Having a business may give the impression of being effortless; you only need to stock products, market, receive orders, ship, and be done with it. Contrary to belief, it is much more complicated than expected. Many businesses often overcome these complications by using workflow automation, a technology made to ease the process of data filing, transacting, and all other repetitive things an employee in a business might do.
What is workflow automation?
To put it briefly, as already mentioned a little above:
- Workflow automation eliminates inefficient processes by identifying the steps involved and then automating them.
- This technology involves using workflow automation software that is responsible for creating the automation and maintaining the preferred workflow automation system.
Now, you can find this type of technology in various types of businesses. However, the most common one is in an E-Commerce Business. This type of business has become one of the most sought-after businesses in all industries because of its ease of use. It would be a little ironic if the customers had an easy time operating this business while the actual employees/owners had the opposite experience, wouldn’t it? This is where businesses start integrating workflow automation tools to balance a happy customer and an efficient workflow.
In What Areas Can We Integrate Workflow Automation Into?
An e-commerce business involves many processes; between the moment a product is uploaded, and the moment it ships to the customers, there are tons of steps that an employee does repetitively, every day, for several hours. These steps can be divided into several areas: order processing, inventory management, customer service, marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), cart management, and analytics. Within these areas, there are a minimum of 5 steps each. Imagine doing these in all areas for hundreds of transactions or interactions.
Does Workflow Automation Affect Employees?
Some might think that this kind of technology negatively affects employees and, in a rather gullible manner, is perceived as “taking away their jobs.” However, based on many reviews and articles about Workflow Automation and Employees, the answer can only be one: yes, it affects employees in a very positive way. Think of it as simply as this: technology takes away a load of burden that you used to dwell on every day, and now, you can focus on other, more critical tasks.
The Impacts of Workflow Automation
An e-commerce business with an automated workflow can often handle a large volume of orders, transactions, and interactions, ultimately leading to two dreamy results: more sales and satisfied customers. How can that be?
Saving Time
Your inventory officer won’t need to manually count the number of stock and make an input into outdated inventory software, which usually takes an hour to several. Your sales associate won’t need to manually suggest products each time a customer adds a product to a cart, which also usually takes an hour to several. These saved hours, thanks to an automated workflow using a well-executed workflow automation system, can be used for important meetings, briefings, problem-solving sessions, brainstorming sessions, and many other things that can take the business to a higher level; some things you wouldn’t have without the help of a workflow automation software and workflow management software.
Happy Customers
Which customer wouldn’t be happy with such swift service on an e-commerce website? This significantly affects their experience and greatly contributes to your business’s CSAT score.
A quick service, as a result of using an automated workflow, is a sign that your business is putting concern and respect for customers’ time and convenience. This is guaranteed to leave a positive impression, which may lead to loyalty, which can further affect customer retention—a perfect trickling effect.
Building Workflow Automation
A workflow automation system can only be built using the correct workflow automation software and workflow automation tools. These, usually, are exclusively handled by specialists. However, in times of developed technology where ease of use is the main focus, everybody can look into this tech and do things with it, even those who have never considered looking into what IT means. It truly is that easy.
Explore the options for building workflow automation for your e-commerce business according to your needs:
1) Customer Service
This is the perfect strategy to achieve an ideal CSAT score: using customer service automated workflow. You won’t need to respond to your customers’ inquiries manually. Instead, you’ll be using a chatbot. You can easily build a chatbot in Kommo in simple steps. This chatbot is capable of handling customer engagements 24/7. So it’ll still work when you’re asleep, something an employee won’t be able to do. This workflow automation tool can be alert when human assistance is needed, so you don’t need to worry about mishandling.
If you know that your customers are active on WhatsApp, it is highly recommended that you use the chatbot whatsapp. Your business will be able to handle customer inquiries sent through WhatsApp using a human-like language style, making it comfortable for customers to communicate with your business.
How to build a chatbot in Kommo | Kommo Salesbot
2) Sales Automation Workflow
What if your sales team can relax while preparing for that crucial meeting? They could have an ideal sales automation workflow.
This workflow automation system can capture leads, automate phone calls, make email campaigns, manage sales pipelines (workflow management software), and many other things sales associates or sales specialists usually do. With tweaks here and there and personalization at its finest, your business will be ready to give automation a sweet run of its ability.
3) Inventory Management
Another way you can integrate automation is in inventory management. This workflow automation system manages your business’s inventory, avoiding human errors such as miscounting and data loss. Keep in mind that it is related to your sales automation workflow. This automated workflow can also offer accurate data for you and your team to further analyze and use to improve your business.
This workflow automation software can generate documents regarding stock. You won’t ever need to be worried about stock running out or missing anymore.
4) Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Suppose your employees don’t have time to work on customer segmentation, follow-up communications, and managing loyalty programs; then workflow automation on CRM is just what they need.
This type of automation is straightforward to tweak and personalize, so it’s ideal if you plan to have seasonal promotions and sale events in your business.
5) Analytics and Reporting
You’ve integrated all kinds of workflow automation tools and software; now what? This automated workflow software is ideal for e-commerce business owners as it can collect reports from various automation tools/software and put them into one software to create a final report (analyzing it for you). Employees juggle the workflow automation tools/software listed above while the owners sit and monitor from here. Isn’t that beautiful?
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