Selected Automation Techniques

Firstly I'd like to state categorically that some internet "gurus" will tell you business automation is equal to having a totally hands-free operation.

I hope you're intelligent enough to realise this simply is not so and never will be if you want your business to prosper.

The role of automation is to use technology to make your life easier - to make your operation more efficient - at time management, financial management and customer service by removing many of the boring day-to-day chores that eat into your valuable time.

That way you can concentrate your passion on more rewarding tasks that will have a more direct effect in scientifically growing your company.

A business is never hands-off - it only thrives with your positive input - and I can't stress this point enough.

That said, with automation being used wherever possible on our other websites, all we need to do at the bare minimum is check and reply to our emails.

As this is Merchant Account Forum I shall concentrate this first article in the series on automating your ordering and delivery system.

To start with, one tried and tested technique to boost sales with the minimum of effort is through an "upsell".

The way this works is that you offer a slight upgrade to your product on the order page and not before.

Here's the theory (and why it works)... By the time a customer reaches reach your order page they have already proved that they're ready to buy and by offering an upgrade for a a little extra money they'll usually buy the better version.

2 instead of 1, an expanded or new version, one with more bonuses or a related tie-in product (not just the new magic mop but a bottle of your best-selling floor detergent for just a little more than the mop on it's own, for example).

You're just trying to maximise each customers' spend, in an ethical and fair manner. If they don't want the upsell, no problem, they can buy the original offer.

Here's a perfect example. In the UK (or even worldwide!), the best value place to buy your domain names is with 123-reg. It's a cracking site that's easy to use and has a very powerful search engine.

If you search for www.thedomainyouwant.com but it's already taken, the site will give you a full list of domain endings that are available incase any of them are of interest to you: www.thedomainyouwant.net, www.thedomainyouwant.co.uk etc. It's very helpful indeed and the prices they offer are the best in Britain.

Anyway, I got side-tracked! After you choose your domain name, but before you pay, you are taken to a page you didn't expect where you are offered quality web hosting as well as your domain name for a special combined price.

It is an excellent deal with a well known, reputable company that I personally have been very satisfied with when I've used them in the past and so this is a very tempting offer.

After you decide whether or not you'd like the webhosting you're also offered the chance to buy subdomains. Subdomains are like an additional word in the place of the "www" in a website address. So you can choose a domain name that reads "whateverwordyoulike.thedomainyouhavechosen.com". So you could have "specialoffers.yourdomain.com" for similar.

These subdomains can be an excellent idea, keeping your site nice and clean in design, and furthermore, helping in search engine placement as you can get more keywords into your name.

The best example of subdomains that springs to mind is Ken Evoy's site which sells a range of digital products, each product having it's own subdomain of his main site address.

Both of the above are perfect examples of successful upsells used by an ecommerce company, and no doubt increase their monthly profits considerably with very little effort once it's all set up.

However, this is just the tip of the iceburg of what you can do. The real magic comes when the customer has actually chosen their products, filled in your order form and is ready to hit the "Order" button.

I'm always amazed during discussions with Internet merchants that many are still using the old fashioned "swipe machines" or PDQ's. When a customer makes a purchase, their credit card details are manually typed into the machine in their office one by one. Now I don't know about you but I've got better, more important things to do in my business than enter every order by hand.

The merchant accounts we recommend here at Merchant Account Forum all accept a customer's credit card details, then charge it automatically, and deposit the money into your bank account or send you a check within a matter of days. All without you lifting a finger. So automate it, and save yourself time and boring jobs!

However, lastly in this introductory article I'm going to take a look at my favoutite aspect of automation - product delivery.

If you sell "digital" products - those which can be downloaded over the Internet such as software or subscriptions to members-only websites or ebooks, you have two options.

You can either check your orders regularly, individually emailing copies of your software or passwords to your website, making customers wait for their product till you get round to checking your emails, or you can automate.

We use digital product download software every day of the year. A customer fills in their credit card details in our order form, the card is charged automatically as described above, and the customer is then instantly emailed with information on how to download their copy of the product. It's what we call "instant delivery". No waiting around for your customers (instant gratification) and no fiddling about in the office.

I know for one that I've left websites because they've said delivery of an ebook may take 2 or 3 days before I get my hands on the product I'm after.

After numerous requests I have finally finished piecing together every single step of setting up an automated ebook website, full details of which you can find here. (Don't forget to join the affiliate program while you're there - it pays a 50% commission!).

You may also like to check out the following excellent resources:

• The complete the book to creating and selling digital products on the Internet including a full volume on automating the delivery of digital products, and includes a $500 voucher off one the very best pieces of digital download software on the market. Click here for full details.

• For a full discussion and review of a piece of software that will effortlessly manage your newsletter, send out training courses, videos and ebooks without you lifting a finger and automatically reply to your email click here.

• Here's what one internet entrepreneur, Keith Roberts, has to say about Mailloop business automation software:

  "My business is making nearly $30,000.00 per month of profit and Mailloop is essential to the automation of providing customers with valuable product information and specials via our opt-in email list of tens of thousands of customers.

  This would be unmanageable without Mailloop. The live chat has also been helpful. And Mailloop's videos make it really easy for someone like me to learn and I am no computer wiz. Keep up the great marketing efforts.

  Thank you, thank you,thank you!!!!!"

  Keith Roberts - Owner Coradhealthcare.com

  To discover how Mailloop can allow you to put your e-mail chores, your promotions, your customer service, your newsletter, your database clean up and much more on autopilot, click here.

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