CUX (cux.io) is the world’s first UX Automation tool. It helps companies not only save the time that so far had to spend on independent and manual data analysis, but also shows how to maintain sales growth by predicting which customer behavior may inhibit conversion.

The tool identifies areas of user frustration that may cause conversion drops, filters heatmaps and recordings, and identifies behavior patterns. CUX eliminates the problem of independent search for problems on websites – it does it automatically, additionally selecting only those visits that are relevant to the business goal. UX Automation enables the analysis of user behavior on any type of device – from phones to smart TVs. In addition, CUX independently tracks all events on the website, thus not involving the customer’s IT department.

CUX free version
As part of the cux.io free trial period, you will have access to 1000 recordings of visits, which you can collect at any time convenient for you. Trial includes all the functionalities of the tool available in a paid subscription.

Paid version CUX
The CUX price starts at 49 euros per month. The final cost is influenced by: the amount of traffic on the website that we want to analyze and the data storage time (retention). When purchasing an annual subscription, 2 months are free.

CUX – how to analyze user behavior?

To start using the tool, it is enough to attach the CUX tracking code to the page you want to follow. This can be done using the integration with Google Tag Manager or Google Analytics. After starting the analytics, CUX automatically catches all the events on the pages, thus not involving you in setting technical parameters.

The most important of the CUX functionalities:

– Experience Metrics – proprietary metrics showing the frustration of users on the website. They are divided into: rage clicks, rage key presses, chaotic mouse movements, zooming and constant content refreshing.
– Recordings of visits – CUX analyzes entire visits, instead of individual sessions. This means that it tracks the user’s visit even when he opens many tabs or is inactive for a long time.
– Heatmaps – CUX generates heat maps for single pages and SPA (single page apps). The tool is also compatible with various types of devices – from phones and computers, to tablets and consoles, to smartTV and the so-called wearables.
– Conversion Waterfalls – CUX helps to track visitor behavior in various scenarios. In other words, Waterfall is a graphical representation of any sequence of steps visitors take on your site.
– Analysis in the context of a business goal – regardless of what your business goal is (sales, training registration, filling out the contact form, downloading an e-book, etc.), CUX will select for you only the data about user behavior that they have on it real impact. The number of goals for a project is unlimited.
– Automatic event catching – CUX is able to automatically capture events on the website, allowing code-free tracking of each stage of the user’s journey without the need to involve the IT department.
– Retroactive analysis – CUX allows you to create and modify conversion funnels even using historical data and without having to wait for new recordings to be collected.

Three levels of optimization

Working with qualitative data boils down to optimizing the real user path – not the one we dreamed of when creating the product! To make it as effective as possible, we divide it into 3 levels: marketing, product and conversion optimization.

In order to properly optimize marketing activities (directing traffic from external sources), we need to know exactly what is happening to our users along their entire path. Where they land, what they see, how they react. So we optimize based on observation.

How do we go about optimizing the customer journey in the context of the product? We shorten it! Why? Customers – those online in particular – do not always have a strong purchasing incentive. It is not uncommon for them to be driven to the side of your product or service by their impulse. The longer the path to conversion – the more time for the user to change their mind!

Conversion optimization does not only consist of the last steps of the sales funnel (cart, checkout). For our improvements to make sense, we need to take a few steps back and look at the entire customer journey – from marketing communication to product interactions.

Analysis in the context of the goal

The advantage of CUX for us with other behavioral analysis tools is that it filters all results in the context of your business goal. Regardless of what will be your main goal (Sales? Filling the form? Registration for training?), The data read through the prism of its implementation are much more valuable.

Imagine your business goal is for customers to fill out a contact form – this is the main place where you sell. Setting the goal “Send contact form” will allow you to automatically filter out those visits that show the achieved goal. Thanks to them, you will be able to improve the contact process, spot problems that your users are struggling with or change the page layout so that they convert more and faster.

Event analysis

To make the data you analyze meaningful, accurate and relevant to your business goals, create extensive conversion funnels based on events. What? Completely any! These can be clicks on specific elements on your website, filling out forms, entries to specific websites or coming from specific links, e.g. campaign links.

How do you go about an event-based analysis?

– Start with the whole – check the “global” paths of your users, compare, see which are doing better.
– When you notice a big drop, take a look at this place in detail. Watch the visits, create a funnel for this particular fragment on the page.
– Remember that the sequence of steps you set in Waterfall is important, and when counting conversions, we take into account the execution of individual steps in the order set by you.

Heatmap analysis

As you probably know, the heatmap graphically shows the most important activities on your pages. Every action – like clicking or mouse movement, scrolling, chaotic movement – adds color to the area. To draw reliable conclusions from the heatmap analysis, try to take into account those for which min. 250 events. On pages that contain various dynamic elements (such as pop-ups, drop-down menus, hoover), remember that they may not be captured on the heatmap. However, do not forget to consider them from an analytical point of view – perhaps the rage clicks that “fly” on the heatmap relate to these elements.

Analysis of recordings of visits

A truth that entrepreneurs often forget: analytics is not just watching random recordings! When you start working on recordings, keep a business goal in mind and filter only those visits that meet it. There is no point in wasting precious time on meaningless recreations.

Always start your analysis from general to specific and look for patterns of behavior. Watch the visits until the picture of your users’ habits begins to form a complete picture in your head. So how long? Usually, a dozen / several dozen visits are enough for the pattern to start clearing up. You can also use Experience Metrics in CUX to start with the behavioral patterns we have identified (rage clicks, zooming, refreshing the page, etc.).

FAQ

How is CUX different from Hotjar?
CUX not only combines all the functionalities of analytical tools (such as Hotjar), but also automates the data analysis process, which makes it an innovation in the user behavior analytics market. Unlike Hotjar, CUX is able to present a complete picture of data – both quantitative and qualitative – and interpret it in the context of a business goal.

Will CUX be useful for industries other than e-commerce?
Of course! The analysis of customer behavior will benefit not only e-commerce, but also businesses in the SaaS and B2B model, companies providing marketing services, software houses – all industries in which the customer comes into contact with a digital product. In addition, CUX is able to facilitate the work of various departments and teams within the company – from marketing, through sales, IT, content creation, to product development and management.

When is it worth analyzing user behavior?
We often come across the erroneous assumption that behavior analysis comes in handy when we see that the website is not working properly. Yes, this is a good time. But not the only one. Studying the behavior and introducing minor implementations on their basis at every stage of the digital product’s life helps to almost immediately increase the level of conversion or prevent its decline.

What’s the CUX price?
The cost of a paid subscription starts at 49 EUR / month and depends on the amount of traffic on the site and the customer’s required data retention time. In addition, CUX provides additionally paid technical and analytical onboarding, personalized workshops, webinars and bootcamps as well as ready-made website audits.

What to look for when choosing shared hosting?

Shared hosting is the most popular form of using a server that allows you to create your website at low cost. In this case, the resources we use are shared with other users within one very efficient server. This keeps prices affordable. The server is fully administered by the hosting company, and users can conveniently use all functions via an easy-to-use panel.

If you are creating your own website for the first time, shared hosting will probably be the most suitable for you – it allows you to create a corporate website, portfolio, blog or medium-sized online store. Unless you develop complex solutions that require custom solutions, or host sites visited by hundreds of thousands of users a day, most likely shared hosting will be right for you.

When analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of individual hosting services, it is worth noting that there is no one best solution for everyone. For a photographer who wants to put all his photos and videos online, the most important aspect may be the available disk space, while an entrepreneur who runs a small business and just wants to create his “business card” online does not want to pay for unused gigabytes, while would like to use more e-mail accounts. A solution recommended by your friend may not work for you. For this reason, I cannot answer the question of which hosting is the best. Instead, we indicate issues that should always be checked before choosing.

Uptime – time trouble-free operation

This term stands for uptime, which is simply the reliability of hosting. When you set up a website, you want it to be always available. Imagine that you are starting a long-planned promotion in your online store or providing potential customers with links to your portfolio … and due to server failure the website is currently unavailable. There is no doubt that even if the breakdown is short, it can mean very serious financial losses for the entrepreneur.

Until a few years ago, interruptions in the operation of servers were commonplace, which is why the best providers introduced the concept of uptime to stand out from the competition. This value is expressed as a percentage and is often referred to as SLA. For example, an uptime / SLA of 99% means that servers are running smoothly 99% of the time. Currently, reputable hosting companies already offer uptime / SLA usually at the level of 99.7 – 99.9%. However, we do not always find this information at all – in some cases, hosting service providers are confident in the reliability of the technologies offered and prepared to pay compensation in rare emergencies.

Disk space available

One of the most important factors that we should pay attention to when choosing hosting is also the available disk space – the amount of space on the server that we will have to store all kinds of files necessary for the functioning of the website.

In case you already have your website and just want to transfer it to another server, you can easily see how much disk space you used. There should be no problem accessing historical data. However, it will be more difficult to assess your needs if you are just setting up your first website.

Remember that the place is taken by:
– website template files and software – PHP, HTML, JavaScript scripts – WordPress installation without template and plugins is 50-60 MB, PrestaShop software for creating online stores – 70-80 MB;
– graphic files, photos, videos. – a typical photo from a smartphone is 1.5 – 6 MB – due to the thumbnails, this number should be multiplied by two, a 10-minute video in the quality of 480 pixels may take up to 150 MB.
– databases – they will contain all the content that you publish on your website in text form, for example blog entries, as well as data on the configuration of themes or plugins.
– e-mail accounts – remember that each message takes up space on your server. This applies to both sent and received messages as well as unsolicited correspondence from the SPAM folder. Especially in a situation where you massively send and receive large amounts of e-mails from customers or you have many mailboxes, this can translate into a large consumption of disk space.
– logs and own backups – can also take up additional disk space.

Data transfer

In addition to the space for your files on disks, also pay attention to the available transfer. This is information from which we will find out what amounts of data we can download and send to the server each month. This number includes all page views by both users and bots.

In this case, too, it may be difficult to estimate future needs if we cannot rely on past information. However, there are sites that allow you to ‘weigh’ existing websites in this respect, such as tools.pingdom.com. For example, you can check a competitor’s page and try to estimate your needs by multiplying the page’s “weight” by the number of views per month.

Some hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth with no limit. However, remember that such unlimited hosting applies only to websites and materials that are on these websites. Usually, in the regulations, you will find provisions that prohibit the abuse of unlimited transfer.

Hosting speed

The vast majority of users leave the website if it fails to load within a few seconds. Only the most determined wait longer. For this reason, loading speed is fundamental when choosing your hosting.

Slow page loading or problems with displaying some elements will discourage potential elements. For this reason, it is worth paying attention, among others on the type of disks used.

As part of the hosting service, you can meet the following types of disks:
– standard HDD drives – Hard Disc Drive – classic disc drives,
– fast SSD drives – Solid State Drive – semiconductor drives,
– super-fast NVMe SSDs – state-of-the-art drives up to 10 times faster than SDD drives.

And you probably already know which one will be the best choice, right? Yes. It is worth to bet on SSD or SSD NVMe.

In addition, it is worth paying attention to IOPS – this abbreviation stands for the number of operations performed per second. Some hosting plans, despite using SSD (or SSD NVMe) disks, limit the speed of reading and writing to the disk (given in MB / s) or IOPS. It’s worth being careful about that. The same as avoiding companies that have SSDs, but only for some data (e.g. for MySQL databases, while all the rest is on plate, slow HDDs).

When comparing the hosting speed, you cannot forget about parameters such as the number of PHP processes that can be run simultaneously and the available CPU and RAM power. A simple rule applies here – the more, the better. A good minimum is 10 processes, 1 CPU core (1 GHz) and min. 1 GB RAM.

When looking for fast hosting, it is also worth checking what software it is running on (LiteSpeed is faster than nginx, and this one is faster than Apache). It is also worth making sure that your hosting supports the latest available PHP version and the HTTP / 2 protocol – both of these factors affect the speed of your website.

Mail and e-mail accounts

Each hosting service also offers the option of creating company mailboxes with an address in your own domain. It will be a good idea to create a separate mailbox and e-mail address for each of your colleagues / department in the company. For this reason, it is worth checking how many e-mail accounts can be set up as part of the hosting service. It is always worth being able to create additional ones in the future when the company grows and new people are hired.

It will also be a good idea to check what types of spam and phishing protection are in place in your mail service. These should be solutions such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. It is best if they have already been implemented automatically, otherwise you should do it yourself.

Data security – backups and SSL certificate

One final point worth discussing is security issues. Of course, you will have to keep your data safe by taking care of a backup – it can save your site in the event of a breakdown or hack. Most hosting companies provide automatic data backups, but you will need to check how often it is backed up and how long your site backups are kept. Ideally, copies are made at least once a day (every 24 hours) and stored for at least 7 days.

Undoubtedly, an SSL certificate should also be implemented, which enables data encryption by users. This is an absolute must, especially when it comes to online stores. If you do not have it, the user will see a message that the site is unsecured – it will definitely scare potential customers away.

For this reason, it is worth choosing a hosting service that supports a free SSL certificate (e.g. Let’s Encrypt), which in practice is no different from paid certificates offered by many hosting companies and domain providers.

New customer profile – senior online

To start with, let’s specify who we call senior or elderly. In research, this nomenclature already affects people over 55, and therefore often professionally and socially active people. And the difference between the consumer needs of a 60-year-old and a 70-year-old is huge.

Let us assume, then, that we will refer to senior or online as people who have not grown up surrounded by modern technology, but adapt to it to a greater or lesser extent. Due to the manner and frequency of Internet use, we can divide this group into the following consumer profiles:

– Beginners – their knowledge of the network and technology is small, in this topic they rely primarily on the knowledge of loved ones. They often use only one thing, e.g. mail;
– Advanced – they work with the computer on a daily basis, understand the principles of the Internet and computer programs, and are able to use it no less advanced than the younger generation;
– Enthusiasts – they discovered the internet at a late age, it became their passion, that’s why they use new technologies, invest in them, for example: replace the old phone with a smartphone, understand the operation of applications and games.

What technologies does e-senior use?

Seniors are not strangers to using a smartphone or a computer, and in case of problems they use the help of younger family members or IT courses. E-seniors are also eager to use tablets and e-book readers. Thanks to the data, we know that 18.5% of people in the age group up to 75 are actively using the internet. People over 50 can spend up to 4 hours a day on it. So what do they most often use the network for?

What does a senior do online?

In studies carried out at the request of Paraphrase-Online.com, 94% of respondents declare that they actively use online banking, and 68% of them do it at least once a week. Thanks to the online service of a bank account plus the increasing knowledge of the network, new opportunities have opened up for seniors in the form of online shopping.

The most frequently purchased products include clothing, cosmetics, perfumes and books. Often these are gifts for friends and family members. Household and RTV purchases are also becoming more and more popular. Thanks to research carried out by Paraphrase-Online.com, we also learn that 62% of seniors spend time searching for information about brands, and 65% before buying, compare products, looking for a convenient offer for themselves. Senior online is no different from a young internet user.

Mobile activity is not worse. It turns out that the smartphone often replaces your favorite newspaper or TV show. According to a survey conducted by Paraphrase-Online.com, 60% of users use it every day, and not just for sending sms or phone calls. E-senior willingly takes pictures, and then shares them on social networks, gives on forums, comments. Research has shown that 39% of users aged 55-64 have an account in social media. On portals for seniors you will also find a series of guides on how to use e.g. Snapchat or Instagram.

Adaptation of UX solutions to the needs of E-seniors

It is worth noting that the mechanisms, which are intuitive for the young generation, will most likely be incomprehensible to the senior. Should they be changed completely? As long as e-senior is not our main recipient, the exchange of solutions can be replaced by instructions or a guide. In the opposite situation, it is worth investing in designing the interface or customer path tailored to the needs of the older user. What should be considered?

– Security – one of the most important values for the elderly in the network. Very often he becomes a victim of fraud, cheating or cyberbullying. It is worth stressing the recommendations and certificates, as well as providing access to the hotline or other contact with a person who will assure the senior about the company’s credibility;
– Clear interface – should be easy to use and have specific descriptions and commands;
– Product or service description – must be very accurate. Seniors are a generation that values ‘live’ shopping very much because of their physical sensations – nothing else will provide them with the benefits of a product like seeing it or trying it out. That is why it is worth investing, e.g. in 3D or 360 preview;
– Comments and opinions – seniors do not differ from other clients in this field. They want reviews that will verify product information, so you should increase their visibility on the page.

Customer profile and future of the market

Thanks to statistics and research, we know that the growing number of seniors can significantly affect the consumer market. Longer professional activity and higher earnings are just some of the factors that allow you to look at this group with more interest. Increasing technological awareness gives a lot of new marketing opportunities targeted specifically at e-seniors. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to his needs when creating and improving contact points with the company, especially in the face of data that shows that in a dozen or so years he will be the main recipient of the market.

Whisper marketing – definition

The key concept associated with the definition of whisper marketing is recommendation. What is the point To understand, think about how often you talk to family, friends or colleagues about different types of products. Do you ever share your opinion about the fridge you bought or how the new TV works? You recommend your friends proven repair companies or shops with friendly service. This is what a whisper is based on.

The goals of whisper marketing are:
– arousing interest in a given product or brand, encouraging consumers to discuss it,
– creating trends – building “fashion” for specific products or brands,
– strengthening the brand image through positive recommendations,
– spreading information about current promotions, and thus – increasing the likelihood that the customer will opt for the product.

What forms can whisper marketing take?

“Whispering” can be run both online and offline. The second category includes actions led by brand ambassadors. But online whisper marketing is the most prevalent. This happens because:

– campaigns are easy to carry out – they can even be partially automated,
– you can gain wide ranges in various communication channels – some time ago the “whispering” on the forums was the most popular, today this role is taken over by social media,
– You can engage audiences in discussions about the brand in many ways.

But the divisions are not over yet. Because online whisper marketing alone can also be implemented by various methods – less and more ethical.

Whisper marketing – it’s not just paid posts on forums / social media. The first association many people have with whisper marketing are paid posts placed on internet forums or on Facebook by hired people. I must admit that just a few years ago this was the form most often taken by the whisper. They paid for the mass insertion of positive opinions and whispered ads on various forums, as well as in the form of comments on social media. Today, there are still brands that use this way of promoting themselves on the market – this is common, for example, during political campaigns. Nevertheless, it is worth considering:

– how unethical whisper marketing will translate into the brand image in the long term?
– how soon will customers realize that this is an “artificial” campaign and not authentic opinions published by users?

You may think that an efficiently implemented “whisper” will keep the impression of naturalness. Remember, however, that consumers are becoming more aware and able to better detect intrusive ads. And in the modern marketing model there is no place for them. That is why whisper marketing in this form is slowly becoming a thing of the past. However, this does not mean that the strategy based on recommendations is bad. On the contrary. All you have to do is focus on more ethical and effective in the long run.

Authentic reviews are at a premium

Did you know that as many as 88% of users trust authentic, verified online reviews, as do recommendations obtained through personal contact? Exactly. The term “AUTHENTIC” plays a key role here. That is, not those commissioned by copywriters, but prepared by people who really bought the product / used the service.

You may find it difficult to obtain them. But look at the success of Google Maps, which encourages users to post reviews of places they’ve visited. In fact, Internet users do not receive any material benefits from this. Despite this, they willingly share their views with others, building a community of “local guides”. Also think about a rating system that works, for example, on eBay and similar sales portals. How often do you check if the seller has good reviews when buying?

Similar mechanisms can be used to build whisper marketing campaigns. It is about engaging consumers to express opinions and share information about the brand. This is what modern word-of-mouth marketing is all about!

How to get them? Useful will be e.g.:
– enriching the after-sales service of the customer with an e-mail asking for leaving an opinion, e.g. on the website of your e-store or portal that serves this purpose,
– affiliate program that encourages the sharing of opinions about the brand and provides the customer with “remuneration”, e.g. in the form of a discount for subsequent purchases,
– running a campaign based on brand ambassadors – but those who honestly say they represent it, and engage them in discussions with community members.

In this form, you can carry out word-of-mouth marketing, among others in social media. You can use, among others, the very popular groups on Facebook. They will allow you step by step to build a community related to your brand.

It is also worth engaging users for discussion in social media. So allow them to review your services / products and respond to both positive and negative voices in the discussion. Open, honest conversation, confessing and honesty will do more than artificial opinions!

Strength of social proof

Remaining in the circle of marketing strategy based on recommendations, it is also worth mentioning proof of social equity. The point is that if the customer recognizes that other consumers have chosen the product and express positive opinions about it – they are more likely to make a transaction.

And how to use it in the context of word of mouth marketing? Tools that automate messages related to the so-called social proof that you can use, among others in your online store. It is worth informally informing people who are currently in the e-store about:
– positive opinions about a given product – this is possible thanks to the introduction of a rating system and quoting the most positive in small pop-ups,
– that someone is watching a product that interests them, as well as how many people have already bought it, the number of transactions made that day.

These are, of course, only sample data that can be included in such messages. Their content and frequency should be adapted to the specifics of your e-store. Data related to social proof should also be used in remarketing campaigns.

Word of mouth marketing – is it worth it?

Word-of-mouth marketing (whisper marketing) can have very positive effects on the results your business achieves. Remember, however, that if you want them to be long-term and improve your brand image – you should only focus on the ethical forms of this way of communicating with customers. In this way you will use the power hidden in real gossip. It spreads at lightning speed, not artificially prepared messages. Are you wondering how to translate these assumptions from theory into practice? Do you want to create a coherent marketing strategy, whose element will be communication focused on obtaining opinions and recommendations? We will help you plan and execute a campaign that will inspire your clients’ trust and increase reach.