Ecommerce Automation: 13 Ways to Automate Your E-store Tasks & Grow Online in 2024

Over the past few years, running an e-commerce business has become something different than what it used to be. Nowadays, there is a lot of information you need to monitor and handle an excessive number of tasks to deliver a quality customer experience. 

With increased amounts of tasks and things to take care of, it has become challenging for businesses to manage their operations manually. That is why, brands have started incorporating sales automation into their business processes. 

So, if you also have an online store it might be the time to start looking into ways to automate your e-commerce store. Having said that, in this article, I have curated the 13 best ways to utilize e-commerce automation for boosting engagement and driving sales. 

But before I dive into these automation strategies, let’s learn more about what e-commerce automation is. Let’s get started!

What is e-commerce automation?

E-commerce automation is the method of automating redundant tasks, optimizing operations, and enhancing productivity by utilizing business automation solutions. When it comes to e-commerce, you have to worry about numerous aspects like managing stock, running marketing campaigns, nurturing prospects, and offering post-purchase support. 

The biggest benefit of using e-commerce automation is that it allows you to grow your e-store without needing additional manual help. For example, automation allows you to handle a greater number of customers, close more deals, and resolve customer support tickets without hiring new team members. 

That way, you can maintain the same level of efficiency without adding more team members to your business, saving you both money and time.

Best ways to automate your e-commerce store

There are numerous aspects to running an e-commerce store. For example, you have to handle everything from promoting, engaging, and providing customer support to grow your business. 

Having said that, here are some of the ways to automate your e-commerce operations for increased efficiency and better productivity.

Automated e-commerce promotions 

Marketing automation involves utilizing automation platforms to streamline mundane activities, like outreach campaigns and promotional communication.  

Automating your marketing initiatives not only lets you conserve countless hours but also enhances your sales engagement by reaching out to your customers at the right time. 

However, to set up automated marketing campaigns, you need a dynamic marketing solution that comes with multi-channel marketing capabilities. One such platform is Zixflow, a marketing and sales automation software. 

Zixflow allows you to set up automated marketing campaigns across SMS, email, and WhatsApp to send messages at a predetermined time to interact with customers at the opportune time and convince them to make a purchase. 

Automated lead nurturing 

After the initial conversation with prospects, you need to run dedicated lead nurturing campaigns to inform prospects about your online store, describe your products, and encourage them to make a purchasing decision. 

Automating your nurturing will not only save you time but also keep your brand fresh in the minds of your customers. A perfectly timed nurturing campaign will allow you to boost interactions and build valuable connections that will help you get more sales. 

So, if you want to nurture your leads effectively, you need an automation platform to connect with your prospects on the channel of your choice. Once again, you can use Zixflow to craft sales cadences to automatically engage your prospects and guide them across the customer journey.

Run automated abandoned cart campaigns

Running automated abandoned cart campaigns is a smart strategy to scale your e-commerce business by encouraging prospects to complete their orders and recover lost sales effectively

You can send personalized emails or WhatsApp messages to inform prospects about their carts. These messages serve as gentle reminders to compel them to return to your store’s website and complete their purchase. By automating these campaigns, you ensure that no potential sale slips through the cracks.

You can send tailored abandoned cart WhatsApp messages with Zixflow’s WhatsApp marketing campaign builder. By creating custom abandoned cart templates, you can notify your prospects about exclusive discounts they can avail by completing the checkout immediately.

Deploy chatbots for quality customer engagement

Suppose a visitor comes to your online store and is having some trouble finding the product they need. Instead of reaching out to you, wouldn't it be better if a chatbot could help you with their issue and direct them in the right direction?

Chatbots are AI-powered engagement tools that will let you engage customers in a human-like conversation by asking about their problems and suggesting relevant answers. If you are running a digital storefront, you need these chatbots on your website to increase customer engagement. 

Furthermore, since chatbots can handle frequently asked questions without needing any human assistance, you can use them to lower the workload on your customer-support team by not having them reply to every common question. This way, they can focus on much more important issues and further enhance customer satisfaction.  

Segment customers into relevant lists

Managing your customers’ information is a crucial part of running an online store. You should correctly segment customers into different lists as it will help you identify sales-qualified leads and run tailored marketing campaigns for generating sales. 

Going through all the data every time you want to interact with a customer is not the right way to utilize your time and effort. However, you might not want to create lists manually because it is a tedious process that requires a lot of hours to complete. 

So, to automatically segment customers into relevant lists, you can use the native CRM platform in Zixflow. You can import all your customers’ details with a click of a button and divide this data into customizable lists as per your needs. 

On top of that, Zixflow allows you to run list-wide operations, where you can engage the entire list, add it to a sales cadence, or start implementing lead nurturing techniques to bring revenue without spending time doing anything manually or going back and forth between different tools. 

Automatic alerts for low-stock products

Your e-store is a place where customers can purchase many different products according to their requirements. So, in order to ensure you never miss out on any sales opportunities, you have to keep track of your product inventory and re-stock it whenever you are running out of stuff. 

One of the ways to do that is by using low-stock product notifications. By setting up automatic alerts for low-stock products, you can ensure that you never run out of inventory unexpectedly. This proactive approach helps prevent stockouts, which can result in lost sales and unhappy customers.

Not just that. By using automation, you can track inventory levels in real time and receive alerts when certain products reach a predefined threshold. This enables you to reorder stock or adjust your sales engagement model accordingly to clear out the remaining inventory.

Providing customer support

Here’s a question, as a business owner, what is the most important part of having a successful business? You guessed it correctly, it’s your customers! Ensuring customer satisfaction and getting repeat purchases is the most important aspect of running an effective e-commerce business. 

This is why, implementing automation in customer support allows you to provide assistance around the clock, even outside your regular business hours. There are multiple ways to do that. For example, you can set up: 

• Chatbots
• Canned responses
• Self-service channels (help center, documentation, or user guides)

In addition to that, responding to customers’ tickets quickly can also greatly influence their purchasing decisions. In fact, 89% of buyers mentioned that a prompt reply to their query affects their buying decision.  Although it is evident that customers want fast responses to their questions, it is not that easy to achieve that. 

For instance, if you are running a multi-channel marketing campaign and customers are reaching out to you across various channels, it is quite difficult to switch between multiple channels and reply to their inquiries in a timely manner, unless you have a unified inbox to manage your conversations. 

This is exactly why Zixflow includes a centralized Inbox to help you handle your communications from a single location. With this inbox, you can access all of your incoming messages, filter & sort them accordingly, and respond back to them without having to switch between multiple messaging channels. 

Automate daily tasks 

There is a lot of work to do every day when it comes to running an e-commerce store. For example, you have to onboard new customers, run promotional campaigns, and ensure accurate delivery of products. 

Having to handle all these repetitive tasks is not only tedious but also boring. That being said, by automating your daily activities, you can save countless hours and allow your team to focus on what’s important, growing your business. 

To eliminate these redundant tasks, you have to set up workflow automation to autopilot your business processes. Luckily, with Zixflow, you can build custom automated workflows to administrate day-to-day activities without needing to monitor what to do next manually. 

Retarget old prospects

Retargeting old prospects is a powerful strategy to automate your e-store and scale your business. By re-engaging potential customers, you can interact with prospects who have previously visited your website or connected with your brand but did not make a purchase. 

Furthermore, retargeting is highly effective at driving conversions because you can use it to target users who have already shown interest in your products or services. By reminding them of what they were interested in and offering incentives or promotions, you can nudge them towards making a purchase and ultimately increase your sales.

To do that, you can start by displaying targeted ads to these individuals or sending personalized marketing messages to keep your brand on top of mind and encourage them to revisit your e-store. 

Capture prospects’ details 

Collecting leads’ data is an important step for building an effective marketing and sales strategy. After all, only by knowing your prospects, you can hope to deliver a tailored sales experience to keep them coming back for more. 

Also, having a complete customer profile, allows you to use it as a reference point for future communications and interactions. Whenever a customer reaches out to you, you can take a look at their customer profile to get a 360-degree view of their past purchases and messages. 

So, to capture users’ data, you need a dynamic and modern tool to facilitate quick data collection. Using surveys to gather leads’ information is not a popular method anymore. You want a modern, interactive tool that doesn’t feel like a burden to fill out. 

Forms are a great way to capture user information as you can customize them according to various situations and send them in multiple formats, like a standalone form, landing page, or modern form. Once again, Zixflow allows you to create interactive forms to collect your prospects’ data effortlessly.

Automating follow-ups 

If you are running a business, then sending follow-ups is a given. Reminding your customers about your offerings and keeping them engaged regularly is an excellent way to compel prospects to buy your products. 

In fact, you need to send multiple follow-ups to convert leads into customers. According to research, 60% of buyers turn down an offer four times before finally making a decision. So, running dedicated follow-up campaigns can help you convert those uncertain prospects into paying customers. 

In order to set up automated follow-up initiatives, use Zixflow sales cadence platform to automatically engage prospects with tailored follow-ups across different channels and convince them to take action. 

Automated cross-selling messages 

Sending automated cross-selling messages is a powerful method for automating your e-store and growing your business. By suggesting relevant products to customers based on their purchase history or browsing behavior, automated cross-selling messages can encourage additional purchases, thereby increasing your average order value and overall revenue.

Additionally, automating cross-selling messages saves time and resources compared to manual efforts. Once set up, your platform can continuously analyze data and send targeted messages without requiring constant oversight from your end.

Also, as your e-store grows, you can scale these cross-selling messages accordingly. Whether you have hundreds or thousands of customers, a robust messaging platform, like Zixflow can handle the workload efficiently without you having to look for an alternative.

Selecting an automation platform

Lastly, deciding on an automation solution is a critical step in automating your e-commerce business. Your automation platform has to be able to handle your automation needs.  

This is why, Zixflow is one of the best choices for scaling your online store. It is a perfect solution that lets you handle most, if not all, of the strategies mentioned in this article. You can use Zixflow’s communication, automation, and sales CRM functionalities to grow your store effectively. 

Moreover, with its AI-powered marketing and workflow automation, you can boost customer engagement, build valuable relationships, and elevate your e-commerce store to the next level. Not just that. Zixflow is a free-to-use platform that includes a pay-as-you-go marketing wallet to not strain your promotional budget.

Automate your e-commerce store for better engagement and higher conversions

E-commerce automating enables you to streamline your everyday operations and increase your overall sales efficiency. By automating your mundane tasks, you and your teams can concentrate on closing more deals and hitting your profit goals successfully. 

But before you can start automating your online store to deliver a better sales experience to your customers, you need to think about getting an automation platform that fits your unique e-commerce needs. And that is why, we have designed Zixflow to ensure all your requirements are fulfilled from a single platform. 

It is an all-in-one automation, sales, and marketing software that is customizable to the bone. You can tailor it to match your e-commerce needs and help you achieve your business goals. 

Get started with a no-cost account today and test out how our platform can assist you in automating your online business before committing to it. I can assure you that you won’t regret it!