The world of eCommerce is growing. And with it also comes profound changes to the global marketplace through technological advancement and marketing automation. This type of automation consists of software built to address tasks in your operation so that human employees don’t need to. Companies who know how to make the most of marketing automation will find themselves with a built-in advantage. Automated functions are time-savers by default, and when properly deployed can improve the efficiency of any operation. That provides benefits over the long-term by retaining the ability not only to complete tasks and processes more quickly but also ensuring that results are high quality and reliable.
eCommerce marketing automation applies the same principles of traditional automation (i.e., robotic arms used in assembly lines) to online interactions. This allows the software to reliably perform the duties that used to require manual attention. The effect can be transformative, allowing resources to be saved, workloads to become more efficient, and companies to expand their operations with confidence.
What Is eCommerce Marketing Automation?
In the simplest terms, eCommerce marketing automation consists of identifying tasks currently performed by human beings and utilizing software to accomplish the same tasks. It means eliminating those small and tedious but necessary duties in your staff’s workday thereby relegating them to reliable programming packages that can be monitored. By automating these functions, countless work hours can be saved and applied elsewhere, while costs can be better scaled and overall efficiency improved.
So much business is conducted online these days that eCommerce marketing has become an integral part of most companies by default. eCommerce marketing automation thus has wide applicability across a huge array of fields and has the potential to benefit any business, regardless of their market or goals. An automation service can work with your business to set up and run the required software, allowing you to take advantage of improved efficiency and flexibility.
What Kinds of eCommerce Tasks Can Be Automated?
Every business is different and eCommerce automation needs to be tailored to meet the specialized demands of each one. That said, proper eCommerce marketing automation provides several broad-based benefits that nearly any company can use to their advantage:
Inventory Levels
Keeping track of stock is one of the most arduous parts of a modern business. Without careful monitoring, customers may be kept waiting by an unexpected demand on given items, while updating websites to reflect such shortages can be arduous and time-consuming. Automated software can be used to regulate such situations. For example, it can automatically note when a given item is out of stock on the website, then return it when the stock is replenished. That can be expanded to include email reminders sent to regular customers when stock in a regularly purchased product is running low, as well as automatic updates, sent the same way when supplies are replenished.
Customer Preferences
Customer preferences have driven business since time immemorial, and products related to primary purchases can be readily sold if the customers are made aware of them at the right time. Marketing automation can regulate the recommendation of related products automatically upon purchase through the use of keywords and previous purchase habits to tailor the response to the customer. High value customers can be automatically flagged for personal attention by your team in the same manner.
Scheduled Sales and Discounts
Marketing automation can account for planned sales by activating discounts when specific conditions in stock levels and/or customer demand are met. Sales and discounts can be removed in a similar fashion, ensuring that costs don’t deviate and budgetary plans are met.
Security
Properly applied software can protect your inventory from security risks. Bots can rapidly buy out stock, for instance–denying the item to flesh-and-blood customers– while scams can utilize your customer’s information obtained from outside sources to make purchases in their name. eCommerce automation is designed to spot such security risks and alert you to their presence.
Increase Productivity – Smart Merchandiser Makes It Easy to Create Automated Business Rules
All of the benefits of eCommerce marketing automation go towards a single overarching goal, one that all businesses share: improved productivity. eCommerce marketing software can combine key points and rules covering multiple departments in your operations–inventory, sales, conversion rates and repeat business, among others–to both identify problem spots and get key data points to the individuals who need them.
With Smart Merchandiser, digital merchandiser can set up business rules, test them to make sure the desired results are achieved, then automate them by indicating the locale, date and time, and duration. Most importantly, the business rules need to support the start and end of the marketing campaign to maximize its effectiveness. For example, a simple rule would be to push out-of-stock products to the bottom of the page during a back-to-school campaign. A slightly more sophisticated rule would be a weighted rule where inventory would be weighted 50% and conversion rate at 50% to allow popular products to be back ordered. However, some brands prefer the ability to override automation to preserve a more intimate and personalized approach. This can be achieved by pinning certain important products so their positions remain unchanged during automated sorting. This combination of man-machine interaction gives the merchandisers the perfect balance of comfort and control.
Perhaps most importantly, eCommerce automation allows for a customizable experience. The software package can be tailored to your unique business, letting you make the best use of your strengths while ensuring that your specific processes are accomplished swiftly and effectively. Beyond that, customization lets you quickly make adjustments to your organization based on changing market factors by giving you the tools to greet any future challenges, whatever they may be.
Conclusion
Optimizing your storefront and taking advantage of similar benefits of eCommerce marketing automation depends on finding the right partner to help you. Zobrist Software specializes in this via our Smart Merchandiser software suite. By utilizing our drag-and-drop functionality and advanced business rules, companies can see huge improvements in productivity and increased revenue. We can apply our expertise to a wide array of challenges, from inventory management to social analytics, and our team of experts is here to ensure that our partners enjoy the full benefits of Smart Merchandiser. If your business could use an automation software solution, contact us today to schedule an appointment!