It is always great to sell more, right? Maybe not always. Your sales numbers might be going up and up, but, in terms of profit, you could still be losing money. That means the more you sell – the more you lose. This is why it is crucial to know the difference between raw sales and actual profits.

There are numerous costs associated with selling online that should be taken into consideration. Otherwise, sellers risk miscaluting their profits.

Here are 4 tips from sellerboard to help you understand your actual profit numbers.

1. Track Your Profitability

This can be done with a simple spreadsheet or, even better, a special tool like sellerboard that calculates profit and loss in real time.

When sellers simply deduct their expenses for the month from their total sales, they can be in for a nasty surprise when they finally dig into the actual results.

2. Consider ALL Costs of Selling

Cost of inventory is not the only expense associated with selling on Amazon.

Consider these:

• FBA Fees
• Storage Fees
• And Over 70 Other Potential Amazon Fees

3. Don’t Underestimate Amazon Returns

Returns are more than just a loss of a previously-made sale. There are still fees associated with the original sale & the refund, plus the fact that the item may not be resellable.

One of the reasons that sellerboard shines is that it helps you analyze WHY customers are actually returning products. If you sell duplicates of the same products, this can really help you spot problems with that listing or product.

Finding a repeating reason for returns can help you adjust the listing so you can minimize future returns.

4. Watch Out For Amazon FBA Errors

Amazon fees are not always 100% accurate. Sometimes errors occur in the warehouses, and that can cost you money.

When an error is detected in real-time, you can ask seller support to double-check the issue and fix the error so you can get your money back.

Some common errors that can cost you money:

• Lost & damaged inventory
• Returns that Amazon never received back
• Check-in errors for inbound shipments
• Fee errors for wrong weight/size

As you can see, it’s important to always keep track of your numbers and watch out for fees that might escape your attention.

Using a service like sellerboard can really help you stay on top of all of your actual profit numbers and can easily detect areas of your business that need your immediate attention.

There is also more. sellerboard offers these additional tools for Amazon sellers:

• Follow-up email campaigns
• Inventory management
• PPC optimization and bid automation
• Listing change alerts

You can get all of these features starting at just $15 per month.

There is even a 2-month free trial available so you can fully test sellerboard and how it helps you calculate your Amazon profit more accurately!

sellerboard.com to start your free (no credit card needed) 2-month trial today.

If you look at the top apps on the Android and Apple market, you will note that they all have something in common, 3D. Whether the background or the main component of the app has 3d integration, most apps these days has a 3d element. Why is this? According to Forbes “most of us need real-life (or close to real life) experiences to judge if we like something or now…Today, brands are using high-end visualization to provide a true immersive reality to power a customer experience.” In other words, we can easier bond to a 3D experience than we can to a 2D experience. And since the app industry is based upon addiction and UX, 3D models and components just make sense.

3D models add reality

When you look at some of the 2D applications on the market such as in Marvel Puzzle Quest  or 3D based applications such as Real Racing 3, you will note that there are 3d components. Granted, the level of 3D varies from the applications. In puzzle games, the 3d is typically limited to the main focal area. Gyms, tokens, power ups, and such are 3d models which have had a 2d texture added to them. By adding these 3D elements within the game, the application obtains a bit of depth. Even in non-gaming applications such as Learn Chinese in 3D understand that by adding a 3d model to the application, they increase the reality and the user experience. 3D adds three main components which contribute to our reality, even though technically the information we are seeing is 2D (as you cannot pick the object off of the pixelated screen). These three main components are:

• Recognizable depth and form – The images on the app transform from being recognized as an illustration to being registered in our mind as a physical form.

• Shadow – Objects which have shadows and highlights are more stimulating to us because we can then perceive them as having weight. We then give them more creditability as they are not seen as being fake but real things.

• Perspective – 2D can mimic perspectives and our sense of relationships between objects to a degree. However, the 3d object gives a far larger scope to the user. In fact, you could say that 2D is the baseline for 3D compositions for what are you trying to achieve with 2 point or 3 point perspective but the illusion of a 3d environment.

How you can use 3D to cheat the system?

3D modeling, rigging, and texturing takes quite a considerable amount of time, especially if you are making a gaming application which is dependent upon the coding and the relationship between the objects and that code. And while you could make all of the models yourself, it does not make sense to do so. Financially, the time that is spent to make a 3d model is more expensive than buying a model from a 3D model platform such as CGTrader. Timewise, production of your app is slowed down a great bit. Consider. Your programmer needs to have the model in most cases in order to perform the linkage between that component and the programing (php, Java, C++, or unity in most cases). Until the model is completed, your production team may be sitting on their hands.

Purchased 3D models do not mean “stock” 3d images

There is a perception that 3d models purchased from the internet are similar to packing your visuals with clip art. This is not the case. In many instances you will customize the 3D model to meet your requirements. For example: If you purchase a 3d Desk in .Obj format you may want to change out the chair, the textures of the top, the computer, add supporting 3d elements (such as a cup of pens), or re-sculpt or add to the model. The point is that the model that you purchase can be manipulated to make it your own.  In instances where you are using the 3d object for background and support imaging on the application, the focus is not based upon that object, and so there is not a need to worry about it looking “stock” as the focus will be on your primary object.

Getting prepared to cheat the system

Before you jump into your app production, ensure that you have the application planned out. Storyboard your app to see what elements are needed. Which elements are 3D, what is interactive, what is supportive, and most of all what is the purpose of the app? By addressing these questions first, you will know where to put your focus, finances, and what the driving force for creating the user reality is.

Artificial intelligence (AI) encompasses a branch of computing that attempts to replicate a human being’s capacity for performing specific tasks, like analyzing data and answering questions that require research. The technology is undoubtedly improving, but AI isn’t new; it’s been around and in regular use for over a decade now.

In comparison, though, today’s artificial intelligence tools can deftly sort data to find patterns and make recommendations — something of much use to digital marketers who aim to understand consumer behavior.

As such, AI has begun taking the world by storm, with tools like ChatGPT and AI-integrated search engines like Bing poised to change the landscape of the internet as we know it over the years to come. When intertwined with performance marketing, AI can benefit organizations seeking to maximize conversions.

Performance Marketing: A Definition

First and foremost, performance marketing is a results-oriented form of digital marketing through which companies encourage their customers to take a specific kind of action, such as clicking on a link or making a purchase.

Many forms of performance marketing exist, and while older performance marketing methods, such as cost-per-click (CPC) banner ads and display advertisements, are still around, more modern types incorporate artificial intelligence to learn more about a customer’s behavior.

Those behavior analytics, along with an in-depth understanding of a customer’s purchasing habits, help advertisers deliver ads to the people that are most likely to take action on them. Most companies will only pay for their advertisements when people interact with them; they won’t pay for ads that don’t result in action.

Combining Performance Marketing and Artificial Intelligence

Older digital marketing practices rely on large-scale enterprise software to reach their target audiences. They also require plenty of manual intervention, with cohesion among different platforms being an ongoing problem. Marketing professionals struggle with ensuring that their ads reflect a personalized message and reach people when they’re most likely to respond to an advertisement.

With artificial intelligence, on the other hand, optimizing a campaign for the best results becomes much easier. There’s less manual work to be done, and AI-driven tools can make real-time adjustments that better drive results.

Benefits of AI in Performance Marketing

Performance marketing with the help of AI offers multiple benefits, such as:

Greater Personalization

Personalizing a campaign becomes nearly automatic with AI. When companies adopt an omnichannel marketing strategy, AI tools can collect data across multiple platforms. For instance, you can track a customer’s browsing history on your site if they log into their account.

Later, you can display advertisements for the products they looked at through search engines or social media channels, and if they subscribe to your email list, you can automate emails that further encourage them to make a purchase.

Reach Customers Across Channels

New forms of performance marketing are becoming more popular each day, such as connected TV ads, which appear on devices with an internet connection as customers watch shows or movies through popular streaming platforms, such as Hulu or Roku.

These ads outperform traditional commercials due to their personalization, driven by AI. According to CTV statistics, over 80% of retailers use connected TV ads to reach their audience.

Marketers can target their ads depending on a viewer’s demographics, prior search history, and browsing habits. Connected TV ads are unskippable, which makes for an added benefit that forces the viewer to see the ad through to its completion.

Ad Optimization

With artificial intelligence, carefully crafting pay-per-click ads through A/B testing is a thing of the past. There’s no need to regularly compare one ad’s performance over another’s or regularly tweak your calls to action (CTAs). Instead, AI can intuitively update the language of your ads and display them to individuals that are most likely to take action on them.

Predictive Analytics

With the right AI tools, understanding your customer’s behavior patterns is much simpler as well. AI can examine your first-party data, capturing strategic insights and identifying patterns you may not otherwise notice.

With more robust data analysis, you can optimize your campaigns to better predict the outcome of a customer taking a particular action, allowing your campaigns to become more effective and efficient over time.

Higher ROIs

In lean times, you want to ensure your marketing expenditures lead to results. Otherwise, you’re wasting money on efforts that don’t increase your revenue or bring in more customers.

Since artificial intelligence greatly empowers the personalization and optimization of your ads, you’re more likely to see a higher ROI from your marketing campaigns, and you won’t blow your marketing budget on ineffective strategies.

Power Your Performance Marketing Campaign with AI

Companies that capitalize on the many opportunities offered by AI technologies will see more substantial results from their performance marketing campaigns. You don’t want your competitors to leave you in the dust, so find out how to boost your advertising efforts by combining performance marketing and artificial intelligence today.

Enhance your webcam image and space

This pandemic has driven most people crazy. Some people have been lucky though. Especially those who have been able to retain their jobs and remotely work from home, such as writers from WriteZillas. But this adjustment is still hard to master for most people. In her piece, There is No Place Like Working From Home, Quinn says that most people are not familiar with onscreen presence. They lack awareness of what is behind them when videoconferencing.

To prevent being awkward while video conferencing, there are a few steps to take. Run a test on your computer camera, get an external microphone for a quality sound, and ensure you have at least 20mbps of internet speed. You can achieve this by running a speed test. Lastly, check your background to ensure nothing embarrassing is there.

Mute

If you are the host in a zoom meeting, it is always advisable to mute other guests on the call since many forget to do it on their own. It may seem obvious, but there have been numerous complaints on platforms like Twitter on this issue, where teachers, students, bosses, and co-workers beseech people to press the mute button. Since there are a lot of people using the internet at home, it is advisable to exit the conference call while you are silent because it takes up bandwidth.

Be efficient and focused with calls

If you switch away from the zoom app for more than half a minute, your colleagues might notice. This feature is relatable since video meetings are not far from in-person meetings. While using the app, try not to have numerous meetings as this will be against the remote working ethos. Respect other people’s time and personal spaces. Taking too much time on calls may interfere with people’s schedules or may raise uncomfortable moments during the call, especially when people are bored or in a hurry or are tired. Before hosting a video meeting, ensure you have a plan. Having a line-up will help in not drifting off while the meeting is in session.

 

Close the door

Set boundaries within your home to avoid distractors while hosting a zoom meeting or being a guest. Close the door, for example, to draw a border between yourself and other people in the house. You can also inform them of signals to watch out for, say, putting on headphones may be a sign that you are on a video call. It will automatically communicate your intention, and this will help you in managing your space while you attend a conference.

It is not a must to use video

The founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, is remembered for his love of walking meetings. Studies have proved that walking meetings help in connecting with others a great deal. Since the pandemic is here with us and will probably not go away so, social distancing will not allow walking meetings to happen, but you might take walks in your house, in your yard, or streets with less noise or distractors to loose-packed energy within you. Walking also helps you perform your best act while you are on a critical call.

It is advisable to use the audio feature if you want to hold a meeting while walking. You can do this by downloading the Zoom app on your gadget and select an audio-only option.