Many entrepreneurs swear by the significance of outsourcing in their businesses. Outsourcing ecommerce tasks does wonders in increasing a solopreneur’s overall productivity and reserving time for attending to high-level projects.
Outsourcing is also one of the reasons why virtual assistants are deemed essential in e-Commerce. They make operations flow smoother, and the variety of tasks you can outsource to VAs are immense.
We put together the top 10 e-commerce tasks you can easily outsource to your virtual assistants:
10 Tasks to Outsource to an Ecommerce VA
1. Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping, or the task of recording significant financial transactions, is fundamental in making strategic plans. You can easily outsource this task to your virtual assistants even if they are not certified public accountants.
Although we still highly recommend getting an accountant to make proper audits and financial statements for your business, bookkeeping is one task you can take off your plate and outsource to your VA.
2. Customer Service
Attending to your customers’ needs should be highly prioritized. Don’t let an irate customer stain the branding of your business.
It is vital to outsource customer service to well-experienced and compelling individuals to ensure that your customers will feel heard and their concerns are appropriately addressed. This task is best suited for virtual assistants with a background in customer service, for they are used to dealing with angry customers and understanding their needs.
Utilizing software tools can also be helpful in customer service. Tools like TextExpander will make the task easier for you and your virtual assistant.
3. Data Entry
Data entry is one of the most tedious and time-consuming tasks in e-commerce. This task requires one’s patience and meticulousness to be able to carry out the job well.
Data entry is another task that can be easily outsourced to virtual assistants since it doesn’t require high-level skills but just your VA’s focus and accuracy. You will rarely encounter problems in outsourcing data entry for its simplicity.
The critical reason why you should leave this task in the hands of your virtual assistant is that it can take so much of your time. Give your energy to conceptualizing new strategies for your e-commerce business, and be rest assured that your data entry task is safe in the hands of your virtual assistants.
4. General Research
Researching market trends, demographics, competitions, suppliers, consumers, and statistics is critical if you want to generate useful information. These are just a few of the many topics that your virtual assistant can research for you and your business.
Assessing your competition, trends and keeping up with the latest statistics is essential if you want to stay relevant in the market. General research can take up your time if you get your hands on doing the task. That is why it is best to outsource this task to virtual assistants since they have the experience in efficiently doing it.
5. E-Commerce Management/Product Sourcing
If you are one of those who utilize the popular online selling platforms such as Amazon, Shopify, eBay, and Etsy, then having a virtual assistant can significantly benefit you.
E-Commerce management is a vital task in your operations. As an entrepreneur who utilizes the online platform to connect with consumers and suppliers, you have to ensure that you are on top of the game.
Product sourcing is essential too. The saturation of your market can make it challenging for your business to stand out. Hire a VA that would delegate their time into researching products and suppliers that would significantly impact your sales.
Find an excellent virtual assistant that can do this task for you and one that would go the extra mile to obtain success in doing it. Look out for e-commerce virtual assistants that can manage inventory, optimize listings, find reliable suppliers, and process orders and returns.
6. Basic Photo Editing
Having virtual assistants who specialize in specific tasks while having basic photo editing skills on top of it is a catch. Most of today’s e-commerce virtual assistants carry with them a basic knowledge of Photoshop and other photo editing platforms that make it easier for entrepreneurs like you to carry out this simple task without spending a bucket.
This task can be added to your virtual assistant’s main job since it doesn’t take up that much effort and time. Consider hiring a freelance graphic artist for advanced photo editing needs to do the job at a higher rate.
7. Invoicing
Invoicing is one of the simplest but vital tasks in e-commerce. Outsource the responsibility of invoicing to your virtual assistant that has an excellent eye for any miscalculations to avoid overcharging or undercharging your customers. You would not want to lose a sale or client if you can’t ensure proper invoicing.
8. Excel Spreadsheet Tasks
Excel spreadsheet tasks can include organizing workbooks, creating a formula, filtering, conditioning, analyzing data, facilitating software development, integrating with other software, and building complex macros. These are several tasks that are under Excel and require varying skill sets.
Invest in virtual assistants with commendable Excel knowledge and outsource this task to them. With this, your analytics and business processes can perform better.
9. Responding to Online Reviews + Comments
To truly establish your brand in the market, you have to connect with your target market and potential consumers. Outsourcing the task of responding to online reviews and comments to a virtual assistant will save you time and relieve you the stress from trolls or hate comments.
This task is essential in getting the loyalty of your consumers. Listen to their concerns and take necessary actions. Responding to online reviews and comments is good for publicity, building strategies, improving your brand, and will surely get your business a pool of loyal consumers.
10. Personal Inbox Management
As an entrepreneur who puts in the effort to be on top of the game, you need to consider outsourcing this task to your virtual assistant, even if that means less personal time.
Your virtual assistant can filter the hundreds of emails you receive per day according to their relevance to you and your business. Outsourcing personal inbox management relieves you the hassle of going through each of them to ensure that you don’t miss any information. Your virtual assistant will do it for you.
With a VA that can manage your inbox, you’d have more time to do essential e-commerce activities and take a break.
Tips in Hiring Ecommerce Virtual Assistants
1. Determine the Tasks to Outsource
In hiring E-commerce VAs, the first thing that you need to do is determine the tasks you want to outsource. This is a vital starting point for you to achieve your Outsourcing goals and manage expectations for your virtual assistants.
Narrow down the most essential and needed tasks to outsource. By then, you would have a clear vision of who to look for and skills to require.
2. Check on their Cultural Fit
Culture makes up the primary belief system and attitude of a person. Check on your prospect virtual assistants’ cultural fit to ensure that you share similar goals and outlook with them. By taking note of this tip, you are assured that misunderstandings will rarely happen in the organization.
3. Make and Keep an Updated Job Description
A common mistake of employers is that they do not keep job descriptions updated. Making and keeping in check an updated job description gives you and potential VAs a clear view of the organization’s goals.
In this way, you can agree on things or make compensations. From the e-commerce perspective, this relieves you of the job of repeating and explaining yourself every time you look for virtual assistants.
4. Consider Outsourcing from the Philippines
We can attest to the efficacy of virtual assistants from the Philippines. Aside from their outstanding work ethics, we found that their goals are best suited for our organization. Additionally, the price of Outsourcing from the Philippines is relatively lower than that of the U.S.’
5. Look into the Red Flags
Minimal red flags are still red flags. Many employers disregard minimal red flags in the hiring process since they are not that pressing. But take note of red flags in the initial stage, for this might cause severe issues for your business.
Read this article for more tips on how to effectively hire and remotely manage virtual assistants.
Conclusion
Manage your operations effectively with the help of Outsourcing and VAs. Don’t let minor tasks set you back on the potential of your e-commerce. Keep in mind these tips and tricks to ensure high productivity within your organization.Utilize this list to kick start your entrepreneurial journey in e-commerce. Remember that there are hundreds of other tasks you can outsource and tips that you can learn to hire the right virtual assistant. So, do proper research and trust only the proven and tested outsourcing course on the internet.
This was a guest post by Connor Gillivan
Connor Gillivan is currently an Owner of OutsourceSchool.com. He has been building businesses with virtual teams for the past 10 years and recently exited FreeUp.net in 2019. He regularly shares his advice on scaling companies online and has been featured on 200+ websites. He resides in Denver, CO.
