I am sure you have heard a lot about marketing automation, and how it can do great wonders for your ecommerce startup!
Naturally,
you want to get started with it as soon as possible; but let me be a bit blunt:
you are already a little bit late. That said, with automation, marketing
doesn’t take much time to drive results. So, if you want to know the best time
to consider marketing automation; I’d say you should have the automation system
in place before starting up.
But,
better late than never; if you have already launched your ecommerce startup,
today is possibly the best time to implement marketing automation, because you want
to see substantial ROI for your business in lease possible time.
Keeping in mind that the ecommerce industry is bursting at the seams, with making over $2.3 trillion in sales (according to a Statista report), it is nearly impossible to be responsive to all your customers. This is where ecommerce marketing automation comes into the game.
We
know you are a bit skeptical about starting off with something that is still
new to you.
But,
don’t worry!
This
article will discuss some wonderful ways in which ecommerce marketing
automation can help your startup grow tremendously.
Let’s
get started.
1. Nurturing
Leads With Email Marketing Automation
Ecommerce marketing automation probably hits a sweet spot with email automation. Be it triggered emails, or personalized messages, email automation is a great way to nurture your leads.
And
lead nurturing is something that you just cannot overlook. If you are not
nurturing your leads, then you are pushing all your efforts down the drain.
What?
Don’t
trust me?
Have
a look at this statistic:
According to Gleanster Research, only 25% of your leads are ready to buy.
You
are generating leads, but they are not buying from you.
Email
marketing automation is the answer to this problem.
With
automation, you can schedule triggered emails to be sent out according to the
action performed by your leads.
For
instance, you can send out welcome emails to your new subscribers using an
automated email campaign.
Have
a look at how Kate Spade, a prominent fashion house, welcomes their new
subscribers.
This
attractive welcome email is a great way of engaging your leads.
It
doesn’t take much time to set up such an automated email campaign. And if you
think it is viable for your new ecommerce business, don’t shy away from
offering a little discount to give a little nudge to your leads.
With
the help of automated analytical tools, you can even track the effectiveness of
your discount offer.
2. Keeping
Track of Your Best Customers
One
of the best ways to achieve growth is by making your customers happy. The
happier your customers are, the more referrals you will receive. But selling a
good-quality product is not enough to make your customers sing your praises.
If
you want them to do this, you have to create a more loyal customer base. And
the easiest way to inspire loyalty among your customers is through marketing
automation. This is not to say that automation is a magic solution that will
simply switch on the loyalty button.
Nope.
Nada.
You have to incentivize your customers, especially your best customers, or make them feel special to invoke loyalty towards your brand and better reputation management. You can create an automated loyalty program to do so. After analyzing and segmenting your best customers, you can invite them to take part in your loyalty program.
Get
them to perform some basic tasks such as following your post or referring your
product to one of their peers, and give them incentives based on their actions.
You
can also set another automated email campaign and as soon as your customers are
done with their loyalty program, you can send out automated emails including
discount coupons and exclusive offers.
3. One Upping
Your Competitors
Starting a new ecommerce business is a lot of work. On top of that, the prospect of competing with some huge enterprises is enough to make anyone break out in a sweat.
After
all, they have so many expensive tools and the top employees at their disposal.
And since you are just getting started, it’s difficult for you to have access
to anything like that.
Automation
completely alleviates this pressure.
It
doesn’t matter how successful and experienced your counterparts are, with
marketing automation, now you have access to the same tricks as they have.
For
instance, you don’t have to hire a whole team to generate qualified leads for
you. Now you can simply use a popular email marketing tool to build a credible
list of your target audience.
And
this is only a part of it — once you get started and have a strategy in place,
you can’t go wrong with automation.
4. Automating
Social Media Marketing
Social
media is nearly out of control, with billions and billions of users present on
hundreds of social networking platforms. It is impossible for you to be active
on all the social media pages at all times.
That said, you can’t abandon your social media marketing either.
Instead,
you can incorporate marketing automation with your social media strategy. There
are several social media monitoring tools available on the internet that will
help you keep track of your followers.
This
way, you can also keep track of your social media mentions and reply
immediately to your customers’ queries.
5. Retaining
Your Previous Customers
Sales
professionals tend to overlook customer retention sometimes.
And
we can understand that. With all the excitement about customer acquisition, it
is often difficult to keep up with the retention strategy at the same time.
But
not anymore!
Now
you can leverage marketing automation to give you constant reminders about your
customers. You can set triggered emails to engage your previous customers who
haven’t purchased anything from you for months on end or those who have
abandoned their cart.
While
you are at it, don’t forget to offer a little something extra in the form of a
discount coupon or a free product.
Not
many people can ignore freebies!
Summing It
All Up
These
are some of the most common reasons to start using ecommerce marketing
automation to grow your startup.
If you are serious about your
ecommerce startup, you have to get serious about automation.
You
need to catch up fast.
Don’t delegate this anymore — automate your ecommerce marketing process today.
