For most business owners, automation represents a way to save time and money, as well as to speed up tedious work processes that have to get done. But is there more to be gained from automating than a few extra hours per week?
It turns out that there is.
When applied in the right way, you can use automation to grow and scale your ecommerce business. Essentially, setting up self-sustained mechanisms allows you to focus your attention to where it’s most needed without missing out on exciting opportunities.
So, if you’re prepared to construct these rule-based actions, the following are the ecommerce automation practices with the highest potential benefit for scaling your business.
Sales Processes
If you’ve ever spent days looking for the best products to sell in your store or trying to win the Buy Box on Amazon, then you’re well-aware of the time investments required to make a profit. Fortunately, there are quite a few tools out there that could help you speed up the entire ordeal.
First and foremost, you can start automating your research process. By employing the right programs, you can set up notifications for seasonal interest spikes, profitable opportunities, or upcoming product categories. Furthermore, three are many, many Amazon selling tools that help improve sales and smooth operations, like repricers, feedback management software, or even some PPC campaign tools. Any of these can help you get maximum exposure at the lowest cost possible.
Of course, don’t forget about the small touches that help improve UX on your ecommerce website. Use automated notifications for products back in stock. Employ easy-to-use conversion add-ons. Or, prepare cart recovery emails that are automatically sent when a customer abandons the checkout.
Inventory Management
The truth is, there’s no such thing as a replacement for manual inventory control. No matter how much you invest in automation software, you will have to set aside time for regular annual audits. However, you can minimize the time you spend counting and updating your inventory and use those hours more productively.
Inventory management software allows you to have a real-time understanding of the state of your warehouse and stores, with some tools even offering functionalities like supplier insights. With this type of knowledge, you can not only avoid running out of stock, but you can also plan your sales activities.
But, apart from making it easier for you to run your business, the greatest benefit of inventory automation is that it minimizes the likelihood of human errors. As precise information is available in a matter of seconds, inventory management software is an excellent type of tool to use. That’s especially if you expect to deal with large order quantities or if you’re in the process of scaling your operations.
Order Fulfillment
The traditional way to fulfill orders in ecommerce would be to manually review each purchase, collect the items, pack, then ship them. And if you’re starting out, this may be an OK process for you.
However, if you’re planning on growth, it’s highly recommended that you automate the process as soon as possible. By setting up systems that will eliminate the need for human intervention, you can speed up the shipping process and minimize the chance of human error.
Plus, faster delivery will contribute to customer satisfaction, which is one of the vital points to ecommerce business success.
There are a few good ways to automate the process. For one, if you sell through Amazon, you can use the FBA program and let the company handle everything. If, however, you operate on multiple channels, you’ll have to opt for the Multi-Channel Fulfillment method. This integrates with all your channels, including Shopify.
Of course, there’s also the chance that you prefer to do everything in-house. In this case, the best way to go forward is going to be an automated order management system. It will allow you to create rules and processes for each step of the fulfillment journey. Yes, it takes time and resources. But, if you want to remain independent from large retailers, it might be the ideal solution.
Customer Support
While no professional endeavor should start with the assumption that something will go wrong, customer issues are an inevitable part of running an ecommerce business. In general, it is assumed that around 15-40% of all online orders are returned.
With this in mind, it’s important to set up your operations in a way that will enable you to settle any disputes quickly and leave you with a happy customer.
One way you can implement automation in this process is to use chatbots. But, you can also go a step further and use social listening tools to detect and address any issues. Furthermore, you can prepare easily accessible knowledge bases such as a detailed FAQ section for your website, which will provide consumers with help on a variety of topics.
Lead Generation & Customer Retention
Lastly, you need to understand that growing an ecommerce business inevitably requires investment in customer acquisition and retention. And while you can pump money into CPC advertising campaigns, you’ll also want to employ a few tricks on your landing pages.
For example, you can use gated content for lead generation, and that’s an excellent start towards building a customer base. You can also include automation steps in the process, as in the example below, where the potential lead will determine their category and then an automation tool like Mailchimp or Drip will be set up to send personalized content based on this data. This kind of approach will help you optimize your future campaigns by tailoring content to your potential clients’ preferences.
Alternatively, you can create dynamic content that is programmed to change based on search terms or even adjust to the web visitors’ behavior. This way, you can get more out of your PPC campaigns, upsell, and reap the benefits of personalization to boost sales.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are many ways you can use automation for your ecommerce business. But the best thing about all of the strategies mentioned here is that they don’t just contribute to growth. More than that, they can be implemented as you’re just starting out, then used to scale your operations and achieve new heights of success.
