November 2013 Summaries

Hickies, an elastic lacing system that turns sneakers into slip-ons, was successfully funded on Kickstarter and has since shipped over one million packs by the end of 2013. The company prioritizes customer service, using tools like Shopify and Desk.com to track and interact with customers. However, as their sales increased, manually executing processes became too time-consuming, leading Carla Martinez, user experience manager, to find a solution with Zapier, an automation tool that integrates with various apps. By automating processes such as sending follow-up emails and tracking customer information, Hickies has seen a 24% increase in returning customers and a 46% increase in customer engagement. The company's success is attributed to its commitment to customer satisfaction, which Carla attributes to Zapier's ability to help her team "know exactly what they bought" and provide personalized support.

Debugging in Python can be enhanced by using a variety of tools, each with distinct features and strengths. The built-in debugger, pdb, is always available and provides essential functionalities such as stepping through code and setting breakpoints, though it lacks features like tab completion and color coding. Pydbgr offers fine-grained control over execution flow and low-level inspection of symbols, though its additional features may not be crucial for everyday web development. Pudb stands out with its terminal-based mini GUI, allowing for intuitive navigation and visualization of code, stack, and variables, making it particularly beneficial for following stack traces. Finally, ipdb, which integrates with iPython, offers advanced features like tab completion and syntax highlighting, making it the most user-friendly and effective tool out-of-the-box. Different debugging scenarios may call for different tools, but ipdb is preferred for its efficiency in familiar codebases, while pudb is favored for navigating complex, unfamiliar code.

To run a successful webinar, Kissmetrics uses several tools such as Unbounce for landing pages, Zapier for automating apps, GoToWebinar for running webinars, and AWeber for sending emails. The first step is to choose the goal of the webinar, which should be sales qualified leads. Next, identify content that converts by analyzing past email campaigns and blog posts. Then, build a funnel by announcing the webinar through email lists, blog posts, and social channels, directing subscribers to a landing page where they can register for the webinar. The landing page is optimized using Unbounce to increase conversion rates. During the webinar, conduct a professional presentation with tips such as starting on time, teasing a freebie, having two presenters, and following up quickly. After the webinar, update the landing page to prompt visitors to give their email address in exchange for a recording of the webinar. Finally, optimize the process for learning by using tools like Unbounce, Zapier, GoToWebinar, and AWeber, and repeat the process to continually improve results.