What is marketing automation?

Like many e-commerce companies today, you are probably already using some form of marketing automation to communicate with your customers. You may have an email marketing platform, a pop-up platform, and other tools that allow you to automatically create, schedule, and send messages.

Marketing automation is when an online store targets customers with automated messages via email, the internet, social media, and text. It is often done using a marketing automation platform or tool.

There are two types of marketing automation:

• Single-channel automation - here you automate a marketing message within one marketing channel, for example, sending an email for abandoned cart recovery.
• Multi/Omnichannel automation - here you automate across multiple channels simultaneously, for example, sending an email for abandoned cart recovery plus a notification.

Your customers may learn about your business through these channels... but do your channels know each other? Are they connected? Do they communicate with each other about their interactions with your customers?

Multichannel vs. Omnichannel: What do your customers hear?

There is a significant difference between multichannel and omnichannel marketing. Here is a quick example to explain this concept.

Imagine attending a concert by an orchestra that is about to begin. You see a wide variety of instruments—violins, clarinets, trumpets, drums, and more—each with a different sound and tone. They are tuning up and getting ready to play...

Suddenly, you hear a great, chaotic noise. The concert has begun! All the instruments are playing... but each is playing a different melody.

At the same time...

It’s a big mess of sound. The players clearly aren’t listening to each other, and what comes out is just noise.

What would the audience do? Probably run for the exit...

Now imagine the same orchestra getting ready to play. The violins begin the piece with their sweet, smooth tones. Then the bright notes of the clarinets come in... followed by the bold trumpets... and then the thundering drums. The instruments work together, tuning into each other, dancing together. Everyone is beautifully synchronized.

They are all playing the same song.

It feels as if the orchestra is playing just for you, as if you are the only one in the room. It is a personal, beautifully crafted experience that makes you want more...

Now you may wonder, what does this have to do with marketing automation? It’s about multichannel marketing versus omnichannel marketing.

Multichannel marketing resembles the first orchestra (you know, the one that made you want to run away). In this method, marketers use many different channels (instruments) to send messages to customers—email, pop-ups, social media ads—but each channel is isolated from the others.

Many marketing automation platforms specialize in just one tool: only social media or only email. The problem is that when you use different platforms for your marketing needs, they cannot communicate with each other about your customers.

Your pop-up platform might think that someone is a first-time website visitor and ask them if they want a 10% discount on their first purchase, while the email marketing platform knows they are actually a returning customer. Because these platforms operate in isolation, they cannot see the bigger picture.

In a multichannel approach, each channel plays its own ‘melody.’ The result is inconsistency, missed opportunities, poor user experience, and lost sales.

The second orchestra—the one where all the instruments worked together to create a beautiful piece of music for the audience—resembles the omnichannel marketing approach. Here, all channels are available to the customer and are interconnected.

This is where the customer interacts not only with channels within a brand but also with the brand itself as a whole. The omnichannel "orchestra" knows what each customer likes. Interactions are highly personalized and relevant based on customer behavior, making them feel recognized and valued. Consistent omnichannel messaging ensures they want to engage with your business time and time again.
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Use a Marketing Automation Platform

The goal is to play a sweet omnichannel melody for your customers, where all your marketing channels work together to deliver one unified personalized experience.

One way to do this is by using an all-in-one marketing automation platform, like Klaviyo, where all your business and customer information is in one place. These platforms help you consolidate all your customer data in one location. They track all website activity, can distinguish between new visitors and returning customers, so you know what personalized message to send to each customer.
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Marketing Automation in Omnichannel

So, does your e-commerce store play beautifully orchestrated music for your customers... or just a bunch of noise?

An all-in-one marketing automation platform for e-commerce companies records all data about the visitors and customers on your website:

• Viewed products
• Visited pages
• Frequency of visits
• Frequency of purchases
• Items added to the cart
• Number of opened emails

You can use all that great data to create marketing journeys based on your customers' actions and behaviors.
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Use Marketing Automation Across Multiple Channels

Automation can be used across many different channels:

• Email
• Pop-ups
• Push notifications
• Social media ads
• And more

First, configure your automation in the best possible way for your store. Then select the triggers and conditions you want to use and activate them!

Automation isn’t just about great content; timing is key. Using a marketing automation platform, you can choose the exact moment to send your messages. Automatically send a message to a customer who is abandoning their cart or to a visitor who repeatedly views a particular webpage... all while you focus on product development, talking to investors, or enjoying a cup of your favorite coffee.

Let's take a closer look at the channels available to you:

Email - Ensure Your Customers Return

Email marketing is the most powerful channel to automate. You can set up compelling email automation based on the actions and interests of your customers. Most platforms offer hundreds of beautiful email templates to achieve a look and feel that perfectly matches your business. Add personalized fields to ensure your customers feel valued and include dynamic content that speaks directly to them.

These are the standard email flows that you should be able to set up with any email tool:

1. Send an automated welcome email series to new subscribers.
2. Use automation for abandoned carts for customers who were about to make a purchase...
3. Ask for feedback when a customer makes a purchase.
4. Retarget your customers with complementary products.
5. Send shipping and delivery notifications.
6. Send birthday congratulations to your customers.

Here’s an example of an email automation you could create:

Pop-ups - Convert Visitors to Loyal Customers
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Don’t let your visitors be part of the 98% who leave a website without making a purchase. Create personalized pop-ups that convince them to stay and ensure they become satisfied customers.

Knowing who you are talking to makes all the difference. There are powerful features that allow you to connect your pop-up automation with your email marketing flows, elevating your pop-ups to a whole new level.

Display customized pop-ups that differentiate between visitors and returning customers. Tailor specific on-site messages to welcome new customers and greet returning customers, rolling out the red carpet for your VIPs.

You can choose who sees the pop-up, the location where it appears on your website, what actions trigger it, how the design looks, and the timing of the display. Choose between "Leads Popups"—which aim to convert website visitors into subscribers—and "Clicks Popups"—when you want to upsell, cross-sell, or notify contacts about specific information.

You can also use contact profiles and event information to create pop-ups that add a personal touch, such as using their first name or offering a special deal during their birthday month.

With so many pop-up options, it’s easy to communicate with the right person at the right time with the right message for better customer relationships and increased revenue for your business.

Source: Flashy

Push Notifications

Push notifications are another engaging tool in your marketing channel orchestra. For businesses that have their own apps, there’s the option to use push notifications with eye-catching messages that capture your customers' attention.

Here’s a good example:

Source: webengage

Marketing Automation Strategies for eCommerce - The Omnichannel Customer Journey

So, how do all these channels work together in that special omnichannel way?

Here’s an example of automating a customer journey:

1. A visitor comes to your website for the first time.
2. When they scroll 1/4 down your homepage, you display a pop-up offering a 10% discount on their first purchase if they leave their email address. They fill in their email address.
3. The visitor receives a welcome email with the 10% discount code.
4. A few days later, the visitor returns to your website. They add some items to their cart and then leave it.
5. An abandoned cart automation is triggered, and the visitor receives an email reminder about the items in their cart.
6. The visitor completes their purchase and is now officially a customer!
7. 30 days later, you ask for feedback and a review.
8. You share their User Generated Content (UGC) review on Instagram and tag them.
9. You send them an email with a discount and thank them for the review.
10. A few months later, you send them an email to congratulate them on their birthday.

Once you have set up all these automations, everything runs automatically for you, allowing you to focus on growing your business and expanding into other marketing channels.