How to successfully utilize automation in your online business

Are your number of orders increasing and you have to invest more and more time and resources to make sure all your product information is up to date? Writing invoices is taking up more and more of your time? And the mountain of packages to be shipped is getting bigger and bigger?

If you don’t bring order and structure into your processes now, the chaos will only get bigger. But you don’t have the time to do everything manually? Then automation is exactly what you need, as Jana Klingelhöfer, Content Manager at Billbee, explains.

Advantages of automation

Processes and workflows can be automated with the help of perfectly coordinated automation. But why should you rely on automation in your e-commerce business?

• Increase customer satisfaction: Satisfied customers are also returning customers, and in addition, regular customers no longer need to be convinced of your products. If you now optimize their shopping experience with clever automation and set yourself apart from the competition, you can tip the scales in favor of a repeat purchase.
• Reduce error rate: In the working world (and also in private life), human errors are generally unavoidable – and especially so in stressful times in e-commerce. Preparation and organization are the be-all and end-all. And with well planned automation that take over quality control, you can offer your customers a consistent quality of service.
• Time savings: Automations relieve you of steps that you would otherwise have to perform manually. Especially recurring and time-consuming processes are predestined for automation. You can then invest the time you save in the things that will bring you forward in the long term and help you to succeed.

Two simple tips on how to implement automation

To ensure that your automation runs smoothly, all your data must converge in just one system. By connecting additional tools, you can get the most out of your automation. Which automation makes your everyday life as an online merchant easier? In the following, we have summarized two “classics” for you:

Inventory reconciliation

Overselling products – a nightmare for all online retailers. You are successful in multichannel and sell on several marketplaces and in your online store. And now, on top of that, a customer buys a product from your online store that is still in your warehouse exactly once, and a short time later another customer buys the same item from a marketplace. And you are already faced with a dilemma that significantly damages the satisfaction of your customers.

With an automatic inventory reconciliation, you can prevent such a situation. You can effectively avoid overselling and by synchronizing your inventory across platforms, the figures are always up-to-date on all your platforms.

Automate customer communication

Placing an order involves a multitude of emails between you and your customers. They range from order confirmations to shipping confirmations including tracking information, payment reminders, and feedback emails. All of these emails are part of customer communications that contain individualized data (such as the order number and/or invoice numbers). Now, if you were to type each of these emails individually, it would be a very time-consuming task.

However, by using a few email templates for the various notifications your customers receive during their order process plus a tool that automatically populates the emails with the appropriate information, you’ll never have to manually type order or shipping confirmations again. This is saving you a tremendous amount of time that you can use for the important things in life.

Automate the creation and sending of invoices

Automation that you (almost) can’t imagine leaving out: It is one of the classics among automation in e-commerce and is also often the entry point into automation for many online merchants. It seems quite inconspicuous but has a great effect. We are talking about the automated creation and sending of invoices.

You may remember the early days of your business. The first few orders could still be handled simply by hand. But as your order numbers increase, so does the number of invoices you have to write. And who wants to spend all day writing invoices? Because you can let a tool take over this task with just a few settings.

The right tool for automation

Choosing the right tool is essential. You should pay special attention to the other tools you already use. Can you connect your shop system and your marketplaces to the order processing tool? And can you integrate your shipper into the tool?

At Billbee you can choose from more than 100 interfaces, e.g. from the areas of

• Marketplaces: Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Idealo, Otto Market and many more.
• Shop systems: Shopify, Shopware, WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, Gambio, Jimdo and many more.
• Payment: PayPal, Amazon, Klarna, Bank and many more
• Accounting: GetMyInvoice and many more
• Shipping: DHL, Deutsche Post, GLS, DPD and many more.
• Fulfillment: Pakdo, byrd, YouSellWeSend, Lufapark and many more

and others.

As a result, all your data converges in a single tool, so you get the best possible automation for your workflows and simple synchronization. As a cloud-based software solution, Billbee is ready to use and can be easily set up by yourself. Test Billbee now with a 30-day, free, and non-binding trial period with full functionality!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jana is a content manager at Billbee. When she’s not shooting a new How To video for Billbee’s YouTube channel, she takes care of the editorial liberties of the Billbee blog and website.