A new central staircase leads to a contemporary basement free of Hausmannian flourishes. Batiik Studio signals the shift with a mix of contemporary materials: a white resin banister curls onto a silvery travertine platform sourced from Artefacts, while bespoke cherry wood shelving rises along the wall. A Rosanna Lefeuvre painting completes the picture. Without erasing the flamboyant bones of the home, Benichou and Jallet skirted around them, crafting wall panels for select sections—like a single stretch in the living room, or a wall behind the primary bedroom’s headboard—that protect and sometimes curve around moldings, scaling back the grandeur. Sculptural by nature and rendered in white, each new plane—some smooth and matte, some textured like the surface of a painting—runs along decorative stretches of molding like a veil, creating clean and contemporary surfaces for hanging art.With Haussmannian details to spare throughout the apartment, the new walls aren’t permanent (future owners can remove them, revealing the original walls again), but eclipse key sections where moldings are almost oppressive. The edited version, a more artful form of White-Out, adds a new contemporary layer that gives the home, and the owners’ art, room to breathe.Clad in white materials that match the walls and with no overhead storage, the cooking area virtually disappears. “The client didn’t want the kitchen to look like a kitchen,” adds Benichou, nodding to the sculptural island. A minimal, travertine Garnier & Linker Lipari task light hangs over granite countertops sourced from Paris’s Artefacts. Vintage Scandinavian stools add texture along with a mixed-media artwork by Eva Jospin, and a Batiik Studio–designed wooden door leads to a new work kitchen (to hide any mess). Batiik Studio designed a one-of-a-kind dining table that breaks into two pieces, depending on how many guests are over (the fixed smaller piece creates space along the wall for things like sculptures and flowers when not in use). With boulder-like legs and a curving shape, it adds complexity against the room’s rectangular symmetry. Frédéric Pellenq chairs from Kolkhoze and a vintage Louis Poulsen Artichoke light enhance the contrast. Beyond the walls, new horizontal surfaces make space for sculptural pieces. In the living room, a faceted fireplace in gray-toned travertine adds sharp geometry to the ornate space. Jutting out on either side and along the mantle are plinth-like surfaces for objects tall and small. In the kitchen’s dining area, Benichou and Jallet flexed their talent for bespoke furniture, creating a dramatic ceramic-topped wooden table that swoops into the center of the room—a stage for rotating sculptures and dinner parties alike.The apartment’s modern basement was, literally, a whole different story. There were no ornate moldings with which to compete, no historic charms to challenge. And so it was a blank slate for Benichou and Jallet to do what they do best: create.With only a small window in the crafts room, using white across all surfaces—even bespoke storage and a resin floor—made the space as bright as possible. A vintage wooden table paired with vintage Pierre Chapo stools atop a beige Toulemonde Bochart Lion rug give warmth to the pristine palette.

CL02 Cabin / VinkluSave this picture!© Razvan DrinceanuCabins & Lodges•Valea lui Enache, Romania Architects: Vinklu Area Area of this architecture project Area:  55 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2025 Photographs Photographs:Razvan Drinceanu Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:  DÉCOR SEBMOB, ENIPAU, MIRADEX, MM THERM, PRO METAL CONT 2004, Topciment Lead Architects: Stefan Pavaluta More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. An ideal rural scenario, well-oriented and connected, tries to outline the premises of a seasonal residence. I first had contact with O&A online, having been recommended by a good acquaintance from London, the clients being in the central area of ​​Europe, I in Bucharest, and the construction site in Arges. The kind of equation that always attracts me, if the intentions are aligned. The situation at that time had the wreckage of a first failed attempt, already erected on the ground, and a small annex at the bottom of the lot, at the highest point of the area. The decision was for a full project, but with a phased implementation. So we started with the small body, in order to have better control and a final evaluation of our collaboration, but also of the executors. Being a more rural area, the expectations regarding the quality of the result had to be proportionate from the start. The annex was a construction with a small footprint, maximum 25 sqm, built in the past by the family, with vaulted walls bordered by a wooden structure at the top that served as a lantern. During the dismantling stage, we discovered that it had no pillars at the corners (or in general), and the concrete slab with a large belly in the middle. In the end, only the walls remained, which were reinforced with interior-exterior mesh.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Leaving aside the condition of the construction and the poor materials, the position and proportion of the annex were harmonious, and the intention was to preserve these aspects from the start. The solution proposed an extension with an interior staircase area and a reconfiguration of the gaps/orientations from the inside to the outside. Structurally, the base remains intact, reinforced, and the superstructure is timber-framed. Finally, the exterior finish in black autoclaved wood completes and reveals the proposed scenario. The height and dimensions slightly exceed the initial image. The choice of exterior color is a direct response to the context, offering different images and visual relationships depending on the season. The entrance porch mediates the relationship between the module and the exterior through a fine metal structure, proportionate to the tall surrounding vegetation. The slats and semi-circular areas spatially define the moments of approaching the house. In the same tone, the rest of the functional areas inside are supported by their own connections to the exterior. The veranda pergola transforms into a deep balcony for the living area, and the foundation of the house articulates into a small terrace for the night area.Save this picture!Functionally, downstairs is the entrance with the night area, and upstairs the entire living area with kitchen, dining, living room, and a small bathroom. Along the same lines, downstairs we have smaller gaps, and there is a panoramic orientation of some windows of considerable size, which offers a cinematic sensation in direct relation to the exterior. The house being well-positioned among the trees, any movement and change of nature can be watched, studied, and heard. Continuing the space-function relationship, the ground floor offers regular, intimate spaces, while the staircase opens the living area with a generous space and a gabled ceiling. The context being the main "reason", the finishes are clean, neutral, to further strengthen this relationship. In the living area, the furniture pieces define the micro-functions necessary for living, and are combined in a balanced way through proportion, color, and materiality.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!By reconverting the annex and using natural materials, local teams, off-site construction methods, we tried, in the true and local sense of the expression – minimal impact on the environment and sustainable architecture. The "design" itself is a direct result of the architectural process and the context, a stratification of functional and architectural solutions permanently correlated with proportions and materiality.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Valea lui Enache, RomaniaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeVinkluOffice••• MaterialWoodMaterials and TagsPublished on June 01, 2025Cite: "CL02 Cabin / Vinklu" 01 Jun 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030468/cl02-cabin-vinklu&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

ZDNET's key takeaways The 12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro is available now starting at $799 for the Platinum color, and $899 for the new Violet and Ocean colors. The 12-inch version is exceedingly thin and light with a fast-charging battery, and the refreshed form factor looks more premium. The 256GB of storage is not enough for a device at this price point, and the cost adds up quickly, as the keyboard, mouse, and even the power adapter are sold separately. more buying choices Microsoft's 2025 12-inch Surface Pro is thinner, lighter, and a little more affordable, with a battery-efficient Snapdragon X Plus processor and refreshed design. The latest version of the Surface Pro rounds out the lineup with a more affordable option focused on ultra-long battery life, new colors, and redesigned accessories to show off Windows' latest Copilot+ PC features. Also: I recommend this HP laptop to creatives and business pros alike - especially at nearly 50% offI recently replaced my laptop with the 12-inch Surface Pro for more than two weeks now, and the Surface Pro seems to me to be more of an addition to the current lineup than a standalone upgrade, particularly in comparison to the enterprise models Microsoft released in January.The 2025 Surface Pro has relatively modest hardware, with 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of UFS storage, instead targeting a more everyday consumer who makes use of on-device AI and appreciates the ultraportability.  details View at Best Buy Besides the smaller form factor, this year's Surface Pro comes in two new colors: Violet and Ocean (a blueish gray). The default Platinum color starts at $799, whereas the other two will run you $899, bringing the starting price a little further away from that advertised low price (and we haven't even bought the keyboard yet). I must admit that the design on the 12-inch tablet looks better. It looks more like a premium tablet (and more like an iPad) with rounded corners, thin bezels, and the webcam moved to the back corner of the device. Also: Microsoft unveils new AI agent customization and oversight features at Build 2025Additionally, I'm a fan of the new Violet and Ocean colorways, which aren't what I'd call "bold", but at least they're not the same desaturated pastels we see everywhere else. The colors extend to the Surface Pro keyboards, which are updated by removing the alcantara fabric on the front of the keyboard for a cleaner, monochromatic matte look. Instead, the fabric is relegated to the back of the keyboard case, which has a more premium tablet feel for storage and transport. The Surface keyboard is functional and satisfying to type on, with springy keys and a responsive, premium trackpad.  Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETAdditionally, the tablet snaps to the keyboard a little tighter and closer to the tablet now, with no gap in the hinge, giving it a slightly smaller footprint on the desk. The Surface Pen also magnetically snaps to the back of the 12-inch instead of storing on the keyboard. This requires you to store the device with the fabric facing down, as you don't want to squish the pen. When throwing the Surface Pro in a bag, the Pen also tends to stay put but can come unattached if you're not paying attention. Microsoft wants to show off its new AI-driven Copilot+ features, and the 12-inch Surface Pro is a good conduit for marketing them to the consumer, especially with its attractive price point and the 45 TOPS Qualcomm Hexagon NPU. Also: I've tested dozens of work laptops - but I'd take this Lenovo to the office everydayFor example, the long-awaited Recall feature is still in Preview mode, but it's getting closer to a useful state. Other applications that leverage AI processes, particularly ones for creators like Capcut, Davinci Resolve, and DJay Pro should feel smooth and snappy. This makes it a very AI-ready device for everyday users who don't need high-end hardware for demanding creative projects.  Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETRunning Windows on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Plus chip shouldn't be too much of a problem for most users in this category, as the areas that saw the most issues with compatibility, like gaming and connecting to legacy software, are more likely not to apply to the targeted user. The 12-inch Surface Pro's modest hardware positions itself as a competitive device in the family's lineup. The aforementioned 16GB of RAM and max 512GB of storage, paired with the Snapdragon X Plus and 2196 x 1464 resolution (220 PPI) LCD display that targets everyday users, while its 13-inch siblings can be loaded up with more premium hardware. Also: This ultraportable Windows laptop raised the bar for the MacBook Air (and everything else)That being said, the Snapdragon X Plus processor is snappy and responsive, excelling at tasks that the average consumer cares about: fast startup and app load times, smooth multitasking, and solid battery performance, whether in laptop or tablet mode. During my benchmarking of the 12-inch Surface Pro, I got numbers that place it around other thin and light laptops in the same price range, including Asus' Zenbook A14, which also features the Snapdragon X Plus processor, and HP's OmniBook X 14, one of the first Copilot+ PCs with the Snapdragon X Elite chip from 2024.  Cinebench 24 MCGeekbench 6.2.2 SCGeekbench 6.2.2 MC12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro (Snapdragon X Plus)4182,2529,555Asus Zenbook A14 (Snapdragon X Plus)5412,13310,624HP Omnibook X (Snapdragon X Elite)4702,32613,160 Show more The display is sharp and crisp, but it does cap out at 400 nits of brightness and a 90Hz refresh rate. Since it's a tablet, it's also quite glossy. In the office, for example, I found myself readjusting the device's angle numerous times throughout the day to account for glare from overhead lighting. Also: How to clear the cache on your Windows 11 PC (and why it makes such a big difference)Speaking of using the Surface Pro in the office, it works equally well as a laptop or a tablet, depending on what you need. Detached from the keyboard and armed with the Surface Pen, it becomes a snappy productivity tablet that allows for note taking, prototyping, and freeform idea generation in Windows' Whiteboard app. You can also assign different actions to the Pen, including starting apps or performing functions with the button on the device or the "clicky" on the end. I will say that the Pen's performance can be variable, though. If you're running multiple programs open in the background, you might notice lag while writing, especially if you're moving quickly.  Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETSimilarly, the location of the front-facing HD camera means that it has a slightly downward-up orientation while connected to the keyboard, as the kickstand can only prop it up so high. Consider a clamshell laptop, for example, which can sit at a 90-degree angle or less. In that sense, untethering the keyboard and using it as a tablet might be more optimal for users who make frequent video calls. Also: The best laptops for graphic designers in 2025: Expert tested and reviewedRegarding battery life, the Snapdragon X Plus processor ensures that it drains at a mere trickle when the device is not in use, and is good enough for over a full day's worth of work on one charge. Microsoft advertises 16 hours of battery life, and I got a little over 15 in our video playback test. Regarding more sustained use, I got over 10 hours on a single charge, which isn't far off from the advertised 12 hours without using all the max battery efficiency settings. Couple this with the fact that the Surface Pro charges extremely fast. From a completely dead battery, you'll get to about 50% in 30 minutes, and around 80% in an hour. Of the Surface Pro family, the 12-inch is certainly the most battery efficient and the fastest to charge. ZDNET's buying adviceThe 12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro completes the family's lineup with a thinner, lighter, and more battery-efficient tablet/laptop hybrid with refreshed colors and design. It comes with slightly more modest hardware (16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage) for a lower starting price of $799. If you're looking for a functional 2-in-1 tablet/laptop, enjoy using a stylus, and don't need a ton of local storage, it's a great option, especially for its long-lasting battery. It's an all-around sharp-looking device, and the premium keyboard case provides a satisfying tactile experience. Also: How to clear the cache on your Windows 11 PC (and why it makes such a big difference)The cost of the Surface Pro can quickly add up, however, as the Surface Keyboard, Surface Arc mouse, and power adapter are sold separately, bringing the final cost over the $1,000 mark. Combined with the low amount of local storage and modest memory, I'd recommend this device for users who are committed to the 12-inch form factor and want reliable battery life. Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.Featured reviews

Reading Time: 15 minutes If you’ve been in the Ecommerce game longer than ten minutes, you’ve probably noticed a pattern: every marketer under the sun is obsessed with finding the perfect Ecommerce marketing automation software platform. And honestly? They’re not wrong. Standing out in the cut-throat Ecommerce world is about meeting your audience where they are with hyper-personalized messaging. Spending 23 hours a day doing it manually? News flash: without marketing automation software to help you automate your Ecommerce campaigns, you don’t stand a chance. That’s why 35% of marketers have already automated their Ecommerce customer journeys. But don’t worry, we’ve got your back. This blog post will help you clearly understand and fearlessly implement marketing automation for your Ecommerce brand. Let’s get started!   What is Ecommerce Marketing Automation? Ecommerce marketing automation is the use of software to streamline, personalize, and scale marketing tasks. It powers activities like email campaigns, SMS, push notifications, and customer segmentation. It helps you create smoother, more personalized customer journeys without lifting a finger every single time. By automating repetitive yet impactful tasks, like sending birthday discounts, reminding customers about abandoned carts, and segmenting audiences, you free yourself to focus on strategy. Put simply, it’s how you make your brand feel personal at scale without breaking a sweat.   6 Benefits of Automating Your Ecommerce Marketing By automating the repetitive tasks and fine-tuning your messaging at scale, you can focus on what really matters: building an Ecommerce brand your customers love. Here’s how automating your Ecommerce marketing can take your business to the next level. Improved Customer Insights: Marketing automation for Ecommerce helps you uncover patterns, such as when customers browse, what they frequently abandon in their carts, and how they respond to your campaigns. Understanding this helps you tailor future strategies, delivering what your customers want without the guesswork. Enhanced Customer Service: Make your customers happy, and the revenue will follow. Marketing automation for Ecommerce improves customer experiences by resolving their queries almost instantly. Whether they seek sales assistance or post-purchase support, they no longer have to listen to the annoying IVR music or wait for someone to respond to their ticket. Generate More Leads: Ecommerce marketing automation can improve leads qualitatively and quantitatively. Interestingly, it is a symbiotic relationship, where automation nurtures leads to develop a loyal customer base, which in turn transforms into brand advocates. Such evangelists attract more leads and improve lead-generation activities. Omnichannel Monitoring: Let’s say a customer clicks on your Instagram ad, checks their cart on desktop later, and finishes the purchase on your app. Ecommerce marketing automation platforms track this entire journey, showing you how your customers interact across platforms. It’s like having a bird’s-eye view of all your channels, making omnichannel strategies smoother and more effective. Better Customer Relationships: Automation isn’t just about scaling. It’s about humanizing your approach. Ecommerce marketing automation tools can send personalized messages based on customer behavior, like a thank-you email after a purchase or reminders for a sale item they were eyeing. Over time, these little touches build stronger, more loyal relationships. Higher ROI: By targeting the right customers at the right time and cutting out wasted efforts, you see better conversions, an increased lifetime value, and more efficient campaigns. It’s no surprise that brands using marketing automation for Ecommerce see higher ROI than those managing everything manually.   How to Use Marketing Automation for Ecommerce More Effectively When done right, Ecommerce marketing automation becomes your secret weapon for building stronger customer relationships at scale. Let’s explore how you can level up your automation game and make your Ecommerce workflows work harder for you. 1. Acquire New Contacts You can automate your marketing for Ecommerce to grow your contact list and attract new customers. If you regularly produce high-quality, actionable, and insightful content, your audiences will be keen to hear from you. This situation can be an excellent premise for offering them something of value in exchange for adding their information to your email list. Typically, surveys, whitepapers, reports, and similar documents are available to those who sign up for a business newsletter. Similarly, if someone makes a purchase on your online store, your Ecommerce marketing automation software can add their details to your customer database. Every addition offers granular insight into buyer profiles and helps discover commonalities, which you can later exploit. 2. Segment Your Audience Segmenting your subscribers helps you increase sales by offering customers what they already want. You can segment your contacts to make lists based on various common factors like location, average order value, engagement level, age, profession, etc. For instance, if you have two different types of newsletters for subscribers based on their interests, you’d have to create two different lists of contacts in your Ecommerce marketing automation software to send the right message to the right customers. In fact, you can achieve several levels of segmentation via lists, tags, and custom fields to make your messages highly targeted and relevant to customers. 3. Welcome and Onboard New Customers Like it or not, first impressions matter. Nowadays, it’s a given that signing up on a website would trigger Ecommerce email marketing automation workflows that will welcome customers to the website. These communications can require explicit consent for adding the customer to the email list (we know, managing an email list isn’t easy), share an overview of the brand’s value or message, or guide them through the purchase process. You can also lure the new accounts with promos and discounts that will get them swiping their card in no time! A welcome series can also be particularly helpful in extending customer service for those who have already purchased your product or service. You can share details on how to use the offerings to extract maximum value. Such a consideration can boost customer loyalty and enhance customer experience. 4. Automate the Checkout Process for More Sales A complicated checkout process can deter customers from completing their purchase, but you can prevent a large percentage of abandoned carts by creating a smooth and trustworthy checkout process. With marketing automation for Ecommerce, you can fill in customer details automatically and display preferred payment options to make it as convenient as possible for customers to complete a purchase. You may also add a live chat option on the checkout page to swiftly answer customers’ queries during the buying process. 5. Translate Abandoned Carts into Sales Cart abandonment is a serious problem in the Ecommerce sector. About 7 out of 10 buyers abandon products in their cart for various reasons. This figure varies depending on the device. As a result, cart abandonment can cost your online Ecommerce store billions of dollars in sales per year. Fortunately, marketing automation for Ecommerce attempts to offset these losses through regular follow-ups and check-ins. Automatically triggered emails that hit the right combination of subject lines, email copy, and CTA could convince the shopper to buy from you. 6. Win Back Inactive Customers Similar to cart abandonment, you could have customers who may have signed up on your online store only to forget about you entirely! Or you could have someone who made an occasional purchase and pulled the plug on their CLV. Ecommerce marketing automation platforms can help in such instances. You can customize email marketing automation campaign workflows that deploy after a lapse of X number of days, offering the client coupons or promos to pique their engagement. 7. Capture Customer Feedback Ecommerce brands that encourage customers to post their ratings and reviews against the products can improve conversion rates. In this regard, marketing automation software makes the task easier through automatic feedback collection. You can implement email marketing automation for Ecommerce that prompts the buyer to share their customer experience after X days post-purchase. 8. Establish Omnichannel Presence Consider a situation where someone has browsed through the products on your online store. This action indicates that they are either curious about the product or have considered purchasing it. That’s a lead right there. Through Ecommerce marketing automation tools, you can reach the lead through other channels, say social media platforms, and test their responses. If they continue engaging with the ads, it is a clear indication that they are a qualified prospect. Automated workflows can then capture their details and continue nurturing them to the point of purchase. That’s the beauty of omnichannel marketing! 9. Send Media-Rich Dynamic Communications Dynamic content refers to customizing your content for visitors. With dynamic content, the content and images on your pages adapt to customers’ in-session behavior, demographic data, and characteristics. This offers two benefits. First, presenting relevant offers helps decrease bounce and increase conversions. Second, it allows you to create personalized experiences. Including rich media, such as product images, can make a world of difference when you are re-engaging your leads. For our Ecommerce customers, we’ve seen product images improving their CTR for emails and rich push notifications. It also offers great potential to cross-sell or upsell products on your online store. All you need to do is set up product blocks and let your marketing automation platform handle the rest. This form of content marketing automation for Ecommerce will share relevant details such as product specifications, price, and other crucial details that will be too tempting to pass up! 10. Use Lead Scoring for Higher Conversion Rates An Ecommerce marketing automation platform that offers lead scoring can help you boost conversions by automatically sending personalized content to prospects depending on their position in the sales funnel. Lead scoring can also be used for pre-qualifying leads before passing them onto your sales team by assigning a score to every lead based on their actions on your website and other predetermined factors. Cold leads or those with low scores can be segmented further and nurtured with personalized content before passing them on to the sales team. For instance, as soon as a subscriber shows interest in buying from your Ecommerce store, you may automatically enter them into a drip campaign to slowly nudge them into completing the purchase. You may set the following types of automated email marketing campaigns to nurture your leads and drive customer loyalty as well: An automated welcome email series for effective onboarding Follow-up emails to remain in touch with new leads on certain predetermined milestones Offer emails to encourage purchase Review requests for feedback and user-generated content (UGC) Abandoned cart emails to recover lost revenue Emails celebrating milestones and personal events 11. A/B Test Your Landing Pages A/B testing refers to simultaneously testing two or more variants of a page to see which one performs the best. With your marketing automation Ecommerce software, you can quickly run such tests between your product pages and landing pages to make informed decisions regarding the digital assets you’ll use. Some of the elements you may consider for split-testing are: Headlines Compare a longer versus a shorter headline Ask a question in your headline Use a testimonial in your headline Try positive and negative emotions Calls-to-Action Compare the use of words like “Free”, “100%”, “Bonus”, etc. Try different color combinations Placement of text Banner Image Placement Color scheme Text on display 12. Invest in an Automated Social Listening Tool With an automated social listening tool, you can monitor customer conversations around phrases, keywords, hashtags, and industry-specific terms. This will give you a holistic view of how customers talk about your brand and what they expect from it. Some social listening tools are also equipped to run sentiment analysis on captured data to give you actionable business insights. 13. Automate Reviews on Your Website Gathering customer feedback and acting on it is crucial to your brand’s success. However, manual collection of reviews can be a tedious job. Instead, you can set up trigger emails that are automatically sent to customers a few days after product delivery to ask for feedback. You may even use web push notifications or in-app prompts to gather feedback and reviews for your products. 14. Reward Loyal Customers Loyal customers buy more. With Ecommerce marketing automation, you can segment your best customers and reward them for their shopping behavior to boost customer loyalty and subsequent sales. An automation program can also be set to convert first-time shoppers into repeat customers by automatically rewarding them with a special discount or promotion via email. Offering customers a coupon or discount code that applies to their second purchase is an excellent way to keep them coming back. Under your loyalty program, you can offer flat discounts, exclusive offers, BOGO promotions, free gifts, and more. 15. Use Chatbots for Customer Service Customer service is the focus of most Ecommerce brands and requires dedicated resources to tend to customers 24/7. This translates into a significant amount of revenue for any brand, which can be optimized with the introduction of chatbots in the front line of customer service. But that’s not all. You can also use chatbots in retail and give your shoppers a highly personalized experience.   7 Ecommerce Marketing Automation Examples to Learn From How can you improve conversion rates and other key metrics through marketing automation for Ecommerce? Nothing hits home like an example does. So here’s a list of marketing automation best practices and strategies used by real-world Ecommerce brands to help you get the gist. 1. Nike: Customer Service Chatbots Source: https://www.producthunt.com/products/github-visualizer#nike-stylebot   As you can see in the above image, Nike StyleBot uses chatbots in retail and gives its shoppers a highly personalized experience. It helps customers style their shoes and browse previously uploaded designs for inspiration. Shoppers can interact with Nike StyleBot on Facebook Messenger to mix and match, create their designs, and share them with friends, making the whole experience a lot more fun than usual. 2. Tattly: Reward Points for Every Purchase Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/youve-earned-6-tattcoin-   Tattoo marketplace Tattly runs an automated point-based system that offers reward points for every purchase that can be redeemed on the site for discounts or other goodies. Why is it such a good Ecommerce strategy? Because, c’mon, who doesn’t like discounts? As you’d agree, customers who buy the second time are even more likely to return for the third time, and so on. Incentivizing subsequent purchases through carefully crafted reward programs, like Tattly does, is an excellent way of building loyalty and promoting sales. It’s a clever way of using a marketing automation software platform! 3. Belgian Boys: Ecommerce Marketing Automation with a Win-Back Email Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/we-miss-you-belgian-boys   Belgian Boys, an NYC-based breakfast item brand, uses email marketing automation software workflows that deploy after a certain number of days have passed without any action from a customer. Given that the account has already gone cold, the brand has nothing to lose, right? That’s what they thought when sending this automated email. The copy’s dripping with food-related metaphors that make the reader lick their lips and think twice about leaving the brand forever. Plus, instead of boring CTAs like “Shop Online” or “Order Now”, the CTA “Wait, there’s been a mistake” is pretty conversational, which makes it all the more fascinating and click-worthy. It gives off a feeling of mystery — the customer is left wondering what’s going to happen next, so they’re tempted to click the button. 4. Airbnb: Request Customer Feedback Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/search/emails/airbnb   First of all, customers seeing a warm and friendly subject line like “We’d Love Your Feedback! It’ll Only Take 3 Minutes” can’t help but open the email. As you can see, this automated email from Airbnb encourages customers to share their feedback about the brand—a chance for them to improve conversion rates. Ecommerce marketing automation software helps them implement email automation that prompts the buyer to share their experience after a certain amount of time following their purchase. 5. Warby Parker: Automated Shipping Confirmation Email Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/transactional-update-email-design-from-warby-parker   Warby Parker sends this email when a customer’s home try-on glasses are shipped. Okay, cool. The customer knows that their order is on the way, and they can track it. They can also verify their address as mentioned at the bottom of the email. But you know what sets this automated email apart? It thanks the customer. And don’t miss the playful “Just for you” heading and the sentence congratulating the customer on choosing to try on the glasses at home. All of that’s a humble way of acknowledging that the customer is important for their brand. Because transactional emails, like this one, get high open rates (who doesn’t want to know when their order has shipped?), Warby Parker knows they can drive a ton of traffic and get sales if they include a few strategic CTAs. 6. Dyson: Abandoned Shopping Cart Email Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/items-in-your-basket-at-dyson-com   Life is hectic, and customers are fickle. There are a thousand reasons why customers don’t finish the checkout process, and Dyson knows that. Sending them this gentle reminder is a surefire way to not only show them that Dyson cares about them, but also coax them to finish what they started. 7. Patagonia: Welcome Email Automation Source: https://reallygoodemails.com/emails/welcome-to-patagonia-emails   When a customer signs up for Patagonia’s emails, they’re immediately welcomed to the email list, with the promise of all types of useful content. And guess what? At the bottom of the email, Patagonia includes a lot of different calls to action (CTAs). When customers click on those, they’re already telling Patagonia what they’re interested in before they’ve even purchased anything. Smooth, right?   5 Best Ecommerce Marketing Automation Software to Increase Engagement Below, we’ll walk you through five of the best Ecommerce marketing automation platforms. We’ll break down what makes each one shine in its own way, where they might fall short, and give you pricing insights to help you pick the right fit for your Ecommerce brand. Let’s get right into it. 1. MoEngage MoEngage is one of those rare platforms that makes tech advanced enough for enterprise brands while still being friendly for mid-sized Ecommerce teams. It’s an all-in-one customer engagement platform combining push notifications, in-app messaging, SMS, email, and more—all tailored for customer lifecycle management. Its standout feature? AI-powered Ecommerce personalization. MoEngage uses machine learning to analyze customer behavior and predict what they might be interested in buying next. For Ecommerce brands, this means you’re not just spamming offers, but landing in their inbox or notifications with exactly what they’re most likely to purchase. How Pricing Works: Plan details vary based on the features your brand needs. Request a custom quote for enterprise-level flexibility. Best For: Ecommerce brands looking for cross-channel marketing automation and predictive audience segmentation with intuitive workflows. 2. BigCommerce Source: https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/atom8/   BigCommerce is an all-encompassing Ecommerce platform with features to build, run, and grow your online store. That said, because it’s primarily a platform to build and manage your Ecommerce website, its marketing automation workflows can sometimes feel limited compared to those in tools like MoEngage or Omnisend. That’s because BigCommerce doesn’t offer automation on its own platform; you need to integrate GritGlobal’s Atom8 Automation to optimize your online store. So, if you’re neck-deep in email workflows and need automated email drip campaigns, for example, BigCommerce might not check every box. How Pricing Works: Their pricing is tailored to each client’s needs, depending on the growth stage they’re in. Best For: SMBs and mid-market businesses looking for a do-it-all Ecommerce platform with baked-in automation for basic marketing needs. 3. Omnisend If email marketing is your bread and butter, Omnisend may just bake you a second loaf. Designed specifically for Ecommerce marketers, Omnisend combines email, SMS, and push notifications to engage customers at every stage of their journey. Its pre-built, Ecommerce-specific workflows (hello, abandoned cart recovery) are built to save you hours of setup time. The magic lies in its deep integrations with Ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. Omnisend’s segmentation features are also worth shouting about. You can easily target customers based on behavior, past purchases, and even how much they’ve spent, so your messaging is as relevant as possible. Where might it fall short? Limited flexibility in cross-channel campaigns (beyond email, push notifications, and SMS). How Pricing Works: Omnisend offers a free plan with basic email automations for 500 contacts. Plans scale upwards based on email list size and features. Best For: Ecommerce brands working with smaller teams but seeking powerful email/SMS automation without the hefty price tag of more enterprise solutions. 4. Rejoiner Rejoiner is at its best for one thing and one thing only: reducing your cart abandonment rates. If your Ecommerce brand is losing more customers than it wins at checkout, this platform can help you build laser-focused campaigns to bring those shoppers back. Its predictive revenue tracking ensures you have clear visibility into how much money is at stake and saved with each abandoned cart workflow. The downside? It’s not an apt tool for cross-channel marketing automation. If you need broader automation beyond email, like SMS, in-app, or push notifications, you’ll need to integrate it with other tools or run them separately. How Pricing Works: Rejoiner’s pricing ranges between $25/month for 1K contacts and $1,695/month for 149K contacts. It offers custom pricing for a list of over 150K contacts. Best For: High-traffic Ecommerce brands laser-focused on maximizing revenue recovery from abandoned carts. 5. ShipStation At first glance, ShipStation might seem like an odd pick for a list of Ecommerce marketing automation tools. But hear us out. While it’s primarily a shipping software solution, it earns its spot here because of its lesser-known post-purchase automation tools. You can delight customers with personalized shipping confirmation emails, branded tracking pages, and upsell offers strategically placed in delivery notifications. If you’ve ever wanted to strengthen loyalty and cross-sell opportunities after someone completes a purchase, ShipStation’s workflows can be a game-changer. However, it’s not built for pre-purchase interactions. If you’re looking to create in-depth automation around acquisition, consider other platforms in this list first. How Pricing Works: Plans start at $9.99/month for smaller businesses and go up to $399.99/month for advanced features and higher shipping limits. Best For: Mid-to-large Ecommerce brands looking to enhance post-purchase customer engagement and improve the customer experience.   Why Omnichannel Beats Multichannel Marketing Automation for Ecommerce Multichannel marketing automation fails to deliver a cohesive experience. It gets your messages across different platforms, but the messages are disconnected. In contrast, omnichannel marketing automation is about connecting the dots so every message feels like part of one big, seamless experience. We know you’ve already heard enough on the omnichannel vs. multichannel marketing debate. But seriously, it gets more interesting when you stop and think about it. Picture this: a customer clicks on a product ad on Instagram, later gets an app notification with a discount code, and finally receives an email reminding them the item is almost sold out. Each touchpoint builds on the last, creating a smooth, personalized customer journey. That’s how omnichannel marketing automation works. Take Nordstrom, for example. Added something to your online cart? You can pick it up in-store the same day. Every interaction, whether it’s an email, a notification, or an in-store visit, feels like part of the same story. A multichannel approach might stop at sending a single email for an abandoned cart. Whether you’re doubling down on omnichannel and cross-channel engagement with MoEngage, building loyalty post-purchase with ShipStation, or maximizing abandoned cart recoveries with Rejoiner, the key is finding the right fit for where you are and where you want to go.   Set Up Ecommerce Marketing Automations with MoEngage MoEngage lets you create seamless, personalized customer journeys that feel more human. From AI-driven insights to tailored message automation, it’s built to keep your audience engaged at every step of their Ecommerce journey. Ready to step up your Ecommerce marketing automation game? See MoEngage in action. The post Ecommerce Marketing Automation Strategies to Boost Revenue appeared first on MoEngage.

May 29, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Windows Security Cybersecurity researchers have taken the wraps off an unusual cyber attack that leveraged malware with corrupted DOS and PE headers, according to new findings from Fortinet. The DOS (Disk Operating System) and PE (Portable Executable) headers are essential parts of a Windows PE file, providing information about the executable. While the DOS header makes the executable file backward compatible with MS-DOS and allows it to be recognized as a valid executable by the operating system, the PE header contains the metadata and information necessary for Windows to load and execute the program. "We discovered malware that had been running on a compromised machine for several weeks," researchers Xiaopeng Zhang and John Simmons from the FortiGuard Incident Response Team said in a report shared with The Hacker News. "The threat actor had executed a batch of scripts and PowerShell to run the malware in a Windows process." Fortinet said while it was unable to extract the malware itself, it acquired a memory dump of the running malware process and a full memory dump of the compromised machine. It's currently not known how the malware is distributed or how widespread the attacks distributing it are. The malware, running within a dllhost.exe process, is a 64-bit PE file with corrupted DOS and PE headers in a bid to challenge analysis efforts and reconstruct the payload from memory. Despite these roadblocks, the cybersecurity company further noted that it was able to take apart the dumped malware within a controlled local setting by replicating the compromised system's environment after "multiple trials, errors, and repeated fixes." The malware, once executed, decrypts command-and-control (C2) domain information stored in memory and then establishes contact with the server ("rushpapers[.]com") in a newly created threat. "After launching the thread, the main thread enters a sleep state until the communication thread completes its execution," the researchers said. "The malware communicates with the C2 server over the TLS protocol." Further analysis has determined the malware to be a remote access trojan (RAT) with capabilities to capture screenshots; enumerate and manipulate the system services on the compromised host; and even act as a server to await incoming "client" connections. "It implements a multi-threaded socket architecture: each time a new client (attacker) connects, the malware spawns a new thread to handle the communication," Fortinet said. "This design enables concurrent sessions and supports more complex interactions." "By operating in this mode, the malware effectively turns the compromised system into a remote-access platform, allowing the attacker to launch further attacks or perform various actions on behalf of the victim." Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

IGN and Meta will host a Women in Gaming networking event on June 6 ahead of IGN Live The event features panels, hardware demos, and more News by Samuel Roberts Editorial Director Published on May 25, 2025 IGN and Meta will host a Women in Gaming event on Friday, June 6 as part of this year's IGN Live event. Taking place at the Magic Box in Los Angeles, the event promises to honour the women making waves in the games industry, and will feature curated panels with industry leaders. Meta, meanwhile, will bring hardware demos to the event. A pop-up studio offering headshots will also be part of the mix, with make-up artists from NYX Professional Makeup providing touch-ups. Dentsu Gaming completes the list of sponsors for the event. Those interested in attending Women in Gaming or finding out more information are encouraged to reach out to Kim Hatfield at IGN Entertainment. IGN Live itself takes place on June 7 and June 8, with tickets available now. Participating publishers at the event include Xbox, Sega, 2K Games and Ubisoft. GamesIndustry.biz is part of IGN Entertainment, the division of Ziff Davis that includes Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, and VG247.

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More We’re seeing AI evolve fast. It’s no longer just about building a single, super-smart model. The real power, and the exciting frontier, lies in getting multiple specialized AI agents to work together. Think of them as a team of expert colleagues, each with their own skills — one analyzes data, another interacts with customers, a third manages logistics, and so on. Getting this team to collaborate seamlessly, as envisioned by various industry discussions and enabled by modern platforms, is where the magic happens. But let’s be real: Coordinating a bunch of independent, sometimes quirky, AI agents is hard. It’s not just building cool individual agents; it’s the messy middle bit — the orchestration — that can make or break the system. When you have agents that are relying on each other, acting asynchronously and potentially failing independently, you’re not just building software; you’re conducting a complex orchestra. This is where solid architectural blueprints come in. We need patterns designed for reliability and scale right from the start. The knotty problem of agent collaboration Why is orchestrating multi-agent systems such a challenge? Well, for starters: They’re independent: Unlike functions being called in a program, agents often have their own internal loops, goals and states. They don’t just wait patiently for instructions. Communication gets complicated: It’s not just Agent A talking to Agent B. Agent A might broadcast info Agent C and D care about, while Agent B is waiting for a signal from E before telling F something. They need to have a shared brain (state): How do they all agree on the “truth” of what’s happening? If Agent A updates a record, how does Agent B know about it reliably and quickly? Stale or conflicting information is a killer. Failure is inevitable: An agent crashes. A message gets lost. An external service call times out. When one part of the system falls over, you don’t want the whole thing grinding to a halt or, worse, doing the wrong thing. Consistency can be difficult: How do you ensure that a complex, multi-step process involving several agents actually reaches a valid final state? This isn’t easy when operations are distributed and asynchronous. Simply put, the combinatorial complexity explodes as you add more agents and interactions. Without a solid plan, debugging becomes a nightmare, and the system feels fragile. Picking your orchestration playbook How you decide agents coordinate their work is perhaps the most fundamental architectural choice. Here are a few frameworks: The conductor (hierarchical): This is like a traditional symphony orchestra. You have a main orchestrator (the conductor) that dictates the flow, tells specific agents (musicians) when to perform their piece, and brings it all together. This allows for: Clear workflows, execution that is easy to trace, straightforward control; it is simpler for smaller or less dynamic systems. Watch out for: The conductor can become a bottleneck or a single point of failure. This scenario is less flexible if you need agents to react dynamically or work without constant oversight. The jazz ensemble (federated/decentralized): Here, agents coordinate more directly with each other based on shared signals or rules, much like musicians in a jazz band improvising based on cues from each other and a common theme. There might be shared resources or event streams, but no central boss micro-managing every note. This allows for: Resilience (if one musician stops, the others can often continue), scalability, adaptability to changing conditions, more emergent behaviors. What to consider: It can be harder to understand the overall flow, debugging is tricky (“Why did that agent do that then?”) and ensuring global consistency requires careful design. Many real-world multi-agent systems (MAS) end up being a hybrid — perhaps a high-level orchestrator sets the stage; then groups of agents within that structure coordinate decentrally. For agents to collaborate effectively, they often need a shared view of the world, or at least the parts relevant to their task. This could be the current status of a customer order, a shared knowledge base of product information or the collective progress towards a goal. Keeping this “collective brain” consistent and accessible across distributed agents is tough. Architectural patterns we lean on: The central library (centralized knowledge base): A single, authoritative place (like a database or a dedicated knowledge service) where all shared information lives. Agents check books out (read) and return them (write). Pro: Single source of truth, easier to enforce consistency. Con: Can get hammered with requests, potentially slowing things down or becoming a choke point. Must be seriously robust and scalable. Distributed notes (distributed cache): Agents keep local copies of frequently needed info for speed, backed by the central library. Pro: Faster reads. Con: How do you know if your copy is up-to-date? Cache invalidation and consistency become significant architectural puzzles. Shouting updates (message passing): Instead of agents constantly asking the library, the library (or other agents) shouts out “Hey, this piece of info changed!” via messages. Agents listen for updates they care about and update their own notes. Pro: Agents are decoupled, which is good for event-driven patterns. Con: Ensuring everyone gets the message and handles it correctly adds complexity. What if a message is lost? The right choice depends on how critical up-to-the-second consistency is, versus how much performance you need. Building for when stuff goes wrong (error handling and recovery) It’s not if an agent fails, it’s when. Your architecture needs to anticipate this. Think about: Watchdogs (supervision): This means having components whose job it is to simply watch other agents. If an agent goes quiet or starts acting weird, the watchdog can try restarting it or alerting the system. Try again, but be smart (retries and idempotency): If an agent’s action fails, it should often just try again. But, this only works if the action is idempotent. That means doing it five times has the exact same result as doing it once (like setting a value, not incrementing it). If actions aren’t idempotent, retries can cause chaos. Cleaning up messes (compensation): If Agent A did something successfully, but Agent B (a later step in the process) failed, you might need to “undo” Agent A’s work. Patterns like Sagas help coordinate these multi-step, compensable workflows. Knowing where you were (workflow state): Keeping a persistent log of the overall process helps. If the system goes down mid-workflow, it can pick up from the last known good step rather than starting over. Building firewalls (circuit breakers and bulkheads): These patterns prevent a failure in one agent or service from overloading or crashing others, containing the damage. Making sure the job gets done right (consistent task execution) Even with individual agent reliability, you need confidence that the entire collaborative task finishes correctly. Consider: Atomic-ish operations: While true ACID transactions are hard with distributed agents, you can design workflows to behave as close to atomically as possible using patterns like Sagas. The unchanging logbook (event sourcing): Record every significant action and state change as an event in an immutable log. This gives you a perfect history, makes state reconstruction easy, and is great for auditing and debugging. Agreeing on reality (consensus): For critical decisions, you might need agents to agree before proceeding. This can involve simple voting mechanisms or more complex distributed consensus algorithms if trust or coordination is particularly challenging. Checking the work (validation): Build steps into your workflow to validate the output or state after an agent completes its task. If something looks wrong, trigger a reconciliation or correction process. The best architecture needs the right foundation. The post office (message queues/brokers like Kafka or RabbitMQ): This is absolutely essential for decoupling agents. They send messages to the queue; agents interested in those messages pick them up. This enables asynchronous communication, handles traffic spikes and is key for resilient distributed systems. The shared filing cabinet (knowledge stores/databases): This is where your shared state lives. Choose the right type (relational, NoSQL, graph) based on your data structure and access patterns. This must be performant and highly available. The X-ray machine (observability platforms): Logs, metrics, tracing – you need these. Debugging distributed systems is notoriously hard. Being able to see exactly what every agent was doing, when and how they were interacting is non-negotiable. The directory (agent registry): How do agents find each other or discover the services they need? A central registry helps manage this complexity. The playground (containerization and orchestration like Kubernetes): This is how you actually deploy, manage and scale all those individual agent instances reliably. How do agents chat? (Communication protocol choices) The way agents talk impacts everything from performance to how tightly coupled they are. Your standard phone call (REST/HTTP): This is simple, works everywhere and good for basic request/response. But it can feel a bit chatty and can be less efficient for high volume or complex data structures. The structured conference call (gRPC): This uses efficient data formats, supports different call types including streaming and is type-safe. It is great for performance but requires defining service contracts. The bulletin board (message queues — protocols like AMQP, MQTT): Agents post messages to topics; other agents subscribe to topics they care about. This is asynchronous, highly scalable and completely decouples senders from receivers. Direct line (RPC — less common): Agents call functions directly on other agents. This is fast, but creates very tight coupling — agent need to know exactly who they’re calling and where they are. Choose the protocol that fits the interaction pattern. Is it a direct request? A broadcast event? A stream of data? Putting it all together Building reliable, scalable multi-agent systems isn’t about finding a magic bullet; it’s about making smart architectural choices based on your specific needs. Will you lean more hierarchical for control or federated for resilience? How will you manage that crucial shared state? What’s your plan for when (not if) an agent goes down? What infrastructure pieces are non-negotiable? It’s complex, yes, but by focusing on these architectural blueprints — orchestrating interactions, managing shared knowledge, planning for failure, ensuring consistency and building on a solid infrastructure foundation — you can tame the complexity and build the robust, intelligent systems that will drive the next wave of enterprise AI. Nikhil Gupta is the AI product management leader/staff product manager at Atlassian. Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. 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