Key Takeaways:
At present, there are over 2.77 million live stores running on the Shopify platform.
47.9% of Shopify stores use Instagram and 29% use Facebook, both of which your Shopify VA will leverage to create a strong online presence for your shop.
21% of U.S. consumers abandon their carts due to slow delivery and 18% abandon their carts because of tedious checkout processes. A Shopify VA can tackle both these issues and ensure high customer satisfaction.
While a custom website may seem like a nice option to run your online store, it comes with high development costs, slow updates and constant maintenance.
In Q1 of 2019, there were 753,977 live stores running on the Shopify platform. Today, this number has jumped to over 2.77 million, proving that more and more businesses are choosing Shopify every day.
Who wouldn’t want a stable and secure ecosystem for their e-commerce store, without codebase headaches?
And if late-night inventory edits or confusing dashboards are bugging you, you can always onboard a virtual assistant for support.
From creating your Shopify account to processing orders, your Shopify VA will be the perfect behind-the-scenes coordinator, running your store effortlessly!
What Is Shopify?
With a whopping 10.32% share, Shopify ranks fourth in the global e-commerce market software category.
Whether you are a hobby creator or a global brand, Shopify is one such e-commerce platform that helps you turn one simple idea into a fully functional store!
Unlike other e-commerce platforms that sell your products for you, Shopify helps you create your own online shop.
From user-friendly dashboards to specialized tools, Shopify facilitates all the necessary components you need to take your business online.
Some of the many reasons Shopify is popular among online businesses are:
- Shopify does not charge a selling fee, only an order processing fee.
- The platform uses subscription plans to provide specialized tools to its sellers based on their needs.
- It also offers a free trial period.
Shopify isn’t only for online sellers. If you are a business owner with a physical shop, you can use Shopify’s ‘Point of Sale’ app. With Shopify POS, you can sell your products in shops and pop-up stores and maintain a brick-and-mortar presence for your business.
But running an online store all by yourself can seem intimidating.
From processing orders to managing shipping and marketing to taking care of customer queries, several tasks need your attention.
This is where Shopify virtual assistants enter!
What Is a Shopify Virtual Assistant?
Shopify virtual assistants are remote professionals with in-depth knowledge about the platform who can take care of the administrative and operational tasks of your Shopify online store.
You can easily delegate tasks like creating your Shopify website, conducting competitor research, assisting with marketing and much more.
With their support, you won’t stress about managing everything by yourself and will be able to run your business smoothly.
Read more: Why Hire Amazon Virtual Assistants for Your E-Commerce Business
Role of a Virtual Assistant for Shopify
The versatility of Shopify virtual assistants makes them a valuable addition to any business.
From general administrative to order processing tasks, here are some things that Shopify VAs can do for your online shop.
Create Your Website
Your online store is the introduction to your business and your products. Having a cohesive image and presence online can help you attract loyal customers.
Working like a standard CMS, Shopify provides its users with all the basic necessities required to build an e-commerce website.
Shopify virtual assistants can help you create a unique online store that stands out from your competitors by:
- Registering for a domain and setting up an account.
- Adding basic store information.
- Customizing the website theme with fonts, colors, images and other brand elements.
- Adding SEO-optimized product listings and content pages to your store.
- Organizing your products into neat categories for easy navigation by users.
- Setting up your billing details, shipping zones and policies.
- Utilizing Shopify security measures, such as SSL certificates, to ensure site security.
Conduct Market Research
To attract customers in a competitive e-commerce landscape, you need solid data on your competitors’ strategies as well as your niche. In-depth market research can give insights and help you tweak your strategies accordingly.
But collecting and sifting relevant data is a time-consuming process. To save time, your Shopify virtual assistant can help you conduct research.
They can gather necessary data, analyze it and provide a useful summary to help you prioritize the information you are reviewing.
Small details, such as pricing, customization and marketing, can sway customer opinions. If your competitors are offering a reduced price for a similar product or adding new customizations to their product, you need to know about these developments.
Shopify VAs can research your competitors, including their pricing and market strategies, so you can upgrade your shop to match their performance.
Shopify VAs can also study consumer behaviors and trends. They can research your target audience to find out what they look for in products. Surveying the buying patterns can allow you to match the existing demand for your product.
Facilitate Online Marketing
You might have a great product, but simply reposting its performance reviews is not enough to increase reach.
To ensure the success of your product, you need a strong marketing strategy.
47.9% of Shopify stores use Instagram and 29% use Facebook to promote themselves. Shopify virtual assistants are aware of the importance of social media marketing to reach a large number of people.
They’ll use different social media platforms to market your products and create a strong online presence for your shop.
Shopify VAs will also leverage other strategies like email marketing and influencer marketing to reach your target audience quickly.
Whether it’s highlighting the USP of your products, captivating consumers through brand storytelling or building a loyal customer base, your dedicated Shopify VA knows their way around strategic marketing.
Read more: Does Your Business Need a Virtual Marketing Assistant?
Provide Customer Service Support
One of the biggest challenges customers face while shopping online is the fear of being ghosted. In fact, research shows that 36% of U.S. consumers have bought an item that was counterfeit or never arrived and wasn’t refunded.
The threat of being scammed can discourage customers from trying out new stores.
When your online shop is the primary communication channel between you and your customers, you cannot compromise on customer service.
A strong customer service strategy dedicated to updating customers, answering their queries and handling refunds can help your shop look more reliable and credible.
While chatbots and AI can send standardized replies to your customers, the scope of offering personalized support by a human customer service rep is unmatched!
Shopify VAs can update your customers about delivery details, reply to customer questions, support them through return/refund procedures and ensure every customer ticket is resolved in record time.
By providing proactive customer service, your Shopify VA will ensure that new customers have no hesitation in buying from your store and existing customers keep coming back for more!
Streamline Order Processing
Selling things online is not a simple process.
It involves many smaller processes, such as acquiring the product, filling inventory, processing orders, generating invoices, taking care of shipping details and ensuring the product reaches your customer on time.
It can be hard to track all these processes for each order and a small mistake can set back your processing timeline. Delays in processing and delivery can also upset customers and discourage them from purchasing from your store again.
In fact, 21% of U.S. consumers abandon their carts due to slow delivery and 18% abandon their carts because of tedious checkout processes.
You can streamline your order processing workflow with the help of a Shopify virtual assistant.
They will:
- Track and update your store’s inventory.
- Update the product listings to match availability.
- Coordinate with suppliers and vendors for timely stock delivery.
- Answer routine customer questions about product availability, order status, payment confirmation, cancellation and return policies.
- Handle bulk orders smoothly.
- Ensure invoices are accurate.
- Assist customers with the checkout process.
- Track orders and send real-time tracking links to customers.
- Coordinate with delivery agents for on-time delivery.
- Verify and manage return/exchange requests in keeping with your store policy.
A hassle-free order processing system will keep your customers happy and satisfied with your store’s service.
As Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, says,
If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.
Happy customers won’t just stay loyal to your brand but will also recommend your store to others, driving organic sales.
Keep Data Records
Imagine you are scaling fast with new orders every hour. Your suppliers are asking for updated stock numbers and customers want quick status updates, but your data is either scattered or outdated.
This is your worst nightmare, isn’t it?
Organized and accurate data records enhance the operational efficiency of your store, improve your decision-making and also ensure legal compliance.
Your Shopify virtual assistant will help you record data systematically. They’ll maintain an organized spreadsheet with real-time inventory data, stock needs, sales predictions, invoices, customer information, return information and more.
They’ll also continuously review and update all records to avoid data duplication or inaccuracy, saving you from costly mistakes.
Why Does Your Shopify Shop Need a Virtual Assistant?
Do you want to increase the efficiency and performance of your Shopify store without taking on additional tasks? Do you wish you could scale your business according to your needs? Do you want to achieve a healthy work-life balance?
A virtual assistant provides many such benefits to you and your business.
Shopify VAs are talented multitaskers—which is why many successful businesses rely on their capabilities to perform day-to-day work.
Here’s why you need a Shopify virtual assistant right now.
Save Time
If you want to run a successful e-commerce business, you need to constantly work on updating your products, enhancing your marketing strategies and attracting more customers.
But focusing on such core tasks is only possible when other time-consuming tasks are taken care of.
A Shopify virtual assistant will take care of tedious tasks like creating a Shopify account, conducting marketing research and keeping accurate data records so you can focus on what’s really important.
You’ll have more time on your hands for both work and rest!
Save Costs
Every smart e-commerce business needs to keep a close eye on its resources and an even closer eye on its expenses. To run a profitable business, you must invest in assets that are cost-effective but bring high value.
A Shopify virtual assistant is one such investment that offers high returns while being economical. With them, unlike an in-office assistant, you don’t have to worry about overhead costs such as rent, equipment or insurance.
Since a Shopify VA is skilled in working with the platform, you save additional costs on training a new employee.
Access Specialized Skills
Shopify virtual assistants bring with them a working knowledge of the e-commerce platform.
Whether it’s the in-depth knowledge of the Shopify dashboard and store setup, inventory management, order processing, digital marketing or customer service, your VA will be well-versed in all these departments.
And if you go for an overseas VA, you enjoy the added benefit of hiring from a global talent pool and accessing specialized skills.
With Zenius, you hire a professional VA who provides the support you need to navigate the Shopify online platform with confidence.
Scale Your Business
Businesses are never static. With the ebb and flow of the market, business needs can change rapidly.
In scenarios where you need to manage high volumes of orders, you’ll need more support.
Busy seasons usually require additional capacity, but hiring permanent in-house staff is not always affordable, especially for small businesses.
Since Shopify VAs are not regular employees, you can hire their services for a specific time period. During peak seasons, when operational demands are high, you can opt for more VAs and scale your business.
Enjoy a Work-Life Balance
The importance of work-life balance can’t be understated.
A burned-out team can lead to low productivity and an increasing number of mistakes.
But running an online shop is a full-time job and you can’t afford to put your business activity on hold every time there is a setback or a mistake.
The solution? Shopify virtual assistants.
By delegating day-to-day tasks to Shopify VA, you allow your team to focus on their work, get time to rest and reduce work stress.
This can lead to decreased mishaps, increased productivity and overall better functioning for your business.
How To Hire a Shopify Virtual Assistant
Shopify virtual assistants are great, but where do you find them and who is the right Shopify VA for you?
Before you start the hunt:
Ask Yourself
What kind of jobs do you want to delegate? Setting clear expectations can help you find the right candidate for the job.
Here is a list of questions to think about before looking for a Shopify VA:
- What’s my hiring budget?
- What specific tasks do I want to delegate?
- Will this be a one-time project or ongoing work?
- Do I need one or more virtual assistants to handle the workload?
- What qualities am I looking for in a Shopify VA?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you are ready to start searching for your ideal Shopify VA.
Look For
If it is your first time hiring a VA, you may not be sure about the qualities of a good virtual assistant.
Here is a checklist of skills to look for:
- In-depth knowledge of the Shopify platform.
- SEO optimization skills.
- Working knowledge of e-commerce businesses.
- Good time management skills.
- Research skills.
- Strong problem-solving skills.
- Excellent communication skills.
These are the common and necessary skills that every Shopify virtual assistant should have. You can add more skills to this list and get as specific as you like when looking for the right fit for your company.
Make It Easy
Searching for candidates, assessing their qualifications, conducting interviews, onboarding and training can be a long and tedious process.
If you want to hire a Shopify virtual assistant but are discouraged by the time and effort it takes, you can hire through virtual assistant agencies.
Companies like Zenius provide talented and pre-vetted VAs and take care of onboarding and statutory regulations so you can have a hassle-free hiring experience!
To test your Shopify VA, remember to ask them meaningful questions during the interview and conduct assessment tests.
Once hired, you can also conduct icebreaking sessions between your VA and your team to ease the onboarding process.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re starting fresh or scaling your brand—Shopify gives you the tools, speed and flexibility to grow without limits.
And Shopify virtual assistants turn this tool into real results!
With the right VA handling store updates, orders and customer service, your store runs smoother, sells faster and stays ahead of competitors.
