Marketing automation refers to the software and technology that helps with the automation of marketing tasks and workflows. This means that with marketing automation you can optimise email campaigns, social media posts, and other marketing materials. It can be a powerful tool for e-commerce businesses since it will save your employees time and can increase sales and can create more value for your customers. In this article, we will show an e-commerce marketing automation guide and dive deeper into this topic.
An E-commerce marketing automation guide to increase your sales
Every E-commerce business owner knows that having your own small business can take up a lot of your time, energy, resources, and money. What better way to combat this? To automate some of your processes. Let’s look at 5 simple ways in which you can automate your e-commerce business:
1. Set up abandoned cart emails
Marketing automation can be a great tool when you sell things online. Oftentimes, customers don’t purchase their desired goods straight away, they often leave the services or products in their cart, which they then ‘abandon’. With automation, you can make sure that the customer will be reminded via email that their desired goods are still in their shopping cart. This can help them cross the line and purchase, which will create more revenue for your business.
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2. Segment your email list
When sending out emails you can segment your email list into groups. Oftentimes, your target audience doesn’t consist of the same people, with the same wants and needs. With automation and segmentation of your email list, you can ensure that you send the right message to the right target group. You can also segment your emails on customer characteristics, such as purchase history and other demographics. This way you can send much more personalised emails that are targeting the right people.
3. Use retargeting ads
You can use social advertisements to retarget people; this means that you can show ads to viewers who have previously visited your website and didn’t make a purchase. By showing these interested but non-purchasing potential clients specific and targeted ads, you increase the chance for them to purchase the goods or services that they’ve checked out before.
4. Automate social media posts
Social media management is made ten times easier when you pre-write and schedule your posts. There are numerous amazing tools that you can use to plan your content. These tools often give you information on times and dates that work best amongst your target audience; which can increase engagement and visibility online.
5. Set up automated email campaigns
Marketing automation can help with the creation of automated email campaigns. This means that you can create a welcome email funnel for new customers or other email series that are focused on for example customer retention. These automations can help improve customer relationships and increase sales; since the processes are automated, created and thought about before, and can’t be forgotten, since they are planned.
Measuring customer value shaping campaigns
Customer value campaigns can help businesses to create a positive relationship with their customers. What can be a customer value campaign? You can think about loyalty programs, special promotions, or personalised communication through for example email marketing campaigns. With this extra value that you offer your (potential) customer, you can build loyalty, trust, and encourage repeat purchases.
With customer value campaigns you can also stand out amongst your competitors. Ultimately, these campaigns aim to create a positive experience for your customers that lead to increased customer satisfaction and profitability for your organisation. Let’s look at how you can increase customer value through e-commerce automation and how you can measure these values.
How to increase customer value through e-commerce automation?
There are various ways in which you can aim to improve customer value through e-commerce automation; from personalised email marketing campaigns to promotions tailored to your customer. In this article, we will look at personalisation, customer service automation, and upselling through automation. A marketing agency can often look at the different options together with you, to see which automation process suits your business and target audience best.
1. Personalisation
E-commerce automation can be used to personalise your content; such as email marketing or the shopping experience of your (potential) customers. Through automation, you can show them products and recommend goods based on their search history and past purchases. Through automating these processes your customer can build more trust, loyalty, and satisfaction with your brand.
2. Customer service automation
It can free up a lot of time for your customer service team if you automate tasks such as answering frequently asked questions or handling returns and exchanges. The time that your team doesn’t have to spend on these tasks, since they can be automated, can now be used for more complex customer questions. This can improve the overall customer experience of your target audience.
3. Upselling and cross-selling through automation
With marketing automation, you can try to sell a more expensive or higher-end product to your customers who have already shown interest in lower-priced products. You can do this through targeted marketing campaigns sent out via email, targeted ads, or personalised product/service recommendations on your website. For this upsell to be effective, it is important to personalise the message to the customer’s needs and interests. Keep in mind to find a balance between being helpful and being too pushy; since there is a fine line between the two, and customers tend to not appreciate aggressive upselling tactics.
How to measure customer value?
Now we know how to create more customer value, it is equally important to know how to measure this value; since it’s easy to assume the results. It’s best to write down metrics that you want to test before you send out your campaigns. Amongst these metrics are for example: CLV, NPS, en CSAT. What do they mean? Let’s look at it.
1. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
The CLV measures how much value a customer brings to your business; this takes into account the value of each of their purchases, the frequency of purchases, and how long a customer stays a customer. Measuring these numbers can give more insights into how long your customers stay with you and if they want to purchase your goods and services again. These numbers tell you if you need to pay attention to getting potential clients in or perhaps you have to focus on keeping them interested.
2. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The NPS measures customer satisfaction and loyalty and this is calculated by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your products or services to others. This measurement is calculated on a scale from 0 to 10; customers rating a 9 or a 10 are considered ‘promoters’ and customers rating between 0 and 6 are considered ‘detractors’. You calculate the NPS by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. It’s good to understand how many customers would recommend your product or service. If the numbers are low; you know you can spend some extra time and effort to increase these metrics.
3. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
By sending out a short question via an email after purchasing you can get to know more about your customer’s satisfaction levels (CSAT). You can ask your customer to rate their satisfaction with your business and/or product on a scale from 1 to 10. You can also ask them to rate their satisfaction levels with specific aspects of the product or service in mind. This information can help you improve specific aspects of your business.
Do you want to know how to automate your e-commerce business?
Do you want to get to know more about marketing automation in your e-commerce business? Get in contact with us if you want to brainstorm or receive help with implementing tools and techniques. We are happy to assist your business in further growth and a future of new digital possibilities.
