What is eCommerce Automation? Definition, Benefits and Process
As an eCommerce store, business growth is a priority for your success. It’s a great feeling to have more customers, more sales and profits as people turn to your small online store. However, growing your eCommerce business can become overwhelming. As you’re flooded with new trade, demand increases, and you can wind up feeling out of your depth.
You’ll soon find that time-consuming tasks leave you with little freedom to focus on other business processes to keep your eCommerce platform in top form. This is where eCommerce automation comes in.
Ecommerce automation is possibly the most valuable resource for streamlining your eCommerce business. An automated system is a technical tool that helps to manage your workflow. It can take over the running of repetitive tasks so that you can spend your time working on other things.
This article discusses the role of eCommerce automation, the major benefits, and how to begin the process if you want to get on board.
What is eCommerce Automation?
Ecommerce automation refers to the use of automation software to do specific jobs within your eCommerce business that you would otherwise do yourself. Automation tools cannot be used for all aspects of the online store but can significantly reduce those time-consuming tasks that take up your day. Some manual tasks will still require your input, but eCommerce automation software can complete many smaller, repetitive tasks.
Essentially, it performs certain functions automatically without the need for human labour. It means that you and your sales team can focus your attention elsewhere, such as growing your customer base, personalising customer interactions, or upgrading your social media marketing campaigns.
Many smaller jobs like writing emails, follow-up emails and social media posts are essential but take up time. For these daily jobs, eCommerce automation software is an ideal solution.
Examples of Automation Features
Getting on board with automating your eCommerce platform cuts out tedious jobs that keep you from putting your efforts into other aspects of the business. Below are some good examples of how automation software can help your eCommerce site. It’s important to note that automation tools work best for repetitive and consistent tasks that don’t necessarily require human assistance.
- Automated emails - reducing the number of emails you have to write yourself can free up a lot of time. Whether it’s sending a welcome email to new customers who subscribe to your online store, sending the latest offers using email marketing automation, or sending follow up emails for customer feedback
- Newsletters - Newsletters can be sent regularly to new and existing customers to keep shoppers engaged and updated with your latest content.
- Loyalty program - improve customer interactions with an automated loyalty program. Customer loyalty is crucial, and it can help to encourage customers to make further purchases or leave product reviews. You can even segment customers based on certain criteria such as high-value customers, most engaged customers and those just signing up
- Inventory management - keep track of stock levels and automatically remove or notify products that are out of stock on the eCommerce site with automate inventory management and sales automation
- Marketing automation - schedule marketing campaigns, whether email marketing, social media marketing, or uploading content to websites and blogs
- Flagging - an automated process can flag issues and potential risks such as incorrect shipping and billing addresses, inconsistent customer information, fraudulent transactions or irregular orders
Benefits of Automating your Ecommerce Business
Automation is an extremely valuable tool for any eCommerce business owner. Growing your business is a dream come true, but it requires more legwork with many manual tasks to be completed daily. Eventually, there is too much work to handle, leading to mistakes through human error. It is no longer feasible.
The eCommerce industry is challenging without enough hands, which is why choosing to automate your eCommerce store is a step in the right direction if you want to streamline the process.
Once you’re all set, automation tools can take over operations, only requiring your intervention when necessary. Customer satisfaction is left unchanged, and you can continue to grow your online store in other areas. Here are some significant benefits for making the switch to eCommerce automation software.
Frees up time
When you’re trying to grow an eCommerce business, time is of the essence. There are only a certain number of hours in the day, and it’s simply not possible to do everything yourself without neglecting other eCommerce processes. While regular tasks may be small, they add up to significant hours.
Automation is key to getting everything done on time for jobs that don’t require a human touch. You will no longer have to spend hours on data entry, tracking sales, inventory, sending individual emails or manually posting online. As the software handles your usual workload, you can engage your brain with creativity, new marketing strategies, and planning for the future of your eCommerce business.
Promotes accuracy
Performing multiple tasks on a daily basis can become tiresome. There is always the potential for human error as you rush through your to-do list. However, automation ensures accuracy, provided that you set up the system correctly. Just provide the software with the information required to perform jobs, and leave it to carry on. You can rest assured that the specified tasks will be completed consistently and on time without any added stress or pressure on you.
Increases professionalism
Workflow automation is the more professional way to operate your eCommerce business. A series of tasks quickly become more efficient and consistent. Emails deliver on time, social media platforms become more organised, and your sales team has more energy to improve customer satisfaction. With a streamlined business, customers will recognise professionalism and continue to purchase from your online store.
Boosts sales and marketing
Marketing and sales teams have a lot to contend with for an eCommerce business. Automation can boost the effectiveness of marketing campaigns as engagement with customers becomes easier to manage. Whether delivering content to your most engaged customers, following up with recent customer actions on the site, or sending personalised emails based on customer information, the entire process becomes more efficient.
You can expect more sales with good marketing automation as the customer experience is improved and perfected.
The Automation Process
Automation for eCommerce businesses works using designated technology built to convert tasks to automation. Ultimately, the software can mimic processes usually performed by people.
If you’re looking to implement automation to your eCommerce business practices, there are some key steps to follow to get started.
Identify your repetitive tasks
The first step is identifying the repetitive tasks that can be better managed with software. So, to move toward an automated workflow, think about the areas you want to improve and the smoothest way to transition from your current work mode. Remember, it’s not only you that will need to adjust but your team too.
Determine what you want to improve
Once you know which tasks you want to eliminate from your workload, you can think about what you would like to improve. Whether focusing on human resources, customers resources, or email marketing automation, a clear vision will help you choose the best automation solutions.
Choose the best workflow automation for your business
Various automation software is available within the eCommerce industry, with different solutions targeting specific eCommerce processes. It might be that you want to use inventory automation tools, tag and segment customers or simplify general eCommerce tasks. With so many eCommerce marketing automation platforms available, it’s important to do your research.
The right automation tools will fit well with your eCommerce business, optimising your current workflow. Key points to consider when selecting a new system include user-friendliness, data security, flexibility and pricing.
Conclusion
Automation is an essential attribute for any eCommerce store. Even if you’re a small or medium business, automating business processes can help you grow and thrive in a demanding industry.
Automation software masters the mundane, so you don’t have to. Instead, spend your time working on the aspects of the business you love, engaging with customers, perfecting your products and building an exciting workspace for you and your team.