- A Day In the Life of an eCommerce Store Owner
- How Can a Virtual Assistant for E-commerce Stores Help?
- So, What’s Next?
- Book a Discovery Call
You and I both know that e-commerce is where it’s at right now and that’s not going to change anytime soon. People are buying and selling goods and services over the Internet all the time these days! In fact, market research suggests that eCommerce is projected to reach $6,995,000,000 in projected market volume by 2029. I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot of money to me! However, we can’t ignore that a lot of money also could mean a lot of work. If you’re juggling everything in your business, it might be time to consider a virtual assistant for e-commerce stores.
A Day In the Life of an eCommerce Store Owner
I’m going to take a stab at what a normal day looks like for you. Does it involve updating products, managing promotions, and providing customer support? What about updating prices, posting to social media, and email marketing? Trust me, any one of those activities could take up a whole day, but chances are, you don’t have time to spend a day on just one activity. In fact, I’m sure you’re doing a lot of multitasking and doing tasks you’re not so great at and totally uninterested in.
The bad news is that those tasks that you’re not so good at and uninterested in are probably still needed. The good news is, you don’t necessarily have to be the one to do them! So, let’s explore what a virtual assistant for e-commerce stores can do to help.
How Can a Virtual Assistant for E-commerce Stores Help?
Technology has come a long way, and as a result, a lot of things can be done online these days. An e-commerce virtual assistant can handle various routine tasks on your behalf so you can focus on the revenue-generating activities in your business. Here are some ideas on what you can start outsourcing today:
#1 Customer Service Tasks
We all know how important customer service is, but we can’t deny that it’s also incredibly time-consuming. Thankfully, a virtual assistant for e-commerce stores who’s skilled in customer support can step in and help you retain your buyers. According to a Statista survey, 40% of U.S. customers remarked that they stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer service. Losing a customer is expensive, with research suggesting that finding a new one is five times more costly than retaining an existing one. Therefore, if you’re having trouble managing customer service tasks on your own, here’s how an e-commerce virtual assistant can help:
- Email support – like responding to questions from leads and clients
- Live chat support using tools like ZenDesk, Zopim, Intercom, LiveChat, and more
- Phone support – following up on missed phone calls, text messages, and voicemails using platforms RingCentral, Grasshopper, Google Voice, etc.
- Helpdesk services
- Upselling products/services
- Providing customers with order updates
- Resolving complaints in a professional manner
#2 Order Processing
Another task that is necessary but takes up a considerable amount of time is order processing. The right e-commerce virtual assistant could:
- Compile the orders
- Send customer invoices to drop-shipping vendors
- Complete order entry
- Update orders with tracking information
- Set up shipments
- And more
#3 Oversee Inventory
Similar to brick and mortar stres, you don’t want to have too little inventory and not be able to keep up with the demand. On the flip side, you also don’t want too much inventory because it’s too costly (and wasteful). Therefore, you need an e-commerce virtual assistant that can skillfully manage inventory and stock. How nice would it be to have someone else:
- Monitor stock levels
- Add new inventory
- Keep track of inventory order times
- Recommend when you need to restock
- Fix barcode errors
- Update your website with the latest stock information for customers
- And more!
#4 Assist with Returns and Exchanges
If you’ve been in business long enough, you know that it’s impossible to please everybody. You can try your darnedest, but sometimes things just don’t meet people’s expectations. When these types of situations occur, it’s helpful to have a virtual assistant for your e-commerce store. They can communicate with your customer and supplier to figure out how to best resolve the issue. Let them handle the product returns, exchanges, and refunds so you can focus on something else.
#5 Copywriting
If you found this article on a search engine, it’s likely a result of good SEO, which is something every business could benefit from. An e-commerce virtual assistant skilled in copywriting can create content that’ll not only make the pages of Google but also have your customers reaching for their wallets. In addition, they can put together a press release so people know about new product launches, partnerships, events, and more!
#6 Marketing Tasks
The digital world is full of marketing opportunities, and if you want a slice of the pie, you have to get in front of people. A digital marketing virtual assistant could assist with social media marketing and/or management, email marketing, PPC, and more!
#7 Website Maintenance
Running an online store means always ensuring your website works and that your customers are having a seamless shopping experience. An e-commerce virtual assistant could assist you with this by:
- Checking and fixing broken links
- Optimize your website for faster page loading times
- Add and format images
- Update copyright date so people don’t think you’re out of business
- Edit product descriptions when needed
- Updating pricing information
- Add/remove items from product lists/collections
- Add blog content
- And more!
So, What’s Next?
Now that you know a few ways that a virtual assistant for e-commerce stores can help you, what are you going to do about it? We know that adding someone to your team is a little intimidating, but it’s definitely worth it with the right fit. Don’t feel like you have to get a virtual assistant for every single task that we mentioned above though. Start off with what you need first and gradually outsource additional responsibilities.
In addition, be careful of looking for ONE virtual assistant to cover all of the above roles. Instead, consider hiring one Virtual Assistant for each category we mentioned above. It’s impossible for one person to be skilled in all areas… and don’t believe someone who says “I can efficiently do it all”. Fortunately, we’re skilled in matching busy professionals like you to the perfect fit when you need it.
Book a Discovery Call
If you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant, book a consultation with us below!