Do you run an online store? Never have enough time to keep up? An ecommerce virtual assistant could be the answer.
After all, your role as a business owner should be to find innovative ways to grow your business. And that’s really difficult to do when you’re bogged down in the daily grind of admin, updates, and site maintenance.
A skilled virtual assistant can take on a surprising number of routine responsibilities, giving you peace of mind while freeing up your valuable time.
Leverage Your Time and Skill
Many business owners – especially those running online businesses – are constantly faced with deadlines and urgent stock or pricing updates. Then there’s the necessity of handling customer requests and sales. It’s a recipe for burnout. For one simple reason: you only have so much time available on any given day.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to make the mistake of painting yourself into a corner. Soon, the business grows to the point where you’re working flat out just to keep up – and often failing. Nothing can crash your business faster than delays or unhappy customers. And it’s best to take on assistance before that happens.
Even if you’re only just considering the feasibility of setting up an online store. You can save a significant amount of time and money by engaging the services of an ecommerce virtual assistant.
Setting Up Shop With An Ecommerce Virtual Assistant
If you’re new to the ecommerce space, getting your business online can seem deceptively simple. (Hint: it’s not.) An ecommerce virtual assistant can help you set up your site and professionally prepare for launch:
- Store setup on the platform of your choice. Whether you’re going for a simple, easy-to-run Shopify store, or exploring the option of a custom-built WordPress website with all the trimmings, it’s a great idea to do it in tandem with someone experienced and knowledgeable. A skilled ecommerce virtual assistant will walk you through the options best suited to your business and set up the basic framework for you.
- Themes and branding. ecommerce sites offer a bewildering range of themes and home page templates – and choosing the right one is critically important. If you’re a professional photographer, you’ll want an image-heavy theme catering for impressive visuals and slideshows. If you offer an accounting service, or are setting up a dropshipping business, you’ll want something better suited, with product panels, banners, and space for lots of text.
- Site navigation. You’ll want to set up your site with growth in mind. This means the site architecture should be designed to allow for later add-ons and easy navigation regardless of size or complexity. An Ecommerce virtual assistant can do this for you in ways that will minimize extensive changes as your business grows, saving you time, money, and stress.
Stay On Top of Important Tasks
- Customer relations management. A good CRM system will enable customers to obtain information, follow up on orders, and receive updates and communications smoothly and seamlessly.
- Payment gateways. Choosing ones that are trusted, easy to use, and compatible with your audience. For a domestic audience, you could use Stripe, but if you’re selling fine art to overseas collectors, you’ll want other options too. Like PayPal or a wire transfer facility. An ecommerce virtual assistant will not only give you great advice here but will help set up and integrate your website payment gateways.
- Buttons and forms. From calls to action, to email subscriber signup fields, your ecommerce website has one purpose: to get customers to buy from you. An experienced virtual assistant will help you design and position the ‘trigger points’ on your online store that most effectively prompt your customers to act.
- Emails and automation. You’ll need an auto-responder that lets a customer know their order is on its way. You’ll also need a well-timed series of emails that invite customers to view similar items, remind them of sales or promotions, and offer them discounts.
These are just very basic setup considerations, but they’re critically important to a well-functioning online store. And even if you’re already in business, it’s a good idea to have a professional virtual assistant help you by handling the admin.
What Else Can an Ecommerce Virtual Assistant do for You?
Setting up your store is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are dozens of tasks you’ll need to get done. Or, even better, hire someone skilled to do them for you. Here are just some of the necessities:
Managing Products and Inventory
A virtual assistant can:
- Upload and prioritize product listings in order of popularity or availability.
- Create, size, and upload your product images.
- Create image-related alt text and product descriptions for better SEO and web visibility.
- Set up and monitor special offers like coupons, limited time discounts, and featured products.
Customer Service
Dealing with customers can be a full-time job, but it doesn’t have to be. A well-trained ecommerce virtual assistant can help you here, too:
- Responding to customer queries on your behalf.
- Providing information on order or delivery progress.
- Handling exchanges or refund requests.
- Screening reviews or comments.
- Responding promptly to social media messaging.
- Keeping your Frequently Asked Questions up to date.
Web Copy and SEO
An ecommerce virtual assistant can work with a copywriter to produce:
- SEO-optimized web copy that will attract organic search traffic and increase your site’s Google ranking.
- Product descriptions and sales pages that convince customers to buy from you.
- Your forms and policies that deal with issues like shipping as well as delivery, returns, and terms and conditions.
- Regular articles and posts (because every business website should have a blog).
Online Marketing
Every business needs consistent, intelligent online marketing – and if you run an online store, even more so. A virtual assistant can take care of this too:
- Monitoring and maintaining your Facebook and Instagram business pages.
- Creating or scheduling marketing content on social media.
- Setting up pay-per-click ads or Facebook ads for you.
- Following up on abandoned carts and customer inquiries.
- Building links to your website for SEO purposes, as well as finding and setting up affiliate links for your business.
- Liaising with visual content creators to produce promotional videos and images for your website and social media platforms.
A Smart Way to Grow Your Business With An Ecommerce Virtual Assistant
As your business grows or fluctuates, so your needs change. It makes sense to have help at hand – and even more sense to keep the arrangement flexible.
With an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’re not incurring the fixed cost of an employee. You’re paying only for the hours worked, and you’re getting tangible, measurable results in return. For smaller businesses, this is a great way to stay within your budget while still being able to grow.
And, because a virtual assistant has already gained a great deal of experience, it’s easier to get up to speed and start seeing results right away.
Ready to grow your online brand?
Book a discovery call today and discover just how an ecommerce virtual assistant can add value to your business.
