We are always excited about updates to our eCommerce platforms. Yes, you can call us nerds with this making us excited but eCommerce solutions are great for businesses. Most businesses see websites as cost centers even if they generated leads, inform their customers, or educate and show them as experts. eCommerce solutions are unique in that they bring in and show physical money which makes business owners eyes glisten. Today we're going to look at the latest update for nopCommerce which is our preferred eCommerce system as it gives you complete control, is open source, and best of all highly customizable and built for eCommerce from the ground up.

We feel it is great that companies in Northwest Indiana and really all over the United States are looking to streamline and save money. The question comes to where do you automate and have truly in-personal communication and where do you have that personal touch we all enjoy? Technology has a place to help cut costs. No longer do you need to pay $500-$1,000+ for social media digital marketing management. Technology can help keep costs low and increase your brands reach. Let the computer do the heavy lifting that used to take hours to gather information so that you can focus on what matters; the customer. Let's look at where technology can (and should) be used, where it can (and shouldn't be), and where you need to still use that 100% personal touch.

If you are running a business, sometimes you simply can't run all aspects by yourself and need assistance in creating ads and running campaigns. Facebook understands this and has given all business pages the ability to add other people to your page, whether they are your employees or members from other marketing agencies.

Organizations know they need someone in a role that communicates with clients, they know it will improve customer satisfaction, but never want to invest (e.g. it eats into their profits) in such a role. Often an organization will allocate a small part of a person's (or multiple employees) time to it. This causes a system that actually can be even more inefficient. This is why as an organization we added Lorissa to our team with just one job duty of communicating with our clients. This dedicated position will make certain customer communication happens. We even have set parameters that we will add another person in this position when we reach certain thresholds so that we don't run into a situation where our coordinator is overworked and create failure in communication. Our project coordinator position, which we call the Time Keeper, has the sole responsibility to communicate with the customer, put in tasks for the team, double-check the tasks that the team did, and get back with the client that the changes are done. This role has no other functions and how it will stay.

We have used several chat clients like LuckyOrange, Drift, Chatlio, and tawk.to for our client's websites. Recently though what we've been doing is dropping those clients and utilizing Facebook Messenger. The price is right, free, and gives the same chat functionality. It also makes it easy for us, as social media managers, to respond to our client's customer's even faster. I am going to cover in detail how you can do this (or ask us and we'll do it for you for our Business Improvement Plan customers).

In all of our lives we have transformations that are key to our personal existence, keys to the success of our company's growth (for business owners), and the success of the customer's that we assist. This week for JM2 of Valparaiso Indiana was truly no exception. We have changed our web design and marketing from being what I would classify as a commodity that any individual could due to a strategic marketing machine. That is a very bold statement and one I think you will agree. In this article you will see how we transformed our brand, our customer service, and our internal processes to become something no other web design company in Northwest Indiana has ever done.

If you are a business owner on Facebook, you'll eventually want to create ads for your business's page. To do this you need to create a Business Manager account, a function created by Facebook that allows you and if you choose to, other team or marketing members to create ads, check in on their progress and share strategies.

Listening whether you are in a small prosperous town like Valparaiso Indiana or a big city like Chicago Illinois listening is the most important trait any company BIG or small can do to be successful in their endeavors. Often a company will think that it's their way or the highway. They might state publicly it's all about the customer but the actions dictate and say otherwise. If you've been reading our blog and several hundred of you are you now that JM2, my company, is run by humans. Yes, we are inferior beings in that we make mistakes. What makes JM2 different though is our agile philosophy on life where we are quick to adapt and change based on both positive and negative feedback we receive from current and past customers.

We have heard our customers and what they need through both positive and negative feedback. Negative feedback often is some of the best feedback and organization can hear. It's not because we want that feedback but because the person believes either in (1) driving traffic away from us as they feel scorned or (2) they deeply believe, like us, in local small business and helping them improve. Not every business will choose the improve process and be themselves scorn. We believe no matter the reason for someone giving positive or negative feedback opens an area for not only self-improvement but company improvement. This is why we have opted to create an entirely new position now rather than waiting months, even years, down the road. We pride ourselves in our customer service and what we've learned is that a dedicated person between the customer and the team is necessary for success.