7 Ways to Automate Your E-Commerce Business
As the world slowly adjusts to the new normal, so do consumers who are adapting their buying behavior. Recent statistics show that e-commerce is on the rise: there has been a 25.7% growth in retail e-commerce sales at the height of the pandemic, and it’s showing an upwards trend for the years to come.
There has also been a steady increase in digital buyers for the past years, with 2.14 billion online consumers in 2021, up from 2.05 billion in 2020.
E-Commerce and Customer Experience
The current trend in consumer behavior means that it’s not just enough to have an e-commerce website and/or app for your business.
One of the main reasons people prefer online shopping is that it’s more convenient and it can be cheaper than traveling to the physical store (i.e., free shipping straight to your home) — all of which boils down to a good customer experience.
Automation is one of the many ways you can greatly improve the customer experience, and with the right tools, you can do this seamlessly.
7 Key Areas Where You Can Automate E-Commerce
1. Email reminders
This is among the most common automation methods used by e-commerce brands. Studies show that the average abandonment rate for online shopping carts reaches a whopping 69.6%. Remedy this by setting up automated email reminders for abandoned cart notifications.
2. Order management
As a related point, automated emails could also include prompting payment reminders, sending order and payment confirmations, and informing shipping updates. This optimizes both the checkout and the order management process.
3. Tailored promotions
With the advanced analytics of many customer relationship management (CRM) tools, it’s easier to set up personalized promotions for your customers, be it via in-app or push notifications, or via email marketing. This can be based on each customers’ unique preferences, buyer behavior, bookmarked items, etc.
4. Customer reviews
Social proof in the form of customer reviews has so much influence on the purchasing decisions of consumers. Studies show that 91% of buyers read at least one review before buying a product. Instead of waiting for customers to leave a product review, be proactive by automating review reminders via email or in-app notifications. It’s been found that 68% of customers will be more than willing to leave a review if they’re asked.
5. Customer loyalty rewards
Retaining customers through loyalty programs is essential for any brand. Studies revealed that 90% of people are more likely to prefer buying from businesses where they hold a loyalty membership over another offering a lower price. Optimize your loyalty program by tracking each customers’ journey and milestones, and automating rewards based on these data.
6. Inventory management
It’s frustrating for customers to find a product they like and are more than ready to make a purchase, but it ends up out of stock. Automate your inventory management so that you have full transparency if a certain product is low in stock. You can trigger notifications when this happens, or even go further and automate inventory restocking. Your system can also show the exact number of stocks available in the product description, and if it’s out of stock, you can auto-hide items from the catalog.
7. Customer support
Excellent customer service is another deciding factor for customer retention. In a study, it’s been found that 78% of customers are more willing to do business with a brand again even after a mistake, provided that the after-sales support is excellent. Further increase the efficiency of your customer service by automating ticket management, answers to FAQ, queuing, and more.
Automation adds so much value to your e-commerce business and makes business operations far more efficient and cost-effective, yet providing stellar customer experience goes beyond AI and automation tools. Personalizing your approach to each of your customers and treating them as individuals rather than transactions are essential to building a positive experience for them.
If you want to learn more about e-commerce and digital marketing in general, visit our blog at https://www.ilfusion.com/blog.
