Automation is in rage these days. But what is automation actually and what actual scenarios that one can utilize the automation in especially in E Commerce.
Well by automation, we mean automating a repeated task that needs to complete without mistake once the action related to the task triggers it. In real life, the morning alarm is the simplest automation that wakes you up. In case you decide to snooze it, the automation wakes you up in next five to ten minutes.
Here the trigger is time of the day. When it matches your condition of alarm type, the alarm rings and you wake up. It cannot be simpler than this.
Monitor something for trigger-> triggered -> check condition match -> perform action associated with the automation.
Now that we have understood the basic concept of automation, we would like to understand how we can use automation to automate things in our E Commerce project. Note that without automation, we would need to trigger these manually and manual actions are prone to missed conditions leading to difficult consequences.
Order fulfillment
Let us say, we receive an order from customer. Imagine the scenarios that can happen.
- High value orders may trigger a mail for priority.
- A mail is sent to a customer confirming the receipt of the order.
- A supply requisition may automatically is created for vendor.
- Various mails to customers regarding the status changes of the order
- Once order shipping is complete, sending customer survey to check for reviews or customer satisfaction levels.
Inventory Updates
Once a customer places an order, the order affects the inventory level with you or your vendor. An automated process can
- Update inventory levels.
- Send email for inventory shortage.
- Create requisition orders for stocking the inventory.
- Warn of low inventory.
Customer Service
With automation, tasks related to customer service can be automated. Once an order process gets triggered, the customer service may be involved in every stage of the fulfilment process.
- A customer rep is notified of the abandoned cart. They can send an email to entice the customer to make the purchase from the cart using offers.
- In case of any order delay, customer service department gets notification to let customer know that there will be delays in fulfilment.
- Customer service may send marketing communications based on the customer preferences.
- Welcome mails upon sign are sent using automation.
- If an internal process needs to be triggered, for example order related to a sensitive item, a different team can be notified to approve the order items first.
Customer lifecycle related automation
There are events related to customer’s journey from just one who browses your website to one who places an order and gets the shipment.
- Welcome mail upon sign-up.
- Nudge to buy upon browsing for example by showing a discount on the top.
- Automated nudge to complete profile including social media profile.
- Thanking email / SMS/ any other notification upon order placement
- Regular marketing emails (if permitted by the customer) regarding upselling, cross selling or repeat purchase.
- Real time update of last purchases just before check-out to increase cart value (for e.g., letting them know if they are forgetting something).
- Customer satisfaction surveys
Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki: