Let’s look at the impact of ChatGPT in business alongside several statistics.

1. Statistics Reflecting Rapid Adoption 

Recent statistics indicate a substantial surge in the adoption of ChatGPT in the business realm. With a significant user base in the United States, where 14.82% of the traffic to the ChatGPT website originates, it’s evident that American businesses are keenly exploring the capabilities of this advanced language model [1]. This rapid adoption underscores the model’s relevance and potential to transform communication dynamics.

2. Diverse Applications in Customer Service 

ChatGPT has found extensive utility in customer service applications, with notable trends showcasing its impact. Businesses leveraging ChatGPT-powered chatbots report an impressive 80% improvement in query resolution time, contributing to enhanced customer satisfaction [2]. This not only streamlines customer interactions but also frees up human resources for more complex tasks.

3. Industrial Implementation and Productivity Boosts 

The industrial implementation of ChatGPT is expanding, leading to notable boosts in productivity across various sectors. From healthcare to finance and technology, businesses are integrating ChatGPT to automate routine tasks, facilitate internal communication, and assist in decision-making processes [3]. This versatility positions ChatGPT as a multifaceted tool driving operational efficiency.

4. Predicting the Future: Continuous Evolution 

Looking ahead, the statistics paint a picture of continuous evolution. Predictions suggest a widespread integration of ChatGPT into various aspects of business communication, indicating a trajectory where the model evolves alongside the changing needs of the business landscape [4].

As organizations continue to unlock the potential of this advanced language model, the future holds many possibilities for business communications.

Sources:

1. 100+ Incredible ChatGPT Statistics & Facts in 2024 
2. 30+ Key ChatGPT Statistics 2024 – Trends, Usage 
3. Statistics of ChatGPT & Generative AI in business 
4. ChatGPT Statistics For 2024 (Users, Trends & More) 

Alix Morrow is the Founder and Chief-Make-It-Happenator at AlixCompany based in Austin, Texas. AlixCompany helps brands move the meter from thinking to knowing by truly getting in-stream with consumers in today’s marketplace. For more information on our qualitative, quantitative, and planner-for-awhile (PFA) services please visit www.alixcompany.com. 

In the intricate world of business, understanding and having a communications funnel in place is paramount. Our awareness, consideration, usage, and preference (ACUP) funnel represents the systematic stages a potential customer traverses before arriving at the pivotal decision to make a purchase. Let’s delve into the key stages and unveil the latest statistics shaping the landscape of communications funnels.

1. Awareness

The journey kicks off with awareness, where potential customers become acquainted with a product or service. Statistics reveal that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, emphasizing the critical need for effective awareness strategies[1]. Engaging content is crucial at this stage. A blog post, for instance, serves as an ideal piece of content targeting the awareness stage, addressing pain points and establishing a connection[2].

2. Consideration

In the consideration stage, potential customers meticulously evaluate options. Recent statistics indicate that 30-50% of sales are made by the first vendor who responds promptly, underscoring the importance of timely and efficient communication[3].

3. Usage

This is where potential customers transform into actual buyers. Nurtured leads, according to statistics, make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads, emphasizing the impact of strategic nurturing in this stage[4].

4. Preference

Statistics indicate that 70-95% of sales rely on upsells and renewals. Are you also selling brown and rando pumps? Preference comes from the link of knowing your ideal customer, serving their needs, and delivering above and along that line.

Sources:

1. Essential Sales Funnel Statistics in 2024
2. How to Create Content for Every Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
3. 81+ Best Sales Funnel Statistics & Conversion Rates For 2023
4. 1 CRAZY Sales Funnel Statistics for 2024

Alix Morrow is the Founder and Chief-Make-It-Happenator at AlixCompany based in Austin, Texas. AlixCompany helps brands move the meter from thinking to knowing by truly getting in-stream with consumers in today’s marketplace. For more information on our qualitative, quantitative, and planner-for-awhile (PFA) services please visit www.alixcompany.com. 

In recent years, the food industry has witnessed a significant shift towards premiumization, where consumers increasingly seek high-quality, premium food items to elevate their culinary experiences. Let’s delve into the latest statistics and trends surrounding premium food items in the American market to understand the dynamics of this growing phenomenon.

1. Global Outlook of the Premium Food Market

According to Statista’s Market Forecast, the revenue in the worldwide food market is projected to reach an impressive US$9.36 trillion in 2023, with an annual growth rate of 6.74% from 2023 to 2028 [1]. This overarching trend sets the stage for our exploration into the premium food segment.

2. Consumer Preferences in the U.S.

A glance at the food and beverage purchases by category in the U.S. reveals insights from the Consumer Insights Sustainable Consumption survey. This data showcases the evolving preferences of American consumers when it comes to premium food items [2].

3. The State of Grocery in North America

McKinsey’s Consumer Pulse Survey for 2023 highlights that 66% of consumers in North America actively seek less-expensive goods. While this may seem contradictory to the premiumization trend, it emphasizes the need for value and quality, suggesting that premium food items meeting these criteria can still thrive in the market [3].

4. Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Food Companies

As reported by Reuters, U.S. food companies are actively engaging in mergers and acquisitions, reflecting a quest for growth amid changing consumer behaviors. The value of deals in the U.S. food and beverage industry, however, experienced a slight dip, indicating the need for strategic adaptations in response to market dynamics [4].

5. Outlook for the Food and Beverage Industry

The 2023 outlook for the food and beverage industry, as outlined by RSM US, reveals that companies in this sector are facing challenges such as squeezed profit margins due to consumer pricing pressures and lingering costs. Nonetheless, driving up sales volume remains a key focus, providing an avenue for premium food items that offer both quality and profitability [5].

6. Restaurant Industry Dynamics

In the restaurant industry, sales are projected to reach a substantial $997 billion by 2023, constituting 4% of the country’s GDP. This highlights the considerable impact of dining establishments on the consumption patterns of premium food items, further emphasizing the importance of catering to evolving consumer tastes [6].

In conclusion, the surge in the premium food market is evident, aligning with the broader trends in the food and beverage industry. While challenges persist, opportunities abound for those who can navigate the evolving landscape and offer premium food items that resonate with the discerning preferences of American consumers.

Sources:

1. Statista – Food – Worldwide | Statista Market Forecast
2. Statista – Food/beverage purchases by category in the U.S. 2023
3. McKinsey – The state of grocery in North America 2023
4. Reuters – U.S. food companies go deal hunting as pandemic growth fades
5. RSM US – 2023 food and beverage industry outlook
6. UpMetrics – Restaurant Industry Statistics: 2023

Alix Morrow is the Founder and Chief-Make-It-Happenator at AlixCompany based in Austin, Texas. AlixCompany helps brands move the meter from thinking to knowing by truly getting in-stream with consumers in today’s marketplace. For more information on our qualitative, quantitative, and planner-for-awhile (PFA) services please visit www.alixcompany.com. 

The dawn of a new era in astronomy is here. Today, we got the first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

If you’d like to go beyond the photos, check out this Podcast [and transcript] on ‘People I (Mostly) Admire’ entitled Why Bother Searching for Aliens? In the 48 minute show, Astronomer Jill Tarter explains what civilizations from other planets could teach us about our own future. Dr. Tarter spent her career searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, also known as SETI, S-E-T-I. She led programs at NASA and co-founded and led the SETI Institute for 35 years. If you’ve read the book Contact written by Carl Sagan or seen the movie, Dr. Tarter was the inspiration for the hero, played by Jodie Foster in the movie.

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-bother-searching-for-aliens/

Enjoy!

Today, I discovered the Podcast ‘On Strategy Showcase’ through a LinkedIn post about Martin Weigel’s interview. The post said, “the role of Planning isn’t to inspire creatives, but to POINT imagination and resources to the right tasks that matter… we need more conversations that get the industry focused on usefulness, not just inspiration.”

To which I responded, “YES YES.” If you’ve worked with me as a Planner, and the topic of our role as Planners has come up, it’s likely I shared an opinion in the same vein. I think the root of finding “tasks that matter” lives in tension taming. I wrote more on “Taming Tensions” here a few years ago.

—

Here’s the podcast link and bullets of what popped for me after getting the audio transcribed from Martin’s interview:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w-ks-martin-weigel-on-our-industrys-unhealthy-fetish/id1494056579?i=1000554092017

—

Title: “W+K’s Martin Weigel on our industry’s unhealthy fetish with “insight” and other pitfalls for strategists”

• …truths that everybody recognizes are becoming the real new currency of planning.

• …what’s the sort of the common thread that goes across all of your writings. And I remember you said indignation and, you know, it’s, it is interesting to, you know, the definition of indignation. I had to look it up to make sure I had it right here. It is an annoyance provoked by what is perceived as unfair.

• …because you always seem to be bringing, trying to bring reality back into the, into this industry. And I wonder if it is rooted in the fact that you started off in reality

• …the oversupply of utter self-serving bullshit in our industry… personal feedback loop of indignation because it, it says, Martin, you, you know, you still give a shit and you’re, you’re still alive.

• …I’m not sure if our job is to inspire. I think it’s, You know, if the creative engine can’t start itself on the cold winter’s day, I wanna get a more reliable car.

• I think the role of planning is point imaginations and resources that tasks that matter [17:26]… to point problem solvers at the, at the right task so they can have maximum, maximum effect.

• Identifying and articulating framing that task with imagination and rigor is, you know, that’s the heart of the planners, a planner’s role.

• The essence of strategy as many, many wise people I’ve observed is the art of choice. It’s the art of finding the point of greatest leverage. You know, when there are many points that you could point imaginations out, it’s finding the one where the imagination can have its greatest effect and solve the problem.

• It’s about perspective.

• Most advertising gets ignored by people because it ignores them.

• I think we are, I think from time to time, we are dangerously blind to our, either our disconnect or our difference… the data there shows quite clearly that people in advertising are richer, whiter, more middle class, more privately educated, and more male than the general population – richer, whiter, more middle class, more privately educated, and more male than the general population… that’s a problem, right?

• If you let it, the world will do most of the work for you.

• …popular culture still exists in a world of overly fragmentation and personalization.

• …it strikes me that there there’s, there’s vastly more insight into the human psyche in the fiction section of your book shop than will ever be in the archives of any marketing department, vastly, vastly.

• …change is our real deliverable. That’s what we create for clients. We create new futures. We, we, you know, if somebody wants, we fold the future into the present we make today, we make tomorrow different from today. That’s the job at hand that is the only job at hand is to make tomorrow different from today.

• It could only effect thinking if we began the process by asking ourselves what is the change we want to create in the world? What are the objectives both hard and soft across different timelines? How will we measure progress towards that?

Alix Morrow is the Founder and Chief-Make-It-Happenator at AlixCompany based in Austin, Texas. AlixCompany helps brands move the meter from thinking to knowing by truly getting in-stream with consumers in today’s marketplace. For more information on our qualitative, quantitative, and planner-for-awhile (PFA) services please visit www.alixcompany.com. 

It was in April 2020 when my neighbor alerted me that she had seen my indoor cat outdoors running around. This couldn’t be true for several reasons – most of all because if the cat gets out, I’m usually running around trying to catch it.

A few days later, I saw the cat she thought was mine basking in the sunlight. It was feral. So, a few evenings later, the cat somehow got inside my house to eat the food next to the door I’d put down. I named her ‘Suzie Q. I Love You’ or just ‘Suzie Q.’ for short.

Suzie became an indoor outdoor cat after that first evening inside. While the ‘Cat Daddy‘ says there’s no such thing as both in/out door cats, Suzie Q. had to be. The first morning after sleeping inside she darted at sunrise, running into the windows with big head clunks. Ouch! She also shat on my white faux lamb rug (my fault – I didn’t show her the litter box).

As Suzie Q. became accustomed to in/outdoor living, she started bringing me gifts. A colleague shared that was a good sign. She brought me a mouse, small bird, and lastly a horny toad.

Here’s a photo of the horny toad gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Love, Suzie Q.