Running an ecommerce business is easier said than done.
From managing the storefront to addressing customer inquiries, processing orders, keeping track of inventory, and fulfillment, there’s a lot that one has to look into. This can be especially overwhelming for small to medium-sized enterprises running with small teams as their business grows.
This is where e-commerce automation comes into play.
In this blog, we explore how WooCommerce and Shopify plugins can help set up e-commerce automations that can help scale businesses into successful brands.
Why is e-commerce automation important?
Here’s why automating repetitive tasks is important when running an online store:
- Saves time – When you automate routine tasks, you and the team can focus more on the quality of products and marketing to drive more traffic to the website.
- Improved efficiency – Automation helps you run different operations with reduced chances of human error.
- Cost-effective – Setting up automations can help you run the business with a small team, lowering labor costs.
- Scalability – Whether you’re adding more products to the site or managing more orders during the peak sales period, automation helps run the functions without compromising on the overall customer experience.
- Faster turnaround times – Automation can help run processes faster, ensuring quicker response times, faster shipping, and improved customer satisfaction rate. An efficient fulfillment also means the store can handle more orders without delays, reducing cancellations.
What are the must-have e-commerce automations
There are several aspects that online businesses can automate. But here are the ones that have the most impact on how effectively and efficiently you scale the brand:
1. Inventory management automation
While running out of stock can lead to missed sales opportunities, overstocking can result in increased holding and warehousing costs. With inventory automation, businesses can update stock levels in real-time – this can especially be helpful during peak sale periods when keeping up with market demands and consumer demand is important.
We also recommend setting up automated alerts when the stocks are running lower. This helps you create an effective workflow for automatically reordering items.
2. Customer support automation
Assisting customers in finding the right products and making an informed purchase decision can help deliver a great brand experience. However, handling customer inquiries manually can be time-consuming and inefficient – that’s where customer support automation becomes important.
We recommend automating responses to common queries about products, purchases, refunds, returns/ exchanges, and order tracking. But you can also identify common patterns of queries on your website to create custom workflows that guide the shopper from discovery to checkout.
3. Automated order processing
As the number of orders increases, processing them can be time-consuming. This can result in fulfillment delays and customer complaints, which can negatively impact the brand’s reputation and impact future sales.
Automating order routing to the right warehouse or fulfillment center, inventory syncing, generating and printing shipping labels, and providing customers with order tracking and notifications can help streamline the entire workflow. You can additionally integrate with shipping carriers to select the best shipping methods, calculate rates, and handle delivery logistics automatically.
4. Marketing automation
E-commerce businesses need to rapidly adapt their marketing strategies to entice customers and drive more sales. But to manually set up, update, and optimize campaigns across channels can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Setting up automated communication across emails, SMS, WhatsApp, social media and other channels can help keep customers engaged. At the same time, automation tools enabling the best email marketing for Shopify can help with customer segmentation to help brands develop more personalized campaigns that use their purchase history, browsing behavior, and other parameters to find more opportunities to upsell and cross-sell.
5. Post-purchase automation
Another important e-commerce automation is to keep customers engaged with your brand even after they have made a purchase. Studies have shown that repeat customers spend more money and often on brands – about 40% of the store’s revenue comes from just 8% of its customers.
This includes following up with them for feedback, product reviews, and ratings, and encouraging them to join your loyalty program to encourage repeat sales. In competitive markets, post-purchase engagement is what sets successful brands apart – irrespective of the industry.
Conclusion
E-commerce automation is no longer a luxury. It’s a must-have that you cannot ignore!
Whether you’re just getting started or have been running a small to medium-sized enterprise for some time, e-commerce automations can help keep your operations streamlined.
Be it managing the front end or the back end of your business, automations can help keep up with changing customer needs, ensure you remain top of mind, and provide you a competitive edge over other brands in the industry.
So if you haven’t already, it’s time to focus on setting up e-commerce automations. In times when there is no dearth of options available to consumers, this lets you focus on what matters the most – customer relationships.
