The eCommerce industry is booming. According to Statista, it was worth $3.535 billion at the end of 2019. That’s after year-on-year growth that saw revenue rise from $1.336 billion as recently as 2014. There’s no sign of growth slowing — let alone leveling off — in the coming years. Websites operate 24/7. You can take orders every hour of the day and every day of the week. Only the very largest companies can have staff working the same hours. For all the rest, workflow scheduling automation keeps the business ticking when your staff aren’t present.
If that sounds like something your brand needs, you’ll want to read on. We’re going to cover eCommerce automation from all angles. You’ll learn what workflow automation is and how it could benefit you. Then, we’ll share a selection of the most useful ways you may be able to automate your business processes.
Customer experience and support
Lots of firms in the eCommerc8 Ways To Improve Customer Experiences On A B2B eCommerce Websitee niche — and in other fields — are looking for ways to stand out from the crowd. Many are turning to customer experience (CX) as a differentiator. Improving interactions through the customer journey is a great way to boost loyalty.
Track and reward your most engaged customers.
For all types of businesses, customer retention is critical. The probability of selling to an existing customer is much higher than that of selling to a new prospect. One of the best ways to boost retention is by rewarding customers for their loyalty.
You can leverage some simple automation to track and reward engaged customers. Smart workflow automation tools let you tag customers based on what they’re buying. You can then set business rules to send targeted marketing to people who reach a certain order value or number of purchases. You might, for example, automatically send a discount code by email to a customer who’s spent over $200.
Sync your customers to an email list
Email marketing is vital to eCommerce businesses. Strategic, targeted email campaigns are an excellent way to generate more sales. Most firms use a dedicated platform for their email marketing. If you do, it’s simple to automate workflows to make the process frictionless.
The best way to automate processes in this way is by syncing an email client with your CRM system. That way, you can ensure you segment your email list as effectively as possible. Take, for instance, a prospect who shows an interest in a particular product. You can get them automatically added to a relevant email list. Those customers will then get targeted marketing material relevant to their interests. The kind of content will increase the conversion rate from prospect to customer. We’ll talk more about general marketing automation a little later on.
Marketing
Schedule social media posts automatically
Social media is a potent marketing channel for eCommerce businesses. The number of global users of social networks is vast and climbing. 54% of social media users research products via their preferred platform. It’s no surprise, then, those online retailers give so much time and attention to social media marketing. Effective social media marketing is an ongoing process. You need to continually create and share content that engages your audience.
With process automation in this area, your firm can reap the rewards of social media presence without having to devote so many staff hours. There are loads of web apps or other tools out there to automate your social media. You can create posts and then use tools to schedule when and how they’re distributed.
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Nurture leads with continual marketing
The customer journey comprises many touchpoints. Not all customers will visit your site, find a product, and buy it right away. Some may come back several times. In between, they may spend time researching and considering the purchase.
If you have their contact details and permission to reach out, you can help sway their decision. That’s the principal idea behind lead nurturing. Automated lead nurturing works in a similar way to customer retention via email. You can set up a process by which prospects get sent useful, persuasive content. Pitch the content right and send it periodically, and you can turn a wavering lead into a customer.
Things you may consider including in marketing content can vary. It could be discount codes or informational posts to overcome objections. The best way to decide is by collecting real-time data on customer behavior and going from there.
Purchase Order Automation
Even what may seem like a more complex area of your business can benefit from automation. This is one of the best Workflow scheduling best practices. Think about how you order inventory from suppliers. At a certain point, you decide that you need more stock. Then, you raise a purchase order with your preferred supplier and arrange for them to deliver. There’s no reason that the whole process can’t get automated.
With automation, you can get purchase orders raised according to incoming sales. When a purchase reduces your stock to a predetermined level, the order can be generated automatically. So you can even create rules about first choice suppliers for different items. Purchase order tracking is also more straightforward with automation. You don’t have to flip between stock sheets, emails, and other documents. Everything gets done within one management system.
Vendor and Supplier Onboarding
Change is something that can always lead to disruption in the business world. A prime example is when you have to switch vendors or add a new supplier. There’s lots of information to share between your firm and that which you’ll be working with. You’ll need to exchange payment and tax details. Often, you’ll also have to get a new supplier up to speed on your systems and procedures.
All that takes time. If you devote a team member to doing it, you’ll lose out on what that worker would usually be doing. An automated supplier portal can take that burden away from your workers. You can share and receive all details pertinent to a vendor relationship via a web-based interface. Thus, it’s quicker, more accurate, and lets your team stay productive in other areas.
Conclusion
As an eCommerce business, you have plenty of competition. It’s never been easier for customers to shop online, and there’s never been as much choice for them to do so. To ensure you beat out your rivals, you should follow these workflow scheduling best practices. That’s why workflow automation is something you can’t afford to ignore. If you need help to complete all of these tasks under one app only, check out Atom8, the invention that helps you to deal with automation work tasks. All you need to do is set up the system, the rest can be left for Atom8 to handle.
