In recent years, a growing number of small businesses have begun to use Amazon to sell all kind of products. According to Amazon, half of all sales come from small to mid-sized businesses. Also, more than a million US-based small and medium-sized companies are selling their products on the Amazon marketplace. So, it is likely that you have either thought about selling on Amazon or already are. Considering how big Amazon is, it really makes financial sense to sell on their marketplace. Hiring an Amazon Virtual Assistant from Latin America can also help you with your business. But we’ll talk more about them throughout the article.
The Amazon fulfillment service takes care of the majority of operations behind the sales and delivery of products. However, if you choose not to use their fulfillment option, then as an Amazon seller, you have to handle the majority of customer service and most of the shipping tasks.
Being an Amazon seller carries a number of responsibilities and it is a lot to handle on your own. So, you may need some extra help in managing your Amazon store. A Virtual Assistant can help your business in a number of different ways. One way is with the logistics that come along with running an Amazon store. You may not have the funds or time to hire a full-time worker to run your store. A Virtual Assistant from may be just what you need to balance your time and your budget. They can handle a lot of the small, repetitive, and significant details that go along with running an Amazon store. What can a Virtual Assistant specifically do for your online business?
First, Figure Out What You Need
Before you search for a Virtual Assistant and make the final hire, you should take notice of the skills you need and tasks that you need to be done to make your life easier. It is crucial that you sit down and see where you are spending the most time, and if handling those activities is helping or hurting your business. For example, you might spend a lot of time uploading product images and writing descriptions for your store. As a result, you may be falling behind in managing the logistics of working with vendors or forging new partnerships. So, take the time to understand what skills and activities you need to maximize your time and impact.
Next, we will discuss the various activities that might be best to pass to your Virtual Assistant to make managing your Amazon store more straightforward.
Writing Product Descriptions and Uploading Photos
The logistics of managing the online presence of your products can become challenging to handle. One of the components of this is Amazon store descriptions and product photos. This is a great task to outsource to your Amazon Virtual Assistant from Latin America. Many Virtual Assistants from Latin America are English-speaking and also have experience with writing in the language. Therefore, this is a potential task they can do effectively. You can set up a template depending on the category of item you are selling and guide them on how to word various specs and characteristics using the model. If you have taken photos, you can also allow them to edit and crop them as well as upload them to Amazon.
Manage Keywords and Optimize Your Search Ranking
Amazon does have materials and information on ensuring that your product is found, but much of this is still going to be left up to you. This situation is where a Virtual Assistant can come into play. You may want to look for an Virtual Assistant that has experience in copywriting and SEO. This way, you can use their skills to research, find, and use the best keywords. If they are not well-versed in this skill, then you can offer some training in using tools like Moz, Google Trends, and Yoast to write compelling copy that utilizes the best keywords for your customers to find your business.
Handling Your Social Media Presence
While you may think that most of the work needs to happen on Amazon, savvy entrepreneurs know that social media platforms play a considerable part in awareness. You may want to still take the lead on a social media strategy, but repetitive tasks like posting about your product offerings, creating content around your business, and organizing an editorial calendar may be something you want to pass off to a Virtual Assistant. Your audience is not only going to be searching for your product on Amazon, but many also utilize social media to find the best product offerings. Therefore, it is crucial that you see how you can get some extra help in making your presence known on social media.
Additional Customer Service Support
While Amazon may handle some of the basic customer support services, most of the customer cultivation will fall on you. Considering how crucial the customer experience is for many shoppers today, it is imperative that you put systems in place to take care of your customer’s needs. For example, you may not have the time to receive calls, questions, or meetings with customers and clients during the workday. There may be simple inquiries that a Virtual Assistant can handle instead of you having to take time away from your day. Virtual Assistants can offer some basic technical support help, answer questions over the phone, schedule meetings, or even handle customer complaints or inquiries on social media. Excellent customer service not only satisfies your customers, but it also makes your online business look all the more stable and professional thecork.
Provide Product Guidance and Answer Questions
This aspect was touched on in the previous entry, but it is worth its own mention. Amazon requires all sellers to answer customer questions within 24-hours or face a penalty. As a business owner, this can feel like an impossible task. If you are taking care of some of the marketing, meeting with vendors and suppliers, managing your accounting records, or taking care of high-level activities. Then it may also be challenging to answer a customer inquiry in 24 hours. This situation is why a Virtual Assistant is necessary. This person can be an extension of you and working with your customers to answer product-specific questions. However, for this to work properly, you have to ensure you have trained and empowered your Virtual Assistant to know just as much about your product as you do.
Handle Orders and Updating Prices
Much of this entry will depend on your relationship with your Virtual Assistant and the level of trust you have established with them. Once they have a lot of experience with you and your product, you may want to begin to assign more duties to them that might free you up for other activities. If you are working with vendors or suppliers, you may want to have your Amazon Virtual Assistant handle product and supply orders. This would require them to keep track of inventory and supplies, while also maintaining a working relationship with product vendors and partners. You can also have them take care of pricing updates. If you have several types of products, the practice of keeping track of pricing updates or discounts can be daunting. An Amazon Virtual Assistant can keep up with this information for you, and go through each product on the Amazon Marketplace to update pricing information.
Interacting with Customers on Amazon
Amazon encourages customer interaction and engagement by allowing customers to comment on products. If you have a highly popular product, it is possible for customers to leave several comments about your offerings. Going back to the importance of customer service, it gives your company credibility and shows you care if you acknowledge your customer’s comments. This is where the help of an Amazon Virtual Assistant can become incredibly useful. Help them understand the types of comments they may expect and give them a customizable template for responding to positive and negative reviews. This way, you are able to remain in contact with your clients while also being notified of any serious issues your customers may have with your product.
Conduct Business Research
There may be a time when you want to expand your product offering. While you may have a general idea of what is popular in your industry, some additional information may help you make a definitive decision about what you want to offer. Again, this is where a Virtual Assistant’s services can come in handy. Instead of going through the painstaking process of researching the trends and items that are now popular in your industry, you can hand this task off to an Amazon Virtual Assistant. Have them look through articles related to your field, search the social media accounts of competitors, and even survey past customers about what they would like to see from you.
Final Thoughts about an Amazon Virtual Assistant
While Amazon is an excellent resource for small business to medium-size owners to get their product to the masses, it is also a one-stop-shop for increasing your sales. You still have to answer customer questions, expand your digital presence, and connect with your target audience. These tasks can seem overwhelming, but the help of an Amazon Virtual Assistant they can make life much easier. They can act as an extension of you when it comes to handling the everyday tasks associated with managing your Amazon marketplace. An online business can be just as overwhelming and challenging as handling actual product in a brick and mortar store. Also, much like in running a physical location, it is likely that you are going to need some help. So, take the time to look at hiring an Amazon Virtual Assistant from Latin America. They may be just what you need to reach long-term success. And, of course, the more you train them, the more tasks you can hand over.
