Let’s face it, modern technology is probably the best thing to happen to mankind after the industrial revolution. There has been a drastic shift in our needs and wants. Faster speed and improved efficiency have set high standards of expectation.
In our daily lives, automation plays a far greater role than is usually given credit for.
Catering to the ‘Now’ consumer has become necessary, not just in the service industry but also across other sectors. Thanks to the innovative technology available to us, our food arrives in just 10 minutes, a new mobile phone arrives the next day, and complex heart surgery can be completed in just three hours.
A significant portion of technology lies in the hands of automation, where the monotonous and repetitive steps are automated to save time, increase efficiency and reduce overall costs. It makes the whole process faster and provides you with the option of servicing your customers with a more personalised touch. Automation has simplified operations for all the primary, secondary and tertiary industries – be it automobile, FMCG, health, eCommerce, IT & telecom, utilities, or real estate.
What is eCommerce Marketing Automation?
eCommerce marketing automation refers to the automation of monotonous eCommerce marketing tasks. These can be anything from sending marketing campaigns mailers and posting on social media for your business to sending auto-replies to your customers, verifying orders from end-users and much more.
It improves your marketing efficiency and helps you focus on tasks that need more attention. As an eCommerce seller, just imagine sending out emails to all your customers manually. While, in theory that may be a laborious possibility, the practicality of it is simply not feasible.
Or imagine an aggrieved customer who wants closure and is complaining on social media about their problem. Would you rather wait till the next morning to acknowledge the concern, or will it help if you have auto-replies on for the customer to at least give some feedback?
It’s the little things like these that make a difference, and ecommerce marketing automation can help you do just that.
Examples of eCommerce Marketing Automation
- Personalisation
- Omnichannel Marketing
- Chatbots
- A/B Testing
- Visualised Workflows
- Interactive Emails
- Abandoned Cart Reminders
- Pre-filled Forms
Why Do You Need eCommerce Marketing Automation?
Simply put, you need automation to get things done in an instant and to stay on top of your marketing game. Having said that, there are several reasons why you actually need to automate your marketing.
Here are some of those reasons –
Provide Better Answers, Faster
As a customer-centric business, you need your support team to be on their toes, always ready to solve issues within a low TAT. Marketing automation helps businesses to prioritise the tasks and effectively manage leads to answer incoming questions quicker.
With data stored in your organisation’s CRM, your support employees can provide more effective help without digging for background information. You can simply automate responses based on the customer’s history, previous purchases, actions, or their LTV.
Show More Relevant Content
Why would you want to send the same offer to all of your customers when you can target customers according to their purchase parity, intent and needs? A customer who wants to buy a budget laptop does not require an ad that talks about the new 27 inch iMac.
Instead, sending them an offer mentioning the availability of low range products may excite their interest. You can automate customised messages with relevant information for better conversions and more quality leads.
Offer a Hassle-Free Experience
In business, time is money. The more hassle-free processes you have, the better your customer experience will be. No one likes repeating themselves, especially not when they are interacting online. And that is why it is great to have eCommerce marketing automation for your customers.
With features like prefilled forms, chatbots, welcome emails, customer address verifications, abandoned shopping cart reminders and other amazing features, you can make your customers feel familiar with your journey already. With automation, your customers will get the same experience irrespective of the channel they come from.
Generate Better ROI
With automated lead capturing and customer service in place, there is no need to spend extra on human resources. You will save significant amounts in the form of salaries of employees. Granted, there need to be a few tweaks here and there, but there will be an overall improvement, and you can expect a greater return on investment.
Bottom line, through the many benefits of ecommerce marketing automation, your accumulated financial benefits will translate into profitability.
What Not to Expect from eCommerce Marketing Automation?
Overnight Changes
eCommerce marketing automation is not magic. If you think your business will improve overnight or your revenue will shoot up in a week, evaluate again. Automated processes take time, so you will need a comprehensive plan and some time before you begin seeing changes.
Fixing Ineffective Business Processes
If there are inefficiencies in your business processes, marketing automation will not solve them immediately. There needs to be an existing efficient process that ensures connection and collaboration among the different departments of your business.
For example, if you do not have a database large enough, you can not expect to get the best out of big data. Similarly, one problem with big data is the quality of that data, which, to a certain extent, can be solved with marketing automation.
Abundance of Customers
We hate to break it to you, but if you thought repeated automated messages always yield better customers, think again. Automation leads brands to communicate with their customers too frequently, which may result in messaging fatigue, alienating them. Nobody wants tech to annoy them with irrelevant information, especially in a world where privacy and downtime are considered privileges.
Changes Occurring on Their Own
Automating eCommerce marketing is a steep learning process that requires comprehensive planning and execution. You need to know which of your processes need automation and which software you need to get the best results. Without the proper knowledge, automation may become a stumbling block in the way of your business growth.
Final Words
The adoption of marketing tools and their automation is already a change that businesses are embracing, especially in eCommerce. With certain businesses showing up to a 90% increase in customer retention rate and an 18% increase in conversions, it is safe to say that using eCommerce marketing automation softwares is the way to go forward.
Having said that, there still are some criteria that need to be met before the implementation of these tools becomes universal. The best way to go about this is to know more about these softwares and conduct a self-evaluation of your business processes to help make the right decisions.
