A common theme from new clients is that they have difficulty tracking their communications and interactions with prospects and customers.

How do you manage thousands of contacts? Do you know who navigates your marketing funnel and at what stage? What marketing and sales efforts are most valuable to your business? While the answer isn’t surprising, the number of options and considerations might be.

 software is vital for any modern marketer. It allows them to manage their prospects and contacts, track their touchpoints and communications with them, and determine which strategies and tactics are most effective at driving results.

Over the years, VIA Studio has worked with many clients on onboarding, managing, and utilizing CRM platforms to achieve their goals. We have experience with enterprise-level CRM projects for large organizations and small to medium-sized business-level CRM integration for start-ups and local companies.

Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 stand at the pinnacle for large-scale organizations, offering unmatched functionality and customization options, albeit with a price tag to match. They can can quickly reach six-figure annual investments in licensing, onboarding, and administration. Here's what we've learned.

Best-in-class with Sales Cloud, offering detailed pipeline visibility and forecasting.

 Tailor Salesforce to fit your business needs by trimming unnecessary features.

 Can be overwhelming for those without the need for intricate systems. 

 External integrations add cost and management overhead.

 Seamless connectivity with Microsoft tools like Outlook. Users don’t have to spend time switching between platforms and accounts to do their jobs. They can focus on their tasks and know their activities are actively logged into the platform.

 Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities through 

 Custom setups require significant development effort. The time commitment is massive.

 Additional cost for Microsoft licenses, unless already integrated into your IT infrastructure.

lacks many ready-made process automation 

For smaller budgets and simpler needs, HubSpot and Constant Contact offer powerful, user-friendly solutions without the enterprise-level investment.

 User-friendly data organization and sales analytics.

 Intuitive automation flows and scheduling functionalities.

For an advanced technology platform, their sales tactics were developed in the 1950's, requiring you to call them on a phone line.

 Full feature access can become pricey for some businesses. Do we love most of what HubSpot offers? Yes. Is it worth what they charge? Unfortunately, only if you’re a certain size company (with a certain sized budget). There are still some automation processes that we would love to have in HubSpot, but the costs sometimes don’t justify the features and functionality.

Constant Contact recently purchased a tool we used called SharpSpring. These notes take both tools into consideration.

 Easy to use with extensive support and prebuilt templates.

 Exceptional service with quick response times.

Basic functionalities that might not suffice for advanced users.

Choosing the right CRM is a strategic decision that impacts every facet of your operations. VIA Studio's extensive experience across the CRM spectrum ensures you make an informed choice, balancing budget, functionality, and ease of use to find your perfect match.

If the path to CRM enlightenment seems daunting, reach out. We're here to illuminate the way, crafting a CRM strategy that aligns with your business ambitions. 

Marketing

Development

Strategy

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

Dynamic display ads are the recommended way to run display campaigns on Google Ads and the Google Display Network. Dynamic ads with animations and motion graphics are more likely to catch a user’s attention and result in a click.

However, not all campaigns have the budget or time to create a full suite of HTML5 display ads recommended by Google Ads. Rather than using static image ads, .gif display ads can offer a nice balance between production cost and end results.

The Problem: Google Was Rejecting Our .gif Display Ads

The Google Ads platform is picky about which .gif assets it allows to be uploaded for use. Even worse, in our experience, we kept receiving the same error message that didn't even correctly identify the problem with the assets we were trying to upload. “We've detected strobing or Flashing effects. Make sure the frame rate of your ad is less than 5 FPS for GIFs. 

" kept popping up, despite our .gif display ads being below 5 FPS. So, what do you do?

In our experience, the answer lies within specifically, how you are exporting the animation from After Effects into a .mov file and then, what method you are using for compression and how you are converting that compressed file into a .gif. Previously, we created .gif display assets as a video file exported from 

 at 4fps, then converted that .mov into a compressed, web optimized .mp4 using 

's free video compression tool and lastly, to a .gif using Photoshop’s import “video frame to layers” feature, or 

free video to .gif conversion platform. It's a process, but one that met the picky standards of Google. Until it didn't. 

Assets produced this way were being denied by Google Ads and causing frustration. We had to figure out why. It took some trial and error, but the solution to this issue is relatively simple. Once you know it.


The Solution: Export .gif Ads as PNG Sequences from After Effects

The solution that we found to make Google Ads accept our .gif ad assets was instead of exporting them from After Effects as a .mov and converting that .mov file to a .gif file; we exported as a "png sequence" for each ad. Essentially a series of images/frames rather than a movie. This allowed us to have full control over the mysterious frame rate issue and the png images/frames rendered higher quality as a frame by frame animation rather than a .mov file, converted to an animated .gif. We then used the png sequence and brought the series of images into Photoshop to create the .gif files for use in Google Ads. A step by step breakdown of this process:

Create your dynamic animation for the display ads in After Effects

Export your dynamic display ads as a .png sequence from After Effects

Import your series of images into your Timeline in Photoshop as “frames”

Customize your frame rate, timing and tweening 

Export for web from Photoshop as a looping .gif

A few parameters that Google Ads has in regards to these ads that you should keep in mind include:

The simpler the animation, the easier this is to meet

Animation length must be 30 seconds or shorter - 

Recommend a short, looping animation. You don't have a users attention for long with display ads. Make the movement more ambient rather than necessary to the message  

Animations can be looped, but the animations must stop after 30 seconds

Animated GIF ads must be slower than 5 FPS - 

Make sure you set your frame rate in step 1 - Go to After Effects > Compositions Settings > Frame Rate to adjust

Full Display Ads Specifications from Google

So there you have it, use this process to create .gif display ads accepted by Google Ads. There are other ways to do it, but we've found this process to provide the best quality, the most control and the best chance to meet the 150kb max file size requirement.

Remember, if your budget or production timeline is tight, .gif display ads are the perfect solution for your next campaign. Good luck!

How To Upload .gif Display Ads to Google Ads

Summer 2023 Social Media Management Platform Review

From time to time, we do a deep dive and a comparison of social media platforms and tools, but it’s been a while and a lot has changed so we’re back!

We know that staying up-to-date with all the social media platforms and tools out there can feel overwhelming, but when it’s in your wheelhouse like it is ours, it’s simple. This blog offers an uncomplicated overview of our top social media management tools, their features and functionality, and more.

Even if you have no intention of switching up your tool, having an awareness of options helps keep your perspective open — especially if you need to make a change in the future.

These requirements are focused on small-to-medium-sized businesses or brands that are seeking a robust, thoughtful, but economical way to manage their social media with one person or even a small team. Here are the basic requirements:

3. Customer support / response management

While these are the non-negotiables, we decided to cover some additional features that your team might find valuable within this review, too.

The use of social media for businesses is overflowing with opportunity — and the importance of having a tool that’s reliable, ever-evolving, and easy to use is paramount to the success of your workflow and social media presence.

We reviewed the following four well-known and trusted social media management tools. They fit our top six requirements, with varying levels of features and quality:

 and gets you all the basics in the list above plus a few handy features such as profiles, keywords, location monitoring, group, profile, and post-level reporting, paid social tools, CRM tools, and more. At VIA, we’ve used the Professional Plan with a few more features and have found that it’s reliable and easy to use, but the reporting isn’t advanced for the price — however, if you use it in tandem with other tools, you’ll find it more useful.

Sprout doesn’t have a “grid-view” feature for platforms like Instagram which has become increasingly important over the years for brands that want to curate an aesthetically pleasing feed, or have a specific order of content they need to stick to. This plan only includes one user and five profiles, so if your business has over five profiles and needs to set up a workflow, you’ll need to upgrade to a different plan or consider a different tool.


✅ 5 profiles, 1 user, response management, TikTok, Google My Business, basic reporting features

❌ Team workflows, advanced reporting features, grid view

 offers quite a bit. We recently presented one of our long-time clients with several social media tools and this one fits their needs best for their budget and needs. They even added one additional user for an extra $10/month — allowing VIA to manage from one login, and their team to approve and comment on content with the other. We’ve set up a nice workflow with our client, have helped them save time monthly, and allow them to manage two brands for a good price.

Let’s get into the features of this plan! You get team workflows, calendar notes with the ability to “assign”, IG grid view, social listening, and posting to 10 profiles.

This platform isn’t as user-friendly as Sprout. There are a lot of buttons everywhere so if you aren’t tech-savvy or don’t have someone to teach you about all of these features and which are most important to your needs, it might not be the best option. They currently don’t include TikTok which is a big con for a lot of businesses.


✅ 10 profiles, 1 user, response management, grid view, basic reporting, calendar notes

❌ TikTok, not the best UI /  UX, advanced reporting

They have three more plans for your consideration 

Hootsuite is highly esteemed for its social media management tool that boasts a robust set of features and plugins, at a pretty standard price. Their 

grants three users access to manage, schedule, post, and analyze data on up to 20 social profiles. Hootsuite's reporting features are a bit more advanced than some of the others mentioned in this blog — with the capability to measure against two competitors, create customizable reports, and more.

On the downside, Hootsuite has countless features and buttons that can be confusing to navigate, and even redundant for some social media marketers.

✅ 20 profiles, 3 users, response management, TikTok, team workflows, reporting features, grid view

❌ Lots of features and buttons that can be difficult to use 

Find a plan that fits your business or brand needs 

Loomly is similar to Agorapulse and even HeyOrca (which we aren’t covering in this blog), in many aspects. Our team at VIA hasn’t spent a ton of time on Loomly, but we’re no strangers to this tool. Their most basic plan starts at only $26/month, but we’re going to explore Loomly’s 

 since it meets the requirements we’ve outlined above. For 

, this plan gets 14 users access to 35 social accounts, team workflows, response management, and some pretty standard reporting for the price.

Loomly isn’t as competitive of an option as some of the others in our review, but it’s a decent option that meets the basic requirements.

✅ 5 profiles, 14 users, response management, TikTok, basic reporting

❌ Not the best UI/UX, advanced reporting

Overall, Hootsuite offers the best mix of features for the requirements listed above, and the best set of optional plugins, all for the best price in the market.

Sprout Social is a close second, but its higher cost, lack of extensibility, and lower-quality reporting make it second best.

Agorapulse and Loomly are solid options if you or your team are looking to spend less money on a social media management tool and aren’t in need of a ton of features and reporting capabilities.

If you found this blog helpful, subscribe to our 

 and get the latest content, VIA news and culture, and client work in your inbox. If you’re not ready to commit to a few annual newsletters, you can check out the rest of our content 

Social Media Tools: VIA’s Review of 4 Platforms With 6 Must-Haves

Recently VIA Studio launched our first streaming audio campaign for the Jewish Community Center of Louisville on Spotify. The process of setting up and launching this campaign could not have been any easier. In this blog post I hope to share some of my learnings and insights to empower anyone to give advertising on Spotify a shot.

Spotify offers a low campaign minimum budget and an array of targeting options all provided within an easy-to-use dashboard. An additional benefit that made a first run/trial of the platform an easy decision was that the platform can produce the audio asset for free!

However, one of the first things to note about advertising on Spotify, or really any sort of streaming audio/video platform(s) is that this tactic should not be used on its own if your intention is conversions. Streaming audio/video typically represents an awareness play given the nature of the platforms and how the users interact with them. Users are less likely to click through on an ad while listening to music in their car or unwinding in the evening with their connected TV (CTV) device like a Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Firestick. In the case of our Spotify ad, we had other, more direct conversion tactics running in conjunction with it including Facebook and Google display ads and paid search.

However, if your ad is engaging they are likely to remember your brand and what you are offering. With that in mind, the goal of our campaign was to raise awareness not just for the Jewish Community Center of Louisville but also for the fall membership the ad was promoting.

All that is required to set up an account on Spotify Ad Studio is a Spotify account, free or premium. The Spotify account is what is used to login and manage the Spotify Ad Studio account.

Once an account is set up, you are ready to begin planning your first campaign. In your Spotify Ad Studio account dashboard simply select “Create Ad.” The first step to setting up your campaign are selecting what you are promoting. Options for this step include “Music-related” which is used to promote an artist/band’s music, concerts or merchandise on the platform or “Non-music related” which is used for a brands, products, or organizations. Followed by naming your ad/campaign.

Once setup is complete, it is time to determine your budget/schedule and who you want to reach. First select a start and end date for your campaign and input your budget. Your budget will be evenly distributed between start and end dates. A minimum budget of $250 is required to run a campaign.

Next, you will need to set your targeting. The first aspect of targeting on spotify is geographic. You must first select a country and then locations within your selected country. Locations can be as large as the entire county selected DMAs or cities or you can target down to specific ZIP codes, which can be imported in bulk.

Once your geographic targeting is in place, it is time to select your demographic targeting options. These include age (13 – 65+), gender (male, female or all) and device type (iOS operating systems, Android operating systems, desktops or all).

The last set of targeting options are interest-based. They include interests, real-time contexts, and genres:

Interests are determined by a Spotify user’s recent podcast and playlist listening, as well as streaming platform. 18 interest options are provided to mix and match and they include topics like comedy, fitness, travel and tech.

Real-time contexts target people in specific moments, as indicated by the playlist they’re currently listening to. 10 real-time contexts options as provided including cooking study and workout.

Genres selections target people based on the genre of the song they heard immediately before hearing your ad. There are 26 genres to choose from.

You can also decide not to use any targeting options by selecting, “No additional targeting.” This will maximize your ad’s reach but could result in wasted impressions on users who aren’t interested in your product or service.

Don’t worry about being unsure of how your budget and targeting selections will impact your campaign’s reach. A status indicator exists on the right hand side of the screen that updates with each selection you make. This indicator provides estimates for cost per ad served, budget delivery likelihood (how suited your budget is to your audience), estimated ads served and your estimated reach. The budget & targeting options can be changed/updated to maximize your ads effectiveness for any of the metrics indicated on the screen.

One of the most appealing aspects of Spotify Ad Studio is that Spotify can create an audio file for your ad for free. In the Creative step of campaign set up, users have an option to upload their own creative or request voiceover. While uploading your own audio file provides greater creative control, many users either don’t have the capability to produce an audio file for their ad or would rather use their budget for the campaign itself.

Users who choose to upload their own audio files can reference 

This article however will instead focus on the process of requesting a voice over from Spotify. However, the first steps in the creative process are to provide an image to associate with your audio ad. This image must be 640x640px and only JPEGs or PNGs are supported. This image will show where a song or podcast episode’s cover art would be displayed. Additionally, a user must provide a click through URL for their ad. It is best practice to include not just the landing page’s link but also a UTM that will enable your analytics platform to properly attribute traffic from your Spotify ad.

Once you have provided an image and landing page URL for your ad you are ready to provide direction for the generation of your audio file. The first step of this process is to upload you audio script. Your ad script must be 70 words or less and be presented exactly as it should be read by the voice actor in the language you requested. A few quick tips for your script ad copy include:

Start the ad with your organization and offer

Provide benefits about you product/service

End with a clear, easy call to action like “our store is located at…” or “visit our website atâ¦”

For the URL in our ad, we provided a vanity URL that would be easier for listeners to remember and enter later. The vanity URL redirected to our landing page and had a unique UTM so we can track website users visiting the site from the URL read in the audio ad. This UTM was different than the UTM used as a click through but both used the same campaign value so we could track the total amount of traffic coming from the campaign but also how users were accessing the page. Did they click through via their app or enter via the vanity URL read in our ad?

Next you can provide direction for the voice actor in a subsequent text field. Instructions can include proper pronunciations, where to put emphasis and tone or emotion.

Following the “Instructions for the voice actor” are 2 dropdowns that help Spotify select the voice actor. The first is the language and dialect (for example “English – North America” v. “English – England”). The second is the voice profile. There are 10 options including age & gender specifics:

Lastly, Spotify will ask you to choose or upload your background track. A background track is not required to run an ad. However it is a good idea to find a background track that matches the tone and energy of your product or service. Spotify offers over 25 free, unlicensed tracks for ad creations in genres like acoustic/folk, electronic, pop, hip-hop and rock. If you chose to upload your own track be sure to confirm that it is license free or that you have permission to use it.

One issue I encountered was that there is no way to share music provided via Spotify so client approval of the music had to come in person.

Once the creative options are set you can submit your campaign and audio request to Spotify. Spotify will generate the audio ad asset and have it available for review within 24 hours. In my experience however, Spotify got the ad back to us for review even sooner. Once the ad is available for review users can approve or make revision requests. If revisions are needed, they are made within another 24 hours.

Once your campaign is launched, Spotify Ad Studio offers standard reporting on the campaigns performance including impressions, reach, frequency, clicks and CTR and amount spent.

Following the launch of your campaign you will begin to see results in real time. Spotify campaign reporting will also give qualitative data on campaign performance including audience demographics (age & gender) as well as what genres and platforms your ads are being heard on.

Over the course of our month long campaign, 13,251 impressions and a reach of 8,713 were recorded for a 1.52 frequency. The campaign recorded 27 clicks from the ad within the platform and 2 additional visits from the vanity URL provided in the ad’s script. Most importantly, the campaign helped drive a significant increase in membership inquiries, particularly during the last 2 days when the Fall Promotion was coming to a close.

Overall the Spotify Ad Studio offers a cost-effective opportunity to reach users in a format that lends itself to raising awareness for your brand, product/service or promotion. Additionally, given low budget requirements and the option for free creative, it presents an easy entry ramp to test streaming platforms for your next campaign.

As an added bonus here is my Spotify workout playlist:

Spotify - A Low Barrier Option for Entry into Streaming Ads

Email development has always been the bane of a web developer's existence. You have to use outdated methods and don't have access to the full modern web to create a nice looking email that thousands of people will see. It's like asking a Nascar mechanic to create a car using only tools from the 90s - it can be done but its more than a pain.

With time, however, email development has become easier and more developer-friendly. Gone are the days of creating the email entirely with images and then cutting it up. Now you can breakout out the tables and creating a responsive email that looks good on all clients, even Outlook.

The largest part of developing emails is how the email is actually rendered by the email client. While this seems pretty straightforward at first, the fact that every email client uses a different rendering engine or has its own quirks turns what should be pretty simple into a much larger beast. There are versions of Microsoft Outlook that using `margin` does not work, however, using `Margin` does. Keeping on the Outlook theme, it either uses Microsoft Word or Internet Explorer as a rendering engine. You don't have to be super tech-savvy to understand maybe using Word to display essentially a website may not be the best thing...

However, as time has progressed the rendering engines have gotten better and more standardized. While there are still a lot of quirks, you can build something and be fairly confident that it's going to look good across the board. With the iPhone and smartphones forcing email clients to account for media queries and Gmail dragging everyone along, it's not too bad developing emails.

Outlook is no longer the dominant client as the Apple Suite and Gmail have taken over.  Mobile reigns king as well with the top client being the mail application on the Apple iPhone. 

Bar graph by Litmus of the top email clients.

The top email clients use Apple iPhone according to Litmus.

Top 10 Email Clients Overall

When I first started out in the web development industry as an intern, my first task was updating emails for clients. Even in 2013, this was a process of opening up the email in a HTML editor like Sublime and going thru the spaghetti code trying to make the changes. After a few weeks of email development, I understood why the intern got that job.

Today, the process is much more smooth. Here at VIA, we use three tools primary - 

. The first tool, MJML, is a development tool that allows us to create clean code and modular emails. It also includes a library of tested skeleton components that we can use in the emails and know they work already. It also will build the email and take care of any quirks and will inline and optimize the email. Using this tool has cut down on development time tremendously.

MailChimp is used primarily to manage email campaigns, contacts, and gives marketers the ability to visually edit email templates. MailChimp has the ability to import templates created elsewhere and use tags to create editable areas. Custom templates can be reused and customized for different campaigns. Gone are the days of having a developer create each email for the marketing team.

The other tool that we use extensively is Litmus. Litmus is an email testing tool that allows you to see your email in any of the major email clients. For instance, we have the ability to see what the email will look like in Outlook 2007, 2016, iOS Mail, and Gmail all the same time. It also has other features such as live editing and accessibility tools. With Litmus, we don't have to have the actual devices on site - no old Windows machine with Outlook on it.

When designing an email, a designer and developer at VIA first sit down and go over the constraints. We use the tried and true width of 640px as the base of the email and then try to design everything as blocks with no overlap. There is also a reminder on what modern CSS attributes, such as box shadows, do not work for emails. Previously, since it was a giant image being cut up or a much simpler email design, there was no need for dev and design collab.

Once we have a design approved by all parties, development starts. The email is cut up into the blocks and each is developed as a component in the email. Using MJML we are able to import these components into the main email file. In the end, we end up with a nice folder of components and an external stylesheet that is easy to navigate and make changes.

From there the email is imported into MailChimp, our email campaign tool of choice, and content loaded in. The email is then sent from MailChimp to Litmus to be tested in the major email clients. Typically there are the normal changes and then a set of Outlook only changes that have to be made. These revisions is typically resolved in one or two tests and then the email template is updated in MailChimp and sent for final approval.

Once this email template has been created and tested, it can be reused by the VIA marketing team without any help from developers. No more interns having to make changes.

View All Entries in the Email @ 50 Series:

Part I: Email @ 50: Email Marketing Still Works... Half a Century Later

Part II: Email @ 50: The Art of Email Design

Part IV: Email @ 50: Retrospective + The Future of Email

Email @ 50: Email Development

You’ve probably noticed a sudden proliferation of your friends on Facebook asking for donations for their birthday recently on Facebook. But underneath that is a major new feature for any non-profit that has a presence on Facebook (I assume that’s all of them!).

 – and we’ve just recently set this up for our friends at 

 Do With Facebook Donations … but there are workarounds.

It’s pretty simple, really – Facebook users can donate money using a credit card on the desktop in or in the Facebook mobile app, and it goes directly into the account you specify when you sign up – and Facebook takes ZERO fees.

Like any non-profit verification process, you’ll need to provide proof of your status, etc. This is 

what Facebook says you need to get access to these Charitable Giving tool

Be a 501(c)(3) organization registered with the IRS.

Have a bank account registered with a licensed financial services institution. Bank account details, including the bank name, bank account holder’s name (organization’s name), and a legible and official bank letter or statement dated within the last 3 months.

The date of birth and address of the charity’s CEO or executive director.

Add a Donate Button to your Facebook Page

The most noticeable thing is that you can add a “Donate” button to your Facebook page, like so:

Similar to those birthday fundraisers, anyone on Facebook can now fundraise for you. On your page, you will now see a “Fundraisers” option. You can share this link with any Facebook member, and they can start a fundraising drive for your organization.

The donation creation form looks a little something like this:

Another hidden gem is that anyone can add a DONATE button to one of their posts, just by choosing “Supporting…” from the “Feeling/Activity” button:

They’ll be asked if they’d like to “Add a Donate Button”, like this:

And it will eventually appear like so in their Facebook Feed:

What You CAN’T Do With Facebook Charitable Giving Tools (But There Are Workarounds):

You Can’t Create Ads That Drive People to Donate (on Facebook)

Nope, can’t do it. However, if you’ve created Facebook ads before, you’ve likely see the “Donate Now” call-to-action button for ads. 

 button is actually for offsite donations, and it works like so:

But, You Can Create Ads for Offsite Donations

This has nothing to do with Facebook Charitable Giving tools, but does give you a way to ask for donations, if you have a website that is taking donations for you.

This works like any other off-of-Facebook targeted ad, except you should change the call-to-action button to “Donate Now” instead of “Learn More”:

Which will look a little something like this:

Louisville Leopard Percussionists on their website

And, if you’ve never witnessed them before, I suggest this charming video where Ozzy Osbourne and his family are brought to tears at their professionalism and joy while they perform his hit 

Facebook Donations: How to Add Charitable Giving Tools to Your Non-Profit's Facebook Page

Articles, insights, events and announcements from VIA Studio from every discipline we offer. Sharing our knowledge with our community. Sign up for The VIA Monthly email to get a digest in your inbox.

The Journal

I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly the first to hop on the ChatGPT or MidJourney AI bandwagon. “So we are just plugging in cheat codes for our jobs and remote controlling what will eventually replace all of us now?” … Slow down. Take a deep breath. Allow yourself to properly embrace the next wave of tech.

The Opportunities & Challenges of AI in UX

Although intriguing and sometimes impressive, AI image generators are not something that I use for projects, personally, but are they fun? Yeah. Will Adobe Firefly and Midjourney play a consistent role in my everyday work? Probably not.

Rather than filling out search queries and prompts to generate an image to be used directly in designs, I’ve found that the best use of AI resources is to generate quick ideas, brainstorm visual solutions, and get top-level inspiration.

. And if you treat AI as a whole, as just that - another tool. That’s when you can unlock its full potential.

By the end of this blog, you’ll have a deeper understanding of four robust AI-powered tools, their best uses, and how (through my experience) not to use them. If used correctly, these resources can significantly streamline your workflow, help you take advantage of insightful analytics and historical data, and above all, empower you to take your designs to the next level.

4 Efficient & Highly-Effective AI Powered Figma Plugins

“Generates copy with ChatGPT in Figma or FigJam! Easily change the style, length, or formatting of text in just one click.”

! This has proved to be VERY useful in the early stages of design when content is still being generated. FigGPT allows you access to (literally) a magic button to populate your layouts with placeholder copy. You can provide specific prompts, adjust tone, fix grammar, ask for a shorter or lengthened copy around the same subject, and even “improve writing”.

. Often, you’re approaching content design with a content outline, but not necessarily completed 

 for the whole site. This allows you to have related copy to the project / outline and generate desired length / tone to guide the content creator.

 And yes, that includes long-form copy, clever headlines, or introduction paragraphs. It can help to quickly generate ideas to spark inspiration.

 I would never hit the “magic button” and call it a day.

 is another great resource that I’ve used for the same reasons listed above.

“Artificial intelligence instantly predicts where users will look after engaging with your design. Learn if a CTA button is visible enough, conduct A/B testing to see which object attracts the most attention, and create better UX based on data.”

This one is pretty neat, but you have to know how to use it. It’s based on data and predictions. Not necessarily reality. Essentially you select a frame of a full-page design, select what type of website it is (e-commerce, marketing, landing page, etc), Attention Insight does its thing and VOILA! You have fully generated heatmaps and focus maps of your design, predicting where users will be drawn to look.

 To make sure your layout decisions are accessible and support conversion goals. There is value in using a ton of historical data to predict user outcomes. Use it as a measuring stick early on in the design process to help you make decisions.

This should not replace post-launch analytics and/or performance metrics.

 You are putting a lot of trust in the plugin’s algorithm and while I’m sure they spent a ton of research making sure this is reliable, it shouldn’t replace the tried and true.

“WireGen uses chat GPT AI to generate wireframe designs quickly and easily. Just input the description of the design you want to create, and the plugin will generate wireframes for you in minutes. Not satisfied with the first result? Simply ask the AI to change something, or generate with a slight change in the prompt.”

I have a very specific way I go about conducting wireframes and setting things up for a smooth transition into design. This plugin could never replace that but it does act as a really fun tool for fast idea generation and could help you get unstuck if you are in a layout / UX rut.

Quickly iterate on ideas and layout / content decisions.

 It spits out full layouts that insinuate UI, component needs, CTA placement and copy. It’s possible that it could generate a layout decision based on its algorithm and data trove that you may not have previously thought of.

The Journal

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

Marketing

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

Strategy

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

Design

4 AI Resources To Add To Your UX Design Toolbox

Development

Unlocking Growth: Choosing the Right CRM Tool for Your Business's Scale and Success

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