Running an eCommerce business is tough – especially for small to midsize companies. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.

Not only do you have to run your business, you also have to manage your online store. You have to update products, add new products, update prices, manage promotions, handle shipping, provide customer support – the list is endless.

However, as a business owner, it’s better to spend your time doing what you do best – running and growing your company. But that’s not to say the routine tasks and administrative duties aren’t important because they absolutely are.

I’m just saying maybe you should outsource those jobs to some eCommerce virtual assistants who can help you run your website, freeing up your time to focus on the more strategic aspects of your business that can increase revenue.

There are any number of virtual assistant services – both domestic and off shore – you can turn to if you’re looking for skilled people to help you become more productive. And you can contract of their services for much less money than hiring full-time employees. You can Google the phrases “virtual assistant” and/or “eCommerce virtual assistant” to find such services.

To get you started, here are seven eCommerce tasks you can outsource to your virtual assistant team:

1. Customer Service: To be successful, you have to keep your customers happy. But that’s a time-consuming job. A virtual assistant with good customer service skills can answer customer questions via phone, live chat, email and on social media. He can answer questions in real-time for customers almost ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, tactfully handle dissatisfied customers, deal with shipments that are lost and more.

A virtual assistant can guide customers through the sales process while they’re still on your website, increasing your conversion rates by offering human support at the time of purchase. Additionally, while the virtual assistant is interacting with your customers, he can identify opportunities for cross-selling and upselling.

2. Order Processing: A virtual assistant can handle processing your company’s orders including order entry, shipment and invoicing. So let him compile the orders, send customer invoices to your drop-ship vendors and/or shipping companies, and other daily tasks.

3. Returns/Exchanges: Your virtual assistant can manage the returns and exchanges of products for you. He can communicate directly via email with customers and suppliers to set up product returns, exchanges and refunds.

4. Manage Inventory: If your virtual assistant is skilled in inventory management, he can monitor stock levels, update your website to reflect the stock your suppliers have on-hand and in their warehouses, and let you know when you need to replenish certain products.

5. Order Products: Not only can your virtual assistant manage your inventory, he can keep your virtual shelves stocked. He can work with your suppliers, send invoices to accounts payable and handle getting stock into your warehouse or anywhere else it needs to be.

6. Website Maintenance: After you set up your eCommerce site, you have to manage it consistently. A virtual assistant with the right qualifications can ensure that your website is offering your customers seamless shopping experiences with no errors.

Your virtual assistant can:

• Update web pages if you make any changes to your prices, services, add or subtract products, or even add new team members.
• Check for broken links.
• Format images to be sure they are of the highest quality.
• Update copyright date to ensure it’s current. An out-of-date copyright on your website could cause visitors to think you’re out of business.
• Add the latest news about your business. Do you have a “latest news” section on your website? If you do, your virtual assistant can keep this section updated for you with current news about your business. There’s nothing quite as bad as having news that’s six months old on your “latest news” page.

7. Writing/Submitting Press Releases: If your virtual assistant has the right skills, he can write your press releases for you and submit them to the press release websites. If you’d rather write your press releases, your virtual assistant can still set up the accounts with the press release websites and submit them for you.

So, if you’d rather spend time growing your eCommerce business instead of spending it on administrative tasks, maybe hiring a virtual assistant can help you refocus your efforts.

E-commerce is a complex business. Not that it requires any special qualification or knowledge to manage it, however there are different aspects to it which need to be looked into and managed simultaneously.

Website maintenance, shopping cart management, product listing, inventory management, customer service, returns & exchanges etc entail a lot of work.

Now I know you’re all this is too much for an ecommerce business owner to manage it all by himself or his in-house team. An e-commerce virtual assistant is the answer. E-commerce Virtual assistants are individuals who have the requisite skill and experience to carry out the tasks.

Most e-commerce virtual assistants have prior experience handling e-commerce businesses and therefore are well aware of the techniques to get the job done smoothly and effectively. They are assets to the business and prove to be really cost-effective as opposed to hiring a full-time employee.

An e-commerce assistant takes things off your plate and allows you time to do things that you should be doing as a business owner or CEO. Therefore it’s a good bet to outsource e-commerce operations to e-commerce virtual assistants.

However you cannot just go for any e-commerce assistant, it depends on the functions that you wish to outsource. Consider carefully the tasks that you are planning to outsource and then decide judiciously. Compiled below are some of the skills you must look for when hiring e-commerce virtual assistants so that you too can accelerate your business with their help.

CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS – This is a very essential skill that you should look for in a VA if you are looking to outsource customer service functions after all, it is of utmost importance to keep your customers happy.

An e-commerce VA who has prior experience in customer service will be able to effectively filter out queries, complaints and feedbacks and deal with each one. He will be able to handle irate and dissatisfied customers who are unhappy with their experience and come up with an amicable solution.

DATA ENTRY SKILLS – Another important task which does not require any particular education skill or qualification but experience does help.

There is a huge amount of data to be entered in e-commerce. Listing different products on the website and on different e-commerce marketplaces with correct specifications, prices etc. Uploading different images with proper editing etc all require sufficient amount of time which e-commerce business owners simply don’t have to spare.

 What’s more it requires high level of accuracy and diligence to do the task. No wonder it ranks high in the list of outsourced tasks. Generally all e-commerce assistants have experience in entering large volumes of data. They are capable of both entering data manually as well as in bulk using the software.

RESEARCH SKILLS

The CRM or ERP you are using may be able to reveal data about your own operations, product, performance etc but in order to grow and excel in the industry you need to know what your competitors are doing, consumer research, surveys etc. This will give you a lot of insights about your future growth plans and strategies.

A perfect e-Commerce VA should be proficient in sourcing information and data from the internet or be able to spy on competition using certain software. He or she should also be adept at analyzing volumes of data, interpreting data etc and then make a report out of it for you to go through and gather information about your areas, of improvements, your weaknesses and future opportunities.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT – Inventory management encompasses complete supply chain management in an e-commerce company. Keeping track of stocks, updating the website with correct stock levels, maintaining order pipeline and coordinating the same with warehouse for fulfillment of orders requires both experience of sales operations as well as knowledge of inventory management concepts and supply chain.

An ideal e-commerce VA should be an expert at monitoring things and also possess effective coordination so as to fulfill orders. In case you are using any tool or software, the VA should be adept at using it. He should be able to analyze data to know when to place orders with the vendors when the stock gets low.

 He or she should apply due diligence as lack of inventory can result in orders getting delayed or eventually cancelled which can impact sales, alternatively too much inventory can result in blockage of funds which could have been used up in other areas.

E-COMMERCE SEO – Knowledge of SEO is probably one of the most important things to keep in mind when hiring a VA for your e-commerce operations. As an e-commerce store owner, product data entry and product listing is probably one of the first tasks you would think of outsourcing.

Optimizing your listing is important in order to rank for your user’s searches. The more effective your listings are, the higher will be your rank and visibility which would eventually translate into sales. Product listing requires entering product details correctly and accurately, researching keywords to be incorporated into product titles and descriptions, writing attractive descriptions so as to capture the buyer’s attention etc.

Use of proper images with appropriate tags is also an essential component of product listing you cannot ignore. A skilled VA should know the use of keywords, should be able to use available software for keyword research and SEO which will help him make the necessary modifications time to time to affect the rankings.

USE OF AUTOMATION TOOLS AND SOFTWARE – Finally an efficient e-Commerce VA should at least have the knowledge (experience of using it will obviously be an added advantage!) of various automation tools and software that are available for e-commerce businesses.

These tools help streamline the process and help you complete tasks quickly and efficiently. Below are some of the commonly used tools and software by e-commerce businesses all over:-

• Magento, Shopify and WooCommerce – All of these are e-commerce management systems and platforms used to build e-commerce websites. This platform come with custom integrations and features that aid in the seamless operations of your e-commerce businesses. For instance, easy shopping cart integrations and payment gateway etc.

• Ecomdash – Multi-channel order and inventory management software that lets you manage product levels across warehouses, real-time inventory updates, automatic order syncing and tracking details.

• Consistent Cart – Tool for automating abandoned cart recovery, push notifications and add to cart pop-ups etc.

• Inventory Source – Drop-ship automation software to help you manage inventory and shipments directly from vendor’s warehouse.

• Zen Desk – For customer service, live chat systems and help desk interface.

To conclude, all the skills mentioned above pertain to specific areas of expertise and therefore it may not be possible for a single VA to possess all the above-mentioned skills. It entirely depends on your requirement and the task you are planning to outsource. For instance if you are planning to outsource data entry task, it is important for you to look for someone with data entry skills and experience rather than an SEO expert. It is very important for you to hire the right person for the right task so as to reap all the benefits of outsourcing.

Successfully running an e-commerce business is a tough task, whether it is a brand or a mid-sized company. We all agree to this fact, so what next? An e-commerce Virtual Assistant is definitely a savior in this situation.

If you have an e-commerce store, you have to do a lot of your task all by yourself. Updating products, adding new products, updating prices, managing promotions, handling shipping, providing customer service, the list never ends.

If you are a business owner, it is best for you to run and grow your business. Your main focus should always be to help your company reach greater heights. That’s definitely not to say the daily and administrative tasks are not important. Rather, they are usually time-consuming.

It becomes crucial for a business to handle the tasks all by itself.  That is why it is always important to look out for an outsourcing company or probably an e-commerce virtual assistant, who can help you run your online store. And you are now freeing more time to focus on the strategic approach to grow your business so that your revenue increases.

There are countless e-commerce virtual assistant services, especially offshore services, which you can utilize depending on the needs of your e-commerce business or any type of business you have. Outsourcing the services costs less too. They are skilled and know how to carry out their tasks, helping you to become more productive. And a contract with your virtual assistant costs much less than hiring full-time employees.

Here are the 7 e-commerce tasks you can outsource to your virtual assistant team:

1. Website maintenance: After you started your e-commerce website, you have to manage it constantly to optimize your website and make sure there are no mistakes. A qualified virtual assistant will help you to manage the e-commerce store for you and ensure that your customers are having flawless shopping experiences with zero errors.

Your E-Commerce Virtual Assistant would do the following:

• Update web pages if you changed your price or services, add products or delete the products if not being sold as well as adding new team members.

• Check if there are any broken links and fix the same.

• Ensure the images used for products are of the highest quality to enhance its appearance.

• Update your copyright date to ensure it’s up to date.  An outdated copyright date would make people think you are no longer in business or misuse data.

• Keep on writing ‘latest news’ about your business. If you do not have the latest news section, your e-commerce VA will help to build the page and update it regularly to engage your customers.

1. Inventory Management:  Virtual assistant will help you with inventory management. An e-commerce VA who has good knowledge of inventory management will monitor your stocks and the level of stocks. They will also update your website depending on the availability of products that the suppliers have on-hand and in their warehouse. They will inform you whether you need to refill certain products in your inventory.

1. Order processing:  Orders are important for any kind of business, especially in an e-commerce setting. An e-commerce VA will handle your company’s orders, like order entry, shipping and invoicing.  They will compile the orders, and send invoices to your customers via drop-shipping companies or shipping companies, as well as other daily tasks related to order management.

1. Stock Management: Your e-commerce Virtual Assistant will not only help with inventory management but will keep your stocks filled.  He would work with your suppliers, send bills and invoices to account payables, manage to keep your virtual shelves and warehouses filled so you do not have to worry about stock refilling.

1. Return of Orders:  It is very important for an e-commerce business to contact their customers whenever they want to return certain product and help make returning products easier for them. Your virtual assistant will manage any return of products. They would communicate directly with the customers and suppliers via email to help them return the product with ease and initiate refunds.

1. Customer Service: Customers are very important for any type of business. And a good business always works harder to make their customers feel happy and satisfied. But customer service is a time-consuming task. Your virtual assistant, skilled in customer service skills can answer customer’s queries via email, phone or chat in real-time. They would also handle any unsatisfied customer smartly to retain them.  Not only this, the VA would help customers regarding lost shipments and products.

1. Writing and Submitting Press Releases: If your virtual assistant is proficient in writing, they would write press releases and submit them on PR websites to gain more traffic to your e-commerce store. This would improve sales considerably.

So why do you think most e-commerce businesses always works with a Virtual assistant team? The reason is quite simple; they free up enough time so that they can focus on the game plan needed to grow their business, instead of using this valuable time on daily administrative tasks which they can gain through an e-commerce virtual assistant.  Your e-commerce VA should be your best bet if you want growth of your business.

Hiring an ecommerce virtual assistant for your online business is a game changer. With the right person to help you with day-to-day tasks, you will change your perspective of running an ecommerce business from daunting to downright profitable. Imagine the number of sales your social media, or SEO, or PPC campaign can drive if you have a skilled assistant to scale up your operations.

Find out the type of work that you can outsource to a remote freelancer.

But first thing’s first.

What is an ecommerce virtual assistant and why do you need one for your business?

Virtual assistants are typically individual contractors who work remotely for business owners. They have a diverse skill set which can range from administrative to creative, and technical with specific specializations. Digital freelance platforms like FreeeUp that specialize in ecommerce have a great network of global talents that you can pick from. They are capable of handling work professionally despite the independence. You will interact with them through online channels all the time and their commitment to communication is top grade.

With the sustained rise of the gig economy, these freelancers continue to prove that they are more than just a skill asset to companies. They have the expertise to contribute significant ideas to current business processes. A reliable assistant working hard in the background will allow you to focus on bigger things and achieve greater heights for your business.

What kind of tasks do you need to outsource?

Marketing plays a major role in the growth of any type of business. Digital marketing is especially popular as most businesses have adopted the ecommerce trend and moved to online platforms. It is one of the most anticipated skills that business owners look for.

Apparently, marketing tasks – and there are a lot – are quite important to lead your business to success. An ecommerce virtual assistant can support your social strategy and together, build your audience and increase the value of your brand. Here are essential marketing tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant.

1. Social Media Management

Social media is essential to every ecommerce business. Billions of consumers spend several hours on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube account every day. Because of the convenience that the internet provides, customer expectations have also increased. One post per week is no longer enough to keep your audience engaged. Queries and feedback should be acknowledged as fast as possible. Generally, shoppers enjoy the ease of getting what they want at a tap of a finger. Managing several social media pages for your business require skill, patience and an awful lot of time.

Here’s an overview of what a virtual assistant will do for your social media accounts each day.

• Organize a social media calendar to schedule what type of content will be posted for every day of the week.
• Create content which can range from photo posts to videos, curated content, or even an original article.
• Use several project management tools to schedule posts, track, and monitor audience impact.

2. Facebook Group Management

Facebook groups are becoming increasingly popular these days as it shows to be a better avenue for customer engagement. As a leading brand in your industry, you have to demonstrate your expertise in your own field. Building a community of followers and experts alike who see you as an influencer is great for promoting yourself and your business. Being an expert needs continuous input of knowledge and there is a myriad of ways to learn. Having your own Facebook group will strengthen your position and provide a place where you can exchange ideas with people who work and think the same as you do.

But you won’t have time to lurk on Facebook every day, will you? After all, you need to run your business to back up your claims as an expert in your business. This is where an ecommerce virtual assistant will be valuable. He or she will:

• Moderate your Facebook group which includes approving and rejecting member requests, posts, and comments.
• Posting substantial content that can start a topic among your followers.
• Monitor and respond to comments and direct messages in your inbox.

3. Blog Writing

Many ecommerce marketing experts believe that content is KING. For the most part, articles being published on your blog generate traffic to your website or e-store with the use of SEO. You take all visitors of your site to be potential buyers, so you want as many of them as possible. However, the other benefit of blog writing – one that is less understood by business owners – is that great content can convert readers to loyal customers and not just one-time buyers. That is why it is always worth it to spend some of your marketing resources on maintaining a blog for your ecommerce business.

Writing is a special skill that most virtual assistants possess. Since they work on social media posts, ad campaigns, and SEO, they are adept in using words to engage customers and convert them into sales. There are plenty of other writing tasks that you can assign to an assistant, found below.

4. Product Listing

This task focuses on writing product descriptions for your website or e-store. How you describe your product is your ultimate selling point to get direct sales. A great virtual assistant should be able to rank your product page on top of search engine results and write an effective sales pitch to compel a visitor to click on “buy.”

5. Email Marketing

Your email list is a powerful tool in driving sales, strengthening engagement, and building brand loyalty altogether. Your marketing begins with collecting leads which an experienced ecommerce virtual assistant can take charge of. Furthermore, he or she knows how to create engaging content that will convert read emails to sales. Virtual assistants also know how to take care of responsive customers and use them to advertise your brand.

6. PPC Advertising

Advertising is one of the tasks wherein you will need an assistant who is particularly experienced in setting up ad campaigns. Pay-per-click has one of the highest ROI in digital marketing. If you want to focus your resources on that strategy, it is best to get an assistant who is an expert in creating, managing, and analyzing PPC advertising campaigns.

7. SEO

By all accounts, SEO is very useful for all kinds of content that are used in digital marketing efforts – be it for your social media, blog, product copy, or pay-per-click ads. Whoever get onto the first pages of Google search results hoards the traffic and has the highest chances of getting sales. In my experience, SEO is not a task that you can assign to an untrained professional. It requires knowledge and experience to be able to do the following:

• Keyword research while taking into account recent trends and changes in Google search algorithms.
• Proper link building.
• Setting up backlinks for your website.

Although it may appear that freelancers are very capable, you must understand that not all the skills you need to run your business can be found in one person. There are specific functions which focus on an area of expertise. Whether you need to hire one or two assistants will depend on how you assess your business processes and identify the ones you can utilize. Below are even more specialized tasks that you can outsource to one or more ecommerce virtual assistants.

8. Web and Graphic Design

Ecommerce creative designers work on a range of tasks for your business. They are adept at working in an ecommerce environment and understand that in this industry, designing is more than just being creative. These virtual assistants have a good grasp on what consumers would like to experience on your website.

9. Fulfillment Services

Most e-store business owners experience a challenge in fulfillment services, especially tasks that fall under inventory management, which can easily become overwhelming. Failing to balance your time between checking inventory, downloading barcodes and product labels, and tracking shipments can cost you a lot! An ecommerce virtual assistant specializing in fulfillment has probably been doing these tasks for years and hiring one will definitely save your business.

10. Customer Service

Awesome customer service is like the icing on top of a great shopping experience. Established companies invest in customer support because they believe that it is one of the crucial drivers of success. You will need to look for a virtual assistant who has special people skills. He or she should be capable of pacifying irate customers, solving issues, and overall, making buyers feel good about transacting with your brand.

11. Accounting

Accounting is indispensable to every business. Personally, I wouldn’t want to entrust my finances to a non-accounting expert even if the virtual assistant is accomplished in ecommerce work. A mistake in any of these tasks will have a significant effect on your business:

• Bookkeeping
• Tax services
• Preparing invoices and sending out payments
• Paying bills and other financial management activities

Conclusion

Every business owner is busy trying to make a name out there. You, on the other hand, are still thinking about how to keep up with everyday tasks. If you have reached this point in your career as a business owner, perhaps it is time to utilize remote support. Do not think twice of outsourcing to an ecommerce virtual assistant so you can focus more on the growth and development of your company.