Four ways automation can upscale your e-commerce enterprise

In 2020, e-commerce exploded from around 15 percent of retail sales to almost 35 percent in just the first three months – essentially the same growth it had taken ten years to achieve before 2020. More people than ever before are now paying attention to your e-commerce capabilities. In particular, your ability to smoothly adapt to surges in demand and provide excellent customer care before, during, and after the sale. Targeted use of automation can help.?

By deploying applications that automate repetitive tasks, build structured databases of customer information, and handle routine customer interactions, you can free your organization to stay focused on continuously improving the customer experience instead of getting bogged down in the day-to-day.?

In this post, we want to focus on four areas of your business where automation can bring the most value to both you and your customers. Later, we briefly discuss customized automation solutions and their advantages over most off-the-shelf applications. Let’s get started.

E-COMMERCE AUTOMATION AND CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Perhaps the best indicator of excellent customer service is a high retention rate. Having some loyalty programs has always been one of the most effective ways to keep people coming back. Using automation, you can identify the best customers in your database and instantly send them discount codes after a certain number of purchases.

Automation success story: fast answers

Forte Group partnered with one of the largest cosmetics retailers in Europe and Asia to design an all-in-one system for managing and processing customer requests, claims, and orders. As part of this system, we created a virtual helper that increased the average number of customer requests processed to about 700 per day.?These requests were also processed five times faster than before.

Email marketing is another cornerstone of customer acquisition and retention. Automation can sync your email campaigns with your CRM system and create distinct mailing lists that target different types of customers.

Automation success story: more click-throughs

Together with a large cosmetics retailer, the Forte team implemented a search-analytical database that served as a single repository for all email notifications. The result was improved management of email campaigns and significant growth in the direct traffic generated by these campaigns. A library of unique email templates was also created. This slashed development time and costs and made the company more responsive to customer needs.

E-COMMERCE AUTOMATION AND THE MARKETING WORKFLOW

Winning new customers is an essential-but-costly part of any growing business. Social media continues to be one of the most effective ways to get yourself in front of new audiences. You can schedule posts, track outreach, and plan marketing activities based on stats using various automation tools. Similar tools can be used on your website to nurture new leads. They could also track user activity and automatically follow up with a sales offer, useful content, or a discount.

Automation success story: faster order processing

When one of our e-commerce clients came to us looking for a way to generate gift certificates for their B2B customers automatically, we built a module that used a single-page application to automate the gift certificate workflow. As a result, certificates are processed faster, and the number of corporate customers continues to grow.

E-COMMERCE AUTOMATION AND ORDER?FULFILMENT

In online sales, nothing bigger impacts your company’s reputation or bottom line than order fulfillment. Something as simple as a misprinted address or incorrect labeling can lead to failed deliveries and unsatisfied customers. Targeted use of automation throughout the order-fulfillment process will dramatically reduce the incidence of these costly mistakes and ensure you stay in your customers’ good graces.

Automation success story: automatic fee calculation?

Auto parts manufacturer Ex-Guard?aimed to streamline ordering, processing, and fulfillment. Forte Group engineers not only built a secure and reliable gateway connecting the internal ERP to the storefront and implemented critical integrations related to pricing and fulfillment. As a result, buyers can see the?manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP)?for each item on its product page to calculate their ROI. Sales staff cut the time and resources spent on order placement and processing by 50 percent.

Even when all goes well and the order arrives as expected, automation can play a big part in ensuring you deliver excellent service after the sale. Send automatic emails to customers who make regular purchases with discount codes that encourage them to shop again. Engage customers who abandon their carts with automated messages that invite them to revisit their order and complete the purchase. You could even personalize these messages using info from registration forms.

E-COMMERCE AUTOMATION AND SALES SUPPORT

For a sales team to be truly productive, it can’t be burdened with routine tasks that waste time. CRM automation tools like new-customer notifications, reminders, and database searches allow salespeople to stay focused on going outbound and capturing new business.

Automation success story: more productive salespeople?

Working with?medical supply distributor Ovation Medical, the Forte Group extensively used automation to streamline the sales process for repeat customers, adapt the Salesforce CRM suite to an inventory management system, and customize “Order Now” pages for B2B clients. This made it possible for each Ovation sales rep to manage as many as 400 customer accounts, effectively doubling the team’s productivity.

Automating follow-up reminders for sales managers is another way to boost productivity and bring in new clients. The whole process can be tracked step by step, and progress is easier to analyze at the end of a specific period.

WHY A CUSTOMIZED AUTOMATION SOLUTION MAY BE RIGHT FOR YOUR E-COMMERCE ENTERPRISE

There is no shortage of off-the-shelf solutions for e-commerce automation. These turn-key applications may seem like an easy way to bring your business up to speed, but we think it would be well worth your time to consider a customized solution instead. Here are three important reasons why.

1. One size does not fit all

While small- to medium-sized businesses may be able to make do with a ready-made solution, the unique business practices of most large companies demand customized e-commerce automation. Also, the enormous volume of business that a large enterprise can generate during, say, a Cyber Monday can quickly overwhelm the capabilities of many turn-key applications.?

2. No extra fees

A common misconception is that custom software is expensive, but in reality, a tailored solution may be more cost-effective in the long run. Off-the-shelf software almost always comes with long-term costs for periodic licensing fees and software upgrades. Then there are fees for technical support that you may have to pay whether you use the service or not.?

3. Limitless scalability

As your business develops and becomes more complex over time, you will want your e-commerce platform to be able to evolve along with it. Creating a scalable, tailored solution is the best way to do this. Tailored solutions can also be built to mesh perfectly with your existing software, libraries, and security protocols.

At Forte Group, we excel at delivering?customized e-commerce?solutions for businesses of all sizes. We start by collaborating with you to create a product vision that aligns with your high-level goals. We have delivered value to our clients for 22 years and are ready to become your trusted partner.