Retailers already know: the five most eagerly awaited days of the year are coming and to make Black Friday the 13th month of 2024, they won't just need to prepare their websites in advance against slowdowns, the lack of a good landing page history and last-minute trend research. We are facing a Black Friday that promises to be a watershed in terms of the effective application of artificial intelligence by companies. At a recent event, directors from Google Brazil stated that the use of AI to optimize processes has everything to boost this year's edition.

Let's think about some possibilities for using technology and how they can benefit sellers and their businesses, thinking about the entire customer journey within e-commerce. There are several stages that the consumer goes through until they reach the checkout, and how companies optimize each one makes a difference in the short and long term, considering that the brands' main interest is loyalty. AI is a tool that can facilitate this journey from end to end, as we'll see below.

Real-time demand forecasting

Using the tool can avoid one of the problems that most afflicts retailers in times of high demand: stock shortages. With AI, demand forecasting takes place in real time, guaranteeing product replenishment.

According to a study by McKinsey, AI-based demand forecasting can reduce inventory costs by 10% to 40%. Brands such as Walmart already report saving billions of dollars by optimizing their supply chains with the technology. In addition, AI can predict logistical disruptions, guaranteeing on-time deliveries.

Greater personalization of offers

Trend research is also a crucial aspect of Black Friday, which requires SEOs to keep a close eye on consumer habits in order to anticipate demand. It is on this basis that the company is able to strategically prepare its stock for the period. This movement is nothing new for retailers, who keep an eye on what's hot every year.

However, when we talk about generative AI, it allows us to analyze large amounts of customer data, such as purchase history, searches and demographic information, creating highly personalized offers based on browsing habits and suggesting much more accurate results. The result is a higher conversion and sales rate for brands.

Fast generation of landing pages and instant pricing

To increase conversion and lead generation, the creation of landing pages is also a key element. And good returns are proportional to the volume of pages created. With AI, it is possible to optimize this creation process automatically, generating a huge number of pages in a short time.

And to optimize competitiveness, AI also makes it possible for prices to adjust instantly.

Efficient customer support and fraud protection

In addition to possible logistical bottlenecks and the other issues I've outlined above, one of the biggest challenges of Black Friday is definitely managing orders and providing efficient customer support. Reports of overloaded and stressed teams are common, resulting in problems in the consumer's purchasing journey, who end up frustrated and often giving up on the product.

The good news is that AI chatbots handle mass requests much more quickly, ensuring a higher level of buyer satisfaction and loyalty. And you, the retailer, should remember that great customer service and an efficient problem-solving channel will bear fruit beyond November.

Another constant headache for both buyers and sellers is fraud attempts, which are only increasing in the country. On Black Friday 2023, they amounted to R$10 million, according to data from Clearsale. And while AI has been a tool for applying scams, it can also offer protection against them. Generative AI algorithms are capable of preserving retailers' revenue by identifying risky situations and deviations from patterns in transactions that suggest counterfeit profiles or products, thus preventing fraud from occurring.

Automated checkout and shorter waiting times

Finally, we come to the checkout. Many customers abandon their carts because of the slowness of the queues at the payment stage. Data from a survey carried out by Salescycle in 2021 revealed that more than 80% of users abandon their online cart. Investing in automated checkout systems can solve this problem, speeding up the purchasing process and reducing waiting times.

In short, betting on AI improves real-time decisions for sellers, simplifies the search for products, personalizes experiences and speeds up checkout for shoppers. And remember to learn lessons this year, because AI is a path of no return. We can expect an even more accelerated application of technology on Black Friday 2025, which will take competitiveness among retailers to another level.

The countdown has begun. As of July 1, Google Analytics Universal will be discontinued, being replaced definitively by Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Since the launch of the new version in October 2020, some companies have slowly started to migrate. However, it was only with the announcement of the end of Universal Analytics, in March 2022, that this process was intensified. Still, many have left the migration to the final stretch of the service. But why is this transition so important?  

GA4 addresses a major market issue: the ability to measure App, Mobile and Website data on the same platform. Five years ago this task was Herculean for most companies, requiring large investment in analytics and processing. In addition to the usual traffic analysis tools in Universal, in this new version we will finally have a unified view of the different platforms (App and Website) in a single journey, and user monitoring in a non-intrusive way, in compliance with data processing laws, such as the Brazilian LGPD.

By simplifying the process, GA4 will make App and Site metrics comparable. This will be reflected in greater accuracy in behavior and attribution analysis and a view of data that is closer to reality. In a world where App and SuperApp are watchwords, unified data represents competitive advantage.

The adoption of GA4 by marketers marks a paradigm shift: from web analytics (analysis of data from web page visits) to customer analytics (analysis of consumer behavior on a brand's digital platforms). This new paradigm accompanies the market change. And understanding this changeability of the digital landscape is a key point to ensure a successful migration, as every new technology brings the inherent risk of adaptation. 

Universal Analytics has become, in recent years, the dominant market tool for bringing data about the navigation and searches made by users on websites. From Urchin Analytics (the first name of the tool) to Universal Analytics, a lot of time has passed and many people have gotten used to reporting the same way. Now we are faced with a new way of collecting and storing data, with a different interface. 

Brazilian teams are used to the old version and the change may present difficulties for the construction of reports and day-to-day decision making, which will be remedied by time and necessity. A less visible risk is also the breakdown of automated processes for building company indicators. Many cross-reference analytics and internal data to build a more accurate view of their business. These reports will need to be reviewed, as will the processes that build them.

The implementation process can be as long as the complexity of each platform. Complex sites, with a high degree of customization, will tend to require more effort and therefore more time. In this sense, a smart strategy is to modularize the implementation in steps and plan metric by metric what should be implemented. This is what we call a metrics map. 

In a practical sense, companies can adopt the following process: ensure that the implementation is accurate, create a DE-PARA of reports vital to the organization, map the main reports used and train the teams. 

But beyond training teams, it is essential to disseminate this change at all levels of companies. It is easier to communicate this transformation to the board of directors than to try to explain, a few months from now, why the metrics have changed. 

*JoãoLee is CEO of Simplex, a French-Brazilian startup that pioneered the technological approach of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to increase qualified traffic, conversion and online sales. Specialist in digital Analytics and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms, he was responsible for the Web Analytics area of Cnova, of the Casino Group. 

Social media has triggered one of the biggest disruptive waves in human communications, perhaps only compared to Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. At the time, the possibility of rapid reproduction of books and other content encouraged literacy and stimulated the emergence of schools around the world. The circulation of information took humanity to a new level of knowledge.

It is true that radio and television have also impacted communication processes and the way communicators work. Everyone was forced to adapt to the language of these new media. This was also the case with the emergence of the internet in the late 1980s. The new digital media were disruptive and brought great challenges to communication and communicators. The situation now seems to be a little more challenging.

By giving each individual the power to speak directly to millions of people, social media has broken the entire logic of communication that has prevailed for more than a hundred years, always mediated by the media and centered on a few vehicles.

Even for technologies born in the digital age, such as search engines, which were decisive in making the internet as we know it possible, there is a cloud of uncertainty forming on the horizon caused by social media.

A few days ago, browsing TikTok, the social media typical of generation Z, I came across a post by a user who made the following comment: "Guys, do any of you still use Google to search?"

Hello? What do you mean, "yet"? Is there another tool that is threatening the search giant's lead?

The truth is that, yes, it exists. It is Generation Z, made up of digital natives born in this century, who have become accustomed to seeking information about services and products - no longer in internet searches, or in traditional sources of information. On the contrary, their preference is to get informed based on what other users, who are not always famous, say or give their opinion. For Gen Z, the opinion of those they know, or consider to know, is what counts, whatever it may be. Because influencers work with publis, there is a possibility that the professional may not even really know the product - or not use it. But a person who does not make a living from it would have no reason to lie. So their opinion and experience is valuable.

This is what the user was talking about. For her it made no sense to seek information in any other environment than social media. It's a trend that seems to be coming on strong. This did not go unnoticed by one of the geniuses of SEO and one of the most respected names in the world of digital marketing: Neil Patel. In true TikTok style, Patel recorded a 30-second video in which he suggests that this media, adored by generation Z, has the potential to soon take the lead in searches, precisely because of the behavior of its users.

It is still difficult to measure how this new behavior will impact search engines, but I am sure that the future will be increasingly focused on the quality of content created. And I don't say that thinking about complex and expensive content, but rather about the quality of it regardless of large investments. In a creative and authentic way, it is possible to engage people if the goal is to generate knowledge and not just sell something.

Surely, this new model will pose immense challenges for teams, even more so for SEO teams. We are witnessing a new disruption in search systems. So, is your company ready?

Metaverse is the most heard and discussed word in recent times, or at least, since Mark Zuckeberg disclosed that he would change the name of his company to Meta. In practical terms, the metaverse makes use of virtual and augmented reality technologies so that the user can immerse themselves in this new reality of the brave new world.

The movie Player #1, directed by Steven Spielberg and inspired by the book Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline, showed well how this would work back in 2018, when it premiered in theaters. The narrative takes place in a physical world so destroyed that people choose to live inside their consoles. If you haven't seen this movie, the nerd in me invites you to find all the references and easter eggs in the movie. But back to the focus, it - in my opinion - illustrates what to expect from the metaverse in some way.

A little further ahead, in the year 2019, we saw brands like Louis Vuitton make billions just with skins (the name given to clothes in the gaming universe) in games like League of Legends. Today, it is more common to have artists doing shows in games like Fortnite. Examples abound. We have the Americans Travis Scott, with more than 14 million fans attending the show, and DJ Marshmellow, with more than 10 million. My nephew was even attending Emicida's Fortnite concert a few weeks ago. Always at the forefront, the rapper is the first Brazilian artist to perform on the platform. 

It is already clear that the metaverse has events, parades, shows, products for the avatars and more. The focus, I believe, is a new form of social connection within various options of virtual worlds and realities. But what does this mean for the SEO universe? One of the SEO trend predictions for 2022, made by our co-founder, João Lee, is a greater focus on voice searches.

In the metaverse scene, I believe the trend is exactly that. As much as many glasses have various forms of keyboards, voice is perhaps the easiest way for some people to pursue their desires.

But, considering that we are talking about searching for something through our voices, we can think that the famous long-tail keywords - which we have advocated for years as one of the best ways to bring a good experience to the consumer - is the best strategy for this new type of experience and the adoption of good SEO practices. 

And that's exactly where the SEO team will shine. And if, by chance, this team has the help of an engine that creates pages for longtail keywords automatically and scalably, even better. More than ever, we must deliver to a specific search a result that matches that specification. And in voice, this will be more evident.

Another important aspect to consider concerns voice assistants. These tools will gain even more prominence with the metaverse, which could impact search engines and the metrics we use to measure performance. But this is a topic for an upcoming article.

The worldwide message is given. According to Google, all standard properties of its Universal Analytics tool - version 3 of Google Analytics used to bring data about navigation and searches made by users on websites and applications - will stop processing data on July 1, 2023. That's 15 months for companies to migrate to the new version, Google Analytics 4 (GA4). It may seem like a long time. But it's not. After all, the sooner the new version is adopted, the further ahead companies will be refining their own data measurement processes, to understand the behavior of their customers and leads, fundamental to optimize conversion, from the new platform. And by knowing more about user behavior on the internet, they will consequently achieve better results in their business, more competitiveness and confidence in the market. It will also be a change in the usability of the tool, so professionals will also need to adapt to the new platform.

GA4 was created to bring new proposals for search optimization, where platforms seek to integrate with greater agility, in the face of an increasing relevance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning in the elaboration of companies' strategies. Its great differential is precisely the characteristic of allowing a complete view of the customer journey with a flexible measurement model based on events that is not fragmented by platform or organized in independent sessions, but taking into account interactions on different platforms. 

In other words: unlike the predecessor version, the new tool integrates the entire user journey, regardless of how many devices have been used by the same person via website and/or apps in a given search until the eventual purchase. This unique user identification is performed by three methods: by the website logins system, by the Google account and by the device used by the user.  

Google Analytics 4 should also impact the quality of advertising and marketing actions. With the possibility of understanding that the user who browses the site and uses the application is the same, it will be possible to avoid excessive advertising and make the experience much more friendly and more likely to stick.

Importantly, GA4 will also no longer store IP addresses and will not rely on invasive and controversial cookies. This solution and control is especially necessary in the current national and international data privacy scenario, in which users expect more and more protection and control of their personal information, meeting the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD) and the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

With these features, Google Analytics 4 makes it possible to predict new and more valuable insights. Most importantly, it is designed to keep pace with an ever-changing ecosystem. Therefore, the platform helps companies meet evolving needs and user expectations with more comprehensive and granular controls for data collection and use, enabling more accurate delivery of analytics in a more rational and secure model. 

It only remains to be seen whether, in the future, Google will be able to refine and identify subgroups of users. In a country like Brazil, where there is device sharing, whether computer or cell phone, there is the challenge of identifying who actually did a particular search. How to do this measurement? We await the next chapters.