Five Automation Opportunities for Your E-Commerce [Updated 2024]

If you’ve been thinking of how automation could enhance your e-commerce business, there are plenty of possibilities. Here are five avenues that are well worth pursuing 

1. Email Marketing 

Email marketing offers tremendous potential for e-commerce brands. If people get appropriate messages at the right times, such content could make them go directly to your site.

One popular automation option is to utilize drip marketing. It involves sending emails at specific times, often in response to triggers, such as a person leaving your site without finishing the transaction. 

However, drip marketing is not foolproof. It’ll most likely pay off when you make the content specific enough and choose interesting subject lines. Yet, once you craft the right drip campaign, you can experience 119% higher click-through rates than randomly sent emails.

2. Social Media Scheduling

Many people initially come across e-commerce brands on social media. They also often use social platforms as their preferred ways to learn about new products, sales and more. 

However, it can become cumbersome to post on social media, especially if your business has a presence on several sites. Plus, research indicates certain times are better than others when it comes to publishing social media content. When you consider the times your audience tends to use social media platforms the most, you can attract the most attention.

For instance, Hootsuite’s Social Marketing Specialist, Eileen Kwok says that posting on Instagram earlier in the day is always a good idea if managing a brand account. However, if you are on a personal account, it is better to post later in the evening.

Think about using an automated tool to distribute social media posts at your preferred times. Then, you don’t have to worry about forgetting to do it and can rest assured your business has the necessary coverage on the channels you use. 

3. Software Development

Having a website that functions as expected is essential for any e-commerce brand. Software development is not something to overlook, especially if you want the site to stay up-to-date and appealing. 

Luckily, automation makes many development duties more manageable. For example, some automated tools can streamline deployment or testing. They shorten release cycles, helping ensure e-commerce sites stay current. 

Automated software tools can also screen for code abnormalities. Then, it’s less likely that the site will perform unexpectedly once the newest version launches. 

4. Data Entry

Entering data into a system is a necessary process, but it comes with high error potential. A person could get distracted and make spelling mistakes or enter details into the wrong fields. Errors such as typographical mistakes or misentered values are one of the most common reasons for invalid data entry — one mistake can skew an entire data outcome.

However, automated data entry tools can pull information from various sources. Then, people don’t have to enter it multiple times. 

These options are also ideal for frequent e-commerce tasks, such as sending out refund confirmations or invoices. Automation can make those administrative duties more efficient and accurate.

5. Customer Service and Experience

E-commerce companies increasingly use automation to improve customer service and overall experiences. Quality management is one area with lots of automation potential. Some tools can screen for certain keywords or analyze sentiment, giving supervisors better insight into how communications went. 

Other automated tools work in the background and suggest actions for a customer service agent to take based on previous engagements with the platform. People then get the assistance they need faster.

Customer-centric automation can also help ensure people get assisted by the right departments based on the information given during a phone call or in an email. Many platforms also automatically ask customers for feedback, letting managers see where room for improvement exists.

Additionally, automation tools can provide personalized customer interactions using historical data. By analyzing previous online engagements, digital retailers can offer tailored suggestions to customers. This type of interaction makes consumers feel seen, allowing e-commerce businesses to retain their loyalty and generate positive buzz surrounding their brand.

How Will You Use E-Commerce Automation?

These five areas represent some of the most promising ways to use automation in e-commerce. However, they’re not the only options. You’re most likely to get the best results with an automation strategy by analyzing current weaknesses associated with your e-commerce efforts and thinking about how automated technology could help.