Unlocking six-figure eCommerce growth with automations

1. Unlocking six-figure
eCommerce growth
with automations

2. @Beka_Rice
Heya!I’m the Head of Product at SkyVerge.
Our team has built over 70 eCommerce apps for
WooCommerce, Shopify, & Easy Digital
Downloads in the past 6 years.
SkyVerge.com | Jilt.com
slideshare.net/bekarice
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3. @Beka_Rice
Whatwillwe cover?
￮ Why you should stop worrying and learn to
love automations
￮ Identifying the right opportunities for
automation
￮ The most impactful automations and best
practices
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4. Don’t hate
automations
They’re incredibly impactful for a solopreneur or
small business, important for any company
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5. They get
a bad
rep...
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6. @Beka_Rice
Bad automations
● Are impersonal
● Don’t consider all
audiences or parties
● Focus only on cutting
time or costs
What’s a good automation?
Good automations
● Are personal
● Account for all users
who interact with it
● Focus on delivering
value to all audiences
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7. @Beka_Rice
You probably already use...
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Cal Reminders Site backups Web analyticsOrder emails

8. Why:
Automations
arevital
They’re key to grow to $100k+ in annual
revenue.
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9. @Beka_Rice
Growing a business
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Save time Save money Sell more
Automations help with all 3 areas.

10. @Beka_Rice
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Get ready to scale: build systems
Less investment
● Leverage tools, not just
team headcount
● Manage the top
expenditure for SMBs
Lower effort
● Less time invested in
repetitive tasks
● Simplify ongoing
maintenance
Better personalization
● Scale tasks in ways not
possible by hand
● Differentiate brand and
customer experience

11. @Beka_Rice
It’s expensive, for
large retailers, etc...
Not so fast! Many automations can be as
simple as direct integrations between
services, or indirect via Zapier (or similar
tools like IFTTT).
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12. @Beka_Rice
Automation ROI
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Worth
automating?
Hourly
rate for
task
Payback
goal
(number
of weeks)
Time
spent per
week
($1.67 / min) x (25 min / wk) x (8 wks) =
$334
Even tasks that take 5 min per day are worth at
least few hundred dollars to automate.

13. @Beka_Rice
Invest in automation
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Worth
automating?
Will save
time
Will sell
more
Will save
money
($1.67 / min) x (5 min * 5 day) x (8 wks) =
$334
But also consider potential growth from
automating a task that is not yet being done
to increase sales.

14. @Beka_Rice
Improve customer experience
Automate areas that help the
customer — saving time,
money, and selling more
(loyalty & retention!).
Benefit of automation
Buy back employee time
Lets the team spend time
on learning and further
automating rather than on
doing specific tasks.
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15. When &what:
Identifying
opportunities
What to automate based on the eCommerce
store’s growth stage.
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16. 16
Launching: up to ~$25,000
Traction: up to ~$200,000
Scaling: $5M+
(transition from small to midsize business)
Growing: up to ~$5M
Stages of small online
business growth
$0 $5M$1M

17. 17Source: Shopify
Launching Gaining traction
Validating
$11k annual
$110k annual

18. @Beka_Rice
Build a competitive
advantage
Loyalty is key for most eCommerce
brands to grow from $10,000 per year to
$100,000+ per year in sales.
Leverage automations to build that
advantage and improve loyalty.
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19. @Beka_Rice
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From launch to growth, automate:
Customer loyalty
● Retain customers
● Consistent activity
● Build relationships with
personalized
communication
Internal processes
● Build customer
segments & personas
● Order and inventory
management
● Gathering feedback
Acquisition
● Learnings from Launch
phase
● Inbound marketing
● Streamline advertising &
acquisition channels

20. “
@Beka_Rice
Automations generate over
12x revenue per send in
comparison to bulk marketing
emails (newsletters).
(Data from tens of millions of emails sent via Jilt)
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21. How:
Putting it into
practice
Best practices and most impactful areas to
automate.
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22. AcquisitionSell more by automating acquisition processes
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23. @Beka_Rice
23Automate customer acquisition & initial touchpoints
Build an email list
Collect marketing opt in
from visitors to build a
lead and marketing list.
Automatically push it to
email marketing platforms.
🔍 OptinMonster
Shopping alerts
Tailor messages or live
chat to customer behavior.
Send push notifications
with offers or customer
service information.
🔍 Cart notices, Intercom
Segment customers
Tag customers based on
shopping or browsing
behavior, or use a CRM /
email platform that will
track this for you.
🔍 Jilt, Zapier

24. @Beka_Rice
24Automate customer acquisition & initial touchpoints
Promote sales
Schedule sales in advance.
Email leads about sales
and promote sales via
social networks.
🔍 Buffer
Save abandoned carts
Send cart recovery
reminders to leads to
prompt them to complete
an abandoned purchase.
🔍 Jilt
Advertise products
Automatically sync product
data to ad networks. Post
Google and Facebook ads
for new products.
🔍 Google Product Feed

25. $4.80 per email
Cart abandonment emails drive almost 4x as much revenue
per send in comparison to the average automation.
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26. RetentionBuild customer loyalty through relationships and experiences
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27. @Beka_Rice
27Automate customer acquisition & initial touchpoints
SMS updates
Send text updates for
orders changes, booking
changes and reminders,
or other events.
🔍 Twilio
Welcome new customers
Gather segmentation data
and set communication
expectations. Encourage
new purchases.
🔍 Jilt
Recommend products
Suggest product cross-
sells or upsells based on
previous customer
behavior.
🔍 Product recommendations

28. “
@Beka_Rice
If purchase frequency is the
backbone of customer
retention, email marketing is
the backbone of customer
engagement and your
retention toolkit.
- Shopify
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29. @Beka_Rice
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Emails to build relationships
Order follow ups
Follow up after purchases
with welcome, education,
and feedback emails.
Re-engagement
Invite lapsed customers
back to purchase again.
Increase customer activity.
Reward VIPs
Send thank you gifts or
discounts if customers
reach LTV thresholds.

30. @Beka_Rice
High performance
email automations
￮ VIP reward emails are opened 68% of the time,
81% higher than other automations.
￮ Post purchase emails and replenishment
reminders drive about 2x as much revenue per
send in comparison to the average automation.
￮ Automations are both opened and clicked about
3x more than marketing emails.
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31. ProcessesSave time and money with process efficiencies
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32. “
@Beka_Rice
When automating
processes, focus on
low-impact or repetitive
tasks that require
medium to high effort.
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33. @Beka_Rice
Product management
￮ Updating & managing product inventory
￮ Low stock notifications or ordering new
inventory
￮ Product pricing updates
🔍 ShipStation, Shipwire
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34. @Beka_Rice
Order management
￮ Print shipping labels
￮ Manage tracking numbers
￮ Export orders for fulfillment or drop shipping
￮ Ask for product reviews and feedback
🔍 WooCommerce Shipping, CSV Export, Jilt
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35. @Beka_Rice
Customer differentiation
￮ Analytics & reporting — improving business
intelligence and persona identification
￮ Wholesale pricing tiers (differentiating
customer types)
￮ Member discounts or perks
🔍 GA Pro, Memberships
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36. @Beka_Rice
To recap
￮ Automations are key for growth from $10k to
$100k in revenue: sell more, save time & money,
get ready to scale via systems.
￮ Focus on automating acquisition, retention /
loyalty, and internal processes.
￮ Automate acquisition based on learnings.
￮ Email automations are key in retention and
loyalty — build customer relationships!
￮ Seek automations in product, order, and
customer management processes.
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37. @Beka_Rice
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Thanks!
Let’s dig into questions!
SkyVerge.com | Jilt.com
slideshare.net/bekarice
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38. @Beka_Rice
Credits
Special thanks to the people who made and
released these resources for free:
￮ Template by SlidesCarnival
￮ Photographs by Unsplash
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