Ecommerce marketing automation: The ultimate guide to use it in your business

No matter how good a product you have as well as how well you build a website, without having effective marketing campaigns, your business will not be able to grow and leave an impression in customers’ minds. To implement excellent marketing strategies, one of the best methods you should consider is using Ecommerce marketing automation. If you don’t have much knowledge of this term, you’ve been to the right place. In this blog, Arrowtheme will give you the ultimate and comprehensive guide to use it in your business effectively. Now, let’s take a look at the article below. 

What is marketing automation?

To put it simply, marketing automation is a type of software that was created with the goal of increasing the efficiency of a company by automating marketing processes and workflows. Besides, its function is to automate processes such as email nurturing, remarketing ads, lead management and so much more. As a result, it assists you to concentrate on other aspects of your business. 

When it comes to ecommerce marketing automation, email sequences are the most common example you can catch up with. Following that, whenever having particular events or milestones, marketers construct the messages to send customers. And then, taking advantage of an automation platform to make sure those events trigger the messages being sent. Instead of manually composing and sending each message, now, they can gain a lot of benefits. Especially, higher engagement with the help of ecommerce marketing automation.

What are the main advantages of Ecommerce marketing automation?

#1. Save a lot of money

The greatest benefits of marketing automation is that it helps you solve most of the time-consuming tasks such as filling out information, creating reports, or creating workflows in the shortest time. Hence, you can avoid sitting all day to implement tedious jobs in order to have time to come up with other effective campaigns thanks to using the appropriate solution. 

#2. Minimize human error

As you probably know, when we do difficult and time-consuming tasks that can cause a lot of minor errors. Thus, using Ecommerce marketing automation will be the perfect solution to help you minimize unnecessary errors. Moreover, automating them can assist ensure that your marketing initiatives go off without a hitch. 

#3. Increases engagement

Best of all, marketing automation allows you to engage a large number of clients with less effort. Because you can send a tailored message to hundreds or even thousands of people with a single email. 

#4. Make it simple to improve

We can’t help but mention a powerful advantage of marketing automation is how simple it is to amend and improve your efforts. What’s more, you can develop campaigns with more emails and send them out at a higher frequency without being slowed down by manual processes. Therefore, this greater deployment will provide you with more opportunities to identify areas for improvement.

How does marketing automation software work?

In fact, most marketing automation tools function by automating processes based on triggers and actions that you define, despite the differences of specifics by solution. In email marketing, for example, the marketing automation software will allow you to generate email streams, it means you can send messages to a bunch of different email addresses at the same time instead of having to send them one by one as before. 

Moreover, a trigger for each stream is often an action taken by a lead. Then, you can refer to the following examples of common triggers:

• I’ve signed up for your newsletter.
• Adding something to their wishlist or shopping cart
• Bringing a purchase to a successful conclusion
• Being inactive for a period of time

In particular, streams can also be adjusted or triggered based on the profile of each user. 

How to use marketing automation for ecommerce? 

#1. Welcome new leads and let them familiarize with your brand

First impressions are extremely important to help you attract the customers’ attention. Therefore, to begin, a welcome series is without a doubt the one automated campaign that almost every firm should invest in. If you do this successfully, your recipient will be much more inclined to open your subsequent emails and vice versa. 

Now, let’s explore a prime example about a welcome email from Skillshare. For more details, Skillshare provides a “welcome gift” of two months of free unlimited access to its learning platform when you initially sign up. Besides, in order to encourage consumers to join their various classes, they create the welcome email that comes with popular class recommendations. Following that, Skillshare sends a series of emails with further course recommendations and reminders to take advantage of the free two-month offer. Overall, this is considered as one of the most ideal ways for you to learn from. Hence, let’s start by keeping track of clients’ journey when they first see your business. And, then create a welcome series to keep them engaged. 

#2. Reduce abandoned ecommerce carts to recover your sales

If you do not know how to limit the abandonment rate for your store, you will not maximize your profits. In particular, more and more users tend to use compact devices such as mobile phones to shop. Thus, you must also pay attention to optimizing the mobile version of your website to ensure that your customers can buy your items anywhere and on any device. In addition, according to research, the current shopping cart abandonment rates by devices respectively: Desktop computers is 73.1%, Tablets is 80.7% and with Mobile devices is 85.6%. Best of all, you are able to solve this issue effectively by sending an automatic abandoned cart email. Now, you can refer to the outstanding business who successfully take advantage of automated email. This is a famous accessory store named LITVA’S Jewelry.

As you can see, its ecommerce marketing automation email is straightforward and to the point, with a subject line that follows suit. If there is a real desire to buy, customers who have legitimately forgotten about products they intended to purchase will quickly click on it to complete the transaction. Hence, boosting sales becomes easier than ever. 

#3. Arousing interest in inactive customers

No matter how good your service or product is and your product quality makes customers happy, there is no guarantee that they will buy again and again. In many cases, they may sign up for your service, but they never truly pay attention to it, so that the cancellation can happen easily. So, this is the perfect time for you to implement a well-executed automated re-engagement campaign. Although the success rate is not high, there may still be an opportunity for you to reconnect with clients who would otherwise never contribute another penny to your bottom line. 

Then, you can consider a fashion retailer RK Collections Boutique as a great example. Dig down further into the method of this store, they will send customers a “win-back” email that includes a $5 voucher and relevant product recommendations if those haven’t made a purchase in the last month or so. 

#4. Gather feedback

According to a lot of research, the customers’ feedback such as: ratings and reviews have a big impact on driving conversion rates for ecommerce stores. Thanks to ecommerce marketing automation, collecting clients’ feedback will be a breeze. Best of all, most ecommerce marketing automation software providers allow you to automate the feedback gathering process. As a result, your customers are immediately prompted to leave a review after making a purchase. 

Alternatively, in case you want to better understand how to collect feedback, follow a survey from a famous retailer named Nordstrom. Aside from automatically encouraging customers to leave a review on their most recent purchase, Nordstrom sweetens the pot by offering them the chance to win a $1,000 gift card if they do so.

>>> Maybe you also interested: Top 10 best Shopify apps to get high quality feedback for your business

Way to choose the suitable marketing automation software 

Step 1. Determine your requirements

First and foremost, you have to determine exactly your marketing automation requirements through the areas listed below:

• Marketing channels

In order to boost sales effectively, the most crucial thing is that you must identify the main marketing channels on which you will promote your company. Hence, you should select a perfect solution to work well with your current sales and marketing channels. 

• Metrics/Analytics

Another thing you should focus on is your marketing KPIs and make sure the Ecommerce marketing automation software you select can track and report on them. 

• Integrations 

What’s more, you need to make a list of all of the sales and marketing platforms you currently use. From that, the software you choose should interact fluently with the systems and solutions you are utilizing. 

Step 2. Research each software 

As soon as you determine your requirements, let’s start researching each software to make a right decision. Then, you should take advantage of the following resources in addition to Googling marketing automation software.

• Your Network

The most effective method is to refer to marketing automation software from other merchants who run similar businesses. You should find out: Why did they select a specific service provider? What benefits did they get?, etc. 

• Your current tech stack

As previously said, your program you choose must work well with the platforms you already use to ensure the best outcomes. Therefore, all you need to do is take a look at your marketing and sales solutions and see if they can be integrated with other marketing automation tools. 

• Software review websites

 In the online space, there are a huge number of websites that assist customers to review and compare softwares about both its strengths and weaknesses. Hence, let’s access these websites and read the reviews on these sites to learn more about the products you’re considering. 

Step 3. Trial the software

After gathering the software to consider, the next step is to try them out to choose the most suitable one. Let’s try out a free trial of the program to see how it works for yourself. Also, don’t forget to generate a feature and requirement checklist and ensure that the solution fits the most of your requirements. Don’t rush, you should take your time and be thorough with each step. Because ecommerce marketing automation may be a worthwhile long-term investment. Hence, make sure you’ve covered all your needs. 

How much does this software cost?

Ecommerce marketing automation softwares will have different costs. Generally, it depends on the quantity of leads in your database, the campaigns you need to execute and so on. For example, with those running a small business, MailChimp or Aweber with cheap cost for as little as $10 to $20 per month will be the ideal choice if they require automated email campaigns. However, when these firms grow and depend on their needs, that amount might rise dramatically, up to hundreds of dollars every month. What’s more, you will also need more powerful solutions that go beyond email marketing if you’re delving into more advanced forms of marketing automation. Then, you can have a glance at such solutions like: HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot.

>>> Read more: How to promote your online store: Powerful marketing strategies for ecommerce to succeed in 2021

Review Top 10 awesome Ecommerce marketing automation softwares you need to know

1. Klaviyo

The first ecommerce marketing automation software we highly appreciate for your business is Klaviyo. In reality, it is a wonderful email-specific marketing automation tool that allows you to categorize and analyze data using email lists. Despite the fact that this software lacks some automation functions, when integrating with eCommerce systems and marketing tools will make up for it. Some of worth-using ones are: Unbounce, SumoMe, etc.

With the help of Klaviyo, you can easily set up automatic campaigns like replenishment, cross-sell, cart abandonment, etc. Because this software was created as a powerful ecommerce automated email tool. Besides, custom templates are simple to create, and importing your lists is quite easy thanks to their extensive integration possibilities. Best of all, the tracking pixel/snippet allows you to segment users based on content viewed rather than things purchased. Not only that, it also comes with amazing SMS marketing services for you to quickly attract more potential customers. 

Klaviyo’s integrations

When it comes to the ecommerce space, Klaviyo will work well with many popular ecommerce platforms such as: Magento, Woocommerce, Shopify, BigCommerce, Spree and so much more. Besides, JavaScript code snippets can also be used to create custom eCommerce platform integrations. 

Furthermore, Klaviyo not only interacts with various eCommerce systems, but it also integrates with a variety of other tools. From that, you will have a huge number of alternatives when building together a complete eCommerce marketing automation system. 

Pricing 

In terms of pricing, Klaviyo bases on the quantity of contacts you keep in the system to set price. Customers, as well as subscribers and lists from other systems such as MailChimp, Unbounce, JustUno, etc are among the contacts. In particular, Klaviyo is free for up to 250 contacts and 500 email sends. However, with a bigger email list, it will charge you extremely reasonably priced. Specifically, starting at $20 a month for up to 500 contacts, $30 for up to 1,000 contacts, $45 for up to 1,500 contacts, and so on. 

2. Hubspot

In case you are seeking a strong ecommerce marketing automation for small and medium companies, let’s take a look at HubSport. It’s gaining high ground in terms of market share  in the field of eCommerce that specialize in content marketing and inbound marketing. There is no doubt that Hubspot is the most comprehensive ecommerce marketing automation system with various exceptional capabilities. 

In ecommerce field, Hubspot is truly a one-stop shop with a bunch of great features. Some of the worth-mentioning ones are: building and publishing landing pages and forms, publishing a blog, managing social media, running an automated email marketing campaign, etc. 

Integrations of Hubspot

While there are only a handful pre-built eCommerce platform connectors in Hubspot, all of them are really excellent. Specifically, they are: Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce. Besides, each integration was created by a third party and is available for a monthly subscription from $50 to $100. Moreover, if you want to construct bespoke integrations for other eCommerce platforms, you can take advantage of the Hubspot API. 

Pricing

Overall, what HubSpot brings is worth the money you spend, except for the basic package because it offers almost no outstanding features. Hence, you should use at least the Professional plan with $800 per month or more for achieving the desired outcomes.

3. Kevy 

We can’t help but mention Kevy when it comes to the topic of worth-using ecommerce marketing automation softwares. Although just launched as a software in this field, Kevy has proven itself not inferior to any giants with a remarkable growth rate. Kevy was created with the goal of making it easier for eCommerce business owners and managers to find the apps they need to run their businesses.  

First and foremost, Kevy includes everything you need to have a great reputation in the global market with the position of a marketing automation platform designed specifically for eCommerce. Following that, it supplies a lot of flawless capabilities such as: advanced segmentation, cart recovery campaigns, reporting and so on. Furthermore, the ability to create single-use coupons is a fantastic extra that allows this software to go even farther with personalisation. Best of all, Kevy also provides the powerful and convenient pop-up capabilities with the option to personalize.

Kevy’s Integrations

Wonderfully, Kevy can work well with or integrate with any eCommerce platform because of a Javascript-based application. However, you should only trust reputable and popular ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, etc for faster and simpler integration. 

Pricing 

As you can see, the price for each package that Kevy offers is quite affordable for any business. For more details, Kevy pricing is determined by the number of contacts in your email list. Then, you can send an unlimited number of emails to the system’s contacts. 

4. Drip

If your business is running in the online retail industry, Drip is one of the best ecommerce marketing automation tools you should know to integrate into your store. First of all, Drip can connect perfectly with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento as well as a huge number of payment processors. Besides, it enables you to create complicated automations based on what products customers have purchased thanks to its visual email workflow builder. Drip is without a doubt one of the most powerful email automation solutions that solely focused on B2C eCommerce. 

Additionally, among its feature list, Shareable Workflows is one of the more interesting ones that makes Drip stand out from the rest. Following that, this allows users of Drip to exchange and import pre-built automations with ease. If you have a Shopify store, for example, you can install a pre-built post-purchase email sequence without having to start from scratch.

Plus, purchase intent scoring is also one of the most awesome and important features of Drip. With the help of this feature, you can effortlessly see each subscriber’s “score” depending on their marketing engagement. For instance, opening an email = +1 point, visiting a product page = +3 points, not opening an email for a week = -1 point. 

Drip’s integrations

• Facebook Lead Ads
• Facebook Custom Audiences
• Sumo
• Leadpages
• Instapage
• Unbounce
• Fomo

Pricing

The Drip pricing will depend on the number of subscribers you have. Drip’s price is comparable to other marketing automation solutions, with a free 14-day trial and a basic plan of $19 per month for 500 contacts or less. 

5. Omnisend

Coming to the next ecommerce marketing automation tool you can use in your business – Omnisend. This tool was created with the purpose of helping businesses increase sales by personalizing communications and connecting with customers across multiple channels. Not only that, it also aids eCommerce marketers in obtaining the functionality they require to significantly raise their sales without having to use a variety of apps. 

In terms of capabilities, Omnisend comes with a dozen of advanced features. For instance, the usual bells and whistles: a drag-and-drop newsletter builder, pop ups, and A/B testing. Moreover, the best feature of Omnisend must mention those related to segmentation and automation. Therefore, you can slice and dice your customers any way you like and automate email campaigns based on a large number of triggers. 

Besides, the reports Omnisend creates are also rather detailed and easy to comprehend. As a result, you will not only track opens and clicks, but also sales generated by your campaigns or workflows. Furthermore, this powerful tool also supports SMS messaging and the creation of Facebook Custom Audiences from your lists.

Integrations

Omnisend’s API allows for integration with all of the major eCommerce platforms, as well as custom platforms. What’s more, it also works with eCommerce apps like Privy, JustUno, Optimonk and so much more. 

Pricing

Similar to other ecommerce marketing automation tools, the cost of Omnisend is also determined by the number of subscribers on your mailing list. In particular, when utilizing a free plan, you can send 15,000 emails every month, with a daily restriction of 2,000 emails.

6. ActiveCampaign

If your company is one of the small to mid-sized businesses, ActiveCampaign is the excellent ecommerce marketing automation software for you. In reality, ActiveCampaign includes anything you expect to develop your business such as: CRM connectivity, email marketing software, and marketing automation all in one place. Besides, the presence of a selection of pre-built “automation recipes” intended specifically for eCommerce firms is one of its most remarkable features. Hence, they can handle a wide range of user behaviors such as cart abandonment, average order size or frequency, multiple visits to certain products, etc. 

Integrations

With the help of API, ActiveCampaign can be connected fluently with popular ecommerce platforms such as: Shopify, Magento, Stripe, and BigCommerce. On the other hand, with other platforms, if you want to pull eCommerce data, you will need to utilize Zapier or Revenue Conduit.

Pricing

The cost of each ActiveCampaign’s package is different, and it is determined by the amount of contacts you have. In which, the Lite tier has the most affordable costs, but it excludes the CRM and any of Shopify or BigCommerce deep data connections. Then, the Plus and Professional levels are reasonably priced with the amount of  to 25,000 contacts, you will have to contact ActiveCampaign directly to decide pricing. Especially, a dedicated account rep, in-depth onboarding, phone support, and free social data are all included in the Enterprise pricing level.

7. Bronto

The next ecommerce marketing automation software you can’t ignore for your business is Bronto. First and foremost, Bronto plays an important role to create engaging content to grab customers’ interest coming to your site. Email, personalization, automation, and analytics are all part of the platform. Best of all, thanks to the support of Oracle, Bronto’s core technology will become more powerful than ever. 

In terms of capabilities for eCommerce marketers, Bronto includes a lot of useful ones. Some of them are: the cart recovery solution, which works smoothly to deliver relevant, targeted messages that re-engage and eventually convert customers. Moreover, only need to install a few lines of Javascript on your site, cart activity every 30 seconds will be registered. Also, when a cart is abandoned, it will start a customized process with notifications that can include dynamically inserted order and cart information.

Integrations

Bronto can connect with several popular ecommerce platforms such as: Magento, BigCommerce, Shopify and so on. 

Pricing

Bronto does not provide accurate pricing information, you have to contact them to have a quote. And, the final fee is determined by the services ordered as well as the frequency with which you send emails.

MailChimp

MailChimp is an all too familiar name when it comes to great Ecommerce marketing automation tools in the global market. It can be said that this is the perfect choice for small and medium businesses. This software comes with everything you need to promote email marketing strategies including landing pages, display advertising features, and a simple WYSIWYG email builder. 

Additionally, when it comes to calculating the return on investment from your email marketing activities, good reporting is essential and MailChimp assists you a lot to do that. In addition to standard email reporting features like click maps and subscriber activity, MailChimp’s Analytics360 module pulls customer data from your web traffic tools. As a result, it will help you easily identify which campaigns resulted in sales and calculate your ROI. Not only that, it also allows you to look at overall industry trends and see how effective your efforts are in comparison to your competition.

Integrations

MailChimp has a wealth of integrations that make any ecommerce platform perfect with its help. Some of the outstanding must mention: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, OpenCart, XCart, etc.

Pricing

As the same as other Ecommerce marketing automation softwares above, MailChimp has the price determined by the size of your mailing list and the services you require. For more details, if you’re just starting to grow your list or trying out MailChimp for the first time, let’s take advantage of the free version before making a purchasing decision. Of course, it surely will have many limitations. 

Then, you will be able to fully utilize MailChimp’s best features and enhance your ROI once you upgrade to the Standard and Premium tiers. 

9. Drift

Drift is widely known as a B2B conversational marketing tool. However, it can also be useful for ecommerce businesses searching to engage clients while they browse their products. Besides, with the help of well-timed pop-up conversations, you can communicate with customers in real time. Also, it also assists you minimize cart abandonment by delivering promo coupons, and encourages customers in making purchasing decisions quickly. 

In addition, Drift is famous for conversational marketing. Plus, as you probably know, the ability to “talk” to customers online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, could be a game-changer in terms of client retention. Alternatively, conversation reports and the opportunity to see a live view of clients as they interact with your site’s chatbot are two other significant advantages. Thus, this provides you with a better understanding of the questions your clients are asking as they consider their options in order to deliver the most suitable solutions.

Integrations

Drift integrates with a variety of eCommerce platforms as well as tools such as: Marketo, Google Analytics, Salesforce, Pardot, Slack, etc to bring business the great foundation to improve. On the other hand, platforms such as BigCommerce and Shopify need to require Javascript or Zapier in order to interact with Drift. 

Pricing

Like the Bronto, Drift also doesn’t provide exact pricing information. If you want to know, you must contact them to get a quote.

10. Bluecore

The final ecommerce marketing automation software is also known as a retail marketing platform in this list named Bluecore. Firstly, Bluecore enables eCommerce marketers to develop and send targeted, triggered emails to their customers easily. In addition, Bluecore provides a bunch of standard email marketing tools any store owner needs to drive sales and increase revenue for their businesses. Not only that, Bluecore also enables users to create tailored marketing campaigns with multiple, cross-channel interactions. As a result, it will bring customers a lot of great opportunities to push toward purchase across many channels.

Integrations

Ecommerce platforms such as: Google Adwords, Shopify, Magento, Oracle Commerce Cloud and Salesforce can be integrated well with Bluecore. In addition, it also works well with many other tools. 

Pricing

Unluckily, Bluecore’s pricing isn’t available on the company’s website, so you have to contact them to be clearer. However, some clients said that its price is quite expensive. 

Are you ready to use these tools?

To sum up, ecommerce marketing automation can be seen as one of the most effective ways for you to create great online marketing campaigns and then, achieve unexpected results. So, this is the most ideal time for you to take advantage of these softwares to help your business have a leg up in the global market. All in all, Arrowtheme hopes you can gain as much useful knowledge as possible through this article. In addition, in case you have any question or still wonder not to know what tool is suitable for your business, don’t hesitate to CONTACT US to be advised.