Textual’s Text to Buy SaaS platform gives Estée Lauder 98x ROI
Textual’s SaaS solution is generating buzz around the mobile commerce space. The company announced this week that it generated $1.8 million in revenue for cosmetics retailer and manufacturer Estée Lauder over the past year.
But the revenue itself wasn’t the highlight of the announcement. It’s the fact that it generated an ROI worth 98 times what they spent. And they spent little to achieve this number! It equaled only 6% of their overall marketing spend.
Clearly, mobile commerce can be effective when used correctly and with the right product or brand. Textual cited a report from eMarketer in their press release that stated 50% of consumers prefer to interact with brands via text.
However, the report is also quick to point out that this SaaS solution is known to have some issues:
- It has a higher touch-level than other marketing styles.
- Someone must engage with the customer quickly at the beginning and end of the sale.
- There are typically multiple steps to complete the checkout process.
Textual says that it has created a platform that eliminates many of these unnecessary steps and allows customers to make a purchase in as little as one text — after they set up a profile. Self-service SaaS platforms like these can help businesses market directly to their customers with fully automated marketing campaigns.
New MuleSoft Automation tools launch on Salesforce
Last week, SalesForce announced that its MuleSoft integration is taking the next step by launching MuleSoft Automation. Now, Salesforce users can easily automate workflows whether a team is tech-oriented or not.
The no-code solution uses bots through MuleSoft RPA (robotic process automation) to set up connections to commonly used systems like Stripe, Twilio, Slack, NetSuite, Workday, and more. This allows service agents to sync data quickly and provide records and information quickly to whoever interacts with the customer.
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MuleSoft Chief Product Officer, Shaun Clowes, stated,
“As an integral part of Salesforce Customer 360, MuleSoft helps companies integrate complex systems and data, while expanding the universe of people who can use automation across any system or workflow.”
Customers like ADT, AT&T, Bayer, and Western Union are all using MuleSoft’s Salesforce integration to automate their workflows. Salesforce’s press release stated that their customers “are running 4.8 billion MuleSoft transactions daily and decreasing operational costs by 74%.”
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Zoom building back through corporate customers
A recent Bloomberg article reported that Zoom is on the rebound and focusing on its corporate customers to help them bounce back.
During the pandemic, the videoconferencing SaaS service became a staple of communication for many households and companies. But as the lockdowns phased out, the company saw their numbers plunging.
After all, the company never expected the influx of traffic and couldn’t sustain it for the long haul. Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan outright stated in an interview in March,
“When the pandemic crisis hit us, we were not ready.”
Since then, the CEO shifted the company’s focus towards corporate licensing sales and collaborative tools like phones, chat services, conference rooms, digital whiteboards, and more. Whether the strategy will work is yet to be seen, but we’ll report more when we see their quarterly numbers released.
Augment launches free Community Software Program for MSPs
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) just got a boost from SaaS security and management tools company Augmentt. They just launched their Free Community Software Program that will help IT professionals better manage and secure SaaS and cloud applications.
The key tools on the platform include the Augmentt Security Auditing Tool for Salesforce and the Augmentt Email & Notification Console. The security tool allows IT professionals to monitor their Salesforce security settings with ease. And the email and notification console provides users with monitoring for critical email-based alerts and notifications.
On the launch, Augmentt Co-founder and CEO Derik Belair stated,
“In launching our Free Community Software Program, we are making it easier for MSPs and IT professionals to succeed in measuring, managing and optimizing their customers’ SaaS usage, while protecting against the evolving cybersecurity threat landscape.”
Azure is coming to Kuwait
Microsoft received some good news this week as the Kuwaiti Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA) gave permission for the company to provide cloud services in the country.
This opens businesses and other organizations to use Office 365, Azure, Azure Stack, and Hyperconverged Infrastructure. And overall, it’s a big win for the company who is in the middle of a large expansion of its global cloud services.
In the announcement, Microsoft Kuwait GM Alaeddine Karim stated,
“The permission granted to us by CITRA reinforces Microsoft’s position as a trusted technology provider and demonstrates our commitment to empowering organizations to innovate securely and accelerate digital transformation across the country.”
New Internal Corrosion Management SaaS Solution from OneBridge hits the market
If you’re not aware, internal corrosion is an enormous threat within the chemicals sector. It happens when certain contaminants found within oil and gas — like carbon dioxide — corrode a pipeline. To mitigate this issue, pipeline operators inject costly chemical additives that protect the pipes.
OneBridge’s Corrosion Management System (CMS) SaaS solution integrates with their Cognitive Integrity Management software and uses the analytics to manage these corrosion issues. The company conducted private releases for three major companies and had positive results.
OneBridge President Brandon Taylor said,
“We are most appreciative of our customers who participated in our private preview and helped us validate our models. With their guidance, this initial release of CMS incorporates more data in CIM, enables advanced analytics and delivers more intelligent insights for IC mitigation.
On that news, OneBridge proceeded with a general market release. If you’re curious about exactly how this SaaS solution works, the company is hosting a webinar on July 13th.
Intuit postpones QuickBooks exit in India
Last week, we reported QuickBooks would be completely exiting the Indian market as of January 31, 2023 and no longer accepting new customers as of the 1st of this month. But this week, the company updated their announcement and extended access to customers through April 30, 2023.
Besides the timeline extension, the company is also migrating customers to a free subscription plan at the end of the month. And they’re helping customers find new providers with links and data download instructions and other help features.
With the overhead, many Western companies are finding it difficult to transition into the Indian market. For now, we can mark QuickBooks as another SaaS provider that tried and failed.