6 software integrations to enhance your ecommerce platform

An ecommerce platform is an essential part of selling products online, but when it comes to technology available to online retailers, it’s just the beginning.

Software integrations for your ecommerce platform can help you improve everything from stock keeping to customer experience. Here are some options to consider.

1. Inventory management software

For ecommerce businesses with stores in multiple locations, keeping track of stock levels can be a challenge. Catalogue management software is designed to make the process as easy as possible. Features include:

• Centralized inventory database so businesses can track stock levels and inventory across several warehouses
• User-friendly dashboard allowing retailers to see top-level data at a glance
• Ability to create reports based on historical data and track demand of individual products to inform ordering decisions, as well as forecast future demand
• Real-time stock level notifications

2. Subscription management software

Subscription management software integrates with a payment gateway, which one of the most important pieces of software an ecommerce business owns. Payment gateways securely connect customer credit cards with the merchant’s bank account.

For both merchant and customer, security is the number one priority here – ensuring information is passed safely from the customer to the payment processor and to the merchant.

However, it’s also important that payment processes are as efficient as possible for the merchant. Subscription management software helps streamline the process of collecting subscriptions and other recurring bills. Key features include:

• Revenue configuration, revenue recognition, deferred revenue collection
• Automated payment reminders
• Trial periods, discounts, promotions, rebates, gift cards, coupons
• Retry schedules for failed payments and error-correction workflows
• Multiple pricing structures (tiered, negotiated, upgrades/add-ons)

3. Live chat software

Customers can be easily spooked when checking out. Currently around 77% of customers will fail to complete their purchase on any given session. Which means there is a huge opportunity available to sites that optimize their checkout experience.

Live chat software is a great way to achieve this, giving customers a direct channel to your customer service team in case any aspect of the checkout experience is confusing or unclear. Not only can you resolve problems where and when they happen, but typical queries can also provide an insight into how to improve your checkout UX.

Live chat software typically has two main features: a live chat system (which displays a chat window on the front end of your website) and a ticketing system (which helps customer service representatives manage user queries). The latter allows your customer service team to:

• Prioritize and categorize tickets
• Assign tickets to team members
• Set time-related actions
• Automate responses to frequently-asked questions
• Attach documents 

4. Site search software

Some integrations play a significantly more functional role on the front end. For ecommerce businesses with large product catalogues, such as fashion or homeware brands, a site search integration can greatly improve the customer experience. This allows users to find items according to keywords, product types, categories and more.

Behind the scenes, site owners are afforded several benefits, including:

• Ability to manipulate search results to promote high-converting products
• 1:1 personalization of search results based on demographics
• Analysis and reporting on site search data

5. Cart abandonment software

Re-engagement strategies like cart abandonment emails can also be integrated with your ecommerce platform, allowing you to reach out to the 77% of users who add items to their cart but fail to convert.

Typically, this is in the form on an email, triggered by a user closing the window before completing the purchase. The email usually displays the user’s abandoned items alongside a call-to-action to motivate them back on the site.

This is an effective strategy; 44% of these kinds of emails are opened, and over 11% clicked. Almost 30% of those clicks lead to a purchase.

6. Amazon optimization software

Third-party sellers like Amazon offer ecommerce businesses a compelling proposition: access to an enormous base of users search for products. However, each seller is competing to appear in search results for relevant keywords.

Like Google, Amazon has its own algorithm used to determine which products are most relevant. Optimizing product listings, therefore, is a high priority.

Optimization software can help sellers with several goals, including:

• Tracking ranking for keywords
• Reporting on sales metrics
• Providing notifications for negative reviews
• Analyzing on-page elements
• Researching keywords

For businesses looking to optimize the ROI they see from their ecommerce platform, software integrations should be a key consideration.