learning and conversion rate optimization (CRO) in the new year.

Before you optimize your results, you need to collect a significant amount of data. If you only have data on 10 or 100 customers, it won’t detect patterns. You can collect data from multiple sources like website analytics (e.g., Google Analytics), social media, and customer buying activity.

Once your customer data collection efforts are set up, it is essential to stay organized. That’s where a CDP (customer data platform) platform plays an important role. The; Arena CDP makes it easy to understand customer behavior in one place. For example, you can see how a single customer interacted with your brand on social media, visited your chat room, and went on to make a purchase.

Check out these resources for inspiration on what’s possible to achieve with conversion rate optimization and machine learning.

  • Nosto. This ecommerce software platform helps companies earn more sales through personalization. Kate Somerville increased revenue by 14% using Nosto.
  • Syte. This conversion rate optimization platform helps brands in fashion, home décor, and jewelry earn more sales. By using the platform, PrettyLittleThing was able to; double its conversion rate.

Conclusion

With these trends in mind, you can confidently start planning your Black Friday deals. Across the world, we are starting to see increasing signs of a global economic recovery. Employment in the USA, Canada, and other countries is increasing. The long-term effects of the pandemic are not yet apparent. However, there are clear signs that the economy is opening up and consumers are ready to shop.

Set your Cyber Monday deals apart from the competition by offering live chat on your website. To see how Arena Live Chat works in your business, sign up for a; free 14 day trial.