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Unlocking the Power of Marketing Automation for Your eCommerce Business

July 12, 2023
Written and researched by experts at AvadaLearn more about our methodology

By Sam Nguyen

CEO Avada Commerce

Unlocking the Power of Marketing Automation for Your eCommerce Business

You’ve built an amazing eCommerce business and have loyal customers who can’t get enough of your products. But as your business grows, how do you keep up with marketing at scale? The secret is marketing automation. When you unlock the power of marketing automation for your eCommerce business, you open up a whole new world of possibilities to engage your customers, drive more sales, and take your company to the next level.

Marketing automation allows you to nurture your customer relationships on autopilot. No more manually sending one-off emails or posting on social media. However, with marketing automation, you can create highly personalized, targeted campaigns to engage your customers based on their behaviors and interests. You’ll provide value at every customer journey stage, from awareness to advocacy, without increasing your workload. The best part? When you automate your marketing, you can focus on the big-picture strategies to accelerate your business growth. Marketing automation is a game changer for eCommerce companies. Are you ready to unlock its power?

 
Capture More Leads With Email Marketing Automation

With marketing automation, you can capture more leads and turn them into loyal customers. Email marketing is key.

  • Set up email capture on your site. Have a signup form front and center on your homepage and product pages. In addition, offer an incentive like a coupon or free shipping to encourage people to sign up.
  • Segment your list. Group customers by interests, location, purchase history, etc. Then you can send targeted messages to each segment. For example, send promotions for hiking gear to customers who frequently buy outdoor products.
  • Drip campaign new subscribers. Once someone signs up, put them on an automated welcome campaign that sends emails over several days or weeks. Share more about your business, highlight popular products, and provide special offers to engage them. For instance, Shopify Discounts: Save Big on Subscriptions, Themes, Apps, & More.
  • Personalize messages. Use the information you have about subscribers to personalize your emails. Consequently, mention them by name, highlight products they’ve viewed or purchased, and suggest other items they might like based on their interests. People are much more likely to open and click through personalized emails.
  • Promote your best content. Share blog posts, videos, and other content highlighting your products and expertise. This also builds trust in your brand and keeps people returning to your site.
  • Analyze and optimize. See what’s working by tracking open rates, click-throughs, sales, and more. To get better results over time, make adjustments. Furthermore, switch up your content or offers, redesign your emails, or adjust the frequency you send to each segment.

With a smart marketing automation strategy focused on lead capture and email marketing, you’ll gain new subscribers, build better relationships, increase sales, and grow your ecommerce business. In short, The power is yours – now unlock it!

Nurture Leads Into Customers With Drip Campaigns

Once you have leads coming into your funnel, the real work begins – nurturing them into paying customers. Automation in marketing can be useful in this situation. You can set up automated drip campaigns that send emails to leads over time.

  • Start by sending a welcome message within 24 hours of a lead opting in. And Also show some gratitude to them for their interest and give an overview of what they can expect from your company.
  • Over the next few days and weeks, send 3-5 follow-up messages consistently. Provide useful content like blog posts, videos, or free tools relevant to their needs and interests. This helps to build familiarity and trust.
  • After 2-4 weeks, make an offer for a low-cost introductory product or service. For example, a free trial, discount, or sample. This gives leads a chance to experience your offerings with little commitment.
  • For those who take you up on the offer, continue the drip campaign with messages that educate them on how to get the most value from your products or services. Make additional offers to upgrade or renew as needed.
  • Don’t forget about those who don’t initially convert. Stay in contact with a monthly newsletter and new content or offers. Many will come back once the time is right for them.

Using marketing automation to nurture leads is a proven way to turn more lookers into buyers. But make sure the key is to be helpful, not salesy. Provide real value at every step, and your leads will reward you with their business and loyalty.

Increase Engagement With Personalized Product Recommendations

Personalized product recommendations are a key marketing automation feature that can dramatically boost engagement and sales. By tracking customers’ browsing and purchase history, your ecommerce store can automatically suggest related products they may be interested in based on their unique tastes and preferences.

 Product recommendations are an easy way to personalize the shopping experience and encourage customers to discover new products. Following below are some ways to suggest products : 

  • Track your customers’ interactions to gain insights into their interests and preferences. Look at products or clothing items such as the A4 N6003 t-shirt they view, add to cart, purchase, and more. Use this data to make tailored product suggestions for each shopper.
  • Focus on recommending complementary products. Suggest water bottles, backpacks, hiking socks, or a first aid kit if a customer buys hiking boots. Recommend higher-margin products when possible to maximize profits.
  • Consider using a recommendation engine to handle this automatically. Sophisticated software solutions can analyze huge amounts of customer data to provide personalized product recommendations in real-time. They may offer options beyond “you might also like” to include “frequently bought together” or “top picks for you.”
  • Test different recommendations to see which resonates most with your customers. You might try “you might also like,” “best sellers,” “new arrivals,” or “trending now.” Measure click-through and conversion rates to optimize your strategy.
  • Include recommendations on product pages, in shopping carts, after purchases, and in email marketing campaigns. Moreover, the more exposure customers have to recommendations, the more likely they are to discover and buy new products.

Reduce Cart Abandonment With Abandoned Cart Emails 

One of the biggest reasons shoppers abandon their carts is that they get distracted or distracted during checkout. You can win back customers and recover lost sales by creating automated abandoned cart emails.

Send a Series of Emails

You have no idea how personalization can increase the impact of your email marketing campaign. Send a series of emails for several days. Don’t just send one email right after a shopper abandons their cart. The first email should go out within an hour of cart abandonment. Further, mention the items left in their cart and offer a small discount (10-15% off) to encourage them to complete the purchase.

Offer Bigger Discounts Over Time

If you don’t get a response to the first email, send additional emails with bigger discounts, like 20-30% off. For instance, if you sell A4 brands clothing, offer them Wholesale A4 Shirts at the most reasonable deals, like availing 25% off on A4 shirts. In fact, the longer the period between cart abandonment and purchase, the more likely the shopper’s interest in those items has faded. Bigger discounts are needed to prompt them to buy.

Make it Easy to Buy

Include “buy now” buttons that take the shopper to their checkout page with items still in their cart. The easier you make it for them to purchase, the more likely they will follow through.

If the shopper isn’t interested in the original items, suggest similar or related products they might want to buy instead at a discount. This gives them an incentive to come back to your store.

  • Personalize the emails by using the shopper’s name
  • The text should be concise and clear.
  • Use a catchy subject line, such as “Your cart is waiting!”  to get the email opened.

Abandoned cart emails are a simple but highly effective way to boost your ecommerce revenue and turn window shoppers into paying customers. Moreover, a streamlined email campaign will enable you to re-engage customers, reduce cart abandonment, and recover lost sales.

Conclusion

So there you have it. If implemented well, marketing automation can be an incredibly powerful tool for your ecommerce business. Stop wasting time on manual processes and focus on high-impact strategies. Further, the benefits of increased efficiency, improved customer experience, and boosted revenue will make marketing automation worth the investment. So, what are you waiting for? Take the plunge and watch your business growth skyrocket. The tools are ready and waiting – you must take that first step. Unlock the power of marketing automation and take your ecommerce business to the next level. The future is automated.

FAQ 

What Exactly is Ecommerce Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation uses software and digital tools to automate marketing tasks like email marketing, social media posting, and more. For ecommerce, it specifically means automating things like:

-Sending abandoned cart emails to win back customers

-Nurturing new subscribers with a welcome email series

-Promoting new products and offers to your customer base

How Much Does Ecommerce Marketing Automation Cost?

Pricing varies but typically ranges from $50 to $500/month for small to mid-size businesses. Moreover, many tools offer monthly subscriptions, with discounts if you pay annually. Some popular, affordable options include:

-Mailchimp (from $10/mo): Email marketing & basic automation

-ActiveCampaign (from $9/mo): All-in-one marketing automation platform

-Omnisend (from $50/mo): Ecommerce-focused marketing automation

Look for free trials and discounts to find a tool that suits your needs and budget. With the right solution and marketing automation, you can provide an amazing ROI for your ecommerce business.


Sam Nguyen is the CEO and founder of Avada Commerce, an e-commerce solution provider headquartered in Singapore. He is an expert on the Shopify e-commerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. Sam loves talking about e-commerce and he aims to help over a million online businesses grow and thrive.