Do you find yourself drowning in a sea of monotonous tasks when you'd rather focus on growing your online store? Here's some good news: Magento automation can help you streamline repetitive tasks, simplify operations, and boost productivity.
You can automate everything from product management and email marketing to your DevOps workflows. All you need is the right automation tools.
Don't know where to start? We've got you covered.
In this guide, we'll explain five reasons to use automation with Magento 2 and share our top 10 Magento automation tool recommendations. We'll also give you actionable tips for each tool to help you maximize your efficiency.
Let's get straight to it.
Why use automation with Magento?
According to a 2023 report by Coveo, 93 percent of customers expect online shopping to be better than in-person shopping. Here are five ways Magento 2 automation helps you meet that expectation.
1. Saves time
Automation streamlines processes and saves time. Instead of spending hours on manual tasks like updating product images and managing orders, you can automate them and focus on more important tasks like customer engagement and strategic decision-making.
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2. Simplifies inventory management
Automating Magento inventory management ensures your stock levels are always accurate. You don't have to worry about overselling products or spending hours updating inventory. Plus, you can set up low-stock alerts to reorder products before you run out.
3. Personalize customer experiences
Automation enables you to personalize the online shopping experience. It helps you use customer data to build targeted marketing campaigns, recommend products based on past purchases, and send personalized emails.
4. Streamlines DevOps workflows
Automating DevOps for Magento 2 offers benefits such as faster store updates, easier feature delivery, and better scalability during traffic surges. It also allows you to identify and fix issues quickly, which is essential for a seamless shopping experience for your customers.
5. Improves security
Magento 2 automation helps you keep up with the evolving online threat landscape. Automating security scans and threat detection ensures your store is protected from online threats and enables you to respond promptly in case of a breach.
10 tools for Magento 2 automation (+tips for using them)
Automating Magento cuts inefficiencies and allows you to focus on tasks that contribute to your long-term business growth. The key to making the most of your automation is choosing the right tool for each task.
Here are the top 10 Magento automation tools you can use to automate different parts of your online operations.
1. Performance Shield powered by Cloudflare
For Magento sites hosting with Nexcess, Performance Shield powered by Cloudflare can improve security and site speed, taking web performance concerns off your hands.
Nexcess Performance Shield is a bundled feature set for Nexcess customers that can help reduce bandwidth costs by delivering content through optimized Internet routes. Performance Shield offers advanced content compression, improved page load time, plus expanded security.
Cloudflare's Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protections are built into the Cloudflare network and always on 24/7/365.
Key features:
- Utilizes Cloudflare’s huge network of global servers with over 280 locations
- Built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Protection against SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and DDoS attacks
- Brotli compression delivers faster page load times
Best Magento automation tool for: Protecting against security threats automatically and enhancing page load time.
Tip for using Performance Shield for Magento automation: Use Nexcess Performance Shield to enhance page load time and strengthen the security of your site.
Nexcess Performance Shield pricing: Nexcess Performance Shield starts at $5 per month per site and can be purchased directly from the customer portal.
2. Ansible
Ansible is an open source automation software that's perfect for Magento 2 DevOps automation. It uses a simple, declarative language that simplifies automating repetitive processes, managing configurations, and deploying changes to your Magento 2 store.
Some ways Ansible helps you automate Magento DevOps include creating offsite backups, pulling the latest code from Git, clearing caches, and running database optimizations. You can also use it with Docker to streamline infrastructure management as you scale.
Key features:
- Playbooks and roles for defining tasks and configurations.
- Supports Docker containerization.
- Extensible with custom modules and plugins.
- Integrates with popular version control systems.
- Easy to deploy and scalable.
Best Magento automation tool for: Magento DevOps automation.
Tip for using Ansible for Magento automation: Use variables in your Ansible playbooks to refer to Magento configuration files instead of hardcoding values. That way, you can customize configurations for different environments or deployments.
Ansible pricing: The open source version is free to use. Pricing for the managed Ansible Automation Platform is provided on request and usually costs upwards of $10,000 per year.
3. Brightpearl
Brightpearl is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for omnichannel businesses. It integrates with Magento and helps centralize everything from orders, payments, and inventory across multiple channels.
Brightpearl excels at automating inventory management for Magento with features like multichannel inventory management and real-time inventory updates. It offers powerful reporting tools and useful features like automatic credit memos to speed up your operations.
Key features:
- Real-time inventory updates.
- Stock control and automated reordering.
- Demand forecasting.
- Detailed reporting and analytics.
- Multi-source inventory management with concurrent checkout prevention.
Best Magento automation tool for: Streamlining Magento 2 inventory management.
Tip for using Brightpearl for Magento automation: Use Brightpearl's API to integrate with your accounting, shipping, and CRM software to get a live overview of inventory across all systems.
Brightpearl pricing: Brightpearl provides quotes on a case-by-case basis as it calculates pricing based on the size of your store and the features needed.
4. Zapier
Zapier is a no-code tool that helps you build robust integrations between multiple applications using a simple drag-and-drop interface. You can use it to create conditional automations between your Magento store and other applications using the Magento API.
Zapier provides several pre-built integrations and lets you design custom ones in minutes. It's the perfect tool for automating unique order processing workflows like notifying specific departments for certain orders or creating tasks in a project management software.
Key features:
- Ready-to-use templates for Magento.
- Connects with 5,000+ applications.
- Intuitive drag-and-drop automation builder.
- Supports multi-step, conditional workflows.
- Fully customizable automation with paths, filters, and webhooks.
Best Magento automation tool for: Creating Magento order processing automation without code.
Tip for using Zapier for Magento automation: Use Zapier's conditional logic statements to create dynamic workflows. For example, set up workflows for orders with customization or trigger notifications for international orders with special instructions.
Zapier pricing: Free plan supports up to 5 single-step Zaps and 100 monthly tasks. Paid plans start from $29.99 paid monthly with support for up to 20 multi-step Zaps and 750+ monthly tasks.
5. Amasty Customer Segmentation
The Amasty Customer Segmentation extension for Magento 2 is a powerful tool for automating customer segment creation. It lets you specify complex segmentation rules based on criteria like purchase history, demographics, and interests.
Once you create customer segments, Amasty's extension automatically updates them based on customer data changes. That ensures you don't need to audit, edit, or refine customer segments manually and can focus on creating high-conversion Magento marketing automation campaigns.
Key features:
- Rule-based and automatic customer segmentation.
- Automatic customer segment refreshes.
- Works with the built-in Magento price rules.
- CSV and XML exports.
- Compatible with all Amasty extensions.
Best Magento automation tool for: Segmenting customers based on attributes such as cart contents, demographics, orders, and product views.
Tip for using Amasty Customer Segmentation for Magento automation: Use the Amasty Customer Segmentation extension with the default Magento cart price rules to create segment-based marketing strategies.
Amasty Customer Segmentation pricing: $199 for Magento Open Source stores with product updates and support for up to 12 months. Extended support and updates are available for $125 per year.
6. HubSpot Marketing Hub
HubSpot's Marketing Hub is a marketing automation platform that provides you with the tools to create high-performing marketing campaigns. According to data from BuiltWith, it's the top marketing automation platform in the world, used by over 533,000 live websites.
HubSpot offers a dedicated integration for Magento that enables real-time data exchange between your store and HubSpot Marketing Hub. You can use the integration to create customer segments and track leads from your Magento 2 marketing automation campaigns.
Key features:
- Automated email marketing campaigns.
- Lead scoring and nurturing with email drip campaigns.
- Visual workflow building.
- Customer segmentation.
- Custom dashboards for analytics and reporting.
Best Magento automation tool for: Setting up marketing automation for Magento 2.
Tip for using HubSpot Marketing Hub for Magento automation: Use Marketing Hub's Smart Content feature to create dynamic landing pages that offer personalized recommendations based on customer attributes like past interactions or purchase history.
HubSpot Marketing Hub pricing: Free plan with limited features and up to 2,000 monthly email sends. Paid plans start from $18 per month when paid annually.
7. Nosto
Nosto is a personalization platform that can help you automate personalized marketing. It integrates seamlessly with Magento 2 and allows you to deliver targeted product recommendations, content, and shopping experiences to your customers.
Nosto is fully customizable and lets you personalize everything from emails to website searches using NLP and deep learning. Its algorithms learn and improve with every interaction to deliver market-leading personalizations for your business.
Key features:
- Advanced, continuously evolving personalization algorithms.
- Powerful product recommendation engine.
- Site-wide content personalization.
- Dynamic upsell and cross-sell bundles.
- In-store personalization for omnichannel businesses.
Best Magento automation tool for: Automating personalizations across online and offline channels.
Tip for using Nosto for Magento automation: Incorporate social proof into your personalizations to establish credibility and maximize conversions.
Nosto pricing: Nosto offers an Incubator plan that costs €99 (approximately $108) per month for onsite product recommendations for businesses that generate less than €2 million (approximately $2.18 million) in annual revenue.
8. Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a popular email marketing platform that offers helpful features such as automated email sequences and customer journey building to set up email automation for Magento. It provides an official extension to sync data between your store and Mailchimp.
Mailchimp simplifies building email marketing automation for Magento with cart abandonment, newsletter subscription, and product retargeting email flows. It also helps you improve email open rates and conversions with A/B tests for email content, timing, and subject lines.
Key features:
- User-friendly automation builder.
- Predictive segmentation.
- A/B testing.
- Automated customer journey personalization.
- AI-based email content generator.
Best Magento automation tool for: Creating personalized email campaigns.
Tip for using Mailchimp for Magento automation: Integrate Magento with Mailchimp to get insights into purchase likelihood and customer lifetime value using Mailchimp's advanced data modeling algorithms.
Mailchimp pricing: Free plan for up to 500 contacts and 1,000 monthly email sends. Paid plans start from $2.32 monthly for 500 contacts and 5,000 email sends.
9. Zendesk
Zendesk is a popular customer service platform that offers features for streamlining and automating customer support with Magento. It helps you centralize your customer service operations and provide customer support at scale.
Zendesk's ticketing system makes it easy to manage customer inquiries, and its knowledge base tool empowers your customers to find answers on their own. Zendesk also offers AI-powered features such as agent assistance and auto triage to automate customer service.
Key features:
- AI-powered chatbot.
- Customer behavior monitoring.
- Ticket creation and routing automation.
- Multiple self-service tools like knowledge base, FAQs, and live chat.
- Customer sentiment analysis and agent assistance tools.
Best Magento automation tool for: Automating customer service operations with Magento 2.
Tip for using Zendesk for Magento automation: Build an AI chatbot with Zendesk's chatbot builder to minimize your customer service team's workload and improve customer satisfaction.
Zendesk pricing: Free 14-day trial for the Suite Professional plan. Paid plans start from $49 per agent per month, billed annually.
10. Trustpilot
Trustpilot offers a range of features for automating product review requests and customer feedback collection with Magento. It's easy to set up and allows you to start collecting product and customer reviews for your store in minutes.
Trustpilot lets you automatically invite customers to leave reviews after they make a purchase. It even helps you moderate reviews before they are published to help you control your ecommerce brand image.
Key features:
- Automated review invitations.
- Easy to integrate TrustBox widgets.
- Review image generator to promote your best reviews.
- AI-powered sentiment analysis.
- Automatic fraud detection and protection against fake reviews.
Best Magento automation tool for: Automating product review and customer feedback collection with Magento 2.
Tip for using Trustpilot for Magento automation: Add social proof to your product pages with Trustpilot's Product Reviews feature to improve product page SEO and increase conversions.
Trustpilot pricing: Free plan with up to 100 review invitations per month. Paid plans start from $250 per domain per month for 500 verified reviews.
Managed Magento hosting with Nexcess
Managed Magento hosting with Nexcess gives you access to performance-optimized hosting that can scale with demand. We also give you API access to your Client Portal so you can automate your hosted application management workflows.
Hosting your Magento store with Nexcess ensures you have a solid technical foundation that supports your automation efforts. With 24/7/365 support from Magento experts, we help you focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences without compromising on performance.
Ready to automate your Magento store?
Magento automation helps maximize efficiency as your business grows. But remember, automating an online store isn't a one-time thing — it's an ongoing process. Take your time, be strategic, and choose a Magento hosting provider that can support your long-term growth.
Managed Magento hosting with Nexcess gives you fast loading speeds, reliable uptime, and unparalleled support. We handle the technicalities of hosting Magento 2 so you can focus on what matters: growing your online store.
Hosting your store with a different provider? No worries. We provide a free premium migration service to help you switch with minimal downtime.
Browse our managed Magento hosting plans to get started today.
