40 online store automation

The global eCommerce market is already there

• 76% of companies say they use automation (HubSpot, 2021)
• By 2024, organizations will reduce operating costs by 30% by combining automation with process optimization (Gartner, 2020)
• The effect of the pandemic in 67% of enterprises has accelerated the implementation of process automation and AI (McKinsey, 2020)
• Managers spend an average of 62% of their day on tedious and repetitive tasks that automation can do for them (Asana, 2022)
• 40% of small and medium-sized online retailers are automating order fulfillment, 34% marketing and sales, and 31% accounting and payment processes (Automate, 2021)
• 72% of successful companies use online marketing and sales automation (Zurich University of Applied Sciences, 2021)
• Sales process automation becomes the most important trend in B2B e-commerce (Chamber of Digital Economy, 2022)

"(Hyper)automation has evolved from an option to a condition for survival."
Fabrizio Biscotti, Gartner

What is eCommerce automation?

When you hear about performing tasks on autopilot, various associations may come to mind. Your first association may be robots in factories or Tesla warehouses. However, today's automation capabilities are much easier to adapt and you too can use them in your online store.

For the sake of argument, let's start with a brief definition.

ECommerce automation is the transformation of most or all repetitive human work, into self-executing processes and tasks using automation tools and software.

This can save you hundreds of hours a year, which you can devote to more engaging tasks that require creativity or strategic thinking. The potential of automation is best captured in the table below.

What does online store automation provide?

Most of the repetitive tasks and processes running in an online store can be automated, these automations can be expanded, and different systems can be linked together. You can create a business that mostly runs on autopilot.

In this way, you can save time and money by eliminating the need to manually manage your store and increase the productivity of your team. However, there are many more benefits of automation.

Key benefits include:

All of this can be achieved without the huge cost of developers and complex implementations. This is possible thanks to the low-code tools we use at Automation House.

At Automation House, we take automation to a whole new level

We use contemporary, lightweight and fun tools that increase the efficiency of teams and entire businesses so that you and your employees have more time to take care of what really matters.

Even if this is your first contact with automation and you are a non-technical person, at Automation House we will bring real value to your work and automate your business for fair money and in just a few steps.

1. You schedule a free Discovery Call with our Automation Heroes.
2. At the meeting, we look for processes whose automation will give you the most value.
3. We suggest how to streamline existing processes and give you some automation options.
4. You select those areas that you are most interested in automating.
5. Automation Heroes goes into action, and your first automation is created within 1-2 weeks (depending on the scale of the project).

If you'd like to learn more about how and why we automate companies, we encourage you to read Francis Georgiev's article, The Company Toolbox of the Future.

In that case, what to automate?

The list of potential areas for automation is long, and we probably haven't fully exhausted the topic (if you have ideas about what else can be given over to digital robots - be sure to let us know!).

To make it easier for you to review your store's processes, we've created a checklist of 40 sample automations to keep you in full control of automating your eCommerce business. You can find the file at this link. You will find detailed descriptions of each scenario included in the checklist later in this article.

Be sure to download our checklist and let's meet to answer your questions in a webinar titled. "Automation instead of 3 extra people in eCommerce - how to embrace it?" in which we will look at eCommerce automation from a slightly different perspective than usual. You can find the link to sign up HERE.

You may already have some simple automations using tools such as Baselinker. During the webinar, we'll show you how to combine multiple automations to create one cohesive system and show you what that looks like in practice.

If the checklist is already in front of you and you have the webinar saved in your calendar, it's time to get down to specifics.

1. segmentation of buyers based on their behavior

If you are even slightly interested in marketing, you know that the most important thing is the customer. Understanding his needs. Concerns. Behaviors. Modern tools can automate the process of getting to know the customer at various points of contact - platforms and outreach channels. In this way, you can gain a full picture of who the people interested in your product are.

Okay, you already know everything about your buyers. Where's the value in that and how do you use it?

It will sound like sci-fi, but good segmentation makes it possible, for example, to create personalized versions of your emails, websites and online stores, and even ads, displaying to a specific person, only those messages and content that resonate best with them, improving the buying experience and increasing the chances of a sale. You can watch your customer's path in real time and optimize communications in real time, bringing potential customers closer to purchase.

It's data that, when analyzed and used, can translate into strengthening every element of your marketing and sales. From social media posts and customer conversations to improving products, services and closing sales.

2. personalized email marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach, educate and sell customers. If you haven't used it yet, you absolutely must start doing so. If the potential of email marketing is already known to you, we will help you take it to the next level.

Personalized welcome emails, promotion reminders, sending a gift on the anniversary of the first purchase, automated product campaigns. These are just some of the ideas we can implement in your eCommerce store.

Personalization can be done in various ways. We can assign a specific tag to each person on your mailing list, due to segments or actions performed on the web. Think about how your customer would feel if, after visiting an article on your blog, a tailored message was automatically sent to them asking how they liked the article they read? Few stores use these tactics, so it's a unique way to surprise the customer and establish a deeper relationship with customers, as well as an opportunity to gain valuable consumer insights.  

3. update custom audience groups and segments in advertising systems

Creating groups of custom audiences allows you to reach people who have already interacted with your brand with your remarketing campaign, and to create groups of similar audiences, for example, based on your customer base.

With the help of automation, groups can update automatically. Without manually downloading and uploading the store's customer lists.

4 Reporting the results of advertising campaigns

How many times have you had to admonish a freelancer or agency to send advertising results for the last month? If you have access to advertising accounts where campaigns are run, this activity should also be automated.

By doing so, you will save yourself frustration and save your specialists the work time they would have spent preparing reports. You will be able to go straight to analyzing the results, drawing conclusions and making improvements. The benefit is on both sides.

5. creation of graphics and banners

Conceptual work on the graphic aspects of advertising campaigns is usually great fun. It's different when you go to implement dozens of graphic formats, each of which basically looks the same. Seemingly nothing difficult, but it takes a lot of time, and even the smallest mistake can cost you a huge amount of frustration. Fortunately, you can also delegate work on graphics to robots.

The possibilities of creating graphics on autopilot were brilliantly illustrated by Adam Gosporadczyk in his video.

6. managing the publication of content on social media

While talking about graphics, it is also worth mentioning the publication of content. We can automate the process to the point that once you complete the table with text and graphics (which can also be uploaded automatically from the previous example), the content will automatically be uploaded for publication on all your social profiles.

You're probably already using tools like Buffer, Sprout Social, Agorapulse or Content Studio. However, managing your publication from a table gives you much more flexibility and opportunities to expand your automation, as we'll discuss in the following examples.

7. generate landing pages based on information about new products/campaigns

Taking the next step. Imagine that your landing pages are also created on autopilot. All you have to do is add text and graphics to the dashboard you created earlier and with a few clicks, your new page is ready for your upcoming campaign.

8 Create marketing campaigns, e.g., for Black Friday or a new product launch

The best season of the year is ahead of you. You already know what your customers need, who to reach and with what message. You have automated the creation of graphics, the publishing of social media posts, and the landing page is ready to delight the crowds of customers waiting for your new product or promotion. What can you do to bring that automation even higher?

Automate the creation of the entire campaign. We mean it.

Sometimes all it takes is a minor change to already created materials to create and send emails (on autopilot), chatbots, blog articles, 1:1 communication with potential customers, content distribution to Facebook groups and much more.

9. gathering feedback from buyers

You have the success of the previous campaign behind you. However, your appetite grows as you eat.

Another element to use in a campaign on autopilot is to collect feedback from people who are enthusiastic about your product. Regardless of where customer feedback is most important to you, there is no need to do it manually.

A great tactic is to promise rewards to customers after they give feedback. We've been known to do this quite well, as one of our clients has achieved over 80% success rate this way. All it takes is the right incentive. It's a good investment to strengthen your social proof, and new customers will be more likely to trust you.

10. automatically reward the store's best customers

Another option that automation gives you is the ability to score your audience based on their buying behavior and the actions they take in your marketing channels. This way you will increase their loyalty and commitment to your store brand. It doesn't always have to be material rewards or discount codes. Remember to be creative.

11. reminding the customer to buy the product again

Automation will be especially useful for those trading FMCG products and those that wear out quickly. If you have enough data, you can predict after what time a customer may need their favorite product again and send that person a reminder.

12. generation of one-time discount codes

The one-time discount code has several special advantages.

• First, a code with a special discount can be used only once.
• Second, the code can be made personal by using the buyer's name in its content, for example.
• Third, a discount code prepared in this way, combined with email marketing, becomes a strong marketing tool to build customer relationships.

With automation, you can generate hundreds of such codes in the blink of an eye and immediately send them to customers in a personalized email, boosting sales.

13. generation and dispatch of e-mails with information on product re-availability

If one of your products is sold out and you don't currently have it in stock, it might be a good idea to collect a list of people interested in the product. When that one is available again, automation will automatically generate a message and send that information to eager customers.

14. rescuing lost baskets

It was so close, yet so far away. Fortunately, we have a way to save your sales. With the help of the right automation scenario, you can remind the customer about the products left in the shopping cart. This can be done in many ways - through email marketing, SMS, pop-up notifications, remarketing in ad systems such as Google and Meta Ads.

15. scraping data from a competitor's store

Monitoring the movements of competitors is an everyday part of eCommerce. Information such as prices, assortment, news and promotions can be quite important in creating an online store's strategy and determine its position in the online jungle. Collecting and analyzing this information manually can be cumbersome or impossible. Fortunately, the web scraping process can also be automated.

16. transaction emails

You'll probably agree that once you've paid for your order, there's nothing worse than not knowing its status? It's obvious to many, but in many smaller online stores this process still limps along and is limited only to confirming the transaction.

In the email confirming the transaction, it is also worth taking care of such elements as:

• Thanks for your order.
• Summary of purchased products with price and key information.
• Link to track your shipment.
• Responsive messaging so that it displays well on different screens.
• Delivery details.

However, there are many more types of transactional emails, and it's worth looking at them through the lens of building customer relationships. Design them in a creative way, characteristic of the store's brand. This category includes, but is not limited to, invoice emails, newsletter subscription confirmations, welcome emails, reactivation emails, password reminders, about an abandoned shopping cart and others triggered by customer action.

17. information about the status of the order and shipment sent by SMS to the customer

The scenario is similar to the example with transactional emails. However, in this automation, we send the message through an SMS gateway.

18 Ticket notifications in a messenger e.g. Slack, Discord

Nearly 60% of customers consider long wait times for a consultant to be the most frustrating part of customer service. Take advantage of this fact and respond quickly to your customers' questions and needs so they have the best possible experience with your store. Notifying your customer service team on the instant messaging services you use every day can help.

19. generation of waybills

Employ digital robots to flawlessly generate waybills and courier labels.

20. printing of waybills

This is not sorcery, but a viable extension of previous automation that we can help you implement in your online store.

21 Tracking shipments in the dashboard

If switching between different tracking tools and dashboards is a hassle for you, we can combine them into one, giving you quick access to key order and shipment information.

22 Conditional ordering of courier, e.g. after reaching a certain number of orders or on selected days of the week

Automation can also eliminate the time you spend ordering a courier. It will do it only when you need it, for example, when you reach a certain number of orders or on selected days of the week. All to ensure that your shipments arrive on time.

23 Refresh inventory and offers

Updating the number of available items, prices, shipping times, product descriptions, images and other important information in listings can be cumbersome. Especially if you have a lot of products sold on multiple stores or sales platforms. The solution also becomes automation. You will manage everything from a single, user-friendly dashboard, and the whole operation will take just a few minutes.

24. adding/retracting products in the online store based on stock levels

Another example of automation is hiding products whose number of items drops to zero. When these products reappear in your inventory, you will be able to add them again.

25. automatic delegation of tasks

In a situation where you want to delegate a task to an employee or organize your work, you can assign tasks on autopilot. A certain trigger is needed here. Imagine that you are launching a new product. After completing a simple form, the tasks with descriptions and relevant files will be automatically assigned to the appropriate people and subcontractors in the task manager.

26. flagging of high-value orders

Have you ever had a situation where a "customer" bought out your entire assortment and you had nothing to sell? Ultimately, it turned out to be a dishonest competitor who wanted to direct your customers to his store.

Thanks to automation, you will identify the problem in time, reacting even before the payment is received. The order will be canceled, and the relevant people in the company will be informed of the fact. Your real customers will be able to continue buying the desired products, and you will save yourself losses and frustration. WIN-WIN situation.

27. product management on the store and ordering of ending batches

Thanks to automation, you will never again forget to order products for your store.

How is this possible? The automated system independently determines the demand for a given product. It is based on the stock, which, reaching the designated value, automatically generates an order with the supplier. The system works on the basis of designated rules, which, for example, allow you to send such a message when several products are out of stock. Thanks to automation, you will avoid constantly contacting the contractor, arranging further deliveries. Your store will do this on autopilot.

28. automatic issuance of invoices and receipts

Mechanical clicking of Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V plays a major role in your nightmares? Instead of manually issuing invoices and receipts, you can have this attraction automated. The data for the documents will download automatically from your database, and the invoices and receipts will be saved in the place of your choice.

29. sending invoice to customer

One of the simplest automations. Once you create an invoice, the document can be automatically sent to your customer.

30. save issued and received invoices in a selected folder

One of those tasks you probably don't like and spend tens of minutes a month doing. Digital robots can collect all your invoices and save them in a folder of your choice, such as Google Drive.

31. sending invoices of the month to the accountant

Seemingly nothing, however, it is important to remember. Once all your invoices have been flawlessly issued, sent and collated, something else is missing. It's about sending invoices to your accountant. You don't have to do this manually either.

32. recording transaction information in a spreadsheet

On autopilot, you can also create a spreadsheet in which you organize and summarize data on transactions from various sources.

33. create dashboards with key indicators for the business

You no longer have to click through tables to understand what's going on in your business. All of your key metrics can be tied together in a single, visually friendly dashboard. With properly designed data architecture and automation, you have access to this data live. In this way, you gain invaluable information from which to create your strategy and growth plans for years to come.

34. reminder of payment deadlines

Your reputation may depend on whether you pay your obligations on time. Based on the information from your expense invoices, you can create notifications to always pay them on time. In this way you will build trust with your contractors, because the receivables will always be in their account on time.

35. graphs with financial data updated live

Thanks to automatic data visualization, you can not only have an up-to-date view of the financial health of your business, but also quickly assess which products and sales channels are generating the most profit, and which may not be worth investing in or need improvement.

36. collection and analysis of costs/revenues in a friendly dashboard

There is nothing worse than manually collecting information on income and expenses. Of course, such statements can be prepared for you by your accountant, but she usually does this the following month, when it may be too late to react.

37. cash flow calculation (cash flow)

Can you imagine a situation where at any time, day or night, you are able to see how much money you currently have in the business? Gathering information from all sources, could take ages, and yet you don't have that much time to do it. With automation, you get a constant view of your cash flow, no matter how many stores or marketplaces you operate in. By connecting the systems, results are generated without your participation, giving you a complete picture on cash, its inflows and outflows in your business.

38. generation, signing and archiving of contracts with contractors and employees

Seamless contract management sounds like a fairy tale. However, it is a reality of automation. Using special forms and contract templates, we can design the entire process on autopilot. The contract will generate itself automatically, taking data from the form. Then, without your participation, it will be sent for signature by authorized persons, to be saved in this form in your archive.

What's more, your digital robots will remind you when your contract expires. This will give you time to sign a new one, giving you time to take stock of your cooperation, negotiate terms and conditions and possibly sign another contract.

Is automatic contract generation something very complicated?

Nothing could be further from the truth. You can find out for yourself right now.

1. access the file with our contract generation demo

2 You will notice that the file consists of three tables:

• Contract templates - here you can preview the contract template.
• Customers - a structured customer database with the most important information.
• Customer contracts - a table that is used to generate contracts.

3. go to the last tab and click the orange "Generate Contract" button.

4 - Done!

As you can see, the contract was generated in just a few seconds. Your data is organized in clear tables, and the whole process happens with minimal human intervention.

39. notifications to your phone about important events in the online store

With this type of automation you always have your hand on the pulse. Notifications can apply not only to new orders. Site monitoring messages are of particular value. If something bad happens on your store, the automatic monitoring system will catch the event and immediately send information about it to your phone.

40 Making appointments

You may be surprised to learn that making appointments can also be automated. Zencal will help you with this, in which it is your caller who chooses a convenient appointment from among those available in your calendar. The application has many additional options, such as integration with payment systems, accounting systems, or CRM.

It's worth using it, as it can save you a lot of time that you normally have to spend flipping through messages proposing convenient dates. We have published a short tutorial on this topic, which you can find on the LinkedIn Automation House profile.

Is this the right time to hire digital robots?

Each of the mentioned automations offers a number of advantages, creating further competitive advantages for your business. There's a good chance that at Automation House we can set up similar automation scenarios for your online store as well. In each of them, you retain full control. You can decide when you want the automation to run or activate it manually with a single click.

If you have doubts or questions, schedule a free consultation by filling out the form on our Automation House page. In addition, the first ten companies that contact us and establish cooperation, referring to this article, will receive a 30% discount on their first automation.

You are not risking anything, so I guess there is nothing to wait for 😊.