This article explores the balance between automation and human intervention in ecommerce. It discusses the benefits of automation in enhancing operational efficiency while cautioning against its overreliance to avoid potential risks like generic content and loss of personal touch. It also highlights a scalable SEO approach that synergizes technology and human creativity, allowing businesses to start seeing results in as little as six weeks.
Growth is the ultimate goal of every ecommerce business like yours. It’s constantly seeking more: more customers, more products to sell, more website traffic, more sales. However, this growth inevitably leads to an increase in tasks, a challenge that pushes many ecommerce decision-makers toward automation as a solution.
But here lies the pivotal question: Is more automation always better for your business? How do you strike a balance between technology and human intervention? At Area Ten, we believe that the synergy of technology and human expertise is the cornerstone of sustainable ecommerce growth. Read along; this article might just be what you need.
Ecommerce automation is the strategic implementation of sophisticated software and technology to transform repetitive, manual tasks into automated, streamlined workflows. Here’s how your business can benefit from it:
But what can you exactly automate in ecommerce?
Operational efficiency in ecommerce is a crucial area where automation can make a significant impact. These tasks can include:
Many ecommerce websites also leverage automation to streamline their customer service. Some use artificial intelligence to analyze customer data and behavior, enabling quick and tailored product recommendations and a more individualized shopping experience.
Effective marketing strategies are vital for ecommerce businesses to attract, engage, and retain customers. A lot of online stores are now using advanced technology to help them streamline and automate various marketing tactics including:
While the benefits are substantial, it’s essential to tread cautiously. There are potential downsides to these technologies that may cause your e
The reliance on technology comes with inherent risks like malfunctions, outdated software, bugs, system crashes, and security breaches. These issues can disrupt operations and negatively affect customer satisfaction and trust.
In a world where automation can manage customer acquisition, from gaining traffic through social media strategies to sending welcome emails, it’s essential to pause and consider the long-term implications.
One critical aspect often overlooked is the lifetime value (LTV) of customers. LTV represents the total value a customer contributes throughout their relationship with your business.
Drawing from insights in our e-book, From Sinking to Sailing, we emphasize the importance of the 80/20 rule. This suggests that 80% of your profits come from only 20% of your top customers. Automating your marketing and acquisition efforts without human expertise to determine the long-term potential of those customers may lead to misallocated resources.
The advent of AI and automation in content generation marks a transformative era. However, entrusting your brand’s voice entirely to machines can result in the following:
In an environment where search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, relying solely on AI can be risky. AI tools might offer insights and analytics, but they cannot entirely replace the need for a proactive approach. The danger lies in becoming too reactive, always playing catch-up with the latest updates or competitive changes, rather than leading with innovative strategies.
Automation tools, though seemingly beneficial initially, can sometimes limit the potential of your ecommerce store. For instance, automatically hiding product URLs when items are out of stock might seem efficient.
However, these product pages, especially if they have established rankings and traffic, are valuable real estate. Rather than removing them automatically, you may want to consider using them to direct customers to related products or categories.
The automation of social media content publishing also requires caution. Pre-scheduled posts may become irrelevant or insensitive in light of unforeseen events, potentially harming your brand’s image and alienating your audience.
Chatbots are mostly used to handle basic queries and issues, but the effectiveness and depth of their responses largely depend on how they are programmed.
An over-dependence on automated systems like chatbots for customer service can lead to a lack of empathy, mismanagement of complex issues, and technical glitches. Chatbots may struggle with nuanced customer queries, leading to frustration and dissatisfaction.
Instead, you may want to opt for a fully-managed live chat service. This approach not only alleviates the burden on your team but also guarantees that your customers receive attentive, human interaction at any time. Live chat offers the same benefits of automation—efficiency and availability—while adding the invaluable element of personal touch, ensuring a more satisfying and effective customer service experience.
You might be wondering, “Well, given the numerous benefits and potential risks of automation, how do I position my ecommerce business effectively in this landscape?”
Is automation beneficial? It undoubtedly is. But as Einstein said, “The human spirit must prevail over technology.” Automation, when strategically integrated into business processes, can lead to unparalleled efficiency and scalability.
However, this doesn’t mean abandoning the human element. Instead, it’s about finding harmony between the two, allowing you to free up resources to focus on complex challenges and improve business processes with a redefined focus.
To strike a balance, we should take advantage of technology and automation but maintain human oversight for impeccable control and compliance.
Finally, to help you strategically implement automation strategies into your ecommerce business, consider these tips:
We understand that this may not always be easy. After all, ecommerce isn’t a trial-and-error affair. Every decision you make, may it be choosing key areas that need automation to identifying aspects that need human intervention, should be carefully thought out and data-driven.
This is where an adept ecommerce SEO agency and a seasoned digital marketing agency can help. They have the technical understanding and experience to know what works, what doesn’t, and how to propel your ecommerce business forward holistically. If you need a partner in this journey, here’s how we can help at Area Ten:
In the complex and ever-evolving world of ecommerce, conventional SEO strategies often fall short. Recognizing this, we’ve been leading the charge since 2014, offering innovative SEO solutions tailored to the unique demands of ecommerce.
We’ve effectively navigated a vast array of industries, from fashion to electronics and even tires, helping our clients generate over $1.1 billion in combined annual online revenue. Our success is rooted in a strategic blend of automation and human insight, reshaping the way ecommerce SEO is approached.
Traditional SEO strategies tend to focus on head terms—high competition keywords with large search volumes. While valuable, these keywords are difficult and expensive to rank for, often leading to a lower return on investment.
In contrast, we adopt a comprehensive Full Body SEO approach, targeting not only these head terms but also long tail keywords. These less competitive phrases typically correspond to users further along their purchasing journey, translating to lower competition, increased growth potential, and higher profitability for our clients.
But the challenge with targeting a vast array of longtail keywords lies in content production. Manual methods are cost-prohibitive and inefficient for addressing thousands of keywords. So, our solution lies in programmatic SEO, leveraging AI to mass-produce content.
However, we differ from the norm. Where most programmatic SEO solutions solely rely on generic content generation tools, we place a strong emphasis on our collaborative approach.
Our strategy involves a team of seasoned writers crafting initial content that adheres to our client’s brand standards and industry requirements. These templates, created in consultation with our clients, act as training data for our proprietary technology, CMAX™.
This platform is designed to generate thousands of unique content pieces, each aligned with the specific brand voice and legal requirements of our clients.
Here’s where we take automation further: Unlike other AI technologies that stop at providing insights, CMAX actively implements these strategies, addressing the gap of ineffective execution in SEO.
If a subset of pages is underperforming, CMAX automatically redistributes resources and adjusts link structures, ensuring that well-performing pages assist underperforming ones. This approach enables us to start delivering results in six weeks, not months.
A prominent Canadian ecommerce platform dealing in over-the-counter medications and medical supplies approached us with a significant challenge. Despite offering a broad range of essential products, they were struggling with low website traffic and difficulty in creating engaging, compliant content for their vast inventory.
In an industry as sensitive as medical, they needed a healthcare SEO agency that’s not only focused on increased visibility but can also strictly adhere to industry standards.
Leveraging our Full Body SEO approach, we began by targeting a mix of the long tail and head terms, aiming to amplify the site’s traffic effectively. Critical to our strategy was the initial content creation phase, handled by our team of seasoned writers.
These professionals ensured every piece resonated with the brand’s voice and complied with stringent healthcare regulations. After obtaining approval for these foundational pieces, our proprietary technology, CMAX, produced thousands of additional content pieces, each maintaining the brand’s integrity and legal compliance.
Within just two months, the ecommerce platform saw a 22.3% increase in organic traffic and a 19.7% rise in organic revenue.
Hear firsthand from their marketing head:
“We were losing our marketing budget on Google Ads and were desperate for a more cost-effective channel for sustained growth. I came across Area Ten’s case studies for their clients and was impressed. Then I thought, maybe they can help us too.
Their approach was revolutionary for us. It was amazing how they immediately populated our pages with industry-compliant content. It was just what we needed. We began seeing results in just two months and our traffic is still going up to this day.”
A well-established Singapore-based ecommerce brand specializing in suitcases and travel accessories faced stagnation in its marketing efforts. They needed to overcome the hurdles of duplicate content on their site.
Our solution was a targeted SEO revamp. Through our unique programmatic SEO strategy and CMAX, we were able to publish thousands of unique, brand-aligned content pieces for each of their product pages. This process was a collaborative effort, involving close consultation with the client to ensure every piece of content not only stood out but also embodied the essence of their brand.
In the span of nine weeks, the retailer experienced a 20.4% surge in organic traffic. More notably, their global visibility escalated, with a 14.2% increase in organic revenue.
Certainly, but with a caveat.
While Google does prioritize the value and accuracy of content over its method of creation, it’s important to understand that using AI in content generation isn’t a guarantee of high search rankings. AI-generated content, when guided and monitored by human expertise, aligns well with Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust) principles and can perform effectively in search results.
However, relying solely on AI without proper human oversight may lead to issues, as it could fail to fully adhere to these guidelines. Thus, the optimal use of AI in content creation involves a synergy of technology and human judgment.
At Area Ten, we prioritize quality user experience alongside our SEO efforts. Our proprietary technology, CMAX, simply uses a unique Div ID and our asynchronous JavaScript to load content, which ensures minimal, if any, impact on site performance. Further, our implementation ensures that the content will not look out of place with your site’s existing design.
Maintaining the visibility of out-of-stock product URLs can actually be beneficial for your ecommerce website.
Our strategy for managing popular but temporarily unavailable products ensures that these pages continue to rank and provide valuable information to your customers. This approach leverages the existing traffic and popularity of these pages, all while maintaining your site’s SEO integrity.
Automation emerges as both a catalyst for efficiency and a potential pitfall if overused. Here are the essential takeaways from our exploration:
To harness the full potential of automation in ecommerce while mitigating its risks, consider these actionable steps:
It’s evident that while automation brings efficiency and scalability, its overreliance can lead to challenges. Automation should not be seen as a replacement for human insight but as a complementary force.
Remember, more automation isn’t always better. Ecommerce businesses thrive when they leverage the strengths of both worlds: the speed and precision of automation and the nuanced understanding of human interaction.
At Area Ten, we’re a digital marketing agency and innovators who blend technology with human creativity. Our holistic approach, encompassing both programmatic SEO and human expertise, has positioned us as leaders in the ecommerce SEO domain.
We understand that your business is unique, and so are your SEO needs. Whether you operate on Shopify, WordPress, or Bigcommerce, our strategies are tailored to meet your specific requirements.
We serve a diverse range of industries across the globe and have implemented successful SEO strategies and Paid Media Management campaigns on all continents except Antarctica.
Like many successful businesses we’ve partnered with, your story of growth and success could be next.
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