Marketing Automation for eCommerce Businesses
Marketing has always been the core part of any business. Without effective marketing, there is virtually no way to get enough traction.
eCommerce is no exception. However, managing marketing campaigns, a team, and multiple marketing channels/platforms can easily get overwhelming.
Marketing automation can streamline your efforts and bring you cost-effective results.
If you want to know how to automate the digital aspect of your eCommerce business, you’ll find great value ahead.
Let’s delve into the details now.
Why Do You Need Marketing Automation for eCommerce?
Before talking about some great marketing automation ideas for eCommerce, it’s important to know why you exactly need them.
Automation Helps You Scale Your Business
Marketing automation software doesn’t mind extra work. You can’t say that about a human resource. Automation software can easily take care of repetitive marketing tasks, which allows you to focus on more productive ideas for your business.
Saves Your Time
With marketing software at work, you won’t have to worry about setting your campaigns or invest your time into repetitive tasks.
This gives you an opportunity to invest your time in high-priority activities for your business.
Provides Analytical Data for Growth
When it comes to understanding what works and what doesn’t, data is your friend. But, the amount of data you’d need to land on the right marketing decisions is quite high.
You can’t collect that manually. This is where marketing automation software can help you out.
Automation software not only streamlines your marketing efforts but also provides you with actionable data. You can use this data to make decisions that can help you grow.
Marketing Automation Ideas for eCommerce Businesses
Let’s now look at some ways you can automate your eCommerce business’s marketing workflows.
Retain Existing Customers
It’s a fact that you need to invest more of your resources to bring new customers. Whereas selling to your existing customers doesn’t take much of your marketing budget.
But, you still need to keep in touch with them via marketing channels to keep them warm. Marketing automation can take care of that effectively.
Probably the best way to go about this is to ask your first-time buyers to subscribe to your newsletter. You can then set up an automated email sequence and send them helpful content regularly.
Top-notch and helpful content will help you gain credibility and build authority in your industry. Once you achieve that, it would be easy to convert your one-time buyers into long-term customers.
Another good thing is, you can leverage that trust and even up-sell or cross-sell your happy customers. The best thing? No expense other than a few automated email messages.
Grow Your Subscribers List
Every subscriber you add to your email list allows you to gain a long-term customer.
But, how do you do that?
In addition to sending a newsletter subscription request to a first-time buyer, there are two more strategies that can grow your list.
1. Newsletter Sign up form on Your Blog posts
If you have a blog, every blog post provides you with an opportunity to get onboard new prospects for your eCommerce business.
Because your blog will be related to your eCommerce niche, it would be easier for you to convert them to customers down the road.
Just include an email newsletter opt-in form at the top-right, bottom, and as a pop-up in the middle of every blog post.
Your automated email newsletters will do the rest of the work.
2. Lead Magnets
While someone who wants to hear from you might sign-up for your newsletter, there would still be some people that won’t give their emails.
No worries! You can give them something they might find value in, in return for their email addresses.
Win-win, right?
It could be anything from a helpful eBook or a discount on their next order. Just make sure they don’t regret giving away their email addresses.
Personalized Email Marketing
Email automation tools like MailChimp and Sendinblue let you personalize your messages on the basis of prospects’ stages in their journey.
Source: sendinblue.com
For instance, you can schedule a special message for people that sign up for your newsletter and offer them a discount as a gift.
Another example would be to offer something enticing to those who abandon their carts.
You can also target people based on their age, sex, location, interests, page time, and actions they take on your page.
The possibilities are endless. Email automation software lets you schedule emails for exactly the right time.
This can easily lead to higher email open and eventually conversions.
Examples of Automated Email Marketing Campaigns
Once you’ve picked your automation tool and have a growth strategy in place, you need to set automated campaigns.
Let’s look at a few examples of these.
Welcome Emails
While it may seem counterintuitive, setting up an automated welcome sequence can increase your sales.
Although a welcome email’s primary purpose is to “Welcome” someone on your list, you can leverage its high open rate to pitch your products.
Here is an example from Kate Spade. They thanked their new subscriber and offered something enticing at the end.
Source: hubspot.com
Abandoned Cart Emails
While abandoned carts can be a nightmare if you let them slide, they are a great opportunity to push confused consumers over the edge.
There can be multiple reasons why someone leaves a cart without going through with the purchase. Luckily, automation tools don’t let cart abandoners go that easily.
You can send them an automated email reminding them to pull the trigger. An effective way would be to include a beautiful picture of the product and its benefits in the email.
You can also send them a list of frequently asked questions that might be hindering their purchase decision. Anything that can help them make the decision.
An effective way to get these people to act right now would be to use FOMO (Fear of missing out).
Here is an example of it.
Source: Activecampaign.com
Promotional Emails
A good chunk of consumers waits for a promotional deal to buy something. That’s not a bad thing for your business though.
What you can do is, segment this audience. Then, get in touch with them when there is a discount on your products.
While such customers might not bring the highest Return on investment (ROI), they are still a great source of business. And, who knows, they might even want to purchase at full prices.
Here is a good example by Crate&Barrel.
Source: getvero.com
Life Event Emails
Life events like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays are great opportunities to connect with your customers on a personal level.
You can segment your email subscribers list based on such life events and offer them something that doesn’t hurt your margins as well.
For instance, you can craft a special message and offer for people that have their birthdays on the 16th of November.
By doing that, you can not only stand out from the crowd, but you could also build an emotional bond with your prospects.
Here is an example of a birthday Email by Puma.
Source: sleeknote.com
Upsell and Cross-Sell Your Existing Customers
It’s easier to sell to existing customers than to attract new ones to your business. HubSpot reports that you are 60 – 70% more likely to sell to an existing customer as compared to a new prospect.
Upselling is when you sell something related to a product that the customer has bought. For instance, offering a variety of shoelaces with the purchase of a shoe pair.
Cross-selling is when you sell something unrelated to a previously sold product. Someone with a positive experience is likely to trust you with a new product as well.
In addition to sending your regular newsletter to your subscribers’ list, also include a few recommendations for customers depending on their past purchase behavior.
Marketing Automation for eCommerce: Analytics
In addition to automating your marketing workflows, automation software also lets you make better decisions with actionable data.
With powerful marketing CRM software, you can handle all the customer data in one place. An example of this is HubSpot.
The HubSpot CRM covers everything from customer acquisition to after-sales services. So, your marketing and sales teams can work together to achieve organizational goals better.
Final Thoughts
Digital marketing is an integral part of every business’s growth strategy. Artificial intelligence is making its place in almost every industry and digital marketing is no exception.
One major reason why you need to leverage marketing automation is that your competitors are probably doing it.
Moreover, automation keeps your marketing workflows streamlined. Not only that but it also helps you get better results with insightful data.
The beauty of marketing automation for eCommerce is that you get consistent sales over time. You just need to set up effective automated campaigns.
So, if you aren’t using marketing automation, this would be the time to jump on the bandwagon.
