Dealing With Your Most Important Tasks
Automation takes many forms. We tend to think of it as technological advancement—as a robot swooping in to fill our orders. We think of it as the information that instantly populates the contact fields on a checkout page. But automation can be as rudimentary as running an apple sale at an orchard, supplying customers with a bucket, and saying, “Help yourself and pay on the way out.” It’s about focusing on your business’s most essential tasks and transactions—namely bringing in customers and collecting money—while finding ways for the other steps to take care of themselves.
Customers are surprisingly eager to help you facilitate the automation process. They recognize that, in many cases, they are saving time and energy as well. As an example, grocery stores in the early 2000s were trepidatious to introduce self-checkout. What could be more depersonalized than asking customers to ring up their own items? However, the world quickly realized this was a welcome advancement, and once it took hold, everyone benefited.
So whether it’s something as technical as a phone tree voicemail system with outgoing messages directing callers to the correct department for their needs, or a simple FAQ page on your website that answers questions and saves customers from calling in the first place, automation efforts will always streamline work and keep your most essential goals at the forefront.
Speeding the Process
The math is simple, the faster you can perform each step in a business transaction, the more transactions you can perform, and the more money you can make. Now, eCommerce technology has made transactions incredibly simple and straightforward. Companies invite revenue via the click of a button.
However, beyond a robust website, many businesses haven’t looked at the full range of automation options that new technology provides. Business automation experts can help you consider new software and operational protocols that other intelligent businesses are adapting both within and outside of your industry. There may be excellent automation developments you’re simply not aware of.
CRM technology leads the way as a game-changer in how you manage each customer who interacts with your business in any way. By capturing their data, you’re able to retain details about how they are, what they purchase, how much they typically spend, how often they shop with you, how much time they spend on your website, and what marketing methods they respond to. With this information in hand, you create a completely tailored experience that targets each individual specifically. They automatically receive the experience they expect and prefer, one that adheres to their previous habits and buying patterns, and this helps to secure them as a customer for life.
Optimizing Your Marketing Efforts
Finally, finding new ways to automate marketing efforts will drastically accelerate sales. Tech algorithms help companies find the right balancing act between providing enough contact to stay at the forefront of their customers’ minds without causing them to feel inundated.
For instance, the right promotional emails at regular intervals can help work wonders. Tracking technology allows you to identify which customers on your mailing list opened your email, which of them clicked through to your website, and which of them actually made a purchase. This helps you to compile a targeted list of your top buyers—the 20 percent of your customer base who are likely responsible for 80 percent of your profits. You will then know how to prioritize your outreach efforts and who to market to in the most strategic and customized way.
Of course, Social Media continues to be an ideal avenue for automated marketing because of how it combines advertising with your customers’ news, social, and entertainment interests. Certain businesses might consider the advantage of influencer marketing as a method of automatic exposure. When creators with significant followers and an established presence can represent your products or services in a way that is folded into people’s browsing habits, the sales outcomes consistently exceed sales generated via traditional advertising.
