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How to check if one Forex broker is a scam or not – professional tips.

Sam Allcock
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How to check if one Forex broker is a scam or not – professional tips.

Did you know that among numerous Forex brokers online, you can find a surprisingly large number of broker scams? There are unregulated and unscrupulous brokers who shouldn’t even have to be in the industry. However, since the market is not yet regulated as it should have, dealing with fraudulent brokers is one of the most common issues at the moment.

As a Forex trader, you’d like to find the best possible Forex broker who’ll be trustworthy in the first place. Speaking of that, you must learn to distinguish between regulated, quality ones and those that should be strictly avoided.

Therefore, we’d like to help you learn how to spot a good Forex broker among the plentifulness of poor-quality ones. Let’s get started with the first thing you’d need to keep in mind, shall we?

#1 Always read broker reviews

Are you aware that one good broker review can give you complete insight about that specific broker and help you decide which one to choose for your business? Do you know why that is so? To cut a long story short, a good review will provide you with the following:

  • General information such as name, type, country, regulation, etc.
  • Customer service – phone, mail, languages, etc.
  • All info about its trading platform – time zone, demo account, mobile trading, etc.
  • Account – minimum deposit, maximum leverage, etc.

Besides all that, you can get a deeper understanding of what you can expect from the broker, its key points, basic, premium, and elite packages, and so on. All this information will be more than valuable to you when deciding which Forex broker to choose.

#2 Make sure regulatory agencies regulate it

One of the essential things that will make you realize whether you’ve been dealing with a regular, quality Forex broker or not is his regulation. If we are speaking about the United States, two agencies make brokers valid:

  • National Futures Association – NFA
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission – CFTC

On the other hand, when we’re speaking of European Forex brokers, numerous regulatory agencies depend on the broker’s country of origin.

#3 Do online research of brokers and read comments

Nothing will save you better than reading comments about your preferred brokers to see how much their customers are satisfied or not. It would be best to see whether there are complaints or not regarding the inability to withdraw funds.

Take your time to go through the fine print of the documents while you are about to open your account. It’s crucial because incentives required for opening the account can often be used against Forex traders when they are withdrawing the funds.

Conclusion – what you need to remember

We have singled out the top 3 elements that should be done and checked to identify a good broker. It’s no surprise that brokers can be guilty of certain losses of a Forex trader. That’s why a trader has to be thorough and do profound research on a Forex broker before he decides to open an account.

In case the research turns out to be positive on the specific broker, it’s good to make a small deposit, few trades, and withdrawal in the end. If all goes without any problems, traders can feel free to create a larger deposit.

5 Ways Your Car Might Cost You Money: & How to Avoid Them

Sam Allcock
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5 Ways Your Car Might Cost You Money: & How to Avoid Them

You often hear the saying that owning a car is like throwing money down a never-ending pit, and yes, there are certain expenses involved, but it doesn’t need to be that bad. If we are conscientious vehicle owners, we can lessen the regularity and level of unexpected costs. Here are five ways that the car may cost you money and how to avoid them.

Blown Tyres

Nobody wants to experience a blowout of a tyre, and it is a scary, dangerous and costly experience. If we are unlucky, it can cause a severe accident involving potential injury and colossal damage to your vehicle and any others involved. It’s essential to keep your tyres at the correct level of inflation, and you can quickly check the correct PSI by entering your reg number online. You should also keep an eye on your tyre tread, as bald tyres can cause longer braking distances and cost you points on your licence.

Parking Tickets

This one is relatively simple, and if you park where you are not supposed to, you will be issued a parking ticket. The issuing authority is the local council for most tickets, and if you park on yellow lines in a disabled space or similar, you will get a fine. The one good thing about parking tickets is they don’t show up on your licence, so you can get as many as you like or can afford.

Running Out of MOT

The MOT is an annual safety check for any vehicle over three years of age. One of the most irritating things about the MOT is that you don’t get a reminder that it’s due for renewal, unlike insurance and road tax. It is easy to forget that driving without an MOT can be costly, you will face a fine and pints on your licence. You can use this useful tool to check your MOT history, and this is a simple way of working out the renewal date.

Low Oil

Not keeping up on checking your oil levels can be devastating for the health of your car, can cost you in repairs or even kill the engine completely. It’s key not to rely on the oil warning light to give an indication of when you need to top up, you should regularly check manually using the dipstick. If you find your oil regularly needs topped up, you may have a crack or leak in the system somewhere and should have it checked out.

Insurance Claims

Any insurance claim will result in a cost to you as a motorist. Firstly, you will have to pay an excess, usually somewhere between £250 and £500. But the real cost of an insurance claim is the increased premiums you will pay over the next few years. There are ways to save money in your car insurance, such as safe driving, paying in a single installment, or have safety features installed in your vehicle.

6-steps guide to run a productive meeting

Sam Allcock
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6-steps guide to run a productive meeting

Everyone faces the need to hold a meeting at least once in a lifetime, but this necessity scares many. For ones who get their feet cold and palms sweat, we introduce a set of 6 simple yet proven tips on how to run a productive meeting.

Define a purpose

How do you judge whether a meeting was productive or not? Is it only if a clear decision is drawn at the end? Or an effective meeting is the one where brand new ideas are generated? Or – the one slotted in 60 minutes? Or – if all participants are given a chance to say a thought? Or – if it gets many attendees?

Productivity criteria are unclear, agree. Different meetings serve distinct purposes, and we can’t compare brainstorming with a strategic planning session or a daily stand-up with an annual conference. So, to get what you expected, start with answering what kind of a meeting you need to organize. The aim may be:

  • to develop & agree on a project plan
  • to announce changes, guidelines, or decrees
  • to handle a review or a retrospective
  • to work out a challenge or opportunity
  • to generate fresh ideas
  • to resolve in-personal conflicts.

Prepare yourself and participants

All productive meetings have something in common, that is – an agenda. A clear worklist is essential because:

  • it helps not to miss matters
  • it allows prioritizing TBDs
  • it assists in sticking to the time provided.

Even a 15-minute call shall have a set of key points – otherwise, it will turn out to be a casual conversation, but not a working meeting. And if you organize something that involves many people, a thorough preparation becomes even worthier.

Outline 3-5 groups of matters you need to cover and enrich them with facts. For example:

Lead generation → 20% fewer unique website visitors, compared to the previous month.

Revenue → 30% higher marketing expenses, compared to planned; ask about ad campaigns’ ongoing control.

After, share the list of “to be discussed” with participants 1-3 days beforehand, so they can skim through it and prepare answers, thoughts, complaints, etc. You can choose whatever format, but we suggest using visual collaboration tools because they are way more accessible and handy.

Estimate duration & book time in a calendar

An ordinary meeting shouldn’t last more than 1 hour. Ideally, it’s better to stick to 30-45 minutes: 20-25 for the main part and 10-15 minutes for questions.

You need to arrange a day and time when all participants can fluently join the event. If the company uses Google accounts, navigate to the Calendar and tick people you want to invite, so you can see their planned affairs for the week, find a “spare window”, and book it. Don’t forget to select “Notify people” so that they will receive an email notification and a “15-minutes before” reminder.

If you plan to invite third parties and can’t see their calendars, try Calendly. It allows an organizer to create a 1 meeting request, share this with participants, and ask them to choose meeting time from several options.

Be tech equipped

You have limited time to run a meeting, so don’t let any petty failures, like a broken mouse or poor microphone sound, steal a minute from you.

It’s recommended to polish a speech several times – to see how long it takes to tell a single slide, at what exact point to switch to the next slide, how tables and charts look, how animation works, whether headlines and text are seeable, etc.

Handouts may be a good idea for a meeting, but only if they rehearse some information from your speech. Say, key numbers or facts. If these are generic phrases or endless tables, it is unlikely that anyone will read them.

Announce “rules of the game”

Participants want to know what to expect from a meeting, so announce a timeline. For example:

We will first skim through {a,b,c} points, then – a 10 minutes break, and after I will focus on {x,y,z} issues. For questions, we will have 15-minutes at the end of every chapter. However, if you want to clarify something during the presentation – feel free to ask me.

Follow up

The only certain way to run productive meetings is to handle as many as you can. The second conference or presentation will be much better than the first one, and so on. But to change, you need to note “dos and don’ts” for the future.

After 2-3 days after the meeting, share a short questionnaire and ask participants whether they liked the meeting and what improvements they might suggest. Include open questions and avoid general, broad statements without a rating scale. Compare 2 alternatives:

Example #1 

Did you like the meeting?

  • yes
  • no

Example #2

Did you like the meeting?

  • yes
  • no

If the previous answer is “Yes”, assess each aspect with a mark from 1 to 10, where 1 – didn’t like at all, 10 – was perfect:

  • a speaker’s comprehension of a topic
  • arguments that were provided
  • the overall meeting duration
  • board of participants
  • visuals.

A meeting is a working instrument – it’s neither an outstanding performance nor a tiresome getting together. Productive meetings are somewhere between an uncompromising checklist and a “space” – for new ideas and collaborative synergy.

How to Apply for a Canadian Work Visa from the UK

ABC Staff
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How to Apply for a Canadian Work Visa from the UK

Canada is a great place to work and live in. The standard of living is high, and the unemployment rate is significantly lower than in most countries. Canada also has a dependable and transparent public finance system that provides greater economic independence.

Canada is advancing in modern technology rapidly, making it an excellent place for careers in information technology and software development. Fields such as aerospace, engineering, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals offer plenty of job opportunities.

So, you want to start working in one of the best countries in the world? In this article, you’ll discover how to apply for a Canadian work visa from the UK.

3 Steps to Obtain the Canadian Work Permit Application

Step 1: Choose a work permit

Most foreign nationals will need either of the following work visa types, to legally work in Canada. They are the:

  1. Open work permit – you would be able to work anywhere in Canada for any employer.
  2. Employer-specific work permit – you would be restricted in terms of your employer, title, or location. The conditions are stipulated on the visa.

An open work visa can be obtained via the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP). This program allows international students the opportunity to stay and work in Canada. Graduates will be able to work full-time, part-time, or self-employed.

Requirements to work in Canada under the PGWP:

  • Complete an academic or professional program at an eligible institution in Canada leading to diploma or degree;
  • Be a full-time student;
  • Have a transcript and official letter from an eligible Designated Learning Institute (DLI) confirming that you’ve met the requirements of the program; and
  • Have or had a valid Canadian study permit.

Another way to get this visa is through the Express Entry system, which will allow you to reside and work in Canada as a permanent resident.

An employer-specific work visa can be obtained through programs such as the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which provides foreign-skilled workers with an accelerated immigration process. Provinces and territories will nominate foreign nationals who want to live and work in the specific province. The provinces consider applications based on their immigration and labour needs.

Step 2: Check your eligibility

Although different requirements are depending on the type of work visa you acquire, there is a general list of requirements you’ll need to meet to be eligible to work and live in Canada. They are:

  • Prove that you will leave the country as soon as your work permit expires if you have a temporary work permit;
  • Have a clear criminal record;
  • Present a clear medical record;
  • A valid passport that is issued by the United Kingdom to British National Overseas (BNO);
  • Graduated with a diploma or degree (a minimum two-year program) that isn’t longer than five years before applying for an open work permit; and
  • Provide proof of funds to show that you can support yourself and your family members that have immigrated with you.

Step 3: Submit application

You can submit your Canadian work visa applications online. By doing so, you’ll save time and money on courier fees and easily submit any additional documentation that may be required from you.

Click here to learn more about the Canadian work visa application process.

Simplify Your Canadian Visa Process

The documentation and processes involved in successfully obtaining a Canadian work permit tend to be overwhelming and complex. A missed opportunity to work and live in Canada because of something that could have been avoided isn’t what anyone wants.

That’s why it’s always a great idea to seek professional help when dealing with how to apply for a Canadian work visa from the UK.

CanadianVisa.org works alongside Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs), who are experts in the field and can make your journey simpler and increase your chances of successfully obtaining a visa.

John Ritenour Speaks on the Development and Growth of IOA’s Sports Partnerships

ABC Staff
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John Ritenour Speaks on the Development and Growth of IOA’s Sports Partnerships

John Ritenour, who co-founded the Insurance Office of America (IOA) in 1988, describes insurance as anticipating, preparing for, and covering the risks his clients incur in their day-to-day life. He was one of the first insurance executives to focus on serving the needs of niche clients, such as professional and amateur sports organizations.

Early on, entrepreneur John Ritenour helped to develop the IOA Sports Practice to fill what he saw as a gap in business-to-business (B2B) insurance in the sports industry. Ritenour developed customized insurance plans for sports teams and leagues, entertainment venues, municipalities, and the general sports business community.

Business leaders in the sporting industry know they can depend on IOA to meet their unique needs. To continue this legacy of service, John Ritenour passed along everything he knew to his son, Heath Ritenour, who now serves as CEO and chairman of the company.

Major Sports Team Insurance Coverage from IOA

John Ritenour acknowledges that providing sports teams with a customized insurance plan can be complex and that every sport presents its own unique risks and complications. The ability to assess risks in professional and amateur sports requires insurance professionals to have a thorough understanding of the sport along with its business model.

Providing Relevant Sports Insurance Requires Consideration of the Worst-Case Scenario

Sports teams come to IOA to mitigate the huge risks they face with a variety of issues. Two common examples are serious injuries to players or fans and lost revenue from canceled games. The recent COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that teams could lose their entire season through no fault of their own. A situation this dire could even bankrupt a team unless it has the right insurance coverage.

Team executives are not necessarily thinking about the blind spots that put their entire organization at risk. That is the job of the insurance professionals at IOA. After John Ritenour launched the IOA Sports Practice, he considered educating his clients about potential risks to be one of his most important duties. Clients could then decide for themselves whether they wanted to purchase insurance coverage for that risk or not.

John Ritenour and his son understand that their job is not just to sell clients an insurance policy but rather to educate them on the risk. The job of everyone who works at IOA is to operate in the capacity of a risk manager, not a sales agent. Once a sports team or other professional organization decides to purchase insurance for a specific risk, insurance agents must find the best policy for them and customize it as much as possible.

IOA has operated successfully for decades now. After having supported teams throughout the pandemic, IOA leadership feels confident that the company can continue to offer risk-reduction services at an exceptional value.

Teams Involved with the IOA Sports Practice

John Ritenour had been a passionate sports fan for most of his life before the idea came to him to combine two of his major interests, sports and insurance. He launched the IOA Sports Practice program slowly, focusing on building professional relationships and offering top-notch risk management services. Ritenour did not envision that his small B2B solution would soon become a leading risk management solution for all levels of sports teams across the country. Here are just some of the teams that maintain an ongoing business relationship with IOA:

  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Jacksonville Jaguars
  • Las Vegas Raiders
  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • Orlando Magic
  • Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Washington Wizards

John Ritenour has enjoyed the opportunities he has had to connect with college, minor league, and professional teams. The IOA Sports Practice also works with locally organized teams. IOA helps with the insurance needs of teams, players, and organizations representing multiple sports, including baseball, football, golf, hockey, soccer, and swimming.

How IOA Plans to Expand its Sports Partnership Program

In addition to ongoing partnerships with the above teams, IOA has provided insurance risk management services to US Club Soccer, and several racing teams. John Ritenour still provides guidance to IOA and is excited to see the plans his son has in store for expanding the sports division. Some possibilities include:

  • Expansion into other national governing bodies, such as USA Swimming
  • Growing the IOA Sports Practice program beyond the big four of baseball, basketball, football, and racing
  • Increasing its presence in the world of amateur sports

The possibilities are truly endless for this innovative and customer-centric company.

Sports is a Multibillion-Dollar Industry

Three years ago, the sports industry held a global value of $471 billion. Just under one-third of that value comes from the United States. Each team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) alone is worth at least $1 billion, with many averaging over $2 billion. The value of the sporting industry continues to rise each year, even with the havoc and uncertainty of the pandemic.

Sports organizations that stand to lose at least several million dollars seek a partnership with IOA to protect their value. Most teams prefer to be fully insured against all types of risk, but management does not know how to find the best policies.

Forming a partnership with IOA makes sense because its agents make sure each client has the right insurance. Unfortunately, having the wrong insurance can be just as bad as having no insurance at all. Non Customized policies leave members of the sporting industry with large gaps in coverage that could result in millions of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses.

The Ritenour father-son team always looks for additional ways they can help the sports organizations that trust IOA to find the best possible insurance coverage. This has proven to be a valuable approach. IOA receives business from teams, and the teams receive solid risk management policies at competitive rates.

How the IOA Sports Practice Began

John and Heath Ritenour have always worked well together as a team. Developing and growing the IOA Sports Practice is just one example of many that shows their dedication to implementing products that fill an unmet need for customers.

The opportunity to develop the sports division presented itself to them when a spokesperson for the Orlando Magic reached out to ask about IOA sponsoring the team. John Ritenour thought it sounded like a great idea, but he questioned why the Magic did not reach out to their existing insurance company with the sponsorship opportunity. He was surprised to learn that the team had done this, but their insurance company turned them down.

As part of a partnership, Heath and John proposed IOA as the official insurance broker for the Orlando Magic. The partnership would involve more than just providing the team with insurance, though. The Ritenours proposed that they hold events in the Orlando community with the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation to raise funds for charities. They also floated the idea of giving away tickets to charity and helping to entertain the Magic’s best customers.

In the proposal to become the team’s new insurance broker, John Ritenour and his son offered to perform what they called a deep dive into the Magic’s existing insurance policies. The Ritenours promised to let the team know if their current policies were appropriate to manage its risks and to find any gaps in coverage and develop a plan to fill the gaps. Administrators of the Orlando Magic liked the idea, which inspired John Ritenour to approach additional sports teams and eventually launch the IOA Sports Practice.

About John Ritenour

Insurance expert John Ritenour did not always intend to go into the insurance business. However, he knew he was in the right industry after accepting his first position as a door-to-door insurance salesman. He quickly out-performed more experienced agents and realized that he had gained enough skills to start an insurance agency of his own. That is exactly what John Ritenour did, launching what would become Insurance Office of America in 1988, with wife, Valli Ritenour.

IOA has always been a family business. Valli worked alongside John to start and grow the company in Florida. She remained with the company for 30 years, retiring at the same time as John.

Like his father, Heath Ritenour did not think insurance was the right industry for him. He changed his mind after completing an internship at IOA during a summer break from college. Heath saw firsthand what a difference it made to focus on the customer as opposed to only focusing on making the sale. More than 33 years after John and Valli Ritenour started IOA, the company continues to flourish and is one of the largest privately owned insurance brokers in the United States.

Why do you need proofreading services in Singapore?

Sam Allcock
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Why do you need proofreading services in Singapore?

Every work needs perfection to at least hit the required desire at all levels. Likewise, in writing, excellent and high-quality content is necessary to deliver the facts and engage other readers; this means writers may focus more on providing correct words. But do you know that there are some errors or mistakes that can be made by writers while writing the content?

And of course, mistakes such as grammatical errors can make your content lose the professional test that you may ask, who can write my essay?

 Therefore, you need this work to be proofread and edited upon errors available. And you don’t have to hesitate to reach the best proofreader Singapore and get your job done perfectly.

Still, need to know why you need proofreading services? Here is the answer

Professional work

You need high-quality content at a professional level, then hire professional proofreaders to execute your work for better performance. More importantly, proofreaders will help or guide you to improve your writing skills and perfect you for professional content incorporation. This can be a good chance for you to hit every corner of the competition, especially in content marketing and academic papers, letter writing, and on your website. Therefore, impress yourself and other readers about your work by passing it through proofreading services.

Correct common grammatical errors

Do you know that written work full of grammatical errors can lose the content’s taste? Avoid such credits by using proofreading services. Proofreaders will filter every single mistake, including grammatical mistakes that can make your content sound awkward. Errors such as writing repetitive ideas are common in many writing fields, as you can fill the whole work with many words with the same meaning, which can be put to fewer words and make sense. Of course, writing work full of mistakes can embarrass your readers or drive them crazy, mainly if you write content to post a website or blog, making them see no professionalism in you.

Saving time

Hiring professional proofreaders to work on your content helps you save time. Proofreading services are done perfectly and efficiently, without wasting time. Of course, you may wish or choose to do proofreading yourself, of which you can take a long time to correct errors if they are there. But professional proofreaders will take the shortest time to go through your work, identify and correct the mistakes. Also, it can be a waste of time choosing non-qualified individuals to go through your work as they may not complete the task within the stipulated time.

Increase Readability Level

Much importantly in writing your scripts is ensuring readability is high for every reader to be engaged. You may not be able to improve the readability level to meet different audiences reading abilities, but all this you can get from proofreading services.

Save money

As they say, ‘time is money, meaning every minute you spend, it accrues how much money you are spending or making. In this case, you may spend a lot of time slaving away on a paper, trying not to make errors, and it can not be a good idea. You may also end up spending a lot on resources that you get from proofreading servicing cheaply.

Conclusion

Having written content or work free from errors is always a good idea that you can incorporate in preparing your documents. Therefore, if you need such neat work to meet the professional level, then consider using proofreading services.

What Does Financial Peace Mean?

Sam Allcock
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What Does Financial Peace Mean?

Financial peace means that stress and anxiety do not weigh on your head from being in debt. Credit card debt is one of the challenges when managing personal finances year after year and learning how to balance, borrow and save, but debt is not as bad as it is often made in advance.

Financial freedom largely means limited use of debt, including credit card balances, auto loans, personal loans, and student loans. Loans, such as credit cards, school loans and mortgages, can make your financial planning more flexible and provide a lifeline in an emergency – loan misuse can cause serious financial problems though so beware.

Financial freedom means that you have saved and invested enough money to afford the life you want on your terms. You don’t have to live in debt, which means you can enjoy your holiday without having to pay credit card bills. Instead of borrowing to afford large purchases, financial freedom means that you can save money and make large purchases without having to borrow on debt. It can also mean things are kicked off with getting IRS debt relief so that you have less of a debt burden to start rebuilding your credit.

This can help you avoid credit card debt and settle unforeseen costs. Balance transfer credit cards such as the ‘US Bank Visa Platinum Card’ allow you to save money on interest payments and use what you pay as interest to pay off the debt. You should consolidate Debt into a Personal Loan. A personal loan is a good alternative to a balance transfer if you have a large debt that is not transferable to a credit card.

Good debts are investments that over the long term increase in value, such as financing a college education, taking out a mortgage, a new home, a car loan, or other investments that improve your future financial situation. The longer and more seriously you take real steps toward financial freedom, the better your results are, and when interest rates fall you will be in a place where there is an opportunity to save money by refinancing your existing mortgage or other debts over the life of your loan.

You can use a tool like ‘Mint’ to tell you how much money you spend, which categories you have overspent, how much of that money is in your accounts and how much debt you have. Considering how much debt you have, compared to how much savings you have, and whether that’s as much money as you need, this is a depressing reality.

At least you have credit card debt, if you have thousands of dollars in student loans or if you have never borrowed a dollar from anyone to pay your bills.

If you want to learn how to balance your finances and increase your financial security, financial experts encourage you to start tracking your personal finances and financial goals.

What is your financial goal?

What is your net worth?

How much do you owe?

What is your goal?

How much do you have saved?

Your financial goal is a financial goal, and how you are able to achieve it may depend on your personal financial situation. The amount of money you have saved, the monthly savings you have left, the debt you have paid off, and your financial goals can help you to improve your financial situation.

Focus on investing the money you have leftover after paying off debt. This will provide you with more money for retirement and free you to think of creative ways of making it grow faster than you can spend it.

How to Create a Memorable Customer Experience

Sam Allcock
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How to Create a Memorable Customer Experience

What is a Memorable Customer Experience?

A recent study about customer experience programs compares the importance of providing customers with a memorable and meaningful experience, in comparison to a frictionless one.

A memorable customer experience is focused on customer experience design and aims to provide customers with experiences that are meaningful and unique to the brand. It involves leaving customers with profound memories so that they are more likely to remember you, recommend you, and return to you. 

The Difference between Memorable and Frictionless Customer Experience

Memorable customer experience is more focused on experience design whereas a frictionless customer experience is focused on improving the delivery of the experience. Companies often have to make the decision on which to focus on, and therefore want to understand which of the two has a larger influence on customer buying decisions: Memorable customer experience or Frictionless customer experience?

Although customers expect a frictionless experience and it is more impactful on customer decisions, it can no longer provide brands with a competitive advantage. It is the memorable experiences that set your brand apart, help you remain competitive, and help you establish a long-term competitive advantage. Therefore, brands should aim to provide customers with a good frictionless experience, and then shift their focus to providing a meaningful and memorable experience. 

How to Create a Frictionless Customer Experience

Frictionless customer experience is focused on providing customers with an experience that is focused on optimizing the delivery of the experience. 

Here are a few ways in which companies can provide frictionless customer experience

  • Map Out Customer Journey

One of the most effective ways to optimize customer experience and provide frictionless customer experience is through customer journey mapping. Use online survey tool to clearly map out your customers’ journey. When you have a clear idea of the different touchpoints, you will understand what customers want and what influences their purchasing decisions. Once you have this information, you can then identify the different ways in which you can meet their expectations. 

  • Involve the Whole Organization

To provide a truly seamless experience, it is integral that every team and department within the organization is dedicated to this goal. Outlining  a customer experience mission statement that informs everyone within the organization of the goal and the strategies that can be used to achieve it.

  • Provide an Omnichannel Experience

Customer service can play a huge role in influencing customer experience. To provide a seamless customer service experience, it is essential to provide omnichannel support as it allows customers to reach you on their preferred channels and prevents communication issues caused by siloed channels. While gathering insights too, use survey software that provides multiple channels to reach customers. 

Some prominent leaders in providing frictionless customer experience are Uber, Amazon, and Netflix. Netflix, for example, has optimized every customer touchpoint right from when they come in contact with the customer. Their algorithms are developed to serve personalized recommendations to every viewer and they have done their best to remove any friction for the customer, to provide a seamless customer experience that keeps customers wanting more.

How to Create a Memorable Customer Experience

Let’s look at a few ways in which you can create a meaningful and memorable customer experience and elevate different touch points within the customer journey: 

  • Improve your Messaging and Communications

Changing the way you communicate with your customers can contribute to making the customer experience more memorable. For instance, research shows that repeating what the customer asks for while communicating with them increases their satisfaction levels and their spending (e.g. Let me check how much more it will cost to upgrade your subscription” rather than “Let me look into your query”).  Find out what your target audience prefers by conducting surveys using a market research tool.

  • Focus on Relationships and Interactions

Build trust and a strong relationship with your customers as this will increase loyalty and will also likely lead to them spreading the word about your brand to others. Take the time to let customers know that you value them, whether it is regarding their feedback or a purchase, ensure that they know you appreciate them. Creating a trusted reputation within the community will also make your company seem more credible, which will make it easier for new potential customers to trust your brand. 

  • Create a Ritual for your Product  

Creating a ritual associated with your product is a great way to provide customers with a memorable experience. This is a strategy that a lot of big companies use. For example, Oreo is known for its popular ‘twist, lick, dunk’ ritual that encourages people to eat Oreo cookies in a specific way. This ritual differentiates Oreos from other cookies in the market, making their brand stand out. 

Some prominent leaders in providing memorable customer experience are IKEA and Ritz Carlton. IKEA, for instance, focuses on providing customers with a very immersive experience that makes customers feel at home. They even have a cafeteria and an interactive experience for kids and aim to provide something for everyone. Compared to the average furniture store, most people find their experience at IKEA unique and memorable.

Why Some Bitcoin Skeptics Are Changing Their Minds

Sam Allcock
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Why Some Bitcoin Skeptics Are Changing Their Minds

The finance industry has been divided on the bitcoin question since its inception.

On the one hand, bitcoin enthusiasts believe that the digital currency is a good investment asset. On the other hand, bitcoin skeptics believe that bitcoin does not have any underlying value and is merely a speculative asset. 

However, recent data and events have been leading some bitcoin skeptics to change their minds, with some now attesting that there are good reasons why people should invest in bitcoin.

Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, was one of those early skeptics who trumpeted that bitcoin was heading for a certain doom. Mark Cuban, the famed US billionaire entrepreneur, also believed it was more of a religion rather than a true solution to a problem.

Now, both Ray and Mark have investments in bitcoin.

So what is changing the minds of these all-star investors?

Bitcoin as a store of value

An asset is a store of value if you can keep it for a long period without it losing value.

When an asset is a store of value, it becomes a good investment. Why is this? The whole purpose of investing is to earn compound interest such that after a period, the money is worth more than when you started the investment. 

The only way that can happen is if the asset acts as a store of value. 

Today, many financial analysts and investment experts consider bitcoin as a store of value. To understand why, let’s briefly consider one of the problems with fiat currency. 

Governments can increase or decrease the money supply in an economy to achieve various fiscal and monetary policies. When they do the former — increase the money supply — the value of money decreases.

The nominal value of money may remain the same, but its real value (what it can buy) will be reduced. What $1,000 could buy before the increase in money supply could now require $1,200, for example. This is because the currency has depreciated in value through government fiscal policy — that is, the printing of more money. 

Bitcoin escapes this problem because it has a fixed supply. The inventor(s) of bitcoin fixed its supply to 21 million BTC. No central government can decrease or increase that supply at will. 

Therefore, bitcoin can sustain its value, and even grow it (depending on demand), over a long period because there is no government interference to increase supply and reduce real value.

Bitcoin as a diversification tool  

Many finance experts now consider bitcoin to be the “digital gold.” Traditionally, investors have used gold to diversify their investments in the stock and bond market because of its near-zero correlation to both markets.

When an asset has zero correlation to another asset, it means when the latter falls in value, that fall does not extend to the former.

Bitcoin has so far shown the same near-zero correlation that makes gold such a desired diversification tool. From 2012-2020, bitcoin had a 0.01 correlation with the stock market and 0.02 with the bond market. Not even gold was able to match it (gold had 0.02 correlation with the stock market and 0.28 correlation with the bond market). 

This ability of bitcoin to approach zero correlation with the stock and bond market has thus made it viable for the diversification of investment portfolios.

Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation

Another feature of gold is that it provides a hedge to investors in inflationary periods. Gold is very difficult to mine so increasing its supply is difficult. Therefore, when fiat currency is losing its value due to excessive money supply, gold is stable. 

Bitcoin is also gold-like in this manner because its supply is fixed. 

In fact, while gold can be mined at any time (though difficult), bitcoin has a fixed supply. Therefore, if gold maintains its value in an inflationary period, providing a hedge, bitcoin is expected to do the same.

While we have not had a significant inflationary period since bitcoin became mainstream (making it difficult to prove bitcoin’s potential as an inflation-hedge), finance experts expect that this benefit will hold.

Conclusion 

Why invest in Bitcoin?

Because of its capacity as a store of value, diversification tool, and a hedge against inflation, many early bitcoin skeptics are changing their minds and embracing it as an investment asset with underlying value beyond market speculation. 

If you want a store of value that can help diversify your investments in bonds and stocks and protect you during inflation, you should consider bitcoin.

Sarwa, a digital financial advisor, now allows investors to include bitcoin as part of a personal investment portfolio. With Sarwa, you will be able to build a customised and diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds, REITs, and bitcoin that best fits your unique profile, allowing you to minimise risk for your elected level of returns. 

Requirements for Building a Strong Website for SEO

Sam Allcock
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0
Requirements for Building a Strong Website for SEO

SEO, meaning search engine optimization, is the most used digital marketing technique that shows significant and effective results. It helps websites gain traffic and an influential platform by attracting a larger audience. Many of the SEO Brisbane experts can brief you up on the process as well. 

Why is it important to build a website for SEO?

Since SEO is such a preferred way of marketing, any website needs to be built with keeping SEO in consideration. Editing an already programmed website for the same gets tedious, which is why it is recommended to build a strong website from scratch. 

Steps to build a strong website for SEO:

  1. Effective layout and format of your page.

The presentation and appearance of your website need to be extremely neat and clean so that your content is delivered accurately. Precise details like images, fonts, backgrounds, etc., also play a very important role. Ensure you do not add any content inside an image as the search engine will not recognise it.

Choose a kind of font and background that seems appealing to the audience. The average length you choose for your article should be about 2416 words as mostly the articles of that word count come in the top ranks. 

  1. Research well before choosing appropriate keywords.

Keywords are the primary factor used to determine the SEO for your website. However, even the SEO Brisbane experts recommend good research before finalising the keywords for your page. The keywords used play an important role in the search engine ranking list as these words decide how accurate your page is for a particular search. 

Although, one should not overdo the usage of these words just to gain significance because that isn’t how SEO works. Let’s say your content is 200 words. Make sure you use the keyword only 2 times in the entire blog. 

  1. Provide unique and fresh content.

There is a lot of competition for recognition on the internet. Therefore, you need to make sure that your content stands out to prioritise the search engine. Plagiarism is not at all acceptable. It will not gain your company any customers.

Neither will you gain any traffic as the article you plagiarised from is already well-known and holds significance due to its originality. Make sure the language you use is easy to comprehend and not too complex for many people. The aim is to reach a larger audience and not provide fancy content that is hard to understand. 

  1. Build a user-friendly website.

Making a user-friendly website simply means a website that is easy to navigate through. The audience does not appreciate the complex programming of a website. Instead, they expect an easy functioning of a website that helps them surf through your page conveniently.

Having rough surfing of your site can get you to lose a potential customer. That is considered to be a negative user experience that should definitely be avoided. 

  1. Use of SEO tools for efficiency.

SEO tools are very helpful and should be set up before launching your website as they can be a great help in the success rate of your page. These tools provide you with relevant information on working on your websites, like the content quality and the engagement with the audience. They help in the smooth running of your web page and help in rectifying the issues that come in the way of your growth. 

Conclusion

A strong website should be built for SEO from the start as recommended by the SEO Brisbane experts. Doing so prevents you from the tedious methods of installing SEO techniques later on in your website. 

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