Eleanor is the founder and managing editor of Designerly Magazine with a passion for sharing business leadership and branding strategies. She’s also a web design consultant with a focus on customer experience and user interface.
You've spent hours crafting email campaigns, perfecting your message and hitting send, only to watch conversions flatline. It's frustrating when your efforts don't yield results, especially when email marketing should be so reliable. The good news is that strategic troubleshooting can fix most low-converting campaigns. Systematically addressing technical issues, audience targeting, content quality, platform capabilities and testing protocols helps you transform underperforming emails into conversion engines.
In 2026, the corporate world has evolved into a complex landscape. With hybrid work environments, AI integration and a workforce increasingly skeptical of hollow inspiration, creating and maintaining a cohesive and motivated workforce is becoming increasingly challenging.
Business leaders must assess whether hosting an hour-long keynote for their team is still a worthwhile investment. While the immediate sense of inspiration that these events can often bring is genuinely measurable, their long-term effectiveness depends entirely on the speaker’s ability to close the gap between motivation and practical application.
Human resources (HR) rarely sits at the top of the priority list when you first start a business. Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) operate without a dedicated HR professional, let alone a whole department. Early teams focus on building products, landing clients and generating revenue. However, as a company grows, you are hiring more workers and payroll becomes less forgiving. Compliance rules start carrying real consequences.
At that point, workforce management shifts from a background task to an operational function that demands structure. You can bring HR in-house or rely on an outsourced specialist. Here’s a run-down on the advantages and trade-offs so you can decide.
Data security is a term used frequently in news reports. This company or that had a data breach. Users should take measures to change passwords and lock down their credit reports and personal data.
At times, small businesses and organizations assume they may be less at risk for a data breach than mega corporations. Unfortunately, hackers don’t care who they target. They only want a successful win as they face the challenge of circumventing security measures. If you haven’t paid much attention to keeping your users’ data safe, now is the time to ramp up your efforts.
The right packaging shows your customers you care about their needs. Creating an excellent customer experience (CX) involves everything from your website to interactions to opening the product. Good packaging design helps build consumer confidence and shows them they can trust you to understand them.
E-commerce has a unique challenge with packaging. Not only do you have to consider the outer container for your product but you must think about the materials in the package, such as the box, padding, invoice and instructions.
Small business owners are busy growing their brands, hiring workers, creating new offers and managing customer relationships. It’s natural for them to somewhat put cybersecurity on the backburner. The problem with not protecting your company now is that you may be more at risk of an attack than you think. Cybercriminals don’t just target big corporations with hacking attempts.
Data protection involves more than just keeping your customers’ personal information safe. You also must be aware of state, federal and international laws regarding data privacy compliance. Busy entrepreneurs may find data protection falls to the wayside amidst the dozens of tasks vying for attention.
The thing that makes you stand out from competitors is the experience you provide your customers. Fortunately, more and more technology is making it easier than ever before to offer a positive customer experience (CX) to your clients. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Simply tap into the power of new advances in big tech. Some tech products may be fairly expensive when they first release but drop in price later. Know your budget limits for new items and wait for a deal before adopting them.
A CX (customer experience) strategy is needed to gain a competitive advantage. These days, customers care more about the service than the price or the product itself. In fact, it’s becoming one of the highest key brand differentiators for companies.
Positive experiences build customer loyalty, retain more customers and turn buyers into brand advocates. Yet, every interaction at each touchpoint must create a good experience.
Therefore, if you have a CX strategy but think you need to improve it, understanding your audience first is key.
Do you offer a product or service that would work well with monthly recurring billing? Subscription boxes and ongoing relationships both can be quite profitable for small businesses. However, there are some things you need to know before you take on this type of client relationship.
Subscrybe recently reported the subscription economy will hit $274 billion this year, or increase by 23% between 2021 and 2022. If you’ve been thinking about jumping into this business model, now is the perfect time with so much growth.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) has already started changing business interactions. As connectivity improves through 5G networks and faster mobile devices, expect even more changes in the coming months.
AI is changing the way companies function. While some jobs will go away, they’ll be replaced with others more technologically advanced in nature. Companies have an opportunity to train their top workers and take the entire firm into the new technology age at the same time.
In the tech field, it’s imperative to remain fresh and relevant. Technology is constantly changing, and tech businesses have to keep up with new developments. Otherwise, it can be easy to fall backward.
However, many innovative “aha” moments stem from conversations led by an internal team. For that reason, you may want to uphold regular brainstorming sessions with your team. Yet, many business leaders find it difficult to foster a natural environment.
Does your tech company need to establish a STEM scholarship program?
A scholarship fund has numerous benefits for your organization and students in need. First, it’s tax-deductible, which allows your business to save money during tax time. Just be sure you’re eligible by following the IRS guidelines, requiring you to work with an organization to help award the scholarship. Furthermore, it shows that your company is forwarding social responsibility — which is excellent for your brand’s reputation and business growth.
