Automation reduces the manual workload required to run your business on Shopify and helps scale your operations to reach out to a larger target audience. As 29% of the websites in the eCommerce market in the U.S. use this platform, there are several apps you choose from to automate various business activities.
Shopify apps like Fileflare, Shop Workflow Automation, Omnisend Email Marketing & SMS, and Tidio are five common ways to automate Shopify stores. They help automate workflows in fraud detection, customer service, marketing, payments, and inventory management.
In this brief guide, I’ll cover 5 common ways to automate your Shopify store. You’ll also get clarity on why you should consider using them for business.
Apps that automate your store
With more than 3,200 apps in Shopify’s store, it can feel daunting to pick the right ones for your business operations. I’ve made your search easier by curating 5 of the best apps you can use to automate your store.
Note: All the apps listed below come with free trials or features, so give them a shot to see what works for you.
1. Fileflare – automate digital products
When you sell digital products on your Shopify store, it can be a lot of work to manually send them to your customers, especially if you receive tens or hundreds of daily orders.
With Downloadable Digital Assets, you can automate this process completely. This gives you the time to expand your digital product library, allowing you to target a larger audience, bringing in more revenue.
Who should use Downloadable Digital Assets?
If your Shopify store has digital products like courses, e-books, software, stock images and videos, and templates, using Downloadable Digital Assets can make it easier to manage your orders.
Since digital orders don’t require mailing physically, having an automated manager can significantly speed up the process.
Fileflare can automatically fulfil and deliver all orders while also protecting your digital files from copyright.
What can you automate with Downloadable Digital Assets?
When you use Downloadable Digital Assets, you can do the following:
- Deliver any digital product of any size to your customers via email.
- Prevent unauthorized access to your digital products with expiry dates.
- Send emails that are customizable according to your requirements.
- Flag and stop fraudulent orders automatically.
- Track open and bounce rates of your emails.
- Add custom stamps and lock PDFs to prevent customers from editing them.
Pricing
Downloadable Digital Assets is free to install. However, the free version comes with a few limitations. To increase the storage limit or access all of the app’s features, there are plans between $5 – $35 a month.
2. Shop Workflow Automation – automate daily workflow
What if there is a way to contact vendors and update your stock regularly? With Shop Workflow Automation, you can take a hands-free inventory management approach and reduce your workload.
Who should use Shop Workflow Automation?
Highlighted below are three reasons you should use Shop Workflow Automation:
- You have a dropshipping store and handle products from one or many vendors.
- You have various products in your store and need to reach out to merchants frequently.
- Your Shopify store is a marketplace. Learn how to set up a marketplace on Shopify.
What can you automate with Shop Workflow Automation?
With Shop Workflow Automation, you can do the following:
- Send order emails to dropshipping vendors.
- Flag and receive notifications for fraudulent orders.
- Hide any product that goes out of stock.
- Publish products after restocking.
Pricing
You can use the Starter Plan to get a feel of how Shop Workflow Automation works. You can upgrade to three different plans from $9.99 – $49.99 a month to increase the number of automation.
3. Omnisend Email Marketing & SMS – automate your emails
Here are two facts you should know if you consider giving email and SMS marketing a pass.
- Automated welcome and abandoned cart emails have a conversion rate of 51.9% and 33.89%, respectively.
- Similarly, in the U.S, text messages have an open rate of 42%.
However, crafting custom emails and text messages is a lot of work, especially if you have to do it daily. Omnisend Email Marketing & SMS provides an easy way to automate your messages.
Who should use Omnisend Email Marketing?
Anyone who runs a Shopify store should use Omnisend. Almost every store is at some point going to need to communicate. As a result, this app is usable by essentially every vendor.
What can you automate with Omnisend?
With Omnisend, you can automate the following:
- All types of emails and text messages based on custom triggers and customer lifecycle.
- Collect user information via landing pages, popups, signup boxes, and wheel of fortune.
- Receive performance metrics from sales and automation reports.
Pricing
You can start using Omnisend Email Marketing & SMS for free. As you begin to scale your business, you can upgrade to the Standard and Pro plans at $16 and $59 per month, with each tier adding benefits.
4. Tidio – Live Chatbots – automate customer support
In 2020, the average wait time for customers to get a response from businesses via live chat was 35 seconds. If users don’t get a quick reply, whether it’s a query or a complaint, it can leave a negative impression about your brand.
With Tidio, you can enable live chat on your Shopify store and automate replies, ensuring customers back from you immediately.
Who should use Tidio?
If you’re looking to provide excellent customer support, Tidio is an essential app for your Shopify store. While it won’t give you the same level of complexity a proper support agent will, the ability to quickly answer FAQs from customers is vital. You can see more live chat apps here.
What can Tidio automate?
When you integrate Tidio with your website, it helps automate the following workflows:
- Provide 24/7 customer support with custom chatbots on Shopify, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger.
- Answer queries instantly.
- Recommend products in live chat as part of your upselling strategy.
- Send personalized discounts to increase sales.
Pricing
Start with the Free Plan if the number of monthly visitors to your store is less than 100. You can switch to the Communicator and Chatbots Plan for $19 and $49 monthly, respectively, as your customer base grows.