What are the Best Ways to Automate Your Online Business?
Any successful business owner knows that delegating tasks to others is key and allows you to focus on growing the business in other ways. Thanks to modern technology and a vast number of businesses existing online, there are plenty of automation tools out there that do a lot of the hard work behind the scenes. They can even take care of jobs that may have previously been assigned to staff members, therefore cutting costs. Here are some of the main things that online business owners should aim to automate.
Online Forms are Essential
No matter what industry you’re in, you’re going to need to use a variety of online forms to collect information. Think about it, how many times have you visited a website that sells a service where there hasn’t been a form to fill-in? Most businesses will try to collect names, email addresses, and phone numbers of visitors to the site so that they can target them later with email marketing. Forms come in handy in other locations as well. In social media advertising, potential leads are often asked to fill in a form after clicking a link. Online shops and restaurants rely on forms for users to place their orders as well.
These are easy to put in place using an online form builder, which has several different templates to choose from. Because they have already been designed by experts, these forms look professional and help to add credibility to any website. They can be shared on your own business page, or they could be used in your advertising campaigns. The great thing about forms is that they can gather an exceptional amount of data, without business owners having to actively do anything.
Set Up Event Triggers
When people click on your links or fill in your forms, how do you keep track of them and ensure that you don’t lose them somewhere along the line? There’s a handy tool that can be used for this, guiding potential customers along your sales funnel without you having to even be aware of it in the early stages. Zapier allows you to integrate all the web applications that you use, using triggers to set off the next event in the chain.
For example, when someone clicks on your Facebook ad, you can set up a Zap that sends them a personalized welcome note. You would also want a Zap to alert you that you have a new lead. These are only basic examples of what can be done, and there are far more advanced setups that expert users choose to go for. You could set up a Zap that puts a potential client into your calendar and arranges a Zoom meeting, alerting you both when the meeting will be going ahead.
Automate Cold Outreach
Some businesses rely on cold outreach to get in touch with potential clients or partners. Many lawyers and accountants opt for this approach, using LinkedIn to find their ideal people and businesses. The platform is a crucial aspect of business in the modern age, with 92 percent of Fortune 500 companies using it. Sending out a multitude of messages to people each day, though, can take up a huge chunk of business owners’ time. This is where automation tools come in.
Numerous tools allow people to send a vast number of messages out on LinkedIn, with Dux Soup being one of the longest-running options. This platform allows you to compose a welcome message that will be sent out to people in your Sales Navigator search list. The algorithm allows for you to address each person by name, and it can also be used to send a follow-up message once they have become a connection. The tool goes through each page in real-time, and you can change the length of waiting time between replies.
Send Out Mass Emails
Email marketing is still an important aspect of business in 2021, with 87 percent of marketers using this method. Not only is it free advertising, but it also capitalizes on growing email lists that have been collected over time. Businesses should aim to send regular emails to their customer base to stay at the forefront of their thinking, and cleverly designed email marketing campaigns can lead to an increase in sales. One of the most popular automation tools to do this is Mailchimp, which can be used to target mass lists of emails with marketing campaigns. Business owners simply need to compose an email and send it out.
In the modern age, if there’s an option to automate something, businesses need to use it. There are so many platforms and tools that help do everyday tasks, and these can contribute towards the smooth running of a business.