Boosting Efficiency With Ecommerce Automation: 8 Practical Tips To Get Started
It’s no secret that ecommerce is extremely competitive. This is evidenced by the fact that by 2026 it is estimated that 24% of retail purchases are predicted to take place online. Businesses need to find ways to streamline their operations to stay ahead of the game. And one way to achieve this is through ecommerce automation.
So join us at Upscribe as we explore the ins and outs of ecommerce automation with eight practical tips to help you get started. Let’s dive in!
What is ecommerce automation?
Ecommerce automation taps into software to streamline and automate various tasks, processes, and campaigns within an online business. This can include anything from order processing and fulfillment to inventory management, marketing, and customer service.
Automation tools allow businesses to optimize their existing resources and do more with less – all with minimal human intervention. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, companies can save time, reduce errors, and free up their staff to focus on more valuable projects.
If you’d like to delve into the world of ecommerce automation, Upscribe is here for you when it comes to automating tasks to help grow your retention business! With our powerful out-of-the-box automation tools for forecasting inventory and capturing reorders, we offer the features you need to scale operations and improve customer experience!
How ecommerce automation can benefit you
With 76% of businesses using automation tools in their daily workflows, it’s easy to see automation is an ecommerce management best practice. Let’s take a look at some of its most popular benefits:
Time is of the essence
Consider the repetitive tasks you have to perform regularly, such as data entry, responding to customer emails, and managing social media. The more you can automate these processes, the more free time you’ll have on your hands.
With ecommerce automation, streamlining your operations is super easy, especially as you can schedule sales promotions, automate product releases, and kickstart your inventory planning.
Reducing costs across the board
By freeing up your employees from these routine jobs, they can focus on game-changing projects and complete them on time – eliminating the need for overtime! Not only that, ecommerce automation simplifies order processing with package tracking and updates, reducing the need for costly re-shipments and refunds.
Customer satisfaction
With ecommerce automation, not only will your employees feel more satisfied, but your customers will too! It’s no secret that customers want quicker response times from businesses, so automating your customer service and providing self-service options guarantees higher satisfaction.
By offering a seamless shopping experience where customers can easily find products, manage orders, and track shipping all on their own, you’ll improve how customers engage with your brand.
Things to consider when choosing an ecommerce automation tool
With so many automation tools available, even thinking about where to start can be overwhelming. Let’s make the decision-making process easier by looking at the following:
- Customizable: Every business has its own set of unique needs and preferences. With this in mind, look for automation tools that provide flexibility – so you can tailor your automation to your processes. When figuring out if a tool’s right for you, request a demonstration from the provider.
- Integrations: Before starting your ecommerce journey, check out how well it integrates with your existing systems, like your accounting software and customer relationship management (CRM) system. For example, if you use Shopify as an ecommerce platform, look for an automation tool within the Shopify App Store.
- Pricing: Different platforms have different pricing structures, but most charge based on your number of contacts. So when looking at pricing, consider the base price and how quickly your database might grow. It’s also necessary to think about the ROI that you’re expecting.
Eight ways to automate your ecommerce business
As an ecommerce business owner, you’re likely to have a lot on your plate. From managing inventory to customer service, your daily tasks are never-ending. Thankfully, we’re here to help. Here are eight ways you can automate your ecommerce business:
1) Reward customer loyalty with a complimentary gift
First, let’s address the elephant in the room – this isn’t bribery. Rewarding subscribers with a gift or discount is a great way to show appreciation. It’s also a win-win situation as it encourages customers to stay and boosts your sales, especially as research shows that increasing customer retention rates by 5% leads to a massive 25% growth in profits!
To show appreciation to your customers, consider offering additions such as limited-time offers, exclusive content, or free delivery on orders over a certain amount.
Upscribe makes customer rewards a breeze. Seamlessly integrating with your ecommerce business, Upscribe effortlessly manages your subscriptions and monitors customer loyalty. With strategies like product bundling and build-a-box, your customers never miss out!
2) Use automated email marketing
Rather than manually sending individual emails (can you imagine!), automation comes to the rescue. Ecommerce automation lets you send strategic emails triggered by numerous customer actions. For example, you can send reminders to customers who abandon their shopping carts, pointing out the items they’ve left behind.
As a worrying 75% of ecommerce shopping carts get abandoned, automated abandoned cart reminders are a powerful tactic to secure sales. Additionally, requesting feedback after a purchase, back-in-stock notifications, and offering discounts to idle customers are great ways to jumpstart your buyer’s journey and capture reorders.
To find out more, ConvertKit is an accessible editor with a robust network of automated emails and strategies, ensuring you nurture your leads and customers throughout their online journey. With ConvertKit in your back pocket, it’s super easy to create targeted and personalized email campaigns.
3) Categorize customers according to their buying behavior
One of the keys to success in any business is understanding your customers, luckily, segmentation does just that! By categorizing your customers via behavior, demographics, and order frequency –you gain a deeper insight into their shopping preferences.
With this info, you can personalize your marketing efforts and engage in a more meaningful way. Moreover, by using a CRM system to tag and segment your customers, you can automate the process of identifying your most valuable assets (allowing you to set up automated email campaigns).
Win over your audience with HubSpot CRM. Use behavioral targeting to uncover accurate insight into how audiences engage with your site, content, and more, allowing you to personalize their online experience with hyper-relevant ads and emails.
4) Schedule sales campaigns
Scheduling your sales campaigns in advance ensures that your customers receive timely and personalized messages. Most email marketing platforms offer scheduling features that allow you to set the date and time for sending your emails, giving you peace of mind that your campaigns will go out as planned.
Use analytics to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, so you can optimize your campaigns accordingly and improve their effectiveness. With your buyer’s data at hand, you can pinpoint the perfect time to schedule your operations.
By leveraging workflow automation tools such as Salesforce Sales Cloud, simplifying and optimizing your sales processes is as easy as pie. With a user-friendly, point-and-click interface, you can create automatic email alerts as sales move through the pipeline.
5) Easily track your orders with automated updates
By automating your tracking process, you can save valuable time and resources while keeping your customers informed and engaged. Send order confirmation emails, provide shipping updates, off-delivery notifications, and SMS notifications to keep your customers up-to-date.
ShipStation is overflowing with order and inventory management features. With the ability to import and manage orders, print labels, and send tracking info to selling channels and customers, ShipStation streamlines every stage of the fulfillment process.
6) Customer support
As 90% of customers consider immediate responses an essential part of customer service, investing in automation tools is critical. Automation can upgrade your customer support by setting up chatbots, using canned responses, and automating ticket routing, so customer inquiries are handled quickly and effectively.
By streamlining your customer support, you save time, reduce errors, and build a loyal customer base that’s never out of the loop – not to mention improving retention!
eDesk is designed specifically for ecommerce businesses. The platform simplifies the management of customer queries by merging them from various sales channels, social media platforms, and email into one shared dashboard. So tracking and responding to inquiries is a trouble-free process.
7) Schedule your social media posts
By scheduling social media posts in advance, you save time and ensure a consistent social media presence (without devoting as many personnel hours). With automation, you secure consistent posting schedules across all of your social media channels – casting a wider net while building your customer base.
With dedicated training and customer support, Sprout Social offers an easy-to-use toolset for scheduling your social media posts. With access to unique audience data and profile info, creating memorable experiences that elevate your business strategy has never been easier.
8) Team management
Use task management and time-tracking tools to guarantee your team is working on the right tasks. Also, performance tracking and reporting tools can help identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions. By leveraging automation, not only do you improve productivity, you drive revenue too!
Trello is a popular and free project management software that follows a “card” system in a kanban board. Assign tasks to team members as “cards” and track their progress as they move through the pipeline. By using Trello for your tasks, you get a play-by-play from start to finish.
Boost your ecommerce automation today!
As we’ve seen, ecommerce automation provides significant benefits to your business, from reducing manual workloads to improving customer experiences. By implementing the tips we’ve covered, you can take your first steps toward automating your operations and maximizing efficiency!
Get started today with Upscribe and improve your subscription and retention focused automation experience for the better! By deploying an enterprise-grade subscriber experience out-of-the-box, subscribers and customers will enjoy a seamless UX from beginning to end.
If you’d like more info about the benefits of integrating with Upscribe, schedule a demo and get started!
