Marketing automation tools for e-commerce

According to data collected by StartupBonsai, already 72% of companies achieving the best results in their industry use marketing automation techniques. On average, for every dollar spent on marketing automation, businesses get a return of $5.44.

What is marketing automation

Marketing automation is one of the elements of modern marketing, which is based on the use of technology to automate and improve marketing activities, both on a large and smaller scale. Depending on the needs, tools of this type allow for communication on a larger scale, to a larger number of users, or to personalize and better tailor communication to a single recipient.

When is it worth to invest in marketing automation

Marketing automation itself is not only technical tools, but also a set of good practices and habits that allow you to maximize the benefits that can be obtained from the analysis and processing of marketing data.

Elements related to this managerial and practical approach to data analysis can be introduced from the very first moment of running a business. Thanks to this, you can later develop appropriate procedures and collect data. With properly prepared information resources, the subsequent implementation of tools will be much easier and will not require long-term database cleaning.

What to look for before choosing a new tool

Marketing automation tools have access to massive amounts of data, including transactional information and customer personal information. The tools also differ in many ways:

• Available functionalities - some available marketing automation solutions allow you to build communication with the client in one, combined and unified environment. Other companies specialize in providing a product refined as a tool with a narrow and specific application.
• Integrations - even the most extensive set of tools does not provide absolutely all the functions necessary in running a business. Therefore, when choosing a solution, it is worth examining how the new element will fit into the ecosystem of already used systems and whether it will be easy to integrate with previously functioning data sources
• Security - another element is to ensure the security of stored and processed information. In the case of Polish companies, one of the most important legal acts with which the company must comply is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which strictly defines the rights of users and the obligations of data processors that result from them. It also imposes heavy fines on companies in the event of breaches of security rules.
• Pricing - currently there are many tools available on the market that offer comparable functionalities at different prices and in different billing models. Sometimes a better-priced tool with inferior features may be a better choice. More comprehensive marketing automation platforms may contain modules that are completely unused in the daily work of a marketer.
• Target group - some tools, in order to use their full potential, require an appropriate scale of operation and facilities. Others, in turn, are great for small businesses, because they offer speed and ease of use for the price of less possibilities.

Marketing automation tools for online stores

Regardless of the scale of their operations and business goals, online stores use a certain set of repetitive tools that include functions related to marketing automation.

Mailing

Online stores have been using email marketing as one of the most important marketing channels for many years. Newsletters are used to keep in touch with customers and encourage them to buy again. Thanks to modern email marketing tools, you can automate issues such as:

• Titles and content - With the right tools, you can A/B test and choose the combination of title, subheadings, and CTA that works best for you.
• Creations - just like content, automation can also select images inside mailings and select them so as to maximize conversion.
• Sending schedule - depending on the data obtained, such as click-through rate and open rates, it is possible to choose the best shipping time even for a single contact.
• Funnels and procedures - tools that automate mailings have the ability to create extensive and multi-threaded procedures for communication with the client, depending on his actions. It is possible, for example, to send reminders about upcoming holidays and, depending on the purchase history, to suggest other products.

Tools worth mentioning:

• Mailchimp - one of the most popular mailing platforms, seen as a standard in the industry.
• GetResponse - a Polish solution that successfully fights for global customers with MailChimp.
• HubSpot - it is an extensive marketing automation system combined with CRM, and mailings are only a narrow part of its functionality. However, they are worth mentioning in this context.

CRM

The CRM system itself is not a marketing automation tool. But it definitely is an important element of the automation chain. CRM usually is an information hub about customers, the history of interaction with them and their preferences. In the case of e-commerce, the CRM system will store parameters of tens of thousands customers, some of whom had contact with the company only once, and others will be regular clients.

In the case of a CRM system, the key element of automation is the work of an analyst who is able to find appropriate patterns in the behavior of recipients. These schemes can later be used in other systems (e.g. email marketing) to send well tailored and more effective messages.

Tools worth mentioning:

• HubSpot - it is one of the most extensive and common CRM systems in the world, which in practice provides a unified ecosystem for e-commerce activities.
• SalesForce - a CRM system that is a direct competitor of HubSpot, also an enterprise-class solution.
• Bitrix24 - Aimed at much smaller businesses, offers free plans.
• Insightly - a popular cloud-based CRM that integrates well with other business tools.

Analytics

In the case of analytics, the challenge is to find a balance between access to raw data, which contains a lot of information that is difficult to obtain in other ways, and the convenience of processing this data using graphical tools, which usually means shallow information.

Analytics in e-commerce serves many purposes, often depending not only on the purpose, but even on the channel or context in which the information obtained from this channel is to be used.

In the case of analytics, an element of automation is the availability of integration and the ability to combine data from multiple sources. Marketing dashboards, which allow you to sum up and display information on various sources of traffic in one place, are gaining more and more popularity. An example of such integration is the ability to connect Google Analytics with Feedink, thanks to which it is possible to obtain precise data on the effectiveness of advertisements. Thanks to such knowledge, it is possible to manage the budget more effectively and optimize the effects of one's actions.

Tools worth mentioning:

• Google Workspace - tools from Google are a certain standard in the industry, including Google Analytics, Google Data Studio and Google Search Console
• Piwik - This is an open competitor to Google tools where the company owns the data, not Google.

Social media

Social media is one of the most important channels for B2C communication.

Multiple SM platforms allow for a large scope of automation of activities.

• Scheduling - depending on your needs, there are many tools available to plan the sequence of posts in various social channels and study their effectiveness.
• Chatbots - one of the most interesting tools for automating marketing activities is a chatbot that allows you to handle customer inquiries via messenger or other internal communicator in a given medium without delay.

Tools worth mentioning:

• Hootsuite - one of the most popular platforms for automating activities in social media, which additionally provides extensive analytical functions.
• NapoleonCat - Polish alternative to HootSuite, which provides similar functionalities.
• Buffer - a tool with less extensive functions, primarily used to queue posts in different channels.

Paid Ads

There are now many platforms available on the internet that enable automated advertising. This includes creatives in traditional media, ad networks, social media, paid search activities and price comparison websites, just to name a few.

Each of these areas can be freely automated using many different tools. An example of such a tool is Feedink, which is used to manage product feeds.

• Creations - many tools offer built-in automation to create new creations based on existing ones. Thanks to this, the workload necessary to prepare the right number of ad variants is optimised.
• Display time - it is also possible to manipulate the display time of ads, which affects the conversion rate.
• Channels - you can also optimize the amount of work needed to be present in multiple channels. In most cases, the basic tool that allows you to display your creations in an automated channel is a product feed. Thanks to tools such as Feedink, it is possible to centrally manage this feed so as to achieve maximum benefits in each channel and avoid integration problems.

Tools worth mentioning:

• Feedink - it is a tool for centralized management of product files that allows you to control many promotion channels without the time-consuming preparation of a file for each portal

Summary

With the scale of operation of online stores, it is often necessary to automate processes as much as possible. Thanks to this, it is possible to optimize costs and work, while improving the quality of service.