Companies large and small are embracing machine learning in a bid to make better use of their data. Last week, eBay Inc. led the charge by acquiring SalesPredict Ltd., an Israeli startup that uses the technology help marketers gain a better understanding of their customers.

Its cloud service can analyze a company’s sales records to identify the most valuable type of leads and then single out the accounts that match the description in its CRM system. Moreover, SalesPredict says that the data produced by its technology also makes it easier to identify new high-value prospects and optimize advertising campaigns. No terms were disclosed for the acquisition, but eBay did divulge that the startup’s team will join its Israeli engineering team to help with product development efforts.

The news came against the backdrop of another analytics startup called Amplero Inc. raising $8 million in funding to fuel the development of new features for its engagement optimization platform. Like SalesPredict, the system uses machine learning to understand customer buying patterns, but it doesn’t stop at merely presenting the information to marketers. The software also packs a set of optimization algorithms that can automatically fine-tune a webpage or ad based on the user preferences identified by its monitoring component. Amplero claims that upwards of thousands of variations are generated and tested in the process to ensure that every parameter lines up perfectly.

Improving usability is also a key priority for developers, but they have to approach the task from an entirely different angle. Fortunately, the market has a large selection of application analytics and optimization tools to choose from. One of the newest entrants is Dashbot Inc., which last week launched a platform for tracking how users interact with chatbots on Slack and Facebook Messenger. Key metrics such as session length, AI response effectiveness and retention are displayed in a visual dashboard makes it easy to find areas for improvement.

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