There are multiple benefits to automating your business, from increased productivity to reduced costs. Regardless of if you run your own start-up or are part of a larger business, automation can be a great way to free up time in the day for more innovation and perform more work with fewer people. Here are 4 key areas that you may consider automating.
HR
Hiring qualified in-house staff can be expensive as they will need to be paid a guaranteed wage and benefits, so human resource software may be a very cost-effective business strategy, especially if you are a start-up. With HR systems you can pay for the specific processes you’re your business needs, while also reducing admin time and increasing the retention and productivity of your employees.
Automating HR can also reduce the issues that can come with manually inputting repetitive data. Many studies have found that repetitive tasks increase the likelihood of errors while also being detrimental to employees’ morale.
Customer service
Automating customer services can both improve customer experience and help you to cut costs in your business. You may look to get a customer service chatbot for your company which allows customers to get in touch and receive assistance almost instantly, particularly for FAQs or lower-tier queries. This allows your human workforce the time to deal with more complex problems that may arise.
The automation can also feed customer details straight to the human support representative, including product data and purchase history, which saves your employees time and allows them to give more relevant answers.
Email Marketing
Email marketing can be a great way to share information about your company, services and products. Email newsletters can be easily automated which brings your company to the forefront of previous customers’ minds which can be great for customer retention.
You could also automate marketing emails to showcase any offers or promotions that you are currently running, but be sure to not spam your customers’ inboxes at risk of negative feedback. The optimum frequency for marketing emails is one or two per week, but it all depends on your brand and customer base.
Social Media Marketing
Social media is one of the best ways to market your business, with Instagram being one of the most popular choices. 72% of users say that Instagram influences their buying decisions so if you aren’t currently advertising your business and products on the site, you may want to consider doing so.
If you have a social media manager, you don’t want them to waste their time waiting for the best time of day or day of the week to post. Luckily, many social media sites now come with a range of business tools with which you can analyse your data. You can then use an automation tool to post to your social media at specific times or days of the week to ensure that you are posting for peak follower engagement.
