Time is a totally key resource when running a successful business. As a business owner with an online store, you must take into account a large number of factors. These include such as the design of the website or the payment process and distribution of packages. This is necessary in order to improve your eCommerce day-by-day and that it meets the expectations of both the market and consumers. Jose Duarte, a business and eCommerce expert from Costa Rica, explains what else is necessary and how automation can help.
The automation of an eCommerce is based on using software with the aim of converting manual tasks into an automated process to save time. In general, it is about identifying repetitive tasks or manual processes that would really be carried out in a faster and more efficient way by any type of app, software or technology.
In this way, the time that you or your employees spend performing those tasks can be invested more profitably. Some tasks automated by many other companies are, for example, inventory management, human resources tasks or email marketing.
Many tasks in your business are repetitive and mundane, which means that if someone on your team must do them, it will take a lot of time away from the team. “With the automation of the flow of this type of tasks,” explains Duarte, “you avoid delays in the different operations of your business and, therefore, the overall efficiency of your organization is increased.”
In the field of eCommerce, many data are generated and received by the company in question. The details of the orders, the stock number, the information about your customers. All this data must be collected in some type of software or documents in an organized manner.
The problem comes when this data is collected by a person on the team, who will inevitably be able to make some human error. This mistake, despite being small, can end up being a big problem in the future of your company. But with workflow automation, those errors are removed from the equation.
When crucial but repetitive processes are automated, staff can focus on other tasks that need intelligence and personal service. Automation gives them more time to design new products and frees them up to cultivate relationships or interact with customers. Therefore, the productivity of your company will increase considerably.
There are several ways and types of automation software that you can implement in your eCommerce. Mailchimp is, without a doubt, the main email marketing platform. That’s why all major eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce and Shopify, have the option of automatic synchronization with Mailchimp.
If you use Mailchimp, you’ll have the opportunity to automatically pass the email addresses of shoppers who show interest in your emails to a specific Mailchimp list so that you can keep them up to date with your latest products and offers.
In the age of the Internet, reviews and comments about your business are really important, both publicly and internally. They can cause your company’s profits to increase or, on the other hand, make them disappear. In order to know what your customers think about your business, you’ll need to automate email chains to send follow-up emails after purchase.
For good results, ask for honest feedback and share a link where they can post their review,” asserts Duarte. “If you receive a negative review, do not take it as a harmful factor, but as an opportunity to improve your business.”
With tools like WooCommerce you can activate low stock notifications (based on the thresholds you set) and out-of-stock notifications. This way, you can instantly know when the quantity of a product needs to be renewed. Avoid keeping a product out of stock, as this can result in a significant loss of revenue and even frustrated customers.
Social media is a powerful marketing channel for online businesses. Currently, 54% of users research products through social networks. You must give great importance to these channels, but how to do it without taking too much time? Well, with the automation of posts through web applications or other tools to automate your social media.
Online stores have a lot of competition, because it has never been so easy to buy, nor have there been so many options for each product and brand. To make sure you stand out from your competitors, you’ll need to speed up and automate your business processes.