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A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part III

Category: Ecommerce

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part III
Mohab Ecommerce 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part IIIImage credit: MaxPixel

Make the most of the latest and greatest in tech and save valuable business resources. From financials to marketing, all elements of your business can be streamlined and speeded up. 

In our last post in our automation series, learn more about time-saving tech.

Time-saving tech

Running a website and busy inbox can take its toll, so save time with the help of technology.

  1. Cloud computing is a massive leap forward when it comes to managing content and files. Don’t risk losing valuable data because of a messy folder structure; automate file management and version control with a cloud-based system. This is feasible for even the smallest startup, whereas larger firms have the option to upgrade to more bespoke enterprise cloud computing solutions.
  2. Automated backups of your website database and file and database cleanups aren’t difficult to implement. Use smart tools and plugins to help cut down on admin time when it comes to website management.
  3. Email filtering and auto-responders are more sophisticated than ever thanks to AI technology. You can create email ‘recipes’ and funnels that massively cut down on time spent filtering inboxes and dealing with inbound requests. You may even want to invest in helpdesk software to scale your operations.
  4. Inventory and supplier automation often have significant cost-saving and profitability benefits. Models like Amazon FBA and dropshipping aren’t for everyone, but they can help massively decrease your overheads as an e-commerce brand. Even if you got it alone, it’s recommended that you select an online store builder that works with other tools and services. For example, building a store through Shopify means having instant access in-built refunds and returns, whereas store owners on Drupal would have to separately code a lot of features — including basics like social sharing and blogging. Think about how the technology you choose helps — or limits — your choices.

Whether it’s customers, suppliers, or virtual assistants, it’s important that automation is an end-goal all departments share.  Automation should never be a dirty word in your business. As an online entrepreneur, you are in the perfect position to explore automation across your business — from marketing to finances.

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

7 years ago
A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II
Mohab Ecommerce, Guest Posts 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II

Image credit: Flickr

It doesn’t matter whether you sell services, products, or even just share content with your online audience: any online business is ripe for automation — including yours.

Set out an automation framework to help you scale and manage your automation operations — find out how to do so in part II of our automation series. 

Create an appropriate framework

The main challenge with automation is having the right framework to support your new processes. This means having an all-informed business with robust documentation. Without it, your automation drive will be lost.

You need to embrace:

  • Bots
  • Smart integrated systems
  • Cross-platform and cross-device formats
  • Workflows, processes and tasks — not individual ability
  • Zapier
  • Inventory management automation

Part of successful automation is process management. You can always automate a process.

This is really the crux of the matter when it comes to automation. Do you fancy staying up all night, packing the latest orders of your store? Or manually having to schedule every single blog promo piece for the next 6 months?

I’m guessing the answer is no…

So create a process, automate it, and move on to the more important stuff instead.

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part II

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

7 years ago
A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part III
Mohab Ecommerce 0

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I

Image credit: Flickr

Do you NEVER seem to have enough time to deal with the important stuff in your business? Struggling to keep up with the demands of becoming a brand publisher?

Wouldn’t it be great to have more time to focus on the strategic elements of your business…?

Well, automation can help you achieve that.

Here are some online automation hacks to help inspire your business strategy reboot — read part I in our blog series now.

Fintech innovations

Let’s start with the financials: after all, every business in the world needs money to keep the wheels turning.

From managing supplier payments to keeping up with the demands of bookkeeping — financial tasks and admin can massively eat into your profit margins.

The trouble with financial tasks is that if they are not done correctly, it could spell disaster.

  1. Financial technology has seen some exciting developments these recent years — from blockchain to cloud accounting, there are so many ways to improve and simplify your financial operations.
  2. Even simple choices like what payment gateway you go for will determine your business’s financial ecosystem. Opt for a system that’s smart and integrates with other services and platforms so that you don’t have to rely on expensive workarounds.
  3. Accounting is a big business overhead, especially when it comes to expenses and taxes. Invest in a smart system that allows you to automatically sync paper receipts into your online finance system.

Martech leads the way

Marketing technology is another ally of automation. Nowadays, there are enough tools and platforms to automate pretty much any marketing task under the sun.

Martech scales up and down, and can be leveraged by organizations large and small. From simple things like automated proofreading to automating your content strategy with HubSpot, there are tools out there that can help you create, launch, and share better content.

Key areas where you need to embrace automation:

  1. Remarketing is a great way to target interested parties — whether that’s website visitors who haven’t converted, or people who’ve engaged with your content. The beauty of remarketing automation is that once you put in the work to create a funnel and populate it with ads, you can just click ‘play’ and let the system do the rest!
  2. Email is a big marketing channel, whether you are in B2C or B2B. Create funnels using services like Pardot (a Salesforce tool) and run your lead generation campaigns more cost-efficiently.A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I
  3. Social media can be a massive time sinkhole, so be more efficient about it and embrace automated content creation, mass scheduling, and social listening to help you do more. Social media tools aren’t just about saving time — they will actually bring you better results by optimizing posting times, lengths, and formats.

A Guide On How You Can Bring Automation To Your Online Business Part I

About the author

Victoria Greene is a branding consultant and freelance writer. Big fan of automation when it comes to content marketing. Helping ecommerce brands and startups scale faster and better.

7 years ago
How to Quickly Create an Online Store and Integrate a Payment Gateway
Mohab Ecommerce 0

How to Quickly Create an Online Store and Integrate a Payment Gateway

Your ambitious entrepreneurial journey starts with launching an eStore. Before you do that, you need to contemplate which e-commerce platform to choose.  As far as integration of a payment gateway is concerned, you have many choices. We’ll discuss these aspects of setting up and launching an eStore in this article.

While choosing an eCommerce platform, you have the following three options available:

A. Open source software

B. Dedicated platform

C. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Each one of these platforms has different features and you can choose the one that matches your needs.

A. Open source software

The most cost-effective solution for you is to go for open source software, where you don’t need to pay for any license or subscription fee. However, it requires you to have the knowledge of software development in order to install and manage the platform.

If you are not trained in IT skills, you will have to hire someone for all of your updates and changes required to be made on the website.  But, this can be a costly affair as you would have to pay certain charges for hosting, server and certificates.

The other drawbacks with open source platforms include security concerns involved and lack of customer support.

The popular open-source platforms include Shopify, WooCommerce, OpenCart and Magento. These platforms have different features in terms of user-friendliness, price, security, and integration.

B. Dedicated platform

Another option which is probably not so ideal for startups and small store owners is a dedicated platform. Usually an IT company will provide you a dedicated platform according to your specific requirements and offer tailored solutions for those who are aware of the different functions and features that they would like to have on their website.

It is both expensive and time-consuming and not ideal for startups and businesses on a shoe-string budget. If you have a highly unconventional system of sales and storage, then it’s for you. It’s an ideal solution for big corporations that are keen to offer the best user experience.

C. Software as a service (SaaS)

If you like a platform which you can manage anytime, then SaaS is the right option for you. SaaS has a lower initial setup cost. When you choose this option, you can pay according to the number of transactions.  You can also be charged according to the number of users.
As compared to an open source platform, SaaS offers you the desired freedom. It allows you to conveniently make changes as and when you want.
SaaS is also good for branding and building long term relationship with your customers.

Using an online marketplace to sell your products

If branding and customer service is not on your mind and all you need is to start selling online, then instead of using the platforms and creating your own eStore, use the established marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, or other regional players.

It is extremely convenient and you do not need to invest in marketing, technology and tools. However, there is high competition on these platforms and you need to pay some commission plus the listing fees.

Moreover, you will not be able to provide sufficient customer service, so it’s a bad option for branding.  However, if earning revenue on your online sales is your sole objective, this can be the best option.

Integrating a payment gateway

If you want to integrate a payment gateway into your online store, you can use the plug-ins such as Zen Cart, Magento, OpenCart, osCommerce, Prestashop and WordPress, etc.  When you integrate a payment gateway, it will automate the payment transaction between the merchant and the customers.
It will also enable the customers to use their credit cards and other modes of payment methods so that they have a variety of payment options. Integration should be easy and payment gateway should provide a robust customer support so that the issues are resolved within a specific time frame without affecting your business.

Choose PayTabs as your payment gateway as it comes with great customer support and standard technologies to quickly and conveniently integrate into your eStore.

7 years ago
Tips To Choose the Right Payment Integration Method for Your Ecommerce Site
Mohab Ecommerce 0

Tips To Choose the Right Payment Integration Method for Your Ecommerce Site

Advancement in technology is gradually making payment integration easier and simpler. However, as new entrants to the world of eCommerce, you may find it a little difficult to choose the right integration method for your eCommerce business. At present, there are three popular integration methods and in this article, we are going to discuss these options in order to help you choose the right option for your business.

  1. Hosted checkout pages

As a matter of fact, this option can be used by any type of merchant, whether small or big.

There are many reasons why small merchants should choose this as their checkout solution. First of all, there is no need to hire a software developer when you integrate it with your website. It also works well when your website is not PCI compliant.

Hosted checkout pages are also beneficial for medium to large-sized merchants, who have already designed and created their checkout pages. This is the quickest way to supplement your alternative payment method. Almost 60% of the shopping cart abandonment incidents take place because people are not able to use their preferred mode of payment. It is more prevalent in the countries where cards are not used frequently.

The benefit of hosted checkout pages for merchants:

It has the following benefits for the merchants:

  • PCI compliance is not complicated
  • No need to store card information
  • Ideal for quick global outreach
  • Supports all major credit cards and major currencies
  • Supports local payment options
  • Offers easy integration

  2. Payment API

If you are among the perfectionists who would like to exercise extreme control as far as design and user experience of checkout pages is concerned, a payment API is the right solution for you.

For card processing, payment API is the ideal solution whereas if you need both card processing and value added services such as coupons and catalogs, currencies and subscription billing, Payment Plus API should be tried.

It doesn’t require customers to leave the site in order to check out and makes checkout a simple process with minimum steps to complete.

The benefit of payment API for merchants:

It has the following benefits for the merchants:

  • The XML based API doesn’t require any specific programming language
  • A native mobile checkout flow can easily be developed
  • Easier PCI compliance through client-side encryption
  • Tokenization enables the sellers to save the card information of the shoppers so that the returning shoppers need not repeat the process all over again

Payment API makes the checkout safe and secure.

 3. Shopping Cart

If you are using any shopping cart such as Magenta or Prestashop, the “shopping cart” is the ideal integration method for you. It offers users almost the same benefits as they get in hosted pages. It is comparatively easier and simpler to setup and it doesn’t require you to make any payment.

Choosing a payment processor

Your selection of the integration method is very important to offer better user experience and it decides your future success in the eCommerce space.  But, there are other factors as well that are no less important. Make sure that the payment processor you choose meets all your business needs and completely fits into your business model.

Make sure your payment processor is able to upgrade their technology and services to match your needs when you grow.  Make sure they offer the functionalities you require at present and might require in future.

When you come to PayTabs, we sincerely listen to your needs and answer your queries.  We have imbibed a culture of striving to meet your business requirements. We are also determined to resolve the issues you face during your journey to become a successful eCommerce entrepreneur.

Get in touch with PayTabs today and talk to a consultant to discuss your business needs and how to achieve higher conversion.

7 years ago