Many businesses build a website simply as a tool to publish information on the internet. It is a must for businesses today to gain visibility and brand recognition. However, a website is much more than an advertising tool. Making your website work for you, I mean actually doing some of the work for your business, is another reason to have a solid internet presence. Remember the saying, “Work smarter, not harder.” By automating some of your business processes online, you truly can work smarter, not harder!
Do you schedule appointments, take payments, send or call to remind your clients of an appointment or action they need to take? Do you take orders for products or services? Do you have a catalog or product information you give to your customers? Do you take reservations? Do you take applications for employment?
These are all business processes that can be automated and put on your website to help you work more efficiently. It may be as simple as creating a form and sending the information to the right person. Or maybe enlisting the help of a 3rd party service that can automate these tasks.
Payments
Ever heard of Paypal or Stripe? They are 3rd party services that millions of people use on a daily basis to automate the process of taking payments online. We don’t think it’s a big deal, but really, it is! If you can use one of these services to process payments online you might gain business or get paid quicker. It’s easy for your customers, too. This saves your company time and money!
Client Communications
Communicating with your clients by email is still the best direct marketing plan available. People need an email account for most anything they do online. Why not gather email addresses and have a direct line to tell your clients about a special offer or upcoming event? Offering free helpful tips and DIY information may seem outside the scope of what you want to do, but it is helpful to those on the receiving end. If they can trust you to tell them how to make a minor repair, guess who they will call when they can’t figure it out or need help on a bigger project? Mailchimp and Constant Contact are easy to use and cost effective to help create a great direct marketing campaign that automate many communication processes for your business!
Facebook or Instagram is another great communication tool that can be implemented with your website. Although, these may stand alone as online communication tools, they are a great addition to any marketing plan and can easily be added to complete tasks from your website.
Scheduling
SquareUp.com or AcuityScheduling.com are both great online scheduling tools. They offer the flexibility for you and your clients. Scheduling can be done in real-time where you set the hours of operation. You can even take payments or offer to reschedule online. This saves timely phone calls!
Order Processing
Have you ordered ahead at a fast food restaurant lately? I can skip the line by ordering and paying with my smartphone. I have a local printing company (Copy Run) that I use and all my orders start online! It’s so easy and simple. If you have an order process, your website is a great place to gather the basic information needed to get an order started. Your customers can select a few options, enter their contact information and click send. As a business owner, all I have to do is confirm a few details. Plus, I may already have your contact information in my contact management systems and can see what you ordered last time. All these details can be kept in a database for future use. What a time saver for the company and your clients. Great customer service, too!
Sell a product? Consider putting an online store on your website (and Facebook Page!) Many shoppers today look online to buy products. Your products may be left behind simply because there is not a place to process an order online. It’s simple and easy to add a store and keep track of inventory and orders placed. Many 3rd party services can be plugged right into your website and set up in a short amount of time. You will also automate the payment process. What a great way to add revenue to your physical store!
Downloads
Many companies offer product or service information online. Delivering catalogs and extended brochures on your website is another helpful tool. You can do this by offering free downloads or previews. Not only will your online viewers find this information, but you can direct callers to this information as well. This saves them the frustration of waiting, making a point to stop by for the information, and you having to mail or email it!
Applications
Do you take applications for employment or financing? Many large brands require you to fill out your employment application online before they will even consider you for employment. Applications are simply general contact information and some other items of interest. For smaller businesses, there are third party services that can protect private information on a form or page of your website for a small fee. You can also ask your web designer to create a secure site for your gathered information also. Either way, this efficient tool can gain you valuable information in a short amount of time.
I’m sure there are many other business processes that can be automated online. We find new ones all the time. Not everyone will want to complete and gather all their information online. But, for those that will, it saves your company (and it’s bottom line) much time, effort, and money! You may be able to spend your hard earned money on other items that will help your business grow and enjoy the benefits of a well-oiled machine – your online business processes. For help knowing what your business might be able to automate on your website, give us a call at 417-812-6007!