Marketing automation simplifies and streamlines the process of setting up automated marketing touch points through its robust data aggregation and distribution capabilities. Its deep logic can cover the entire user lifecycle, efficiently delivering the right information to the right people through highly targeted funnels, thereby improving the open rates and conversion rates of each email. Additionally, a variety of preset templates allow for the quick creation of logically rigorous automated workflows in just minutes.

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is the technology that automates marketing processes across multiple channels. Through marketing automation, businesses can effectively execute repetitive marketing tasks on multiple online channels such as email, SMS, and social media.

Why Implement Marketing Automation?

An increasing number of marketing and sales departments are embracing automation technologies to handle their repetitive tasks. This not only maximizes marketing coverage but also significantly reduces labor costs and human error. Employees have the freedom to address higher-level issues. As automation capabilities advance, a meticulously designed automated system can significantly aid in expanding your business.

Understanding Marketing Campaigns

On the Marketing page of the SHOPLINE admin panel, you can create and manage promotional campaigns.

Both marketing campaigns and automation can help you grow your customer base in different ways and can be used simultaneously in your overall marketing strategy.

Marketing campaigns consist of one or more activities such as content marketing or advertising. These campaigns are usually tailored for specific promotional activities, allowing you to schedule and execute them within a specified time frame. For instance, you can run Facebook ads to promote product sales or create posts on social media platforms to inform your followers about new products. When setting up marketing campaigns on SHOPLINE, you can save them as drafts and then release them when you are ready, enabling you to prepare your marketing campaigns in advance. For major events like Black Friday, you can combine marketing campaigns to achieve specific promotional goals.

To create marketing campaigns, you need to install marketing apps such as Smartpush, Member System, and Distribution System. Many marketing apps require sales through the SHOPLINE online store.

Creating Marketing Campaign/ Automation

We offer preset templates for various common marketing campaigns. The specific details required are determined by the nature of the campaign you intend to create. If you utilize Apps or Channels for marketing purposes, access permissions for Apps and Channels are necessary to initiate marketing campaigns.

When initiating marketing campaigns or automation through SHOPLINE, you can save them as drafts and subsequently release them when ready, enabling advanced preparation of marketing campaigns.

Below are steps of creating campaigns:

From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Marketing.
To explore options for marketing campaigns or automation:
- For automation creation, proceed to Automation and select an automation template.
- For creating marketing campaigns, go to Campaigns and choose Create campaign.

Select the type of campaign or automation.
Access the corresponding marketing application.
Choose a suitable template and input the necessary details. Before saving or publishing, you can preview the marketing campaigns and automation.
Save the draft or proceed with publishing.
- To retain the draft, click Complete later.
- To publish the campaign or automation, click Publish.

Managing Marketing Campaigns/ Automation

You can edit, pause, or delete drafts and published marketing campaigns or automations in SHOPLINE. To view the marketing campaigns or automation you have created, click Marketing in the SHOPLINE admin, and then click Campaign or Automation.

To delete a marketing campaign or automation created in SHOPLINE, go into the campaign or automation you want to delete, click Delete, and then click Delete again to confirm your action.

Once you delete a marketing campaign in SHOPLINE, you will no longer need to pay any fees for it. SHOPLINE will synchronize any changes you make to relevant services to update your account. If you delete a campaign or automation outside of SHOPLINE, it will show as being deleted within SHOPLINE. After completely deleting a campaign outside of SHOPLINE, it will be removed from the list within SHOPLINE. Deleting marketing campaigns is a permanent operation.

When editing a draft of a marketing campaign or automation in SHOPLINE, you can save your changes or publish it. Marketing campaign drafts will be listed on the Marketing > Campaign page, while automation drafts will be listed on the Marketing > Automation page.

Learn More About Marketing Automation

Automation created from templates or scratch can be utilized to automatically send email messages at crucial stages of the customer journey.

The available types of automation are as follows:

Welcome: Send emails containing discounts to new subscribers, welcoming them to your store.
Order confirmation notification: Send different order confirmation emails based on the order amount.
Abandoned checkout: Recall customers who entered the checkout page while not completing the payment.
Abandoned cart: Recall customers who had added products to the shopping cart but did not complete the payment.
Customer reactivation: Email customers who haven't placed orders recently and invite them back to your store.
Abandoned product: Email customers who viewed a product but didn’t add it to the cart or complete a purchase.

To create automation, you need to have marketing permissions. If you are a store owner or account owner, you already have this permission. If you want to add this permission to an employee account, go to Settings > Administrator and Permissions to add the relevant permission. Please note that if you use apps or channels to create marketing campaigns, you also need to enable Apps and Channels permissions to create marketing campaigns.

How to Implement Marketing Automation?

When creating marketing automation through SHOPLINE, the required details depend on the type of automation you want to create. After selecting the automation type to be created, the system will load preset templates. Most templates can be sent directly to your customers. The system will prompt you to add any other information that may be needed.

When creating automation, you can choose to save it as a draft and publish it when ready, so you can prepare your marketing strategy in advance.

Determine the Channels for Automated Marketing

First, you need to determine which channels to use for automated marketing: To ensure a consistent personalized experience for your customers, it is recommended to cover multiple channels, such as simultaneously enabling both email and SMS marketing. This allows for comprehensive outreach and re-engagement with customers through email and SMS at different key touchpoints.

Draft the Sending Logic

Once the channels are determined, you can begin setting up your automated marketing journeys! Typically, we carry out automated marketing outreach throughout the customer's entire lifecycle, from visiting the website, engaging in various levels of browsing, clicking, ordering, etc., until the customer leaves the website. Along this path, we identify the most crucial turning points and preset automation templates for you.

Welcome: Welcome emails paired with subscription discounts often yield great results. It's also an excellent opportunity for customers to understand the brand vision and product features.
Abandoned cart: Adding items to the cart is a crucial part of the shopping process. Through abandoned cart emails, you can reconnect with these customers and re-establish a connection with them.
Abandoned product: What products are customers interested in? Don't miss these positive signals.
Abandoned checkout: Exclusive discounts? Personalized recommendations? Attract customers to return to the checkout page.
Customer reactivation: Providing irresistible time-limited offers, new product releases, or festival promotions can bring back potentially lost customers.
Order confirmation: The shopping experience isn't complete yet. Make the most of the high open rate of the order confirmation email to help customers gain a deeper understanding of your brand and become loyal customers.

By utilizing preset templates, you can initiate your automation journey within minutes without the need for intricate logical deductions. Additionally, you have the flexibility to tailor exclusive incentives and rewards for your customers based on these templates, such as implementing tiered recall discounts based on customers' average transaction value to enhance the recall rate.

Data-Driven Approach and Continuous Improvement

Data is crucial for us. We provide a user-friendly data dashboard where you can easily monitor the performance of each automation email. This allows you to optimize your automation workflows efficiently and effectively.

By automatically sending the right information to customers at the right time, you can achieve precise and efficient outreach. Take the first step in building your automation today!

Marketing Automation Setup Guidelines

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