Is the thought of a long, complex implementation process stopping you from getting your own AI agent? What if we told you that you could have a fully functional agent up and running in just 30 days?

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“AI is just such an overwhelming topic for most at the moment, and the purpose of this program is to bring clarity and have something internally that creates real business impact for the foreseeable future.”, Alex Hoyland, our Product Lead for Domo. “We partnered with Domo for this programme as the platform equips us and our clients with an easy-to-use tool set that makes the 30-day timeline possible”

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But what is this for? It’s to help businesses unlock the power of AI quickly and efficiently. This program delivers a working AI agent that automates routine tasks, provides 24/7 intelligent support, and unlocks real-time data insights. The result? You get increased efficiency, scalability, and an enhanced customer experience while simultaneously reducing operational costs.

Key Benefits of Implementing an AI Agent

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Integrating an AI agent isn't just about a single benefit- it's about a complete transformation of how your business operates. Here are some of the biggest advantages:

• Increased Efficiency and Productivity: By automating repetitive tasks, an AI agent can significantly reduce manual work and operational costs. This frees up your team to focus on more strategic work and allows your business to scale without needing to hire additional staff.
• Enhanced Decision-Making: AI agents can process data in real time, offering faster insights and predictive analytics. This helps you anticipate market trends and make smarter, data-driven decisions. They can also provide personalised recommendations for sales, marketing, and user engagement, helping you connect with your customers more effectively.
• Improved Customer Experience: Imagine your customers getting 24/7 support with lightning-fast response times. AI agents, powered by chatbots and virtual assistants, make this a reality. They can also provide customised interactions based on user behaviour, leading to a more personal and consistent experience for everyone.
• A Culture of Innovation: When AI takes care of the small stuff, your teams can think bigger. An AI agent encourages a proactive approach to problem-solving, allowing your team to dig into the root causes of issues instead of just treating the symptoms. This fosters continuous improvement and cross-functional collaboration.

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A Structured Approach: The 30-Day AI Agent Accelerator Program

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The beauty of this program is its clear, structured approach, designed for rapid implementation. We break it down into three simple phases:

1. Discover & Define: This is where you get clear on your goals. You'll define the specific business challenge and the opportunity for your AI agent. You and the team will clarify the use case, align on success metrics, and map out a plan based on the agent framework.
2. Design & Build: In this phase, the magic happens. The team develops the agent's logic, workflows, and automations. They integrate your data, tools, and triggers, applying advanced reasoning and natural language logic to ensure your agent is smart, reliable, and ready for the real world.
3. Deploy & Enable: The final stage is all about getting your new agent live. It's seamlessly deployed within your Domo instance, and you'll get a full walkthrough of its functionality. Once it's launched, you'll also receive enablement sessions to ensure your team knows how to drive adoption and ensure its ongoing success.

‍

Wait, Who's Domo?

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If you're not already familiar with our awesome partners, Domo is a leading AI and data products platform. Think of them as the ultimate toolkit for making sense of all your business data. They help companies connect to over 1,000 data sources, automate tedious processes, and build powerful, intelligent applications - like the AI agents we're talking about. Their platform is designed to help you not only manage your data but also use it to make smarter, faster decisions across your entire business.

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Ready to build your new AI agent?

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This programme was specifically built to help companies wrap their head around AI agents and turn ideas into actions. "You bring the data and the use case, we do the rest to ensure that automation through AI agents is accessible for everyone. It is important to me that we create solutions that fix real problems and provide compelling commercial advantages to our clients," Alex says. Curious and want to enquire about more details? He'll guide you on the ins and outs of the Domo AI Agent Accelerator Program. 👇

‍

If you're in the app space in South Africa, you've likely felt things shifting. We've gone through the latest AppsFlyer report on Sub-Saharan Africa and pulled out the key takeaways that every product manager and developer needs to know. Trust us, these numbers are a proper game-changer.

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The mobile industry remains a powerhouse in the region, contributing $140 billion US dollars to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2023. But here’s the interesting part: with fewer than one in three people using mobile internet, the potential for growth is immense.

‍

From Volume to Value: The New SA App Playbook

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South Africa is moving beyond just chasing new downloads. While overall app installs are still forecast to rise by 18% in 2025, user acquisition (UA) spend dropped by 20% in the first half of the year. This isn't a contradiction; it means marketers are getting smarter and more efficient. They're prioritising ROI-driven growth over pure volume.

‍

And get this: the iOS market is on fire. While Android is set to grow by 14%, iOS is expected to rebound by a massive 68% in 2025. This is partly thanks to new legislation that removed a luxury tax on more affordable smartphones, which opened up the market and brought in a wave of high-value users through the refurbished device market.

‍

‍

Why Data is Your New Best Friend

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The report notes that UA budgets declined, while remarketing spend in South Africa grew by a massive 48%. Marketers are shifting their focus from top-of-funnel acquisition to re-engagement and retention because that’s where the real money is. For winning apps, the real challenge is no longer acquisition, but engagement.

‍

But how do you figure out what makes a user stick around? A product analytics platform is your secret weapon. AppsFlyer's report gives you the "what", the big-picture data on installs and spending. But a tool like Amplitude gives you the "why". It helps you see user behaviour after the install. You can figure out what product journeys they are taking, why they drop off, and what a "high-value" user actually looks like. It’s the key to unlocking the value within your existing user base, exactly what the AppsFlyer report says is crucial for long-term success.

‍

What about App uninstalls? It’s a huge pain point, especially in developing countries where they're higher than the global average. In fact, more than 1 in 2 apps that are installed are uninstalled within 30 days. That’s a serious issue.

‍

This is where a customer engagement platform comes in. It's no use just tracking user behaviour to find out where they dropped off; you need to fight uninstalls by driving users to value quicker and finding ways to re-engage them. That’s why you need to connect your data to your marketing. Personally, we love OneSignal. It lets you send powerful, timely notifications and in-app messages to guide users along their journey and bring them back to your app, turning those potential uninstalls into re-engagements.

‍

Install Fraud, Now Available on Andriod AND iOS

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As marketers ourselves, we know that as the market matures, so do the threats. While South Africa has made significant progress in fighting fraud, with Android install fraud dropping by 31%, fraudsters are simply changing their tactics.

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The report shows a shift to iOS, where fresh investment is making it a more lucrative target. In the shopping category, bots now account for nearly 75% of all fraud in South Africa, up from just 5% in late 2023. This means that your user acquisition strategy must include fraud resilience. This isn’t just for marketers in shopping, it’s for all of us.

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Your Roadmap to Success: Final Takeaways

South Africa isn't just catching up to global trends; we're setting the pace for sustainable, performance-led app growth. To win in this new landscape, the report's key recommendations are to focus on:

• Performance, not just scale: Prioritising ROI-driven growth over sheer volume.
• The iOS opportunity: iOS users are a major growth lever.
• Retention as the new growth engine: The focus has shifted from acquisition to keeping the right users.
• Stronger fraud defences: Regularly reassessing your fraud defences is non-negotiable.

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To truly master that shift to efficiency, you have to go beyond just looking at the top of the funnel. It's not enough to know how many installs you're getting; you have to know which of those installs are actually providing long-term value. This is where a digital analytics tool like Amplitude becomes invaluable. By giving you a granular look into user behaviour after the install, this kind of platform can show you exactly where to focus your resources for the best possible ROI, turning that raw data into a smarter, more efficient marketing strategy.

Download their full report and dive into the numbers yourself 👇

🔗Link🔗

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New report unpacks the digital signals shaping the fast food market

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Issued by: YOUKNOW Technologies in collaboration with Rogerwilco and MoyaApp

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The 2025 South African Fast Food & QSR Digital Trends Report is here, the most in-depth, signal-based analysis of the country’s fast food and quick service restaurant (QSR) sector to date.

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This industry-first collaboration brings together:

• Rogerwilco’s award-winning digital analytics,
  
  
• YOUKNOW Technologies’ advanced social sentiment expertise, and
  
  
• MoyaApp’s unique access to mass-market consumer data.
  ‍
  

The result? A multi-dimensional view of how South Africans choose where, and why, they eat fast food, revealing not just what’s trending, but what’s truly driving today’s digital-first, value-seeking consumer.

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“In a market where value, trust and context now matter more than noise or sheer reach, marketing teams must tightly align digital presence, influencer activity and product innovation with real consumer intent,” says Mongezi Mtati, Senior Brand Strategist at Rogerwilco.

‍

Key Findings

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Share of search leads the way

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Share of search is becoming one of the most reliable leading indicators of market share. In a sector built on habitual, instant decisions, it’s a strong predictor of which brand wins the sale. KFC and McDonald’s lead with almost 11% of total search share each, yet over a third of consumer attention is shifting to alternate brands and aggregator apps, a clear opportunity and warning for incumbents.

‍

Social sentiment slows, expectations rise

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Online mentions of fast food brands dropped 32% year-on-year, as consumers become more selective about sharing experiences. Using Brandwatch for sentiment analysis, the top drivers of brand favourability emerged as trust, speed, and value, while poor service and safety concerns dominated negative sentiment.

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“Consumers are talking less, but expecting more,” says Shaun Pearson, Product Owner at YOUKNOW Technologies. “They want to feel heard, respected, and served with consistency. Brands that lean into value and authenticity will win.”

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‘Near me’ searches and aggregators reshape competition

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More than 90% of searches now include “near me”, underscoring the importance of proximity. Aggregator apps intercept these high-intent searches, making digital ordering visibility a competitive priority.

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Mass-market consumers drive disruption

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Data from 3,500+ households earning under R10,000 a month via MoyaApp shows value combos between R50–R100 and local flavour dominate. While KFC tops actual purchases, township favourites like shisanyama and kota retain strong loyalty — proof of the power of cultural relevance.

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“In South Africa’s fast food economy, it’s mass-market consumers who are setting the pace,” says Donald Mokgale, Managing Director at MoyaApp. “Their decisions reflect deep-rooted preferences for flavour, reliability, and dignity — and they’re increasingly digital, deliberate and discerning.”

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Women as the decision-makers

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Mothers and caregivers emerge as key household decision-makers, prioritising dignity and value over just price. Brands delivering taste, reliability, and respect will earn long-term loyalty.

‍

Why This Matters for Marketers

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This research signals a fundamental shift: visibility alone won’t cut it. Brands must be relevant, reliable, and responsive to evolving digital and cultural touchpoints.

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“This report empowers fast food and QSR brand leads to target, message, and activate audiences at the moment of purchase — not just during awareness,” adds Mtati.

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The findings highlight the impact of integrated data intelligence. By blending search trends, authentic consumer voices, and advanced social listening, marketers can see exactly what South Africans want now, and where the market is heading.

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For marketers, the takeaway is clear: Loud campaigns aren’t enough. To stay top of mind and top of wallet, fast food brands must be discoverable, dependable, and deeply connected to the communities they serve.

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Read the full report: Click here to access the report

If you’re reading this, chances are you're already building or tinkering with your app. So, why not snag some prizes while you're at it? South Africa's been on a proper winning streak lately, hey? Our Boks are world champs, the Proteas bagged the ICC World Test Championship and Dricus brought home UFC gold. All that's missing now is someone to put Mzansi on the map for app development. And that’s where your app comes in…

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‍So, What Exactly is Shipaton Hackathon?

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We just heard about Shipaton through our awesome partners at OneSignal, and we knew we wanted to share the love. It is an annual global hackathon run by our friends at RevenueCat, with OneSignal as a headline sponsor. It's designed to give developers that final push to build and launch a brand-new app. Think of it as a supportive challenge to get your awesome idea out there, compete for some incredible prizes, and connect with a global community. It's all about shipping amazing apps and seeing them grow.

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At YOUKNOW, we're all about helping product teams and app builders grow their apps properly. That's why we're seriously keen on Shipaton 2025. If you're in the app space, this is definitely one to watch. You know how it goes: you've got a banging app idea, but then the real mission starts, getting it out there, finding your audience, and keeping them hooked. Shipaton’s designed to help you smash those hurdles, with solid support and some proper prizes on the line.

‍

What's the Challenge?

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This global hackathon is for developers building the next generation of mobile apps. It's your opportunity to create a new app for the App Store or Google Play.

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1. Build a brand-new app on the App Store or Google Play. 
2. Use the RevenueCat SDK to handle subscriptions or in-app purchases (Afterall, a good revenue model is key for sustainable growth).
3. Integrate OneSignal to engage, retain, and connect with your users. Effective messaging is crucial for lasting user engagement, and OneSignal provides the tools to connect with your audience. 

‍

Need help with OneSignal integration? Chat to us :)

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You can win HOW MUCH? 

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Wanna be as big as Apple in the Big Apple? We're talking over $355,000 in prizes. Yes, dollars. This includes a $65,000 (Over R1,1 mil) grand prize and, notably, a Times Square billboard feature for the 1st place winner. 

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OneSignal Boost Award: Master Messaging, Win More

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We're particularly thrilled about the OneSignal Boost Award. Our partner OneSignal is offering over $50,000 in additional prizes to apps that use messaging most effectively and creatively. 

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Why are we so into OneSignal? They’re our partners and their platform solves omnichannel messaging headaches. No need to jump between a bunch of different tools just to talk to your users. It just makes building those slick, automated customer journeys so much easier, and it helps your app look good and keep your users happy.

‍

Whether you’re keen on push notifications, a slick omni-channel strategy, or crafting clever user journeys with OneSignal Journeys, this is your chance to show off some seriously powerful messaging. NB: Just make sure OneSignal is integrated before you submit, so you qualify.

‍

Need Help? Join Office Hours

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Sometimes you need a quick answer or some guidance. The Shipaton support team is hosting two open Q&A sessions to assist with setup, strategy, and any competition-related questions:

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• Session 1: Wednesday, August 13th at 3:00 AM SAST
• Session 2: Wednesday, September 3rd at 5:30 PM SAST

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Important Dates

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Submissions open on August 1st, 2025, and are due by September 30th, 2025. This is a significant opportunity for app builders, product managers, and SaaS brands to innovate, gain visibility, and potentially win substantial awards.

‍

Ready to take your app idea further?

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• Register now to receive all Shipaton updates, resources, and perks.
• Find more details on the official website: Shipaton Official Website
• Check out the full details and register your team: RevenueCat Shipaton 2025 Devpost

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We're looking forward to seeing what you build.

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Most teams today say they're data-driven, but if you look beneath the surface, many are stuck in old habits wearing new tools. Data dashboards don’t automatically create data-savvy behaviour. Culture does.

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In this blog, we unpack six cultural signals that might be slowing your team down, even if you're armed with the latest analytics stack. Spot them early, shift your approach, and set up a strategy that’s behaviour-led, not just buzzword-heavy.

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1. Data is guarded, not shared

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The signal: Insights live in silos. Dashboards are locked down. Reports are treated like power moves.

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Why it matters: Data is meant to unify teams, not drive territory wars. If your data strategy is built on gatekeeping, collaboration and momentum suffer.

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What to try instead: Build shared dashboards across marketing, product, and CX. Schedule open insight sessions monthly. Reward transparency, not secrecy.

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2. Gut still wins in key decisions

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The signal: Big product changes or campaign ideas are greenlit based on "feeling right" or "past experience."

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Why it matters: You open your business to bias, ego-driven decisions, and inconsistent performance. Data can guide instinct, but it needs a seat at the table first.

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What to try instead: Introduce pre-mortems with data checkpoints. Align every big idea with at least one measurable insight before execution.

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3. Your teams speak different metric languages

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The signal: Marketing is chasing impressions. Product cares about DAUs. CX is looking at NPS. No one's sure who’s actually winning.

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Why it matters: Without shared KPIs, teams run in opposite directions. It becomes hard to prioritise, measure outcomes, or tell a unified story to leadership.

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What to try instead: Define a single source of truth and a few cross-functional KPIs that everyone rallies behind. Start small, then build out.

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4. Nobody knows the North Star

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The signal: Ask five people what success looks like, get five different answers.

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Why it matters: A North Star metric helps teams make tradeoffs, align roadmaps, and understand progress.

‍

What to try instead: Run a workshop to define or revisit your North Star. Then socialise it. Print it. Put it in presentations. Make it visible and referenced often.

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5. You have the tools, but barely anyone uses them

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The signal: You’ve bought great platforms like Amplitude, but adoption is low. A few champions do all the work, and everyone else waits for screenshots.

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Why it matters: Tools are only as powerful as the behaviours they enable. Shallow adoption means missed opportunities and wasted budget.

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What to try instead: Nominate department champions to run internal demos and success sessions. Build a habit of insight-sharing at every meeting.

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6. Feedback flows one way (or not at all)

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The signal: Teams don’t review what worked or what didn’t. Retros are skipped. Feedback is top-down only.

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Why it matters: Without feedback loops, your team doesn’t learn or evolve. Innovation slows, and problems repeat.

‍

What to try instead: Build in lightweight feedback moments into every sprint or campaign. Make retro meetings non-negotiable, and ensure everyone’s voice is heard.

‍

Why Culture Eats Toolkits for Breakfast

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You can’t fix culture with a platform. Even the best tools fall flat in teams where data is feared, not followed. Cultural maturity looks like:

• Data being a default part of conversations
  
  
• Teams asking better questions
  
  
• Metrics being understood, not just reported
  ‍
  

Being data-driven is less about dashboards and more about mindset. If your team is struggling to act on data, it’s often a people issue, not a tech one.

‍

YOUKNOW’s Take

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At YOUKNOW, we help businesses build the habits, rituals, and behaviours that turn data from a cost centre into a growth engine. Before we talk about implementation, we talk about alignment.

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That’s why we recommend starting with the Amplitude Maturity Assessment, a helpful first step to understanding your organisation’s readiness for data-led growth.

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If you’d rather workshop your way forward, that’s where we come in. As your local Martech experts, we can help map the gaps, build the rituals, and set the strategy.

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Ready to Change Your Data Culture?

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Let’s run a quick maturity check together. Take the Amplitude Maturity Assessment or chat to us about a workshop to shift the needle.

‍Are You Just Posting or Actually Performing?

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Social media today is about more than “being online.” It’s about being effective. Whether you’re a fintech startup trying to build credibility, a telco managing crisis comms, or an FMCG brand launching your next big campaign, the question isn’t “Are you posting?”

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It’s “Is it working?”

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That’s where the right social tech stack comes in.

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At YOUKNOW, we help businesses move from reactive to strategic using tools built to handle more than hashtags. Whether it's publishing smarter, listening harder, or reporting faster, our local teams implement tech stacks that actually move the needle, not just the likes.

‍

This guide? It’s your go-to map to navigate social tech in 2025. We cover five top platforms, the good, the powerful, and the "best fit for the right use case", with a full-featured buying guide, expert POVs, and practical next steps.

‍

Social Tech 101: What It Is (and What It Isn’t)

‍

Social tech isn’t just a content calendar. It’s the collective power of platforms designed to help your brand do five key things:

‍

• Plan & Publish
• Engage & Support
• Listen & Monitor
• Analyse & Optimise
• Amplify through Advocacy & Influence

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Think of it as your digital command centre, helping you know what’s being said, shape what’s seen, and show what worked.

‍

Before You Compare: Know Your Goal

‍

Your best-fit platform depends entirely on your use case. Here’s a quick alignment checklist:

📌 If you're focused on reputation management → prioritise advanced listening, sentiment tracking, early alerting.

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📌 If you're driven by campaign performance → look for robust analytics, competitor benchmarks, and automation.

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📌 If your team handles social support → centralised inboxes, AI-suggested replies, and workflow tools are key.

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📌 If you're exploring influencer marketing → discovery tools, campaign measurement, and creator insights matter.

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📌 If you're trying to scale smart content → focus on shared calendars, AI content support, and built-in asset libraries.

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💬 Need help mapping this to your stack? Speak to a YOUKNOW consultant.

‍

The Platforms: Where They Fit

‍

Hootsuite

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Best for: Fast-moving teams that need collaborative publishing and engagement with baseline insights.

💡 YOUKNOW Insight: Great for teams needing speed, coordination, and scalability, with AI support and custom add-ons.

‍

Brandwatch

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Best for: Insight-hungry teams wanting to understand sentiment, conversation drivers, and content performance.

💡 YOUKNOW Insight: Powerful for brands focused on deep listening, real-time alerts, and influencer performance.

‍

Emplifi

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Best for: Mid-sized to enterprise orgs bridging content, customer care, and commerce.

💡 YOUKNOW Insight: Offers a true cross-functional platform. Solid for CX, and great value when teams work across silos.

‍

Sprout Social

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Best for: Growing teams looking for an intuitive experience and balanced reporting.

💡 YOUKNOW Insight: A reliable choice for scale-up brands, but may need complementary tools for advanced listening or care.

‍

Sprinklr

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Best for: Large, global organisations with complex structures and governance needs.

💡 YOUKNOW Insight: Enterprise-grade power, but best for teams ready to invest time and resources into long-term rollout.

‍

YOUKNOW’s Social Tech Buyer's Guide

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Publishing – Look for multi-platform schedulers, Canva integrations, AI captions, evergreen queues.
Engagement – Centralised inboxes, comment/review/DMS support, routing and tagging options.
Listening – Real-time trends, sentiment detection, alert systems, visual tracking.
Reporting – Custom dashboards, export tools, benchmark insights, ROI tracking.
Influencer – Discovery engines, campaign metrics, brand safety scoring.
AI Features – Content writing, reply suggestions, audience segmentation, predictions.
Collaboration – Approval chains, user permissions, shared planning calendars.
Integrations – CRM, email platforms, analytics tools, customer service portals.
Scalability – Flexible plans that grow with team size and content volume.
Onboarding – Clear UI, training support, fast setup, local onboarding helps.
Pricing & ROI – Compare total cost of ownership: not just licenses, but usage, support, and automation impact.

‍

Tips to Maximise Your Tech Investment

‍

• Set goals before buying tech. Strategy should always come before software.
• Train your people. Even the best platforms flop without skilled users. We help here too.
• Tag early. Use content labels and UTM tracking from the start.
• Sync your stack. Don’t let your tools live in silos, integrate into CRM, analytics, feedback loops.
• Act on insights. Use what the tools tell you to optimise your strategy, content, and comms.

‍

Final Word: Tech Doesn’t Win Alone, Teams Do

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Social media is no longer just a brand channel. It’s community. It’s PR. It’s CX. It’s commerce.

‍

And your tools? They should make all of that easier, smarter, and more scalable.

‍

At YOUKNOW, we help South African brands choose the right-fit platforms, not just the most popular ones,  and integrate them in ways that make sense for their business.

‍

👋 Keen to chat? Let’s help you map the right social stack for your goals.

In a world where users expect instant value and brands battle for attention, Product-Led Growth (PLG) has quietly become the not-so-secret weapon of smart marketers and product teams. But what does PLG actually look like in the wild?

‍

In Episode 2 of The Unfair Advantage podcast, YOUKNOW Technologies' own Kelvin Jonck and Don Packett ditch the fluff and break down real-world stories that prove PLG isn’t just for Silicon Valley startups. From maxed-out loyalty tiers with no return, to gamified nudges from a wise-cracking owl, they unpack what works, and what doesn’t, when it comes to turning customer journeys into actual growth.

‍

What Is Product-Led Growth (PLG)?

‍

PLG is the idea that your product should drive acquisition, retention, and growth. It’s about giving users value upfront, through experience, not pitch decks. And that value? It’s measured by something Kelvin calls the moment of value, the feeling users get when your product actually solves a problem for them.

‍

The challenge? You can’t just hope they get there. You have to design for it.

‍

“You want to get your customer to that moment of value as often as possible. The first moment, as quickly as possible,” Kelvin explains.

‍

Let’s break down how brands are doing this, sometimes brilliantly, sometimes not.

‍

Loyalty ≠ Points: The Real Power of Redemption

‍

Donovan kicks off with a loyalty case study many South Africans will relate to: Kauai. After religiously scanning the app, hitting the black-tier badge (top-level status), and expecting a king’s welcome… he got nothing. No reward. No reminder. No redemption.

‍

"It’s not Kauai’s fault. Maybe a little. But the real opportunity is this: the customer doesn’t feel value until they redeem something, not just earn it."

‍

Contrast that with Kelvin’s Clicks Club Card story. No fancy app interface. No gamification. But one day, the cashier casually mentions he has R200 in his account. Boom. Instant emotional connection.

‍

"It wasn’t slick. But it was real. That one moment made me want to go back to Clicks over a competitor."

‍

PLG Lesson: Your loyalty programme isn’t about tiers or tokens, it’s about frictionless, timely, delightful redemption. That’s the moment that sticks.

‍

Onboarding: Your First (and Most Important) Impression

‍

“Just because someone downloaded your app doesn’t mean they’re going to use it,” Donovan reminds us. Which brings us to another key part of PLG: onboarding.

‍

Think of it as your opening line. If it doesn’t land, they’re out.

‍

Kelvin tells the story of learning French with his daughter on Duolingo, a brand that has nailed PLG by deeply personalising their onboarding and retention strategy. Miss a day? The app comes alive:

• “Seriously Kelvin, you came back just to ghost me again?”
  
  
• “You’re scaring me. I’m afraid of people who skip lessons.”
  
  
• “What’s wrong babe? You haven’t done French in four days.”
  
  

‍

These messages aren’t just funny. They’re data-driven, timed, and emotional. Duolingo watches your engagement patterns and adapts its messaging to keep you coming back.

‍

"Their job is to get me to do one course per day, four days in a row. If I drop off, they know their churn rate spikes. So they work to get me back in."

‍

PLG Lesson: The best onboarding doesn’t just show users around. It guides them, nudges them until that first value click happens. And it keeps listening.

‍

Use a Little More Data (And a Lot More Empathy)

‍

PLG isn’t just about product features or flashy campaigns. It’s about designing a journey that feels personal. That means using the data breadcrumbs your users leave behind to tailor the experience in small, smart ways.

‍

"You don’t have to boil the data ocean. Just use one or two more data points to test smarter and experiment faster."

‍

From personalised push notifications to subtle redemption reminders, every interaction is a chance to create connection. And the brands that win? They’re the ones who keep testing.

‍

PLG Best Practices (the YOUKNOW Way):

1. Design for Redemption: Don’t just reward engagement—reward follow-through.
   
   
2. Make Onboarding Magical: Every tap should bring users closer to a win.
   
   
3. Message Like a Human: Humour, guilt, emojis—test it all.
   
   
4. Map Value Moments: Know what your “Aha!” looks like, then make it repeatable.
   
   
5. Test Often, Learn Fast: Don’t wait for a perfect funnel. Run micro-tests and iterate.
   
   

‍

Final Word: PLG Is a Mindset, Not Just a Metric

‍

Loyalty isn’t earned through points. Retention isn’t luck. And product-led growth isn’t just for apps—it’s for any business that wants to grow by giving real value, faster.

‍

The question is: Are you designing your journey with moments of value in mind?

‍

YOUKNOW can help you map that journey, optimise it with data, and personalise it with just the right touch of magic.

‍

Ready to give your product the unfair advantage? Book a strategy session with YOUKNOW.

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Want more stories like these? Catch the full Unfair Advantage podcast on Spotify or YouTube.

There’s a subtle but seismic shift happening in how we think about AI, and it’s not coming from ChatGPT’s next poetry trick.

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It’s coming from AI that acts, not just chats.

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While generative tools still dazzle with dialogue, the real game-changer for digital teams lies in AI Agents: autonomous, goal-driven systems that don’t just interpret your product data, they actually do something with it.

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Last week’s Amplitude launch of AI Agents made this crystal clear: the age of intelligent action is here. And if you’re still stuck in dashboards and disconnected insights, you might be missing the moment.

From Insights to Actions, Finally...

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Product teams have spent years obsessing over analytics. We’ve got funnels, heatmaps, events, replays. But all too often, insight stops short of impact.

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You know the drill:

• Spot a drop-off in your onboarding.
• Schedule a meeting.
• Write a hypothesis.
• Wait for engineering.
• Hope it ships before quarter-end.

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AI Agents flip this on its head.

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They’re designed to detect issues in real-time, dive into relevant context (like session replays or funnel stages), form hypotheses, and launch experiments, all within the product environment. No handover. No delays. Just action.

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Let’s Break That Down:

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• Detection: A Conversion Agent flags a 17% drop in checkout completion.
• Diagnosis: It auto-surfaces session recordings with rage clicks on the payment screen.
• Intervention: It proposes two test variants (shorter form, simplified layout) and launches an A/B test.
• Validation: It monitors impact and presents the winning version.

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This isn’t a roadmap feature. It’s happening now in tools like Amplitude’s AI Agents, and it’s not just cool, it’s critical.

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Why It Matters for Your Team

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Let’s be honest: most product and growth teams are drowning in data, short on time, and stuck prioritising backlog over bold bets. AI Agents offer a way out—not by replacing humans, but by handling the grunt work so your team can think bigger.

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They’re not here to write your product vision. But they are here to:

• Scale your ability to iterate
• Reduce your experiment-to-impact cycle
• Free your team from tactical traffic jams

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The kicker? You define the guardrails. AI Agents still check in for approvals, align to your KPIs, and learn from your preferences. You stay in the loop, not out of control.

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What It Signals for the Industry

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This isn’t just an Amplitude story. Hootsuite is bringing AI to content calendars. Domo’s embedding AI into business dashboards. From martech to product ops, the shift is clear: intelligence is moving closer to execution.

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And in South Africa, where teams are navigating leaner budgets and scaling ambitions, this kind of AI-powered efficiency isn’t a luxury. It’s leverage.

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Questions We Should Be Asking

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• What’s the cost of not acting faster on our insights?
• Which tasks are eating our time but could be automated?
• How do we move from a team that tracks metrics to one that moves them?

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If you’re a product lead, growth strategist, or CXO wondering how to do more with less (without losing sleep), this is your wake-up call.

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Want to See It In Action? Watch Amplitude’s AI Agent demo here or visit Amplitude.com/ai.

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Or better yet: Book a chat with our team to explore how this works in a South African context.

Let’s be honest: most teams start with the tools. New dashboard? Let’s plug it in. New event schema? Ship it. But without clear alignment across product, marketing, and data teams, even the best analytics tech becomes just another tab in the browser.

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At YOUKNOW, we work with brands that want their tech to actually do something. And the biggest unlock for performance? Getting your teams aligned on what matters, long before the dashboards light up.

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Here are 5 ways to build that alignment early and make your analytics more than just pretty charts.

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1. Get Executive Buy-In Early

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Data maturity starts at the top. If your execs aren’t championing a data-led culture, your teams won’t prioritise it either. Get C-suite buy-in by showing how digital analytics ties to core business outcomes — not just clicks, but retention, revenue, and ROI.

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Pro tip: Use this Amplitude Digital Maturity Assessment to frame the conversation with your leadership team.

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2. Define Your North Star Metric (and Don’t Overcomplicate It)

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If product, marketing, and data teams are chasing different numbers, you’ll never get a clear picture. Define one shared outcome (like activation rate or repeat engagement) that matters most — then use that to anchor your reporting and experimentation.

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We like Amplitude’s North Star Playbook for exactly this reason: it helps teams focus on user value, not vanity metrics.

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3. Speak a Common Language

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Your product manager says “DAUs.” Your marketer says “conversions.” Your analyst says “cohorts.” Everyone’s technically right, but practically misaligned. Create a shared analytics glossary and make sure everyone understands what the metrics mean, and why they matter.

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4. Start Small, Then Scale

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You don’t need to track everything from day one. Align on the 3-5 core metrics that matter most, implement them cleanly in Amplitude, and get your teams used to using them before you expand.

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5. Create Rituals for Data-Driven Conversations

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Alignment doesn’t happen once. It happens consistently. Set regular check-ins to review your North Star, look at performance trends, and adjust your metrics as the product evolves. The magic happens when the whole team is asking the same questions, together.

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Let’s Make the Tools Work for the Team

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Tech should follow strategy. And strategy should be shared. Whether you’re just starting with Amplitude or have been using it for years, team alignment is the secret to scaling smart.

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Need help figuring out how to bring product, data, and marketing together? Book a discovery session with YOUKNOW and we’ll help you build a roadmap that works.

Remember your first encounter with ChatGPT? It felt like a moment of true revelation, didn't it? Suddenly, an AI could draft compelling text, brainstorm intricate ideas, condense vast reports, and even weave a cheesy poetic verse. It remains a remarkable conversationalist, undeniably a linguistic virtuoso of our digital era.

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Yet, the realm of artificial intelligence is evolving at an exhilarating pace. While much of the initial excitement around "AI" often blurred the lines between general conversational tools and more sophisticated, action-oriented systems, a new class has definitively emerged: AI Agents. These intelligent systems are designed not merely to comprehend and generate information, but to actively execute, adapt, and achieve specific goals autonomously within defined domains.

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This isn't just about clever dialogue. It's about proactive action, independent operation, and delivering tangible results. Let’s break down the core distinctions of these task-oriented AI Agents and get into why they represent a profound shift for local digital product teams.

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General AI (Like ChatGPT): Brilliant Insights, Limited Execution

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To truly appreciate the transformative potential of AI Agents, it's essential to understand the inherent strengths and limitations of Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. These models are unsurpassed in language-based tasks: adept at interpreting complex prompts, generating cohesive text, summarising extensive datasets, and translating with remarkable nuance. They function as extraordinarily knowledgeable consultants, drawing upon immense pools of data to provide insights and creative outputs.

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However, their fundamental limitation lies in their operational paradigm: they primarily exist in a "read-only" capacity within their trained knowledge base. They lack direct interfaces with external tools, cannot initiate actions autonomously, nor can they directly operate within your existing digital systems. To be honest, sometimes getting one to even create a table has been tough.

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Consider ChatGPT as an exceptionally insightful strategic advisor. It can offer brilliant counsel, meticulously drafted plans, and innovative solutions. But it cannot, for instance, log into your Amplitude analytics platform, configure and launch an A/B test on your application, or deploy a new in-app guide directly. It provides the "what to do," but the "doing" remains entirely in your hands.

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What Makes an AI Agent Different? The Operational Intelligence of AI

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So, what truly distinguishes an AI Agent? These are autonomous, goal-driven systems equipped with a sophisticated array of "tools" that empower them to perform concrete actions within real-world digital environments. Fundamentally, they embody the operational intelligence of the AI world.

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Their key differentiators are compelling:

• Autonomy and Goal-Orientation: Unlike LLMs, which await specific prompts, agents are assigned a clear objective and relentlessly work towards its fulfilment. They initiate actions, monitor outcomes, and dynamically adjust their course without requiring constant human intervention.
• Tool Integration and Use: This is arguably their most defining characteristic. Agents are not confined to linguistic processing; they are seamlessly integrated with, and capable of operating, other software platforms. This includes product analytics tools, marketing automation systems, and experimentation engines. They possess the practical intelligence to leverage these tools effectively to achieve their designated goals.
• Contextual and Specialised: Their operation is typically focused within a defined domain, such as product optimisation or customer service. Their intelligence is finely tuned and deeply contextual to that specific environment, rendering them exceptionally effective and precise in their actions.
• Perception-Action Loop: They continuously observe incoming data, analyse it for actionable insights, formulate a strategic plan, execute that plan, and subsequently evaluate the impact of their intervention. This forms a perpetual, self-improving feedback loop.
• Learning and Adaptation: Through continuous interaction and the assessment of results, AI Agents learn and adapt, progressively refining their effectiveness over time - much like a seasoned product manager continually refines their strategy based on market feedback.

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Amplitude AI Agents: Actionable AI Transforming Product Development

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At YOUKNOW, our deep engagement with cutting-edge martech has afforded us a unique perspective on the evolving frontier of AI. We’ve seen Hootsuite empower marketers with intelligent content generation and admired Brandwatch’s Iris AI for its profound social insights. In our industry, AI has rapidly transitioned from a novel concept to an essential component of the modern marketing and product technology stack.

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But AI Agents? This is where our technology partners, like Amplitude, are advancing into truly uncharted territory. Product teams frequently grapple with a pervasive challenge: an overwhelming volume of data, bottlenecks inherent in manual analysis, and simply insufficient time for sustained, impactful optimisation. The knowledge of necessary improvements often exists, but the bandwidth for execution at scale remains a persistent constraint.

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This is precisely where Amplitude AI Agents emerge as a premier example of task-oriented AI in action. They are meticulously engineered to fundamentally transform how product teams interact with their data and orchestrate digital experience improvements, thereby cultivating truly 'self-improving' products.

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How do Amplitude AI Agents transcend the capabilities of a general LLM?

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A general AI might suggest investigating a decline in conversion rates. An Amplitude AI Agent, however, will automatically detect that very decline. It will then intelligently drill into relevant session replays to pinpoint the underlying causes, formulate precise hypotheses for improvement, design, and even launch a targeted A/B test directly within your product environment - and subsequently report the verified results back to you. They don't merely offer insights; they execute tangible, measurable actions directly within the Amplitude platform and its interconnected systems. We were blown away by this 15 minute walk through here.

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Key Capabilities Driving Amplitude AI Agents:

• Comprehensive Data Synthesis: They intelligently draw information from all your rich behavioural data, session replays, historical experiments, and in-app guides within your Amplitude account.
• Actionable Execution: They can dynamically configure web experiments (injecting HTML/CSS/JS), deploy highly targeted in-product guides, and meticulously track outcomes -  all seamlessly within Amplitude's powerful ecosystem.
• Continuous Optimisation: Operating tirelessly, they perpetually monitor, learn, and optimise your digital experiences, ensuring ongoing performance enhancement.
• User Control and Governance: Crucially, you retain ultimate oversight. You define the goals and autonomy levels, ensuring that no customer-facing changes are implemented without your explicit approval.

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Examples of Amplitude AI Agents in Action:

• Conversion Agent: Detects declines in conversion, analyses user session patterns, and designs A/B tests to resolve underlying issues.
• Onboarding Agent: Identifies friction points for new users and deploys targeted in-app guides to significantly enhance activation.
• Feature Adoption Agent: Uncovers reasons for under-utilised features and suggests effective nudges or variant tests to boost engagement.
• Monetisation Agent: Detects indicators of user purchase intent and recommends timely, personalised offers to drive revenue.

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The Impact: How Task-Oriented AI Shapes Your Product's Future

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This paradigm shift from conversational AI to action-oriented AI Agents is profound. It signifies not merely an incremental improvement, but a fundamental re-imagining of how product teams operate and generate value.

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• Shift from Reactive to Proactive: Move beyond a cycle of constant issue remediation to continuous, automated product enhancement. Your digital product becomes intrinsically smarter and more responsive.
• Accelerated Iteration: Conduct more hypothesis tests, acquire insights more rapidly, and implement more impactful changes at an unprecedented pace.
• Empowered Teams: Liberate product managers and analysts from repetitive, manual analytical tasks. This allows them to dedicate their expertise to strategic thinking, innovation, and solving complex, high-impact problems.
• The Era of Self-Improving Products: AI Agents establish the foundational infrastructure for digital experiences that can autonomously adapt and optimise themselves based on real-time user behaviour and predefined strategic objectives.

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The Real AI Revolution is About Doing

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The distinction is now unequivocally clear: while general LLMs like ChatGPT are brilliant at understanding and generating information, task-oriented AI Agents are engineered for decisive action. They seamlessly bridge the critical gap between insight generation and tangible execution, transforming workflows, driving unparalleled efficiency, and delivering measurable results for your product.

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This new class of AI goes beyond sophisticated data analysis and clever dialogue. It's about fundamentally reshaping your product development cycle and cultivating demonstrably superior digital experiences for your users.

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At YOUKNOW, we are committed to equipping you with the tools that not only articulate potential but actively deliver on it. Amplitude AI Agents exemplify the cutting edge of this evolution, offering a direct pathway to more efficient, data-driven, and ultimately more successful digital products.

For years, product, growth, and marketing teams have been sitting on mountains of behavioural data  but not enough time, people, or context to do something meaningful with it.

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Teams want to experiment faster. Launch smarter. Catch problems before they turn into churn. But most analytics tools still operate in the same way they did a decade ago: dashboards, reports, and waiting for someone to make sense of it all. That’s why Amplitude’s new AI Agents matter not just for product teams, but for the all teams aka your growth engine.

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‍The problem: insight isn’t action

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Most teams may already know where their funnel is leaking, or that certain features aren’t being adopted. So if your analytics are tracking then the issue isn’t seeing the problem, it’s having the time and resources to fix it.

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Traditional analytics loops look like this:

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1. Spot the issue
2. Pull the data
3. Form a hypothesis
4. Run a test
5. Wait
6. Repeat

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It’s methodical. But slow. And almost always bottlenecked by analyst bandwidth, context gaps, or tooling limitations.

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What are AI Agents?

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Amplitude AI Agents shift analytics from passive reporting to active optimisation. They turn your product data into action autonomously, intelligently, and constantly. Instead of panicing when there is a drop in conversion or guessing why new users are churning, AI Agents work like alwayson teammates embedded into your product team. They:

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• Detect patterns and anomalies
• Generate hypotheses
• Design experiments
• Run tests (with your approval)
• Track and surface impact

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All while your actual team focuses on strategy! Book a consultation with our team to learn more.

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How this helps product, marketing, and data teams:

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Product Managers: No more juggling a backlog of unknowns. AI Agents help you test more ideas, faster  and prioritise what actually works.

Marketing Leads: Run continuous, cohort specific tests without needing dev support.

Data Analysts: Less time on reactive requests, more time shaping strategy.

Growth and Retention Teams: Spot friction points, run the right experiments, and drive outcomes.

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What this looks like in action

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Conversion optimisation: Suggests targeted A/B tests and recommends highper forming variants.

Onboarding: Launches tailored in product guides, captures feedback.

Feature adoption: Identifies engagement gaps and runs micro experiments.

Monetisation: Detects signals of purchase intent and recommends cohort specific nudges.

What makes this different?

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A lot of analytics platforms stop at AI recommendations. Amplitude’s Agents go further:

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• Investigate problems
• Learn from past data
• Propose and run tests
• Track results and iterate

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This isn’t about reporting it’s about action. Agents don’t just flag issues. They fix them. Learn more about AI Agents.

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What does this mean for South African businesses?

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Bandwidth constraints. Small analyst teams. Blended roles. High expectations.

AI Agents can:

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• Reduce manual work
• Improve iteration speed
• Close the insighttoimpact gap
• Help crossfunctional teams make better decisions, faster

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Where YOUKNOW fits in

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As Amplitude’s official partner in South Africa, we help teams:

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- Audit their Martech stack
- Build experimentation frameworks
- Run AI readiness workshops
- Implement Amplitude AI Agents
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Want to see what this looks like for your team?

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We’re currently offering discovery sessions for businesses that want to:

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• Run alwayson experiments
• Optimise their onboarding or conversion flows
• Understand how AI Agents can reduce their team’s manual load

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Book a consultation with our team to learn more.

From Buzzwords to Business Value: What AI Readiness Really Looks Like in South Africa

Let’s be honest—“AI strategy” is one of those phrases that’s everywhere and nowhere all at once. But at our recent DOMO Connections event in Cape Town, the buzzwords took a backseat to real talk. From retail to legal, and telco to tech, our panellists didn’t just hype up AI—they unpacked how to actually use it, when not to, and how to keep the “human in the loop”.

Whether you're a BI lead, product manager, or exec trying to make sense of your data investments—this one's for you.

What’s Holding Businesses Back from AI Readiness?

Turns out, it's not tech. It’s translation.

As one panellist put it:

“The hardest part is aligning your output to business expectations. If your execs don’t understand it, they won’t fund it.”

This echoed across the board—data teams can build world-class systems, but if they don’t present insights in a business-accessible way, it falls flat.

Domo’s app-based approach was spotlighted as a practical solution: dashboards that non-analysts can actually use (without needing a PhD in pivot tables).

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Human in the Loop > Magic Black Box

AI isn’t a silver bullet—it’s a toolbox.
From Pick n Pay to Digitata and ABSA, the sentiment was clear: responsible AI means humans still make the calls. It’s not about replacing people, but amplifying good decision-making.

This means building systems where:

• AI can assist, but humans validate
• Decisions are traceable
• Risks are flagged before they blow up in your boardroom

As one speaker put it:

“The value is in augmentation, not automation. AI isn’t here to replace thinking.”

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Stop Overbuilding. Start Solving.

Sometimes, we get caught up in trying to build the most complex thing. But as one panellist reminded us:

“You don’t need a Ferrari if all you’re doing is school runs.”

The reminder? Build for the business problem—not the portfolio presentation.
And spoiler alert: a 20% automation win that’s actually adopted will always beat a 100% AI pipe dream that never goes live.

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From Insights to Action: Why It Matters Now

If you’re leading a team or steering digital transformation, here’s what this all means:

• Speak your exec’s language. If your data output doesn’t align with business KPIs, expect crickets.
• Build with feedback loops in mind. Tools like Domo help teams visualise what matters—without a dev backlog.
• Keep humans in the loop. If you can’t explain the AI decision path, it probably won’t fly.

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A South African Reality Check

In a local market balancing bold innovation with budget pressure, practical AI wins every time.

We're seeing an inflection point where smart investments in data platforms are unlocking:

• Better reporting
• More agile decision-making
• Cross-team alignment that doesn’t require twelve Zooms and a shared Google Doc

And we’re not just saying that. We saw it live at DOMO Connections.

Final Thought: Martech Shouldn’t Be Hectech

At YOUKNOW, we believe in keeping things clear, collaborative, and contextual. Our takeaway from DOMO Connections? If your AI or analytics platform isn’t being used across marketing, ops, finance, and product—it’s not really transforming your business.

📈 Want to see how Domo makes AI and data more usable for South African teams? Explore Domo with YOUKNOW →