A Comprehensive Guide to Mobile Phone Recording

Looking for ways to record mobile phone calls for your enterprise but don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the right place. 

Today, we have various different options to record mobile phone calls, and here we’ll look at all the details you might need to know before investing in a mobile recorder solution. 

Let us begin, however, by discussing the concept of recording mobile phone calls, its benefits, and whether it’s the right investment for your business. 

Mobile Phone Recording: Use Cases

Why do you need to record mobile phone calls in the first place? 

In general, there are four main reasons for a business to record phone calls: 

  • To ensure that your business is in compliance with legal regulations
  • To record evidence of customer transactions/deals
  • Investigate the quality of phone calls (i.e. for evaluating employees and for training new employees)
  • To check for unauthorized practices

With that being said, recording mobile phone calls can provide the following benefits for your business: 

  • Can potentially protect your business when you are sued by customers or other legal disputes
  • Better control over the quality of service on your phone calls
  • Comprehensive records of transactions made over phone calls and communication records

However, there are also some key concerns you should have before implementing mobile recording for your business: 

  • Legal requirements in your area, which might vary between states and countries
  • How audio files are going to be stored to maintain data security and accessibility
  • How your employees are going to react when their calls are being monitored

Is It Legal To Record Mobile Phone Calls? 

Is it legal to record mobile phone calls? For some industries, recording calls might be legally required, but it’s very important to ensure that all phone calls, mobile or otherwise, must be recorded in compliance with the legal requirements according to the location of both parties (your business and your caller). 

As you embrace mobile phone recording technology for your business, it’s also crucial to establish your business legally. If you’re based in Georgia and ready to register your business entity, you can learn the steps to apply for an LLC in Georgia. Securing your LLC in Georgia is a big step towards ensuring your business’s compliance and success.

Call recording and monitoring laws vary among states and countries, and we should also take into account the possibility of our callers being located in different countries or states during the phone call.

In general, it is both legal and ethical to record mobile phone calls as long as there’s consent, so you should always inform the customer that the call is being recorded. However, mobile phone call recording laws can be divided into two different types based on consent: 

States that Allow One-Party Consent

Most (38) states in the U.S. require the full consent of only one party on the call. Meaning, your business can technically record the conversation without the consent of the other party, if the other party is also in states with one-party consent recording laws.

However, if your enterprise mainly operates in a one-party consent state, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can freely record all calls without consent. You might still be required to follow the relevant state laws, and again, you’ll need to take into consideration whether the other party is located in a state with all-party consent laws. 

Here are the 38 states with one-party consent recording laws: 

  1. Alabama
  2. Alaska
  3. Arizona
  4. Arkansas
  5. Colorado
  6. Delaware
  7. Georgia
  8. Hawaii
  9. Idaho
  10. Indiana
  11.  Iowa
  12. Kansas
  13. Kentucky
  14. Louisiana
  15. Maine
  16. Minnesota
  17. Mississippi
  18. Missouri
  19. Nebraska
  20. Nevada
  21. New Jersey
  22. New Mexico
  23. New York
  24. North Carolina
  25. North Dakota
  26. Ohio
  27. Oklahoma
  28. Oregon
  29. Rhode Island
  30. South Carolina
  31. South Dakota
  32. Tennessee
  33. Texas
  34. Utah
  35. Vermont
  36. Virginia
  37. Wisconsin
  38. Wyoming

States Requiring Two-Party/All-Party Consent

Twelve states, on the other hand, require the knowledge and consent of all parties involved before the call can be legally recorded. 

  1. California
  2. Connecticut
  3. Florida
  4. Illinois
  5. Maryland
  6. Massachusetts
  7. Michigan
  8. Montana
  9. Nevada
  10. New Hampshire
  11. Pennsylvania
  12. Washington

Also, some states do allow “implied consent”. Meaning, as long as you’ve informed the other party that you are going to record the call, if this other party continues to participate in the conversation, it can be treated as implied consent. 

Again, it’s best to always ask for consent before recording any mobile phone call. This way,  you don’t need to worry whether the other party is in a one-party or all-party state. Remember that failure to follow and understand the recording laws in your area can result in expensive fines and penalties, not to mention damages to your reputation. 

Choose The Right Mobile Phone Recorder Solution

There’s always the possibility of building your own mobile recording solution from scratch, but in most cases, you’d want to rely on a third-party service. 

With that being said, when choosing a third-party mobile phone recorder solution, you should consider three main factors: 

  • Reliability: how reliable is the service in recording mobile phone calls (i.e. audio quality, low error rate, etc.)
  • Data security: whether the solution has implemented security best practices like end-to-end encryption for data at rest and in transit. Very important if you are in a highly regulated industry and/or frequently dealing with sensitive and confidential data
  • Features: based on your objective(s) in performing mobile recording, whether the solution can provide the features you’ll need. 

Especially if you are in a heavily regulated industry, it’s very important to choose the right solution that is compliant with the legal requirements and state laws that might apply to your business. 

If you are in the financial industry, for example, a mobile call recording solution like Truphone for Finance can provide the required experience and features in the complex industry. With Truphone, you also don’t need to worry about storage, since included in the package is access to Truphone’s secure global cloud, although you can also opt to deliver the recording files to another storage infrastructure. 

Closing Thoughts

While all companies can certainly benefit from business mobile phone recording, it’s also important to pay attention to local regulations that might apply to your business before investing in a mobile recorder solution. 


To really unlock the full benefits of recording mobile phone calls, you’ll need a legally compliant solution that can also meet your needs, and secure cloud storage and backup solution to keep your audio files safe. 

What is Growth Hacking (And Why You Should Be Doing It)

We live in a world that is full of opportunity, and that remains especially true if you happen to have access to technology. While we can see that digital marketing and everything that comes with it is evolving over time, it feels like there is one thing that gets left out all too often. If you’ve never heard of the term “Growth Hacking”, this article is just for you. 

Most people don’t understand what growth hacking is all about, and many of you will claim that it’s merely a buzzword. I used to think the same thing, as I thought it was just another phrase that tech-geeks murmured to each other to seem special. Now that I know growth hacking is real and how effective it can be, I’m just sad that I didn’t get into things sooner.

There’s a difference between digital marketing and using everything at your disposal to grow a company. Some people are content with setting up a few YouTube ads and seeing what happens, but others are genuinely addicted to growing companies. 

Is Growth Hacking Just Another Hoax?

We’ve all been through a phase in life where we feel like everything sucks and it’s all fake, which is true for most things in the world. Growth hacking, thankfully, doesn’t fall under that category, and you would know that first-hand if you’ve ever read into it yourself. It’s a concept that seems complicated, but it’s generally quite simple. Your sole purpose in the business world is to grow your company, regardless of what you’re doing.

Every step you make, and every technique being used is done so with growth in mind. The best part about all of this? It makes you a much more flexible person. You aren’t going to be stuck with one industry for your entire entrepreneurial career, and instead, will be able to dabble in a bunch of other things. Doesn’t that sound like fun? 

Why Are There So Many “Gurus”?

Like anything else in life, where there is money to be made, there are bound to be fakes. There are genuine gurus like Roy Abou Trabi, and then there are plenty of fraudulent ones to avoid entirely. It’s tough to figure out which ones are just trying to sell you a poorly written eBook, and which ones are genuinely trying to help you grow your business, but there are some tricks you can use.

Read up on reviews that other people have written about their course or eBook, and see how valuable the information they’re giving out truly is. The fact that there are so many gurus alone is a red flag, but it’s quite easy to sniff out the ones that are just going to waste both your money and time. 

How Do I Know Who To Trust?

I’m glad you asked! As somebody who has consumed a large number of useless eBooks in his time, I would say that you can tell whether it’s worth it almost right away. There are times where my “scam alert” was ringing like crazy, and I still decided to go ahead with the purchase anyway. It’s a gut feeling at times, and there are other times when a poorly designed website or bad reviews will be the giveaway.

Whatever the case may be, know your worth and understand that you’re giving these “gurus” your time. Not only that, but you’ll be giving them a reasonable amount of money as well, so it’s crucial to be sure that it was well spent. 

Growth Hacking vs. Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is when you’re facing off against other companies head-on, fighting to see who can retain more customers. It’s a war at times, and there are budget limits, unreasonable targets, and plenty of other resource issues that can make it tough to master. 

Growth Hacking

Being a complete addict when it comes to growth and worrying about much more than just the traditional means of digital marketing. You aren’t competing with anyone because you’re too busy competing with yourself. 

Which One is Better?

Every successful company will have a CEO that considers themselves a growth hacker, but also have a department that handles the traditional digital marketing path as well. You cannot ignore digital marketing entirely, but you cannot use it to replace the growth hacking mentality either.

The best way to approach growing your business is with a mixture of the two, giving you the flexibility needed to grow your business regardless of what the future holds for us. Many of you reading this will have an opinion one way or the other, but can’t we all just get along for one article?

Grow Your Business with Peace of Mind

You won’t ever have to worry about whether you’re doing “enough” to build a successful brand when you’ve adapted to the growth hacking approach. If you’re not willing to adapt and change your marketing with the times, you’re only going to be limiting your potential.

It’s easy to confuse digital marketing with growth hacking and vice versa, which is probably why the industry is so saturated these days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t decipher things for yourself and benefit from it. 

If you are always willing to change and do whatever it takes to grow, be happy! You’re already well on your way to become a certified growth hacker. 

Helpful Advice for Independent Medical Practices: How to Stay on Top

Being your own boss has its perks, even in the medical world. Many doctors who work at hospitals dream of having their own practice. Although having your own private medical practice can be very exciting, it can have its challenges as well. You are a doctor whose main concern is to help people and make them feel better but running a private practice requires more than that. It is a business, at the end of the day, and you need to take care of this side of the practice just like you take care of your patients. If you don’t, you will end up losing money and maybe even your business. However, there are ways that can help you with running your independent practice and also stay on top, so read on.

Hire an Accountant

Any business’s goal is to make money, and if you hope to remain that way then you should hire an accountant or a financial planner to help you manage your money. Sometimes businessmen make huge financial decisions without considering their budget and they end up losing money and getting into financial trouble. Having a financial planner will give you an idea of your financial situation so you can set realistic goals accordingly. They will also help you manage your investments and keep you on track with your budget and financial goals.

Hire a Billing Service

Normally, as a doctor, you only want to focus on the medicine side of your private practice. While helping sick people is a noble cause, there are other aspects of the business that you must consider as well. You need to hire a billing service who can take care of the things that you don’t care about so you can focus on your work. A billing service will take care of the paperwork, negotiate contracts, and help you boost your ROI. If you don’t want to deal with these things on-site, you can always hire a third party medical billing that will help you handle all aspects of your practice without crowding you.

Make sure to hire a company that has the experience to handle a business like yours. You don’t need people who are still learning that will come to you with questions rather than solutions. Hire a place that you can trust to help you grow and stand out in a competitive market. Be sure to read about autonomous medical coding and how it can benefit your practice. Not only will it save you time and money, but it can also prevent coding errors and ultimately improve patient satisfaction.

Hire a Medical Attorney

It is important for any private medical practice to seek the help of a medical attorney. An attorney can help with negotiations with the insurance company to get you better rates. They can also handle any legal troubles that you may face in cases of malpractice and represent you in court. Additionally, they will keep you updated with healthcare regulations to help you avoid any complications.

If you want to keep your medical practice on top then you need to hire a team to help you run things smoothly. You need to be so focused on helping people and paperwork or legal troubles can be a distraction. Hiring a team that you trust will save you the headache of dealing with things that are out of your depth and protect your practice from financial or legal troubles.

Best Crypto Apps For Android

Trading crypto is one of the most profitable investments in the financial market at this time. While trading crypto is seen as the next gold mine, there are some instruments that traders have adopted. One such is the usage of the perfect crypto app to carry out their trading activities. In this article, we will be looking at the best crypto apps for Androids.

Changelly

Like the web version of the exchange, the Changelly mobile app allows traders to monitor their assets in real-time. The app also provides users with a wide range of services that are available on the website. Asides from offering support to 200+ cryptos, the Bitcoin app for Android charges just 0.25% for exchanging from one crypto to another.

The user interface is easy to use, and new traders can get the hang of it in no time. The mobile app also has support on standby 24/7 to help with user’s complaints.

eToro

The eToro crypto trading app is one of the best across the world. With a user base spanning millions, this crypto app for Android allows traders to buy and sell digital assets. But the offer is limited: eToro supports only a tiny amount of digital assets such as Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum.

Asides from its simple and user-friendly interface, the app charges low fees for transactions as opposed to most crypto apps. Traders are not mandated to pay any fees if they want to deposit or buy tokens. However, the platform charges traders $5 for withdrawals on the app, a downside, according to traders and analysts.

Binance

Founded in 2017, Binance is regarded as one of the biggest and best trading platforms worldwide. This is because it covers a vast number of tokens. In 2018, Binance was the biggest platform globally, with $1.3 billion in market capitalization.

Not only is the Binance app user-friendly, but it also offers its users tutorials on how to begin trading. One thing that sets it apart is that it provides users with a three-way method to deposit their tokens. Traders can use the Bank deposit, peer-to-peer, or credit/debit card options to buy their tokens.

Coinbase

Even though it is very popular, Coinbase offers traders less crypto to trade compared to Binance. Just like Binance, crypto newbies are treated to a tutorial to help them hit the ground running.

Despite its popularity, the app charges a fairly higher withdrawal fee than the three listed crypto apps for Android above. Its user interface is very intuitive and helps new traders get accustomed to the app quickly. In this first quarter of this year, the crypto app saw a revenue of $4.03 billion, with $2.36 billion being its profit. Presently, Coinbase boasts of a user base of over 50 million across the world.

The Bottom Line

Even though most traders prefer to trade digital assets on their computers, it is without a doubt that most traders want the ease of using their mobile phones. The comfort of mobile user experience can never be overemphasized. If a trader needs to make a swift decision regarding his assets, a Bitcoin app for Android will come in handy, allowing you to easily adjust the crypto strategy on the go.

8 SMS Marketing Tips to Use to Avoid Annoying Your Customers

These days, it’s no longer a question of whether or not you should use SMS as part of your marketing, but rather how you should use it.

SMS marketing can be an extremely effective way of engaging your customers. However, if you want to create loyalty and engagement.

To avoid annoying your customers, there are certain best practices that you should follow like Klaviyo alternatives.

You can make it easier to send and receive SMS by adding an SMS API to your business app. This lets you send SMS messages anywhere in the world as long as you have a backup plan. The API makes text message communication cheaper to send and receive text messages because you can buy them in bulk and even set up a prepaid plan where your customers can send you feedback for free. People can sometimes think of SMS as a bother. So, you need to make content that is very informative.

Read the rest of this article to discover some of the most important SMS marketing trends that will help you get more from your marketing campaigns without getting on your customers’ bad side.

1. Get Permission First

I’m sure you’ll agree that there’s nothing more annoying than receiving promotional messages you didn’t sign up for – worse still, with informational offers that aren’t even relevant to you.

In fact, receiving texts without permission is not only annoying, but it’s also illegal in many states. Marketers need to comply with state and local regulations, as well as wireless carriers’ messaging policies in order to ensure that their messages are delivered to subscribers who are willing to receive them.

You must obtain consent first via an opt-in form to make sure that you only send messages to people who have knowingly agreed to receive your promotional texts. Remember, that marketing and finance violations are seen as some of the most serious offenses under U.S federal law with violators facing a minimum of 1 year of jail time and a $2,500 fine.

Once you have their express written consent, then you can proceed with your text message marketing campaign.

Using opting forms is one of the best ways to obtain consent from subscribers, but there are also other methods, such as using an SMS keyword or phrase that customers can text to subscribe to any future messages from your business.

In addition to getting permission, you must also provide your subscribers with a simple and clear way to opt-out of receiving your text messages.

This will help to keep everyone happy with your brand and avoid annoying potential customers who, even though they want to leave your SMS list, may still be interested in connecting with your brand and other channels, such as your blog, social media, email, etc.

So make sure your subscribers know they can unsubscribe anytime they want to. You can include this information in your auto-confirmation message, and you should also include unsubscribing instructions in any of your advertisements.

This can be as simple as adding “Text STOP to unsubscribe”, but it will go a long way toward helping you establish credibility and trust with your audience.

Only Send Messages to People Who Signed Up Organically

Some of the reasons subscribers might choose to opt into your SMS list include:

  • A flash sale or promotion
  • Weekly discounts
  • A “Back in stock” notification for a specific product/service
  • Customer support
  • An event reminder
  • Abandoned cart notifications
  • A launch of a new product/service

… and so on.

Whatever the reason, you can motivate people to opt-in to receive texts from your business. So you never have to send unsolicited text messages. 

2. Set Expectations Early

The next step toward avoiding annoying customers with your SMS messages is to set expectations on what they will receive – and then keep that promise.

Whenever introducing a new channel into your digital marketing strategy, you must always begin with proper channel management. If you start off by sending messages to people that haven’t signed up and don’t want your messages, then your SMS marketing campaign may be only causing harm to your brand’s reputation.

Begin managing your SMS marketing strategies effectively from the start by ensuring that all who are receiving messages have given explicit permission to receive those messages.

Once you’ve determined what recipients can expect, you must be consistent in the number of SMSes you send.

It’s true that you may want to do everything you can to avoid spamming your subscribers, but customers respond well to consistent messaging, and if you send too few messages, people might forget why they signed up to your list in the first place.

This means that when they eventually hear from you, it will seem like the text is coming out of the blue, which could potentially make your message unwelcome.

That’s why it’s important to set a regular schedule and maintain consistency with your texts.

The best practice is to send between 2 and 4 texts each month. But, your business might need to send multiple texts each week, or even daily. Find what works best for your audience, industry, and business.

For instance, an SMS marketing strategy for a church might include sending weekly reminders of when the church services take place. However, a marketing campaign for a Forex Signals Service requires sending multiple SMS messages each day.

You can experiment and test to find the optimal texting frequency for your business.

The most important thing is to be upfront with your subscribers so they know what to expect with regard to your SMS frequency – and then stick to it. For example, the team at im-a-puzzle asks their users if they would like daily or weekly notifications for their jigsaw puzzles of the day. This manages expectations and drives engagement.

3. Send Original Content

One of the main reasons why people unsubscribe from a brand’s text messages is the type of content being sent.

You need to keep things fresh and send original content that speaks your audience’s language in the right format if you want to retain and grow your subscriber list.

When using text messages as part of your marketing campaign, it can be frustrating having to deal with character limits, and you may be tempted to shorten some words in order to save space. But, this is often at the expense of clarity and professionalism.

For instance, take a look at the two text messages below:

  • Go2 Tom’s 2day 4 a gr8 deal! Sho this text for 25% off your meal. 
  • Visit Tom’s today for a great deal! Show this text for 25% off your meal.

Instead of getting frustrated with character limits, use them as a powerful tool to help you sharpen your marketing message.

And, if you absolutely must have more space, you can use MMS which allows you to use up to 1,600 characters!

Never Send the Same Message Twice

One of the reasons text messaging is so effective is that it often creates a sense of urgency. If you are promoting an offer, and the recipient of your SMS message knows that the offer is only available for a limited time, there is a high chance that you will experience an increase in sales.

But, if you keep sending the same promotional text, again and again, people will stop responding to your offers with enthusiasm.

Many of them will get bored, and even annoyed, and you may experience an increase in your unsubscribe rate.

That’s why you must ensure that each of your text marketing campaigns is creative and unique with engaging, original content.

4. Get Your Timing Right

Timing is crucial for bulk text messaging campaigns. There is no faster way to annoy customers than by sending promotional texts at inappropriate times – and when customers are annoyed, it’s all too easy for them to unsubscribe from your SMS messaging.

As long as your text messages are aligned with the subscriber’s expectations, you won’t go wrong by keeping them within reasonable business hours. To better manage customer information, you might want to invest in customer database software

Also, there’s no point in sending messages to your customers at a time when they cannot take immediate action or respond to your offer.

So, it’s in the interests of both common sense and common courtesy to schedule your SMSes at reasonable hours.

Here are some additional tips to help you send messages at the right time:

  • Don’t Text Too Early: If the person hasn’t had their cup of coffee, you’re not likely to get the desired response from them.
  • Don’t Text Too Late: If they are relaxing or already asleep, they will be annoyed by your interruption.
  • Don’ts Text During Peak Hours: Avoid sending messages when your subscribers are likely to be overwhelmed or doing other activities.
  • Don’t Text during Weekends: Studies have shown that sending messages during weekends leads to a higher unsubscribe rate.

5. Incorporate Personalization

Personalization is yet another common characteristic that forms the backbone of the most successful marketing campaigns, including social media, email, content, and text marketing campaigns.

One study shows that customers are 78% more likely to make repeat purchases if the brand provides them with targeted, personalized offers.

By incorporating personalization into your strategy, you’ll be able to improve your campaigns. You can leverage the use of mass marketing that SMS marketing provides, together with the advantage of one-on-one communication.

You can capitalize on this by including features like segments and custom fields to help you send more relevant texts to your subscribers.

It’s also easy-to-use platforms like Zapier to integrate your SMS software with your existing marketing tools to make it easy for you to send everything from SMS shipping updates to abandoned cart text messages, and much more.

There are a lot of really useful integrations that can help combine your SMS marketing with other parts of your digital marketing channel. Easily integrate SMS with social networks, email, and even project management tools.

In addition to integrations, you should also consider adding links to your SMS messages that can lead them to learn more about your brand and its offerings. You can use webinar hosting software to create short webinars that subscribers can click to via a link in an SMS message.

Then they might be brought to your business YouTube channel where they can watch the webinar to learn more about the brand, subscribe to your channel, or share your content on any number of social networks.

6. Comply with Legal Requirements

Getting consent from your subscribers isn’t the only legal requirement to consider. You also need to add in necessary disclaimers when sending SMS text messages.

Before the advent of smartphones, there was an all too real fear that text messages would incur charges. However, today’s subscribers are unlikely to receive charges for any of your text messages thanks to the unlimited data and texting plans currently available.

Having said that, it’s still best practice (and a legal requirement) to include this disclaimer anyway. So make sure you comply with industry regulations by including the following information:

  • The frequency with which you plan to send messages to subscribers (for example, “You may receive up to 6 messages/month”).
  • Text message and data rates may apply
  • Link to your Privacy Policy, as well as your Terms and Conditions
  • Information on how to unsubscribe (e.g. “Reply STOP to unsubscribe, or HELP for help”).

Most marketers overlook this, but it’s important to familiarize yourself with all applicable laws and regulations as this will save you a lot of stress down the line.

If you’re unsure about the requirements in the areas where you operate, it’s a good idea to consult with a legal professional.

7. Add Immense Value

The best way to ensure the success of your SMS marketing campaign (and avoid annoying your customers) is to focus on adding value to your messages.

In other words, make every text worthwhile.

So, instead of blasting subscribers with the same ad each week, do your best to focus on “SMART” marketing, which entails making sure that each offer is:

  • Specific;
  • Measurable;
  • Actionable;
  • Relevant; and
  • Timely.

You can share a wide range of content, such as discounts, sales, exclusive savings, event alerts, important announcements, and a variety of other useful information. Or you can add your sales proposal to really paint the picture for customers.

You might also consider layering in photos, videos, and other rich media to diversify your content offerings and maintain high audience engagement levels.

When sending images, make sure that they’re engaging and add real value to your email. You might consider transforming basic images into memes or using a graphic design program to watermark the images and add a layer of professional quality that your competitors are lacking.

By adding lots of value in this way, you decrease the likelihood that your subscribers might want to unsubscribe from your SMS list.

Consider Adding Exclusivity

While on the subject of adding value, it may be a good idea to add an element of exclusivity to your SMS marketing campaign.

When someone subscribes to receive your text messages, they are giving you access to a direct and personal way of reaching them.

This means that rather than including the same old recycled promotions that are in your Instagram account, Facebook Page, email, and other marketing channels, you should rather try to create exclusive content for your SMS list to give them more incentives to sign up.

For instance, you might offer early access to specific discounts and sales only to your SMS subscribers, which makes it more likely that customers who want first dibs on such promotions will sign up for your SMS list.

8. Be Responsive

If you plan to offer two-way messaging for sales or customer service, then you need to make sure you’re responsive.

Remember, this communication platform delivers messages instantly. According to recent reports, up to 20% of people read text messages within a minute of receiving them, and 90% within 3 minutes.

As part of your effort to be more responsive, you might set availability for a specific number of hours each week to see how you and your team manage.

From there, you can work on expanding the hours. The point here is to not overcommit in the beginning so you avoid disappointing your customers.

Conclusion

SMS marketing doesn’t have to be hard. All you need is to follow the best practices outlined in this article and avoid the common mistakes that tend to annoy customers.

Also, make sure you use a reliable SMS partner that is trustworthy and affordable.

Armed with this knowledge (and the right SMS service provider company), you will be well on your way to running successful SMS marketing campaigns that boost engagement and create loyalty among your audience.

Over to you. Which of the marketing tips in this article do you find the most appealing? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ron Stefanski is a website entrepreneur and marketing professor who has a passion for helping people create and market their own online business.  You can learn more from him by visiting OneHourProfessor.com

You can also connect with him on YouTube or Linkedin.

Types of Surveying and International Comparisons

Introduction

Cross-national surveys refer to studies in which different countries are compared and therefore require the design, implementation, and organization of the study to be comparable. It is important that researchers make additional considerations when conducting cross-national surveys so as to account for the social and cultural settings of different participant groups. A translation agency can assist by providing valid text for cross cultural interpretation. By doing so, the internal validity of the study increases and any differences in cross-cultural comparisons that are found can be attributed to actual differences rather than methodological flaws.

Within this article, we will explore the ways in which researchers accommodate certain social and cultural settings when they design sampling schemes, construct surveys using survey software, and select modes of data collection. 

Sampling

When sampling in cross-national studies, it is important that researchers carefully select the data their sampling design will be based on. The following are three reliable sources of data that can be used:

Census Data

Census data is useful to use when the countries being compared in the study have census data that is reliable and easily available. Census data not only helps generate macro-level demographic statistics but also makes it possible to create a list of individuals within the population.

Resident Registers

This data source is a good option for countries where resident registration is compulsory. Resident registers will generally provide data that is more current and up-to-date when compared with census data that may become obsolete more quickly.

Voter Registers

In some countries, the percentage of registered voters within the voting age population is high enough to provide comprehensive population data for sampling. In such countries, voter registers can be used as a source to base the sampling design. It is crucial to note that in highly mobile societies, voter registers can become obsolete quickly, and for such societies, resident registers may be more suited.

Questionnaire Design

Designing a questionnaire for cross-national surveys is generally a tedious process as these designs must be modified to take into consideration the different circumstances in countries that differ in their political, economic, cultural, and social settings. This is especially crucial when conducting market research studies using market research software.

Terms and Concepts

One of the most complex problems to solve in order to achieve comparability across cross-national fieldwork are linguistic idiosyncrasies. Literal translations of questionnaires are likely to be counterproductive when trying to achieve equivalence within a survey. If the language employed cannot achieve equivalence, it will threaten the validity of the research.

Skilled researchers appoint both qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve equivalence of meaning and measurement in different languages. The systematic method of translation has two minimum requirements:

  • Detailed annotation of the source of the questionnaire
  • Iterative back-translation

Measurement and Response Categories

Beyond concepts and terms, other aspects of questionnaire design also require careful planning in international surveys. Measurements and response categories must be carefully decided after the pretesting of different numerical scales across different countries. Certain scales may seem unfamiliar or confusing to the people of one country while being completely familiar to those in another country.

Another issue associated with the point scaling system has to do with the cultural values and social norms that differ between societies. Cross-national variations can cause varying response patterns among countries, reinforcing the importance of thoughtful design, practice, and interpretation of cross-national surveys.

Modes of Data Collection using Surveys

There are many different modes of data collection that researchers can use including mail surveys, CATI surveys, internet surveys, and face-to-face surveys; each having its own strengths and limitations. the different factors researchers must consider while choosing a mode of data collection are as follows

● Questionnaire Length and Content

Internet surveys are generally effective for short and basic surveys. However, if the survey is too long or complex, respondents may choose to drop out. Therefore, in more long and complex surveys, other modes that have a moderator or interviewer present, such as telephone surveys or face-to-face interviews, are more appropriate.

● Country

 Certain modes work better in certain countries, For instance, in countries with large populations of illiterate residents, where telecommunications is tedious, face-to-face interviews are most appropriate.

● Costs

With technological advancements, the use of face-to-face surveys continues to decrease as other modes of surveying become easier to use and more affordable. Cost is usually a major factor that is considered when making a decision about which survey mode to employ.

What Criteria Should You Follow to Buy Waterproof Headphones?

When you intend to purchase waterproof headphones, you need to consider a specific criterion to ensure that you get the best bargain available. I hope this guide will help you get the most out of the value for money on your new headphones for swimming. The criteria should cover the following points:

  • Use
  • The Quality of Sound
  • Protection Certificate
  • Capacity
  • Battery
  • Design

Usage

Rationally speaking, the very first thing to consider is what use you will give your waterproof headphones and in what setting you will use them. You won’t need the same type of device to swim for hours in a pool as for a relaxing half-hour session in the sauna after a long day at work.If you need to use them for surfing, you should opt for a model that offers maximum resistance, given the large number of impacts that can take place during such an activity.If you want to listen to music while you shower, you might be better off opting for wireless ones for added comfort.

Sound Quality

  • You need to pay attention to three technical parameters in this regard:
  • The impedance measured in ohms
  • The sensitivity in decibels
  • The frequency range in Hertz

Impedance values ​​between 16 and 60 ohms are fine; in any case, the lower, the better, as this way, the waterproof headphones will offer less resistance to the power delivery.

In terms of sensitivity, the higher, the better, as less power will be necessary for the waterproof headphones to sound loud enough. Also, it is desirable that the frequency range is as close as possible to values ​​between 18 or 20 Hz, which is the range of frequencies that the human ear can hear.

Protection Level

The protection level against water offered by waterproof headphones is another crucial aspect. In relation to this, it is also important that you take into account the use;for instance, if you want them for swimming, you will need an IPX8 protection level. To use waterproof headphones in the shower, IPX7 will be good enough.

Capacity

Most waterproof headphones have their own built-in player. In that case, you shouldn’t overlook the storage capacity. Most of them have an internal memory of between 2 GB and 8 GB.Of course, the higher the capacity of the headphones, the more music you can store. To give you an idea, the capacity of 4GB can store about 1,000 songs.

Battery

Regarding the battery, the time required to charge and the duration of charging are considered the most. Some waterproof headphones have the possibility of fast charging, i.e., with just a few minutes of recharging, you can enjoy music for half an hour or even more.

Design and Material

To be honest, your main concern should be functionality beyond, and the aesthetics should come later. If your waterproof headphones don’t have a good grip, they will be slipping, which will irritate you more than you can enjoy your music. People have different ear canals. So, you must check if they will fit in your ears easily. As for the material, it is usually plastic.

If you find these tips useful in the process of your waterproof headphone selection, please leave us your valuable comments and also share this post on your social network accounts.

Road Safety Tips and Advice: What Not to Do

In today’s fast-paced world, road accidents are a common occurrence and can’t be ignored by both drivers and pedestrians. For drivers, it is important to understand that they have a huge responsibility while driving to protect themselves, the fellow vehicles in both lanes, and the pedestrians walking on the sides. This brief guide will help you get a grip on some road safety tips to ensure the protection of all parties involved.

Causes of Road Accidents

● Insufficient Driver Knowledge

The most common cause of the majority of road accidents is the lack of basic driving knowledge that the drivers should have. The most common reason is that every driver, despite their experience, believes that they have sufficient knowledge and do not require to go back to the rule books for gaining knowledge.

However, it’s important to note that taking practice tests on this G1 test site can help even experienced drivers identify areas where they may need to brush up on their knowledge.

● Unsafe Road Environments

Unsafe road environments include potholes and unnecessary obstacles that can startle a driver. These are considered to be the second-most common cause of road accidents. Always keep an emergency equipment pack with you.

Important Safety Tips and Advice to Follow

● Exercise Patience

When you’re on the road, patience is one of the major factors that is required to be exercised by a driver. A patient driver understands the complications of being irresponsible and immature on the road. This ensures decorum in the traffic and avoids the triggering of accidents.

● Obey Speed Limits

Drivers should realize that speed limits exist for a valid reason. Many drivers are often found disregarding the speed barriers and driving way over the recommended speed limits. Although this might not lead to an accident in many cases, if we consider an exceptional situation where you have a drunk truck driver as your fellow vehicle in the same lane, overspeeding might excite the drunk driver and ignite the fire to speed up. Due to the extra level of intoxication, the driver won’t be able to control their emotions and will speed up the vehicle involuntarily. This is why it is recommended to always obey the speed limits to avoid hyping others to match your pace and cause an unwanted accident.

● Stay Alert

Staying alert while driving is essential. Irrespective of the time of day, unexpected turns or stoppages from the vehicle ahead of you can startle you and make you lose focus. For this reason, it is recommended to stay on your toes when you’re driving and channel your focus on the traffic. This will require you to avoid all kinds of distractions such as excessive talking with the people in the backseats or using your phone while driving.

Consequences of Road Accidents

● Physical Impact

The physical impact of a road accident includes different types and levels of cuts and burns. Furthermore, if the severity of the accident is intense then the impact can lead to different types of fractures and tissue damages too.

● Emotional Impact

On the emotional front, accidents can have a massive impact on our mental health. Since an accident catches the victim off-guard, it can trigger an unusual trauma that can be difficult to handle at the time of the incident. However, with time and effective therapy, you can recover from its effects and continue your routine.

Road accidents are impossible to avoid. Irrespective of the intensity, these happen regularly worldwide. This is why drivers across the world are advised to follow the most common road safety rules that will help them avoid any unwanted accidents from happening. Since these accidents are mostly triggered by individual mistakes, it is every individual’s responsibility to care for both our and others’ safety.

21 Must-Have SaaS Tools For Businesses

SaaS services are an integral part of everyone’s daily life. We use SaaS much more often than we think. And the convenience, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and other advantages of SaaS gain the trust of consumers without having to explain their complex structure and philosophy of the model. 

In this article, we decided to look into how SaaS companies can help businesses and share a list of SaaS solutions that are most popular with entrepreneurs.

According to market research, the SaaS market is projected to reach $716.52 billion by 2028.

What Is SaaS?

Software as a service, or SaaS, is one of the three main categories of cloud computing and is the most common among consumer-level products.

Gmail, Google Docs, and Microsoft Office 365 are SaaS, providing productivity applications over the Internet. For businesses, there are SaaS tools for sales management, call management, customer feedback collection, customer relationship management, financial management, customer experience surveys, human resources management, subscription management and recurring billing, market research, staff interaction… In fact, anything. SaaS applications are used by a range of IT professionals services and business users, as well as executives at various levels.

In 2020-2021, the need to distance put a strain on the social behavior of people, as well as the characteristics of business and production processes. Cloud technology, already growing rapidly in recent years, has received a tremendous push to develop and improve.

Pros and Cons of SaaS

Advantages

SaaS is very popular because it has many advantages. They include:

  • Updates. Software hosted on a server can be updated centrally, unlike the traditional model in which the software would need to be updated on each machine. In other words, SaaS can be easily maintained with the latest version of the software at all times;
  • Hardware. With the software running on the server, individual PCs don’t have to be updated to meet hardware requirements, and there are no issues with not meeting minimum requirements;
  • Costs. With a subscription model, acquisition costs are reduced for businesses. In addition, users can be added on an as-needed monthly basis so businesses can expand;
  • Rapid deployment. Because the software doesn’t need to be installed and configured on individual computers, it can be deployed much faster with SaaS;
  • Accessibility. The SaaS application requires only a browser and an Internet connection to access it, allowing users to log in from anywhere. In addition, user data is stored in the cloud and is not tied to an individual user’s PC, making it easy to collaborate with other users.

Disadvantages 

Despite the advantages of SaaS, there are also some disadvantages:

  • Data security. For sensitive data, in the healthcare or legal spheres, confidential information goes outside the company’s server, which raises issues of access control, privacy, and security;
  • Slow performance. Depending on the speed of your Internet connection and other necessary resources, a SaaS app may run slower than if the software runs locally;
  • Lack of integration. With SaaS, there are fewer opportunities to integrate the software with other programs (compared to the traditional software).

For many companies, the pros have outweighed the cons, and there is a trend toward running more software through SaaS with a cloud computing model.

Must-Have SaaS Tools For Businesses

Since it can be costly to manage your own tools for many tasks in your business, consider the top SaaS tools below.

EmailAnalytics

If your team uses email to communicate, then you need EmailAnalytics. The app visualizes your team’s email activity, showing you essential metrics like emails received, sent, and average email response time.

This enables sales and customer service teams to track and improve response time. In fact, EmailAnalytics customers respond 42.5% faster than non-EmailAnalytics customers, on average. That leads to a 16% increase in sales and 100% happier customers (who doesn’t like faster responses, right?).

EmailAnalytics features:

  • Daily/weekly/monthly email reports
  • Data benchmarks
  • Fast & easy team onboarding

Cost: 14-day free trial, then starting at $5/user per month.

Quickbooks

This is one of the most popular services for automating accounting. Entrepreneurs choose it because it works with popular CRM systems, tracks profits and losses, prints receipts, counts taxes, and collects balance sheets. Suitable for small companies who need an accounting system that meets their needs.

QuickBooks Online offers the most efficient, comprehensive, and useful tools. In addition, its flexibility and extensibility often surpass most Quickbooks alternatives.

Cost: by subscription from $12.95 per month. (30-day trial period)

LeadsBridge

LeadsBridge is an iPaaS solution that enables companies to enhance their omnichannel strategy by orchestrating their business data.

LeadsBridge fulfills your integration needs, focusing on bridging gaps between advertising platforms and sales funnels, and delivering tailor-made integrations made upon your business needs.

The LeadsBridge platform is suited for companies that want to streamline their advertising activities by integrating the marketing technology stack with Facebook & Instagram Ads, Google Ads, and LinkedIn Ads.

With more than +370 out-of-the-box integrations available at the moment, you can easily connect your chosen software with your advertising platform, seamlessly synchronizing data for your marketing workflows.

LeadsBridge main features include:

  • Lead Sync
  • Audience Targeting
  • Online to Offline Tracking
  • Platform to Platform
  • eCommerce Synchronization
  • Tailor-Made integration

LeadBridge offers a free trial for all four paid plans when billed monthly or annually. Paid plans start at just  $29 with the self-service platform that offers up to 1.5k leads/mo.

RecurPost

RecurPost is a social media scheduler you can use to upload fresh content, which will be published instantly.

As a social media planner, they provide all the resources you require to keep your social media accounts active, whether you choose to use applications when on the go, our Chrome plugin while you browse, or regular schedules.

Features:

  • Bulk scheduling
  • White label reports
  • Content marketing
  • Royalty free images

Cost: RecurPost offers a 14-day free trial and their least expensive package runs around $12.50 a month.

EngageBay

EngageBay is a HubSpot alternative for startups, solopreneurs and small businesses. Since some of the popular marketing automation and CRM solutions can get really expensive for small firms, EngageBay was launched in 2017 as a one-stop alternative to get marketing, sales, and customer support tasks streamlined and automated.

About 30,000 business owners have tried EngageBay and the reviews are often great.  The platform comes in handy when you need email templates, a landing page builder, canned or automated responses, a free integrated Live Chat widget for all your website pages, and real-time visual sales reports.

EngageBay features:

  • Automation workflows with custom nodes
  • Email & Landing page builder with templates
  • Facebooks ads, social suite for customer tracking
  • Video marketing
  • Customer Support tickets and groups

Cost: Free plan lasts forever; paid plans start at $7.79/month.

Sked Social

Sked Social is an Instagram-first social media scheduler, giving you tools that get you the most out of Instagram, and faster.

It’s perfect for brands that are visually-led, and it can be used anywhere from simple ‘set and forget’ bulk posting to full social attribution tracking, lead generation, content creation, and UGC (user-generated content) sourcing.

Sked Social’s features include:

  • Drag ‘n’ drop visual planner to perfect your grid
  • Queue for set and forget posts that will go live at your best time to post
  • Hashtag and creator search to instantly find trends and UGC
  • Built in customizable link in bio tool, so your links are always on brand
  • Workflows and collaboration for agencies and freelancers that make it easy to work across teams and with clients
  • In-built canva and image editing so you create and post without leaving your dashboard
  • 7+ other social media channels to cross-post to

InVideo

InVideo is a video-making platform that has 1.5 million users from 190 countries. It provides the convenience of online video editors directly to your browser. It’s perfect for making video advertising, promo videos, and social media videos, among other things. 4000+ designs, quality stock media, text boxes, and more are included with InVideo. The absence of an InVideo watermark on the free plan is a great way to start.

Features of InVideo Editor include:

  • 4,000+ customized pre-made templates including the social media calendar
  • 8M+ iStock and 1M+ Shutterstock Photos
  • Easily convert articles to Video
  • Easily cut, crop, crop, composite, and brand your work.
  • Text-to-speech for accent free voiceovers
  • Live chat support and online community

Available for: Windows, Mac, and iPad (on popular desktop-based browsers)

Hubspot

HubSpot is a solution for automating marketing and sales tasks. It is a service that covers all the areas of Internet marketing, and it is a universal solution in this area.

The service includes tools for blogging, social media, SEO, email marketing automation, 8 Best Free Digital Marketing Tools for Businesses in 2021content management, and landing pages. So instead of hiring an SEO consultant or content marketer to do everything for you, you can use this tool and it will be of great help. Hubspot can also help you conduct surveys but you can opt for an omnichannel survey software instead.

HubSpot offers the company to work in several directions simultaneously: attracting attention, converting leads into sales, and generating reports.

HubSpot features:

  • Integrated CRM system;
  • Form and landing page designer;
  • Detailed reporting;
  • Tracking of leads;
  • Collaborative work.
  • SMS automation via integration

Cost: free, premium version is required when connecting with the site. Many people find Huspot’s free offering is too limited so it may be worthwhile to check Hubspot Alternatives to find lower priced options.

Antavo Loyalty Management Platform

Antavo is an API-centric, no-code loyalty technology provider that creates complete, enterprise-grade loyalty programs for brands, merchants, and shopping malls to nurture brand love and impact customer behavior. Antavo supercharges omnichannel and eCommerce organizations’ marketing strategies with a scalable and holistic loyalty logic that offers a next-level shopping experience with best-in-class in-store capabilities.

Antavo is a ‘pure-play’ loyalty service provider that has been recognized by Gartner and Forrester for its strong emphasis on a comprehensive, but complex loyalty system. The firm is a great innovator, not just generating new features for its software but also producing new products for the retail space.

Antavo features a simple and smooth integration with corporate solutions thanks to the API layer. Its system provides a robust set of tools for managing all aspects of a sophisticated loyalty program in a consistent manner. Customers may design their own program, manage membership categories, provide rewards, use gamification and non-transactional components, and ultimately boost customer lifetime value.

Service now

The popularity of the ServiceNow platform is gaining momentum every year. It is like a snow avalanche: good applications and new technologies raise the interest of users and spur developers to make their product even better.

This is a service that supports all key ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) processes. Importantly, the architecture of the solution is designed for high loads, so it works without interruptions.

Cost: by subscription (there is a trial period).

SelfCAD

SelfCAD is an easy to use 3D modeling software for beginners and professionals. Though it’s main target is freelance designers, professionals and hobbyists, it’s also a great tool for businesses for creating advertising 3D materials and realistic renders much easily without even having to hire  professionals to do it for them. There is also the interactive tutorial feature that businesses can use to bring their new employees onboard much quickly and easily.

Costy: by Subscription (there is a trial period)

Stripe

Stripe is an international system for secure Internet payments with plastic cards, in other words, a good counterpart to PayPal. Although it took some time for Stripe to catch up to PayPal, it now has millions of customers. Stripe meets international security standards, with PCI Level 1 certification, which is the highest level of certification in the payments industry. A convenient service is gaining popularity among giants as well (SAP, Kickstarter, Facebook, UNICEF, and others).

Features:

  • Subscription features are simple;
  • Reports are clear and transparent;
  • Fixed price;
  • Advanced reporting features to help you track your sales.

Cost: 2.9% + USD $0.3 per transaction.

Shopify

A Canadian platform that allows you to create your own online stores.

Since its launch, the platform has quickly grown from a small player to one of the leading eCommerce solutions next to BigCommerce, Volusion, Magento, or WooCommerce.

It’s easy to work with, requires no knowledge of code, so suitable for private entrepreneurs as well.

Cost: by subscription, from USD $29 per month. There is a trial period of 14 days.

Zoho

A set of useful office tools: free online document editors, a set of integrated business applications, a user administration, data analytics, and a data backup system. It is the choice of those who need everything at once.

Cost: free trial period of 15 days (then custom).

Many people are familiar with this corporate messenger.

The purpose of the service is to optimize team communication and facilitate interaction between departments. Slack is suitable for companies from different spheres: creative agencies, development teams, education, financial services, production, sales, and other areas. Thanks to Slack integration with many programs and services, it allows a company to create a full-fledged working environment.

Integrated with Google Drive, Office 365, and other useful business platforms.

Cost: from USD $6.67 per month.

Friday

Looking to work asynchronously and buid a better culture at work? Friday helps you make the office optional. Add daily standups, weekly check-ins, and one-on-ones in a regular way without having another meeting. You can now embrac flexible work without the fatigue of more video calls. It’s a perfect complement to Slack. You can also add the Friday planner and be productive as an individual employee, too.

Integrates with Zoom, Slack, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Trello, Asana, and more.

Cost: Free to $9 per month/person

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a marketing optimization platform, but its most useful function for businesses is free email newsletters and their further analytics. Everything a marketer needs, from recipient segmentation and click maps to spam checking.

Cost: free (a basic package), other packages from USD $9.99 per month.

Intercom

A successful service for communicating with customers (Intercom collaborates with Slack, so you won’t lose anyone). Targeted and delayed messages, A/B tests, integration with Hubspot, Shopify, and others.

Cost: after a trial period (14 days) from USD $49 per month.

Docusign

One of the most popular services for creating electronic signatures. With just a few clicks, you can sign and submit any document for signature directly from Gmail and Chrome. No need to print, fax, scan, or send documents via express mail.

Docusign is trusted by millions of people in 188 countries. It’s used in virtually every field, including finance, law, recruiting, sales, real estate, healthcare, etc.

Cost: From USD $10 per user.

Zoom

The COVID-19 forced many organizations to move to a remote-first model. Companies quickly realized that a video-conferencing platform was no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have.

From standard conference calls, to virtual lunch and learns, and even hosting virtual holiday parties, Zoom has proven to be the best-in-class video conferencing software for organizations operating in a remote-first or hybrid model.

Cost: Free then starting at $14.99 USD per month per license.

UserGuiding

UserGuiding is an all-in-one user training and onboarding tool for web products and websites. Without any coding, you can create a wide range of interactive UX elements such as product tours, tooltips, checklists, resource centers and more.

You can group users with custom segmentation and analyze the performance of your user onboarding material with in-depth analytics.

And not just for new users too, with UserGuiding’s newest extension UG Now, you can create interactive tutorials for your employees on all your tech stack.

Cost: after a trial period (14 days) from USD $99 per month.

WiseStamp Signature Manager

If your business has an email output in the tens or more daily, then you should be using WiseStamp. This email signature management software lets businesses of any size create a great looking business email signature and assign it to any number of employees with just a few clicks.

Email signature management will allow your business to control your branding in all your email campaign communication. You can choose to create unique signatures by job post or department.  Another useful feature is the possibility to assign editing privileges to team leaders. This lets them run email signature marketing campaigns that target the specific goals of their department (such as recrutement link for HR, and Demo signup link for Sales).

WiseStamp is integrated with cloud based information processing tool providers like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace.

WiseStamp features:

  • Email signature generator
  • Office 365 signature management
  • G Suite  signature management
  • User directory integration
  • Signature segmentation
  • Email signature click tracking

Cost: 14-day free trial, then $2/user per month.

Flatlogic Generator

The future is in low code. Cloud-based web applications just like any web service tool can be built without wasting time with custom code or extra syntax, but with the help of Flatlogic generator. Web app generator gives you the real toolkit to create your fullstack apps.

How it works: you define the appropriate model of your software creating a skeleton with the right stack, front-end and back-end, and an appropriate database. Flatlogic handles deployment and hosting for you. There is no need to download and install the final result, because everything is available online.

Cost: From USD $19 per project.

Timely

Timely is an automated time-tracking tool that also lets you track projects, monitor budgets, and view team performance all in one software. With Timely, you can examine past costs, tasks and turnarounds to set competitive rates and improve future project profitability and efficiency. Timely prioritizes privacy in its functionality, giving each team member their own private work timeline so they can control what information is displayed publicly. And with automatic time-tracking and timesheet drafts, your team can focus less on daily admin tasks — and more on the work itself.

Cost: Starts at $8 per user per month when billed annually.

Conclusion

In these times of information overload, choosing effective channels of communication with job candidates, working on resumes, growing teams of remote employees, partners, or even potential clients is a key to improving team productivity and overall project success.

We hope these SaaS solutions will be useful to your business and justify their popularity.

Web Designer vs Web Developer: What’s the Difference?

Web development and web design are two rapidly growing segments of the IT market. Designers are graphic artists who work on the visual side of websites — aesthetics, layout, and usability. In comparison, web developers build and maintain the underlying code. Does your company need to hire a developer or designer? Discover the main differences between their competencies in our article.

The Mission of Web Designers

To be successful, artists need a solid combination of technical and creative skills. Their work may include diverse tasks and responsibilities revolving around the visual aspects. For example, they may need to convert existing web design for better functionality, and code in different languages, such as JavaScript, Python, HTML, and PHP.

The goal of web design is to create a visually pleasing, user-friendly, and functional appearance. Their work is crucial for web development, as it creates a blueprint for the coding stage. Every business wants its website to attract visitors and prompt them to stay as long as possible.

Key Responsibilities

Designers do not only deal with the framework and layout. They must consider and create elements that generate conversion. Moreover, as mobile responsiveness is paramount, the website must ensure a smooth experience on any screen.

Professionals need to keep track of the latest trends in their industry and comply with specific standards. Their responsibilities often include work on brand imagery, fonts, colors, etc. Companies like Spotify also ask their designers to create style guides, so all of their websites look consistent. These specialists must be proficient in using different technologies and systems, such as:

  • HTML and CSS,
  • responsive and interaction design,
  • wireframing and prototyping,
  • conversion Rate Optimization,
  • user journey mapping,
  • branding,
  • color theory,
  • typography.

Designers need to do a lot of research and testing to make sure the product meets the client’s requirements and the expectations of the target audience. They also work with different resources. They may create, administer, and oversee documents like:

  • web design contracts,
  • site briefs,
  • website design questionnaires,
  • site proposals.

In their work, designers must make sure the result does not interfere with the coding. They create site structures and mockups, so the developers can get down to business. Finally, a part of web designers expertise concerns post-launch services. They may need to provide content and updates, maintain and monitor the site, and check its performance regularly.

Types of Web Designers

The industry of web development services is a broad field that includes different jobs based on the type of work required from the artist. There are three groups of experts, and all of them are in high demand.

1. UX Designers

These professionals make sure the structure of the website supports smooth navigation and a pleasant user experience overall. You can search for the best UX design websites for inspiration.  Or you can search for the best UX design websites for better understanding. All the best designs are human-centric, as they are based on the typical behavior patterns of users. UX designers make decisions based on research and solid data. They continuously check their solutions to collect and analyze data that helps their teams make informed choices.

2. UI Designers

The quality of user interface determines the quality of interactions with its visitors. These designers work on usability to make sure the visitors stay on the site, so they are more likely to become customers.

3. Visual Designers

As the job title suggests, these professionals are tasked with developing and perfecting the layout of a website, including all of its visual elements. This field overlaps with both UI and UX competencies. The two priorities for a visual designer are the aesthetic quality of the interface and user-friendliness.

The Mission of Web Developers

While designers deal with aesthetics and usability, developers create and maintain the website foundation — its core structure. This involves multifaceted technical work. For example, developers perform sophisticated coding and work with advanced programming languages. Based on the concepts and ideas proposed by the design team, hire full-stack developer, and they will build live and updated websites for any need.

Key Responsibilities

In a project team, it is the developer that constructs the website. This is a complex task requiring different types of expertise:

  • knowledge of programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP
  • configuring the back end (server and databases)
  • integrating features and functions related to UX
  • testing and debugging
  • support, maintenance, and fixing of any issues
  • search engine optimization
  • work with content management systems

Web development may be compared to construction. Developers build new websites, just like construction companies build houses. The mission of a developer is to create a reliable and functional structure based on the architect’s blueprints.

Types of Web Developers

Developers may work with different programming languages, but they usually specialize in a handful of them. Depending on the type of work they do, these specialists may be classified as:

1. Front-End Web Developers

These are the experts responsible for the coding of all visual elements that users see. In their work, they collaborate with web designers closely. The experts may use JavaScript, CSS, HTML, or other common languages. In addition, they must be well-versed in using Content Management Systems like WordPress. This dimension of development is also referred to as client-side development.

2. Back-End Web Developers

Developers who work with the back and produce code for the server and database. This job requires knowledge of server frameworks and such programming languages as PHP, C#, Java, Ruby, SQL, and NodeJS. These professionals deal with the aspects of website functionality that remain hidden from the user.

3. Full-Stack Web Developers

This category of development experts deals with both the client-side and the server-side. They must have extensive knowledge of both front- and back-end systems, and an understanding of how they work and interact. In terms of programming languages, they often use javascript, CSS, and HTML. In addition, they are responsible for the setup and configuration of servers, coding of APIs, and more.

To Sum up

Web designers and web developers are responsible for two major aspects of creating a website. While the artists create the blueprints based on the desired aesthetics and user experience, developers turn their ideas into fully-functional sites and ensure their flawless performance. Both developers and designers are integral parts of any development team.