Virtual Assistance Services

HOW TO BE SUPER EFFECTIVE? – Yan’s Journey with a Virtual Assistant (Part – 3)

Yan Knudtskov Nielsen, a GetFriday client and the Founder & CEO of Yan&Co in Copenhagen, Denmark is narrating his Journey with Virtual Assistance. Read from the beginning of the journey. How to use a service like GetFriday effectively, some of my key lessons learned Utilizing the help of a virtual assistant comes with a lot of responsibility, I believe. But, if you respect some “basic” rules you will quickly get to a point where you’ll be hands-free on a lot of tasks as your VA will catch on and tasks will become routines. Here are my pointers on using a service like GetFriday effectively.   1. Remember the human aspect First of all, keep in the very front and center of your mind that your VA is a person. He/she isn’t a robot and probably does not have god-like abilities (although Jaya does seem to have that sometimes, haha!). I like to think of my assistant of as much of a co-worker as if I’m sitting next to someone on my team.   2. Put your tasks and processes on paper Begin describing your tasks and processes, make sure you break them down in to steps. Questions I like to ask myself during the creation of these is “How do I know this information” and “How can I provide the most unambiguous description possible”.   I highly recommend using a tool like Asana, Process Street or similar systems that makes the above easier and makes revising process easier as well. And one very important thing: Test your processes. I like to put on my “I don’t know anything hat and try to do EXACTLY as I’ve described” as this have a tendency to reveal to me what I’m missing. 3. Communication is key As with most things remember communication is key. Spend those 5 minutes being articulate about the descriptions. It will pay off in the long run I promise you. 4. Trust but verify, at least in the beginning Don’t expect everything to go smooth and go on holidays after handing over the tasks. In the beginning verify that the tasks were completed as you wanted. And keep a calm mind when something isn’t as it should, chances are you most likely messed up something in a description or something was ambiguous. And even if not, remember: We all make mistakes. I most certainly do – all the time. It’s the correcting of small failures and mistakes that in the end make up a greater whole. You can choose to respond in a way to solve the issue at hand and then you will have saved time in the future. Or you could just become frustrated and write an annoyed email. I most certainly recommend the first option. 5. Remember, making processes is a process Be willing to invest yourself and some extra time in getting it right. Yes, it will require an initial investment of time but remember that each time your assistant completes a task you just saved precious time. Time you can spend on other things important to your. 6. ”So, how do I know which tasks to send?” A mentor of mine introduced me to a very simple question: “Does this task energize me or drain me of energy?” When I heard it that really was all there was to it. We all like to spend our time doing things we enjoy and to me this question was a key in identifying just what those things are. Moving onwards I’d like to say a huge thanks to GetFriday, because my life and business is improved because of these guys and girls existence and the services they provide. It enables me to do more of the things I love, like business, travelling the world, serving and helping people and businesses with code and strategies as the tool, training and blogging about WordPress and related topics (in Danish). I am able to do this because I know I have an awesome team behind me, both in the form of GetFriday and my team from Yan&Co. Without these guys and girls, I simply wouldn’t be able to do the stuff I do, in the way I do them and enjoying it and I’m grateful I have every one of them. If you have any questions feel free to connect with me and I’d be happy to talk! Try GetFriday’s virtual assistant services 7-day trial without any commitments now! Connect to GetFriday support team to know how we can help you.

HOW TO BE SUPER EFFECTIVE? – Yan’s Journey with a Virtual Assistant (Part – 3) Read More »

Yan Knudtskov Nielsen, a GetFriday client and the Founder & CEO of Yan&Co in Copenhagen, Denmark is narrating his Journey with Virtual Assistance. Read from the beginning of the journey. How to use a service like GetFriday effectively, some of my key lessons learned Utilizing the help of a virtual assistant comes with a lot of responsibility, I believe. But, if you respect some “basic” rules you will quickly get to a point where you’ll be hands-free on a lot of tasks as your VA will catch on and tasks will become routines. Here are my pointers on using a service like GetFriday effectively.   1. Remember the human aspect First of all, keep in the very front and center of your mind that your VA is a person. He/she isn’t a robot and probably does not have god-like abilities (although Jaya does seem to have that sometimes, haha!). I like to think of my assistant of as much of a co-worker as if I’m sitting next to someone on my team.   2. Put your tasks and processes on paper Begin describing your tasks and processes, make sure you break them down in to steps. Questions I like to ask myself during the creation of these is “How do I know this information” and “How can I provide the most unambiguous description possible”.   I highly recommend using a tool like Asana, Process Street or similar systems that makes the above easier and makes revising process easier as well. And one very important thing: Test your processes. I like to put on my “I don’t know anything hat and try to do EXACTLY as I’ve described” as this have a tendency to reveal to me what I’m missing. 3. Communication is key As with most things remember communication is key. Spend those 5 minutes being articulate about the descriptions. It will pay off in the long run I promise you. 4. Trust but verify, at least in the beginning Don’t expect everything to go smooth and go on holidays after handing over the tasks. In the beginning verify that the tasks were completed as you wanted. And keep a calm mind when something isn’t as it should, chances are you most likely messed up something in a description or something was ambiguous. And even if not, remember: We all make mistakes. I most certainly do – all the time. It’s the correcting of small failures and mistakes that in the end make up a greater whole. You can choose to respond in a way to solve the issue at hand and then you will have saved time in the future. Or you could just become frustrated and write an annoyed email. I most certainly recommend the first option. 5. Remember, making processes is a process Be willing to invest yourself and some extra time in getting it right. Yes, it will require an initial investment of time but remember that each time your assistant completes a task you just saved precious time. Time you can spend on other things important to your. 6. ”So, how do I know which tasks to send?” A mentor of mine introduced me to a very simple question: “Does this task energize me or drain me of energy?” When I heard it that really was all there was to it. We all like to spend our time doing things we enjoy and to me this question was a key in identifying just what those things are. Moving onwards I’d like to say a huge thanks to GetFriday, because my life and business is improved because of these guys and girls existence and the services they provide. It enables me to do more of the things I love, like business, travelling the world, serving and helping people and businesses with code and strategies as the tool, training and blogging about WordPress and related topics (in Danish). I am able to do this because I know I have an awesome team behind me, both in the form of GetFriday and my team from Yan&Co. Without these guys and girls, I simply wouldn’t be able to do the stuff I do, in the way I do them and enjoying it and I’m grateful I have every one of them. If you have any questions feel free to connect with me and I’d be happy to talk! Try GetFriday’s virtual assistant services 7-day trial without any commitments now! Connect to GetFriday support team to know how we can help you.

GETTING TO FRIDAY – Yan’s Journey with a Virtual Assistant (Part -2)

Yan Knudtskov Nielsen, a GetFriday client and the Founder & CEO of Yan&Co in Copenhagen, Denmark is narrating his Journey with Virtual Assistance. Take a look at Part 1.   A month or two went by after my conversation with Vanessa.. (or so it felt) I kept thinking about this wonderful magical unicorn like person called a “Virtual Assistant”, which I had read in books existed, but, since I had never really seen one, could not believe existed. As I thought about the VA, I also slowly realized why I had panicked: I was simply scared that no one could do the tasks as well as I could – even though I dreaded doing them (and at the same time I was actually blind to the fact that I could be quite terrible at them). I got back to Vanessa to have her introduce me to GetFriday, which she so fondly recommended. Some of my initial concerns was among these: How about privacy of sensitive information (credit cards, logins, etc.) Are they any good? What happens if something goes wrong? What if they don’t know how to do the tasks? Will they overcharge? How much will it cost? And a lot of other concerns Getting to Friday The initial meeting was done over Skype with Mahesh who was to become my teamlead/manager at GetFriday. The Skype meeting was an absolute pleasure. The level at which Mahesh asked questions to my business was nothing short of excellent. He went the extra mile in understanding what I needed help within the business.   I had been recommended a particular VA at GetFriday, which was the one Vanessa used and I asked if it was possible to get the same assistant as her. Mahesh then, after understanding the tasks I need help with, went on to explain me that this VA actually wouldn’t be the right fit as the tasks I needed help with, didn’t match the specialties of this VA. This alone made me trust GetFriday even more as they didn’t just comply with my wishes but made an effort in getting me the right VA. After the Skype call Mahesh got back to and I was assigned with a VA as well as instructions on how to best introduce GetFriday to my tasks. The challenges of putting my mind to writing You may very well be more aware of what you do on a daily basis than I was at the time, but it came as a surprise to me how many steps of the tasks I did, involved what I would call internalized knowledge and automated behavior. Let me give a concrete example of this: One of the monthly tasks that GetFriday now handles is structuring the invoices for my accountant. I would look at an invoice and immediately know how to choose the filename for it so the accountant would know where it belonged in the accounting. Also, I’d convert it to a PDF and know in which folder to put it. This may sound quite simple, but when I had to describe it, I discovered a lot of small steps were involved. Steps that involved information which was in my head like: How does another person know what to name the file? How would anyone know the right folder to put it in? Also, any exceptions to the rules where I’d add extra information And this was just a simple task. I quickly realised I had a huge responsibility in describing the tasks and making sure the information was available – or I’d just make someone else’s workday nightmare. And that I didn’t want to happen. It took more hours than I thought, because I had quite a few tasks and processes. But, it was huge relief getting all this information out of my head and into workflows. My super-awesome assistant My assistant at GetFriday is Jaya. I’m not afraid to name-drop as she’s awesome. Really super awesome. In the back of my mind I had a voice still worried about all the “exceptions” and “processes I might not have described well enough,” and the first time I sent a task description to Jaya I received an email back. She had found a question to the task and just wanted to know if she’d understood it correctly and how to move on with it – and was totally my fault! Here I thought I had described it thoroughly and still there was information in my head. She’d “caught” me and wasn’t afraid to ask. Amazing! So I had to redo part of the process to get it right. And this still continues to happen – I map out a process and Jaya is on-the-spot and let’s me know if something is missing. That is such a valuable thing to have happen! This is what really amazed me about GetFriday; the level of service they provide! Continue reading Yan’s journey with a Virtual assistant.

GETTING TO FRIDAY – Yan’s Journey with a Virtual Assistant (Part -2) Read More »

Yan Knudtskov Nielsen, a GetFriday client and the Founder & CEO of Yan&Co in Copenhagen, Denmark is narrating his Journey with Virtual Assistance. Take a look at Part 1.   A month or two went by after my conversation with Vanessa.. (or so it felt) I kept thinking about this wonderful magical unicorn like person called a “Virtual Assistant”, which I had read in books existed, but, since I had never really seen one, could not believe existed. As I thought about the VA, I also slowly realized why I had panicked: I was simply scared that no one could do the tasks as well as I could – even though I dreaded doing them (and at the same time I was actually blind to the fact that I could be quite terrible at them). I got back to Vanessa to have her introduce me to GetFriday, which she so fondly recommended. Some of my initial concerns was among these: How about privacy of sensitive information (credit cards, logins, etc.) Are they any good? What happens if something goes wrong? What if they don’t know how to do the tasks? Will they overcharge? How much will it cost? And a lot of other concerns Getting to Friday The initial meeting was done over Skype with Mahesh who was to become my teamlead/manager at GetFriday. The Skype meeting was an absolute pleasure. The level at which Mahesh asked questions to my business was nothing short of excellent. He went the extra mile in understanding what I needed help within the business.   I had been recommended a particular VA at GetFriday, which was the one Vanessa used and I asked if it was possible to get the same assistant as her. Mahesh then, after understanding the tasks I need help with, went on to explain me that this VA actually wouldn’t be the right fit as the tasks I needed help with, didn’t match the specialties of this VA. This alone made me trust GetFriday even more as they didn’t just comply with my wishes but made an effort in getting me the right VA. After the Skype call Mahesh got back to and I was assigned with a VA as well as instructions on how to best introduce GetFriday to my tasks. The challenges of putting my mind to writing You may very well be more aware of what you do on a daily basis than I was at the time, but it came as a surprise to me how many steps of the tasks I did, involved what I would call internalized knowledge and automated behavior. Let me give a concrete example of this: One of the monthly tasks that GetFriday now handles is structuring the invoices for my accountant. I would look at an invoice and immediately know how to choose the filename for it so the accountant would know where it belonged in the accounting. Also, I’d convert it to a PDF and know in which folder to put it. This may sound quite simple, but when I had to describe it, I discovered a lot of small steps were involved. Steps that involved information which was in my head like: How does another person know what to name the file? How would anyone know the right folder to put it in? Also, any exceptions to the rules where I’d add extra information And this was just a simple task. I quickly realised I had a huge responsibility in describing the tasks and making sure the information was available – or I’d just make someone else’s workday nightmare. And that I didn’t want to happen. It took more hours than I thought, because I had quite a few tasks and processes. But, it was huge relief getting all this information out of my head and into workflows. My super-awesome assistant My assistant at GetFriday is Jaya. I’m not afraid to name-drop as she’s awesome. Really super awesome. In the back of my mind I had a voice still worried about all the “exceptions” and “processes I might not have described well enough,” and the first time I sent a task description to Jaya I received an email back. She had found a question to the task and just wanted to know if she’d understood it correctly and how to move on with it – and was totally my fault! Here I thought I had described it thoroughly and still there was information in my head. She’d “caught” me and wasn’t afraid to ask. Amazing! So I had to redo part of the process to get it right. And this still continues to happen – I map out a process and Jaya is on-the-spot and let’s me know if something is missing. That is such a valuable thing to have happen! This is what really amazed me about GetFriday; the level of service they provide! Continue reading Yan’s journey with a Virtual assistant.

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

Hiring a VA from an Agency versus an Independent Freelancer Read More »

      When assigning your workload to a virtual employee, it is always a choice between hiring someone from an agency or an independent freelance worker. There are different kinds of virtual assistance service providers out there, and even many independents (freelancers). This article is meant to help you narrow down your search. In this article we shall try to weigh the pros and cons of an assistant from an agency versus an independent freelancer. Commitment – It is generally seen that employees from agencies are more committed to their clients as they are answerable to their companies. While freelancers are not much committed as they manage it themselves and is not liable to anyone. Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) – Companies are generally seen working safe when it is confidential data of clients. All companies mostly sign a NDA with the clients to keep the work confidential between the client and the company. While, when it comes to the independents, no such arrangements or assurances are made. Cost Versus Quality – It can be disputed that agencies come off as expensive when it comes to pricing. However, if you compare to independents, the kind of quality which an agency delivers is quite high.    Scalability – If you want to execute a larger than the usual project and need more hands to complete, a company can provide you with all the necessary help with extra hands. Likewise, if your business starts growing real quick and your requirement for human resources shoots up, a company will be more than willing to suffice your staff requirements. In the case of freelancers there is not enough scope for scalability and you would not be able to go beyond a single individual’s capacity. Even if you want to expand beyond the present capacity, you would have to start your recruitment process from the start. Experts in Varied Areas – In a company, you would find many experts supporting a varied number of skill-sets like accounting, digital marketing, and website development. But among independents it is difficult to find a single person who is an expert in different domains. Replacing an assistant – In case your regular one is not keeping well or has gone for a vacation, companies’ generally have enough hands for a replacement. In case of a freelancer, if such a situation arises, you would have to strive extra hard yourself to bridge the gap to finish the work. Or you would have to ask your assistant to train someone to function as a backup. Even in a situation, where your virtual assistant quits the company to join elsewhere, companies would quickly find a replacement and seamless transition would be in place. In case of a independent, such a situation would set you back to square one and you would have to start again at finding a new assistant. Urgent Tasks – Suppose you need to get something done immediately, companies like GetFriday would get it done. While in the case of a freelancer you would have to hold back and wait till the person is available during your time. In case he/she is filled with any other work, he/she may not take it up immediately also.   Trial Period – Most agencies that are into personal assistance give some kind of trial period for the client. This ensures that the client gets to judge the services, without committing any capital upfront. This is kind of a set-up is unheard of, when it comes to independents. Feedback Giving – When your task is not completed as per your guidelines, you can always escalate within the company to a manager and you would find your concerns addressed. In an independent’s case, you would have to give the negative feedback directly to the assistant. Recently outsourcing to a freelancer has become a trend since the prices are low, but in real scenarios majority of the clients are dissatisfied with the freelancer’s efforts and get the same work redone by the agencies. We later realize that outsourcing to an individual had been an unnecessary expense. With the major points mentioned above, hope you would agree that outsourcing to an agency/company is more advantageous than going with an independent.  GetFriday (earlier YMII or YourManInIndia) is a service that was featured and used in the NYTimes best-selling productivity and lifestyle design book ‘The 4-Hour-Workweek’ by Timothy Ferris. Sign up now!

How to Retain Customers in E-commerce

Online retailers are always looking at increasing their revenues; one of the best ways of doing it is to get repeat customers. Several studies say it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. As an E-commerce owner, are you aware that repeat customers are responsible for generating 40% of a store’s revenue? It might sound hard but is actually easy to accomplish. It is a tried and tested way to improve your sales, even if you are new to this business or are a seasoned ecommerce player anyone can take heed to these actionable tips, which are on offer in this article. Exclusive discounts for loyal customers Everyone likes to be treated special, in line with this thought, offer your customers exclusive access to the site for special discounts. You can give this exclusive access, 1 or 2 days before the discounts become available to the general public. This will truly mean a genuine advantage for being a loyal customer. You can also do this discount special by making available a special promo code for a limited time that will give special 20-30% discounts. This kind of exclusive discounts is one of the most popular loyalty perks for customers. Send emails reminding of abandoned cart Convey through emails to customers about items left behind in carts by customers. You can send visually appealing email (showing the product) to the customer, to show them exactly what they considered purchasing while browsing through the site last time around. A recent survey showed that email marketing helped 29% abandoned carts to be recovered. Suggest Products One of the most powerful ways of making a customer do a repurchase is to nudge them to buy a product. You could also remind them about something additional they need to purchase in going with their previous purchase. For example, if a customer has bought a pencil, remind them to buy a pencil sharpener. Offer Personalized products If you have demographic data about the customer, you can make a personalized offer to the customer based on his/her likeness. Suppose if you are targeting a customer who is 21 years old, you can send him back-to-college offer for clothing, backpacks, school supplies etc. A recent study suggested that personalized offers help increase click-through rates by an average of 14% and improves conversion rates by an average of 10%. “We miss you” emails One of the ways of re-targeting, follow-up email can be at the bargain hunter. There is no better way to stay on top of the mind than with a coupon. Knowing this, you can send an email stating that we have noticed you have not been coming to the website anymore, with the addition of a coupon. Starbucks is famous for sending such ‘we miss you’ emails to its customers. Show Social Proof People respond positively to social proof. In the sense, if you show people a pair of shoes, bought over by a 10,000 people they are likely to react positively. This is a fact and there are real psychological factors at play here. You can do this by tracking purchase data (or Facebook likes) for specific products or soliciting actual customers’ reviews and displaying it on the website and in the emails to many of your customers. This is one of the ways of finding repeat customers. Launch a Loyalty Program There needs to be financial incentive for the customer for having made the first purchase. In addition, there needs to be avenues for saving money on subsequent purchases. According to a study, 54% buy more from companies when they are rewarded for purchases. In another survey, it was found that loyalty programs help increase market share by 20%. Nordstrom is one such company that has benefitted tremendously from its loyalty program. They encourage customers to sign-up to receive special benefits, which include reward points that can be redeemed for products as well as early access to sales. Direct Mail still helps This kind of approach helps in earning repeat customers. If you have the physical address of the customer, you can send exclusive sales, discounts and special offers by snail mail. It is to be noted that a direct mail is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the customer for their loyalty, so there should not be an overemphasis on pushing sales. The trick is to keep the sales part subtle. Overall it is always a good idea to target the existing customers. It is the proverbial ‘low hanging fruit’ that a company must exploit in order to succeed in increasing sales. Also, if your e-commerce firm is finding it cumbersome to handle all the tasks to run the company in a smooth manner. You can assign your errands to GetFriday. At GetFriday we take care of major tasks associated with e-commerce domain such as inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support.  

How to Retain Customers in E-commerce Read More »

Online retailers are always looking at increasing their revenues; one of the best ways of doing it is to get repeat customers. Several studies say it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one. As an E-commerce owner, are you aware that repeat customers are responsible for generating 40% of a store’s revenue? It might sound hard but is actually easy to accomplish. It is a tried and tested way to improve your sales, even if you are new to this business or are a seasoned ecommerce player anyone can take heed to these actionable tips, which are on offer in this article. Exclusive discounts for loyal customers Everyone likes to be treated special, in line with this thought, offer your customers exclusive access to the site for special discounts. You can give this exclusive access, 1 or 2 days before the discounts become available to the general public. This will truly mean a genuine advantage for being a loyal customer. You can also do this discount special by making available a special promo code for a limited time that will give special 20-30% discounts. This kind of exclusive discounts is one of the most popular loyalty perks for customers. Send emails reminding of abandoned cart Convey through emails to customers about items left behind in carts by customers. You can send visually appealing email (showing the product) to the customer, to show them exactly what they considered purchasing while browsing through the site last time around. A recent survey showed that email marketing helped 29% abandoned carts to be recovered. Suggest Products One of the most powerful ways of making a customer do a repurchase is to nudge them to buy a product. You could also remind them about something additional they need to purchase in going with their previous purchase. For example, if a customer has bought a pencil, remind them to buy a pencil sharpener. Offer Personalized products If you have demographic data about the customer, you can make a personalized offer to the customer based on his/her likeness. Suppose if you are targeting a customer who is 21 years old, you can send him back-to-college offer for clothing, backpacks, school supplies etc. A recent study suggested that personalized offers help increase click-through rates by an average of 14% and improves conversion rates by an average of 10%. “We miss you” emails One of the ways of re-targeting, follow-up email can be at the bargain hunter. There is no better way to stay on top of the mind than with a coupon. Knowing this, you can send an email stating that we have noticed you have not been coming to the website anymore, with the addition of a coupon. Starbucks is famous for sending such ‘we miss you’ emails to its customers. Show Social Proof People respond positively to social proof. In the sense, if you show people a pair of shoes, bought over by a 10,000 people they are likely to react positively. This is a fact and there are real psychological factors at play here. You can do this by tracking purchase data (or Facebook likes) for specific products or soliciting actual customers’ reviews and displaying it on the website and in the emails to many of your customers. This is one of the ways of finding repeat customers. Launch a Loyalty Program There needs to be financial incentive for the customer for having made the first purchase. In addition, there needs to be avenues for saving money on subsequent purchases. According to a study, 54% buy more from companies when they are rewarded for purchases. In another survey, it was found that loyalty programs help increase market share by 20%. Nordstrom is one such company that has benefitted tremendously from its loyalty program. They encourage customers to sign-up to receive special benefits, which include reward points that can be redeemed for products as well as early access to sales. Direct Mail still helps This kind of approach helps in earning repeat customers. If you have the physical address of the customer, you can send exclusive sales, discounts and special offers by snail mail. It is to be noted that a direct mail is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the customer for their loyalty, so there should not be an overemphasis on pushing sales. The trick is to keep the sales part subtle. Overall it is always a good idea to target the existing customers. It is the proverbial ‘low hanging fruit’ that a company must exploit in order to succeed in increasing sales. Also, if your e-commerce firm is finding it cumbersome to handle all the tasks to run the company in a smooth manner. You can assign your errands to GetFriday. At GetFriday we take care of major tasks associated with e-commerce domain such as inventory management, order processing, order tracking and customer support.  

GetFriday

GetFriday Making its Presence Felt

We have been in the outsourcing arena since 2005 and have served 15,000+ clients spanning 30 countries. We are an outsourcing firm in India, which was thrust into the limelight when “The Four Hour Work Week” hit the New York best seller list and the client numbers jumped substantially. We offer a wide range of virtual assistance services. We have been listed on various media and news outlets in the past and here is a quick overview about it. We were featured on ABC in 2005, and there was in detail explanation of how AJ Jacobs Esquire’s editor at large was able to outsource much of his life to us in Bangalore. The tasks ranged from answering e-mails, making calls on his behalf, ordering groceries and buying movie tickets. At one point we even read bed time stories to his son. Jacobs called his experience with outsourcing as inexpensive. Our assistants went above and beyond their assignments and even thought of new projects we could perform for Jacobs like taxes. We were on Kiplinger.com in July 2006. The author mentioned us as concierge services and used our help in doing numerous things including researching his stock investments, shopping for wireless routers and much more. All this he was able to do with a monthly investment of USD 300. He was pleased with the rates which we offered. Wall Street Journal also carried a news story in 2007 and talked about the actress Michele Greene who employed one of our virtual assistants to act as her personal assistant. Ms. Greene paid USD150 a month for 20 hours of service. The article mostly talked about how Asia is becoming the outsourcing hub and catering to works ranging from graphic design, math tutoring, web development, book keeping and more. CNN the popular American news outlet had featured us on their website in 2007 and stressed on “outsourcing of life” in their article. It tells about how outsourcing was considered suited only for the upscale office worker, now has come within the reach of the ordinary person on the street. It tells of the ease with which we can arrange for your laundry to be picked up and delivered at your doorstep at the click of a mouse. With GetFriday (Sister Concern of YMII), the customer can call or email their overseas virtual assistant (VA) and can get almost anything done, from helping to draft legal documents to more everyday tasks such as paying bills. We were featured in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2008, where the experiences of Mr.Hui with GetFriday are mentioned. It has quotes from a senior manager T T Venkatesh, about how the company does not take up anything illegal or work sounding bad in taste. P Sunder, the company’ s CEO quotes about how Indian start-up companies are handling business upwards of $200 million in the personal and small business services. USA today featured us in 2008, the article mentions about Tim Ferris and his book “The Four Hour Work Week” and how someone who earns more than $30,000 in the US can afford to hire a virtual assistant. The author mentions about the pay-as-you-go plans and monthly plans from GetFriday keeping in mind the needs of the customers. The Philadelphia weekly in 2011 featured us as a story on outsourcing with exclusive attention on GetFriday. The feature talks about the experiences of Norman Wilson with his virtual assistant at GetFriday – Atul. The article goes on to talk about how such a set up between customer and company seems to blur the lines between the employer and the employee. There are comparisons of the virtual assistant being like an advanced machine or an avatar from a video game altogether. It is an elaborative piece which poetically deals with the journey of outsourcing. Thomson Reuters featured us in a video on their site in 2013. The video gave an exclusive look into our offices at GetFriday in Bangalore, talked with assistants in their working space. It went on to talk about the virtues of outsourcing. PR Newswire featured us in three consecutive years – 2014, 2015 and 2016. Another place where we got featured was Arabianbusiness.com, where Thomas Shambler, a journalist, purchased a 10-hour package and hires a VA called Pallavika. Being a journalist he outsources the task of scheduling his interviews with us. He also asks her to do basic research for an article he was writing and asked for gifting ideas for his father. Overall, the client found the service to be good and meeting his expectations and compared the service to a real person ready at his beck and call. Just like these articles GetFriday is also featured on the website timedoctor.com, where we are among the top virtual assistant companies from across the world in 2017. Various other news platforms also speak about GetFriday’s outsourcing success stories. Outsourcing companies are being used by people for quite a long time now. But, now they are being used by people for innovative tasks. As time goes by we will see the industry maturing and more people using a virtual assistant with less novelty. With the difference in the exchange rate of currencies, it will become more attractive for individuals in the western world to outsource their errands to associates in the developing world.

GetFriday Making its Presence Felt Read More »

We have been in the outsourcing arena since 2005 and have served 15,000+ clients spanning 30 countries. We are an outsourcing firm in India, which was thrust into the limelight when “The Four Hour Work Week” hit the New York best seller list and the client numbers jumped substantially. We offer a wide range of virtual assistance services. We have been listed on various media and news outlets in the past and here is a quick overview about it. We were featured on ABC in 2005, and there was in detail explanation of how AJ Jacobs Esquire’s editor at large was able to outsource much of his life to us in Bangalore. The tasks ranged from answering e-mails, making calls on his behalf, ordering groceries and buying movie tickets. At one point we even read bed time stories to his son. Jacobs called his experience with outsourcing as inexpensive. Our assistants went above and beyond their assignments and even thought of new projects we could perform for Jacobs like taxes. We were on Kiplinger.com in July 2006. The author mentioned us as concierge services and used our help in doing numerous things including researching his stock investments, shopping for wireless routers and much more. All this he was able to do with a monthly investment of USD 300. He was pleased with the rates which we offered. Wall Street Journal also carried a news story in 2007 and talked about the actress Michele Greene who employed one of our virtual assistants to act as her personal assistant. Ms. Greene paid USD150 a month for 20 hours of service. The article mostly talked about how Asia is becoming the outsourcing hub and catering to works ranging from graphic design, math tutoring, web development, book keeping and more. CNN the popular American news outlet had featured us on their website in 2007 and stressed on “outsourcing of life” in their article. It tells about how outsourcing was considered suited only for the upscale office worker, now has come within the reach of the ordinary person on the street. It tells of the ease with which we can arrange for your laundry to be picked up and delivered at your doorstep at the click of a mouse. With GetFriday (Sister Concern of YMII), the customer can call or email their overseas virtual assistant (VA) and can get almost anything done, from helping to draft legal documents to more everyday tasks such as paying bills. We were featured in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2008, where the experiences of Mr.Hui with GetFriday are mentioned. It has quotes from a senior manager T T Venkatesh, about how the company does not take up anything illegal or work sounding bad in taste. P Sunder, the company’ s CEO quotes about how Indian start-up companies are handling business upwards of $200 million in the personal and small business services. USA today featured us in 2008, the article mentions about Tim Ferris and his book “The Four Hour Work Week” and how someone who earns more than $30,000 in the US can afford to hire a virtual assistant. The author mentions about the pay-as-you-go plans and monthly plans from GetFriday keeping in mind the needs of the customers. The Philadelphia weekly in 2011 featured us as a story on outsourcing with exclusive attention on GetFriday. The feature talks about the experiences of Norman Wilson with his virtual assistant at GetFriday – Atul. The article goes on to talk about how such a set up between customer and company seems to blur the lines between the employer and the employee. There are comparisons of the virtual assistant being like an advanced machine or an avatar from a video game altogether. It is an elaborative piece which poetically deals with the journey of outsourcing. Thomson Reuters featured us in a video on their site in 2013. The video gave an exclusive look into our offices at GetFriday in Bangalore, talked with assistants in their working space. It went on to talk about the virtues of outsourcing. PR Newswire featured us in three consecutive years – 2014, 2015 and 2016. Another place where we got featured was Arabianbusiness.com, where Thomas Shambler, a journalist, purchased a 10-hour package and hires a VA called Pallavika. Being a journalist he outsources the task of scheduling his interviews with us. He also asks her to do basic research for an article he was writing and asked for gifting ideas for his father. Overall, the client found the service to be good and meeting his expectations and compared the service to a real person ready at his beck and call. Just like these articles GetFriday is also featured on the website timedoctor.com, where we are among the top virtual assistant companies from across the world in 2017. Various other news platforms also speak about GetFriday’s outsourcing success stories. Outsourcing companies are being used by people for quite a long time now. But, now they are being used by people for innovative tasks. As time goes by we will see the industry maturing and more people using a virtual assistant with less novelty. With the difference in the exchange rate of currencies, it will become more attractive for individuals in the western world to outsource their errands to associates in the developing world.

How to Increase Office Productivity

It is everyone’s dream to work to their optimum capacity, but there are only 24hrs in a day and in those hours, we have to maximize our efficiency. There is always a plan at the beginning of the day to maximize our productivity at work. But it just becomes a hollow plan by the end of the day. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea to find out ways to work smarter, here is a list of strategies that will help improve productivity at work. While it may not happen that your working habits undergo a drastic change overnight, it is possible that gradual changes can add up to big changes in productivity. It is best to start with one-tip and follow it up before you can adopt next tip to your schedule. Being accountable to someone at work or announcing your targets to others helps keep you stay on track in the course of your activities and in the long run. It is best to keep in mind that we are humans and have a tendency for slip-ups. Hence, it is with this attitude you should approach productivity improvement tips. Whenever, there is a slip-up it is best to forgive yourself than to brood about it overtime which only adds up to unproductive time. You have to understand that multi-tasking is an over-used term. Studies have very clearly indicated that our brains are not equipped to multi-task and focusing on one task alone will help us accomplish much more than trying to multi-task and accomplish more. It is also seem that while multi-tasking, the brain loses its ability to be creative. The brain is like a muscle the more work we give it, the stronger the muscle is likely to become. By focusing on one single task helps you make those connections stronger. Before you leave work each day, it is best to write down, 5-6 things that you want to accomplish the following day and in a separate page write down personal errands that you would like to accomplish. Keeping the list shorter helps it keep realistic. Have a strategy while you begin each day and stick to it as far as possible. There is a theory and it states that our primal mind craves distraction especially when you are in the course of accomplishing your listed tasks. It so happens that we would turn our attention towards some easy unlisted task such as liking a picture on Facebook or spending more time jotting down the list can also be part of ‘structured procrastination’. So give yourself five-minutes or less to complete writing the list and stick to your list in hand as far as possible without getting distracted. Piles of paper lying on your desk are a sign of unfinished tasks and unorganized work. Since you are lagging behind, the remedy is to delegate the tasks. By delegating you will be able to realize your productivity goals sooner than later. If in case you are not very proficient at something, it is best to ask someone about how to use something more efficiently. This simple request can ensure you are improving your productivity. Another distractor at the work place is e-mail. It is prudent that you embrace e-mail as an ally rather than making it your nemesis. You can manage your email better by dividing your email into two groups – first group requiring quick responses and those needing some degree of thought. You can acknowledge the receipt of the mail for the latter, but can answer the mail after some days. And make it a point to follow through. Another tactic could be to turn off your email notifications for some time, if there is a need to focus on a specific task for 20-30 minutes without distractions. The next thing to do is to learn e-mail management from someone, who is more proficient at it. Learn about different labels, folder, filters, archives and unsubscribe lists etc will help you spend less time on emails. Taking regular breaks at work may sound counter-productive but research has shown that your consistent level of performance can be maintained while taking short breaks during long tasks. And, taking no breaks decreases your level of performance. Giving yourself a deadline helps in accomplishing the tasks quicker and lets you focus better on the task. For open ended tasks, try giving yourself a deadline and then stick to it. You may be surprised just how focused and productive you can be while watching the clock. Any task that needs less than two minutes to accomplish must be accomplished quickly without a second thought in the mind. Completing the task right-away actually takes less time than having to get back at it later. It is much common among entrepreneurs to get hung on attempting to perfect a task – the reality is nothing is ever perfect. Instead of wasting time chasing a mirage, it is realistic to complete the task to the best of your ability and move on. It is better to complete the task right away, since most times you can come back and improve on the task later. Being pro-active and not reactive helps in accomplishing more than the other way around. By responding to emails and calls for the day, you will be able to put out the fires, but that is all you will be able to do during the day. It means you get dictated by the calls and emails at all times. Instead set aside time to respond to emails, but don’t let them determine what your day is going to look like These are some of the pointers towards increasing your productivity. It is not practical to adopt each one of the points into your life. Instead find a preference for some and you could incorporate these into your life. To improve your productivity further, you could hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) from GetFriday and assign your administrative tasks to your

How to Increase Office Productivity Read More »

It is everyone’s dream to work to their optimum capacity, but there are only 24hrs in a day and in those hours, we have to maximize our efficiency. There is always a plan at the beginning of the day to maximize our productivity at work. But it just becomes a hollow plan by the end of the day. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea to find out ways to work smarter, here is a list of strategies that will help improve productivity at work. While it may not happen that your working habits undergo a drastic change overnight, it is possible that gradual changes can add up to big changes in productivity. It is best to start with one-tip and follow it up before you can adopt next tip to your schedule. Being accountable to someone at work or announcing your targets to others helps keep you stay on track in the course of your activities and in the long run. It is best to keep in mind that we are humans and have a tendency for slip-ups. Hence, it is with this attitude you should approach productivity improvement tips. Whenever, there is a slip-up it is best to forgive yourself than to brood about it overtime which only adds up to unproductive time. You have to understand that multi-tasking is an over-used term. Studies have very clearly indicated that our brains are not equipped to multi-task and focusing on one task alone will help us accomplish much more than trying to multi-task and accomplish more. It is also seem that while multi-tasking, the brain loses its ability to be creative. The brain is like a muscle the more work we give it, the stronger the muscle is likely to become. By focusing on one single task helps you make those connections stronger. Before you leave work each day, it is best to write down, 5-6 things that you want to accomplish the following day and in a separate page write down personal errands that you would like to accomplish. Keeping the list shorter helps it keep realistic. Have a strategy while you begin each day and stick to it as far as possible. There is a theory and it states that our primal mind craves distraction especially when you are in the course of accomplishing your listed tasks. It so happens that we would turn our attention towards some easy unlisted task such as liking a picture on Facebook or spending more time jotting down the list can also be part of ‘structured procrastination’. So give yourself five-minutes or less to complete writing the list and stick to your list in hand as far as possible without getting distracted. Piles of paper lying on your desk are a sign of unfinished tasks and unorganized work. Since you are lagging behind, the remedy is to delegate the tasks. By delegating you will be able to realize your productivity goals sooner than later. If in case you are not very proficient at something, it is best to ask someone about how to use something more efficiently. This simple request can ensure you are improving your productivity. Another distractor at the work place is e-mail. It is prudent that you embrace e-mail as an ally rather than making it your nemesis. You can manage your email better by dividing your email into two groups – first group requiring quick responses and those needing some degree of thought. You can acknowledge the receipt of the mail for the latter, but can answer the mail after some days. And make it a point to follow through. Another tactic could be to turn off your email notifications for some time, if there is a need to focus on a specific task for 20-30 minutes without distractions. The next thing to do is to learn e-mail management from someone, who is more proficient at it. Learn about different labels, folder, filters, archives and unsubscribe lists etc will help you spend less time on emails. Taking regular breaks at work may sound counter-productive but research has shown that your consistent level of performance can be maintained while taking short breaks during long tasks. And, taking no breaks decreases your level of performance. Giving yourself a deadline helps in accomplishing the tasks quicker and lets you focus better on the task. For open ended tasks, try giving yourself a deadline and then stick to it. You may be surprised just how focused and productive you can be while watching the clock. Any task that needs less than two minutes to accomplish must be accomplished quickly without a second thought in the mind. Completing the task right-away actually takes less time than having to get back at it later. It is much common among entrepreneurs to get hung on attempting to perfect a task – the reality is nothing is ever perfect. Instead of wasting time chasing a mirage, it is realistic to complete the task to the best of your ability and move on. It is better to complete the task right away, since most times you can come back and improve on the task later. Being pro-active and not reactive helps in accomplishing more than the other way around. By responding to emails and calls for the day, you will be able to put out the fires, but that is all you will be able to do during the day. It means you get dictated by the calls and emails at all times. Instead set aside time to respond to emails, but don’t let them determine what your day is going to look like These are some of the pointers towards increasing your productivity. It is not practical to adopt each one of the points into your life. Instead find a preference for some and you could incorporate these into your life. To improve your productivity further, you could hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) from GetFriday and assign your administrative tasks to your

Making up your mind for hiring a VA

In a perfect world, you could be doing everything on your own and waiting for things to turn your way. However, in reality it is not the case. We cannot manage everything on our own and need help. The books you read about from outsourcing might suggest great things about working with from virtual assistants and they are not wrong. Virtual assistants can definitely help in the regular administrative tasks, while you focus on high value tasks, that only you can do. This article seeks to tell you how to get over your apprehensions before hiring a VA: Does the VA have enough experience to handle all my tasks? You can gauge this by asking the VA for a one -on- one interview. Having worked before as VA gives him/ her definite advantage over others. If he/she is into freelancing, there would be other clients, whom she would be freelancing. This need not be a stumbling block because if the VA is confident of executing all your tasks, it is essential that you validate her skillset in a trial period to test her skill sets and capabilities. And, if he/she is working for a company, he/she would be supported by the entire team if the need arises. So, in all the above cases, it is definite that the hiring a VA comes with its fair share of advantages. Does the VA have experience in a specific domain to help you out? Most VA’s are “Jack of all trades and master of none”. VAs are trained to handle all kinds of tasks without getting limited to a defined domain. However, there can be VAs with specific domain experience from previous jobs, which encouraged them to take up VA work in a specific domain. For instance, you will find VAs who work only in the field of web designing or as social media experts. Either, way it is a win-win situation. A VA with generic experience will be able to handle most generic things that do not require deep domain knowledge or skill. On the other hand, the VA with specific domain expertise would bring in a wealth of experience, which needs to be put to the right use by you when employing him/her. Is it affordable to hire a VA? Consider a simple equation to understand this better – if your time is worth $100/hr and you could be paying your assistant about $20/hr, the ROI on the transaction is $80/hr. It turns out, it is not an additional cost, but an additional revenue for the business., Imagine if you find a VA for let’s say $15/hr. Being able to reduce your administrative tasks and able to devote your time to grow your business makes it really necessary to hire a VA. Secondly, if the VA comes from a developed country, chances are that the service would be expensive. But, for an Asian country such as India or Philippines , due to the difference in the dollar exchange rate, it would turn out to be quite cheaper. Do I hire employees or manage VAs? The answer is really a no-brainer. There are businesses which are in a hurry to hire employees and later repent it. After the hires do not go in their favour, they can turn into a financial burden if you happen to hire employees soon.The advantages of hiring a VA and an employee has been listed out: There is a training period for the employee, which is comparatively less for a VA   It is easy to let go a VA compared to a regular employee.   Most times, businesses don’t hire part-time, but VAs can be hired part time.   Will I remain ‘in control’ of my business with a VA by my side? This again stems from the fact that unless you do everything in your office, you are not in control. Getting a VA and relinquishing some control would come as a welcome relief for you after hiring a VA. This would also help you create some space in your schedule and help run your business more efficiently. For example, you can cut down the time spent on replying to mails when you hire a VA. The time hence saved will be spent on finding new clients or generating new revenue streams for business. In addition, most of the tasks which your VA does on your behalf are those which are not critical or those in which you do not have expertise. With a virtual assistant taking over the basic tasks you gain more time in the day to focus on tasks that make better use of your time. Can I expect overnight turnaround in my business if I hire VAs? This thought comes from someone, who has pondered over the question for a long-time, but always was skeptical about it. Now that he has made up his mind, he looks forward to a dramatic shift in his business. The reality being, there is a lot of work that goes into accommodating VAs into organisations. From ensuring they are rightly trained, to assigning them tasks all the way to ensuring that they are the right fit for the business. It can also be said, that unless you properly spell out the instructions of the task to be done, it will be not be possible for the VA to work with his/her optimum efficiency. So, in the end it all comes down to the kind of understanding you create with your VA to make him/ her understand the needs of your business. These are some apprehensions for someone, who would like to hire a VA. And these are the tips for someone to handle those apprehensions and to comprehend them before recruiting a VA. For all you know, you could hire a VA from GetFriday, a trusted name in VA services.

Making up your mind for hiring a VA Read More »

In a perfect world, you could be doing everything on your own and waiting for things to turn your way. However, in reality it is not the case. We cannot manage everything on our own and need help. The books you read about from outsourcing might suggest great things about working with from virtual assistants and they are not wrong. Virtual assistants can definitely help in the regular administrative tasks, while you focus on high value tasks, that only you can do. This article seeks to tell you how to get over your apprehensions before hiring a VA: Does the VA have enough experience to handle all my tasks? You can gauge this by asking the VA for a one -on- one interview. Having worked before as VA gives him/ her definite advantage over others. If he/she is into freelancing, there would be other clients, whom she would be freelancing. This need not be a stumbling block because if the VA is confident of executing all your tasks, it is essential that you validate her skillset in a trial period to test her skill sets and capabilities. And, if he/she is working for a company, he/she would be supported by the entire team if the need arises. So, in all the above cases, it is definite that the hiring a VA comes with its fair share of advantages. Does the VA have experience in a specific domain to help you out? Most VA’s are “Jack of all trades and master of none”. VAs are trained to handle all kinds of tasks without getting limited to a defined domain. However, there can be VAs with specific domain experience from previous jobs, which encouraged them to take up VA work in a specific domain. For instance, you will find VAs who work only in the field of web designing or as social media experts. Either, way it is a win-win situation. A VA with generic experience will be able to handle most generic things that do not require deep domain knowledge or skill. On the other hand, the VA with specific domain expertise would bring in a wealth of experience, which needs to be put to the right use by you when employing him/her. Is it affordable to hire a VA? Consider a simple equation to understand this better – if your time is worth $100/hr and you could be paying your assistant about $20/hr, the ROI on the transaction is $80/hr. It turns out, it is not an additional cost, but an additional revenue for the business., Imagine if you find a VA for let’s say $15/hr. Being able to reduce your administrative tasks and able to devote your time to grow your business makes it really necessary to hire a VA. Secondly, if the VA comes from a developed country, chances are that the service would be expensive. But, for an Asian country such as India or Philippines , due to the difference in the dollar exchange rate, it would turn out to be quite cheaper. Do I hire employees or manage VAs? The answer is really a no-brainer. There are businesses which are in a hurry to hire employees and later repent it. After the hires do not go in their favour, they can turn into a financial burden if you happen to hire employees soon.The advantages of hiring a VA and an employee has been listed out: There is a training period for the employee, which is comparatively less for a VA   It is easy to let go a VA compared to a regular employee.   Most times, businesses don’t hire part-time, but VAs can be hired part time.   Will I remain ‘in control’ of my business with a VA by my side? This again stems from the fact that unless you do everything in your office, you are not in control. Getting a VA and relinquishing some control would come as a welcome relief for you after hiring a VA. This would also help you create some space in your schedule and help run your business more efficiently. For example, you can cut down the time spent on replying to mails when you hire a VA. The time hence saved will be spent on finding new clients or generating new revenue streams for business. In addition, most of the tasks which your VA does on your behalf are those which are not critical or those in which you do not have expertise. With a virtual assistant taking over the basic tasks you gain more time in the day to focus on tasks that make better use of your time. Can I expect overnight turnaround in my business if I hire VAs? This thought comes from someone, who has pondered over the question for a long-time, but always was skeptical about it. Now that he has made up his mind, he looks forward to a dramatic shift in his business. The reality being, there is a lot of work that goes into accommodating VAs into organisations. From ensuring they are rightly trained, to assigning them tasks all the way to ensuring that they are the right fit for the business. It can also be said, that unless you properly spell out the instructions of the task to be done, it will be not be possible for the VA to work with his/her optimum efficiency. So, in the end it all comes down to the kind of understanding you create with your VA to make him/ her understand the needs of your business. These are some apprehensions for someone, who would like to hire a VA. And these are the tips for someone to handle those apprehensions and to comprehend them before recruiting a VA. For all you know, you could hire a VA from GetFriday, a trusted name in VA services.

Seven E-commerce Trends for 2017

E-commerce is here to stay, even with limited customer service, no instant gratification and no access to a physical store where you can touch and feel the product. The online platform provides 24x 7 services and the amount of selection one gets to see on online cannot be matched in a physical store. With such advantages, e-commerce has changed the way we shop. Presently, it consists of only 8% of the total retail sales in the US, but the situation is here to change with increasing usage and a growing preference for purchasing online. This article seeks to look at trends which suggest how the e-commerce domain is changing as we go through 2017. Some of the trends are: Shopping on the Mobile We have seen in recent years that there is a shift in consumer behavior towards mobile. And as we move forward, there will be more movement towards this medium. The number of searches emanating from a mobile exceed that of a desktop and more websites are making themselves mobile ready. It must have come to everyone’s notice that Google is slowly removing sites that do not cater to a mobile experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that the way forward is mobile. Having said that, it is known that mobile still lags behind desktop when it comes to conversions. People like to search for their online goods on mobile, but prefer make the purchase on the desktop. This means there aren’t separate consumers for mobile and desktop. This only means at times, it is the same consumer, who searches on the mobile and later purchases through a desktop. This is seen as a habitual fact and will take time to see any improvement. But as we see more smartphone penetration and new technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistants getting included to smartphone devices, the future definitely looks brighter for mobile. Mobile Payments or E-wallets Gone are the days when going cashless meant using the credit or debt card, today, people are turning towards contactless mobile payments. There is an array of companies offering services catering towards mobile payments. It is estimated that mobile payments by 2021 are going to reach $3 trillion dollars. While, it is a lot of money getting transacted on small screens, mobile payments will only equate to 11 percent of all transactions made, a jump from the modest 5% in 2016. As we see more e-commerce companies adopt mobile payments as the preferred mode of payment, there is a world of possibilities that are emerging such as digital loyalty and reward programs. With the increased spread of smartphone and more user-friendly apps, it will further cement the prospect of convenient payment through mobiles. In the US, where the mobile based e-commerce is going to grow the largest, the mobile payment’s ratio of e-commerce is expected to increase from 20% in 2015 to 46% in 2020. Personalization and customization Already users are seeing customization from Netflix and Amazon, these channels with large amount of data from users are able to target customers in a personalized way. Till now customization was exclusively a domain of the big e-commerce retailers, but 2017 will see the small retailers also venturing in with highly targeted ads and embrace personalization. They will start with collecting behavioral data from each website user and send highly targeted campaigns based on customer segments and previous online experiences. This would mean each user who comes to the website will have unique experience from the brand, if he/she is a repeat customer. Same Day Delivery 2017 will see more e-commerce companies taking the step towards same day delivery instead of the normal 3-5 business days. While the trend was started by Amazon prime, the flexibility of delivery options would become a key differentiator in e-commerce domain. According to one study, 29% of the users were keen to pay extra for same day delivery. In today’s world of online commerce, logistics will play a key role in defining the future of e-commerce players. Every online retailer, who is there for the long run is working towards building a strong logistics network and up the game by making delivery of goods as fast as possible for its valued customers. Social Selling We are seeing a lot of noise on social network about including “buy“ buttons on these networks. These social networks have a vested interest in making this work, because they have people who visit their sites regularly. By leveraging their traffic for selling is the new strategy on social networking sites, since people like to include their friends in the purchase decisions. Social media users can now buy items without ever having to switch to a different more traditional e-commerce site. The ability to offer your products and services directly through social media platform represents the essence of social selling phenomenon, which is gaining traction as we go through 2017. Sales can increase and sales costs will drop by applying social media to the online sales process effectively. This also concerns with using the true power of social media to acquire more leads and with that more turnover. Exceptional Content or Inbound Marketing Brands which are ahead are putting out exceptional content in the digital space. Good e-commerce marketers know they have to consistently stand out by producing exceptional content to attract and convert prospects into customers. In 2017, we are going to see more content marketing strategies and as the brand looks for conversion with content, great pieces of content will be created and this content will reproduced in various forms such as blog-posts, e-books, pod casts, info-graphics, data visualizations and videos etc. After which, focus should be on measuring the response of each content and focusing only on promoting the content on the successful 3-5 channels. Chatbots This is one of the unique feature to look-out for in 2017. We will see the rise of chatbots led conversation on most of the e-commerce sites. Chatbot is a robotic agent that will help

Seven E-commerce Trends for 2017 Read More »

E-commerce is here to stay, even with limited customer service, no instant gratification and no access to a physical store where you can touch and feel the product. The online platform provides 24x 7 services and the amount of selection one gets to see on online cannot be matched in a physical store. With such advantages, e-commerce has changed the way we shop. Presently, it consists of only 8% of the total retail sales in the US, but the situation is here to change with increasing usage and a growing preference for purchasing online. This article seeks to look at trends which suggest how the e-commerce domain is changing as we go through 2017. Some of the trends are: Shopping on the Mobile We have seen in recent years that there is a shift in consumer behavior towards mobile. And as we move forward, there will be more movement towards this medium. The number of searches emanating from a mobile exceed that of a desktop and more websites are making themselves mobile ready. It must have come to everyone’s notice that Google is slowly removing sites that do not cater to a mobile experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that the way forward is mobile. Having said that, it is known that mobile still lags behind desktop when it comes to conversions. People like to search for their online goods on mobile, but prefer make the purchase on the desktop. This means there aren’t separate consumers for mobile and desktop. This only means at times, it is the same consumer, who searches on the mobile and later purchases through a desktop. This is seen as a habitual fact and will take time to see any improvement. But as we see more smartphone penetration and new technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistants getting included to smartphone devices, the future definitely looks brighter for mobile. Mobile Payments or E-wallets Gone are the days when going cashless meant using the credit or debt card, today, people are turning towards contactless mobile payments. There is an array of companies offering services catering towards mobile payments. It is estimated that mobile payments by 2021 are going to reach $3 trillion dollars. While, it is a lot of money getting transacted on small screens, mobile payments will only equate to 11 percent of all transactions made, a jump from the modest 5% in 2016. As we see more e-commerce companies adopt mobile payments as the preferred mode of payment, there is a world of possibilities that are emerging such as digital loyalty and reward programs. With the increased spread of smartphone and more user-friendly apps, it will further cement the prospect of convenient payment through mobiles. In the US, where the mobile based e-commerce is going to grow the largest, the mobile payment’s ratio of e-commerce is expected to increase from 20% in 2015 to 46% in 2020. Personalization and customization Already users are seeing customization from Netflix and Amazon, these channels with large amount of data from users are able to target customers in a personalized way. Till now customization was exclusively a domain of the big e-commerce retailers, but 2017 will see the small retailers also venturing in with highly targeted ads and embrace personalization. They will start with collecting behavioral data from each website user and send highly targeted campaigns based on customer segments and previous online experiences. This would mean each user who comes to the website will have unique experience from the brand, if he/she is a repeat customer. Same Day Delivery 2017 will see more e-commerce companies taking the step towards same day delivery instead of the normal 3-5 business days. While the trend was started by Amazon prime, the flexibility of delivery options would become a key differentiator in e-commerce domain. According to one study, 29% of the users were keen to pay extra for same day delivery. In today’s world of online commerce, logistics will play a key role in defining the future of e-commerce players. Every online retailer, who is there for the long run is working towards building a strong logistics network and up the game by making delivery of goods as fast as possible for its valued customers. Social Selling We are seeing a lot of noise on social network about including “buy“ buttons on these networks. These social networks have a vested interest in making this work, because they have people who visit their sites regularly. By leveraging their traffic for selling is the new strategy on social networking sites, since people like to include their friends in the purchase decisions. Social media users can now buy items without ever having to switch to a different more traditional e-commerce site. The ability to offer your products and services directly through social media platform represents the essence of social selling phenomenon, which is gaining traction as we go through 2017. Sales can increase and sales costs will drop by applying social media to the online sales process effectively. This also concerns with using the true power of social media to acquire more leads and with that more turnover. Exceptional Content or Inbound Marketing Brands which are ahead are putting out exceptional content in the digital space. Good e-commerce marketers know they have to consistently stand out by producing exceptional content to attract and convert prospects into customers. In 2017, we are going to see more content marketing strategies and as the brand looks for conversion with content, great pieces of content will be created and this content will reproduced in various forms such as blog-posts, e-books, pod casts, info-graphics, data visualizations and videos etc. After which, focus should be on measuring the response of each content and focusing only on promoting the content on the successful 3-5 channels. Chatbots This is one of the unique feature to look-out for in 2017. We will see the rise of chatbots led conversation on most of the e-commerce sites. Chatbot is a robotic agent that will help

Things to consider- Before Getting an Outside Blogger/ Writer

“Whether it is a blog or an e-commerce store, at the end of the day, it is the traffic that drives online business.” -Unknown A blog is a marketing tool that you can play around with, test and adapt to suit your needs and measure for effectiveness, as you go along, just like any other form of marketing. If you have a small business which plans to reach out to its audience using a blog, it is a good time to think whether you want to do it yourself or want to hand it over to someone, while you engage yourself in a supervisory role. There could be many reasons, why you would want to assign the responsibility of blog writing to someone else: It could be that your writing skills are just above average and you want some one better than you to manage it.   Your writing skills are good, but the time factor does not permit you to devote the amount of time required to churn out a decent blog.   It is cumbersome for you at this point of time to do all the research. So it is prudent to hire someone to do research and blog as well.   As said above, the intention behind writing the blog is to attract more traffic to your website. In such a case you have to make an important decision to make sure the blog ticks. These are some of the important pointers you might want to adhere to while selecting the blogger: Your rapport with your readers It is possible that over the years you have created a credible following for your blog among your readers. And as your business has scaled up, time has become a precious and a limited resource for you. In such a context you would want to think twice before you outsource your blog writing. The option available before you could be to reduce the number of posts of your blog. But, this could result in a loss of some of your readers. In such a scenario, it is better to hire a blog writer and weather the storm of losing some readers. And you would see, things stabilizing after a certain period of time. Overall, it is about you posting good content on the blog. As long as the content is good, your readers will hang in there, without bidding goodbye. The Type of Blogger You are entrusting your business reputation with the blogger, when you make the choice of hiring someone from outside for your website. It becomes equally important to see whether: a. The blogger has similar personality traits as yours b. His/ her writing style is in sync with yours c. The writing style fits the brand d. The blogger has knowledge of the job You are looking at someone, who can take it one notch up and enhance your reputation. The person needs to fire up your reader’s imagination and get them to talk about your business. By doing so, it leaves you with additional time on your hands and lets you focus on streamlining your business. Blog Marketing It becomes very obvious that the time you save from assigning your blog to someone outside, can be used by you in doing other strategic activities for your business. While the blogger can help you in blog marketing, it is seen that Google places special emphasis on good content. By hiring a blogger from outside who is proficient in SEO, your website will achieve a higher page rank on Google. This would apparently invite more traffic to your website than before. Fresh Perspective As a business owner, there are times when you could become oblivious to certain aspects of the business. These can be termed as blind spots, which get overlooked most times. However, getting help from outside brings in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to the business because the outside blogger would associate with the brand differently than you. The fresh view can help bring out never before heard stories about your brand, which could popularise your brand. In due course of time, you will learn to appreciate and associate yourself with this fresh perspective. Access to Updated Knowledge This luxury of having a blogger from outside means you are dealing with a professional. Since his/her profession calls for updating knowledge every now and then, it comes by default that the blogs he/she writes is always up to date on knowledge and happenings in the stipulated domain. The final deliverable that you come across would always be updated on SEO, content standards and the trends in the industry. Poorly written Posts Hurt Your Brand In a world where Google ranking is very important it becomes tremendously important that your blog is well written. Google’s page ranking algorithm is seen to be positively inclined towards high quality content. Else, there are chances that a blog with grammatical errors and spammy links is not going to get you a higher page rank. There needs to be consistent effort from your side to succeed at Google page rank, every time you post a blog. A professional can bring about the consistency, then it is a good idea to assign your blog writing to some one outside the company. You could also hire a virtual assistant (VA) from GetFriday to write a blog and keep yourself free to do other things, which would help your business in the longer run. You can also hire a freelancer from Hubstaff Talent.Your brand and its growth among other blogs can be completely taken over by the VA, while you provide the macro view on how the blog post must be managed.

Things to consider- Before Getting an Outside Blogger/ Writer Read More »

“Whether it is a blog or an e-commerce store, at the end of the day, it is the traffic that drives online business.” -Unknown A blog is a marketing tool that you can play around with, test and adapt to suit your needs and measure for effectiveness, as you go along, just like any other form of marketing. If you have a small business which plans to reach out to its audience using a blog, it is a good time to think whether you want to do it yourself or want to hand it over to someone, while you engage yourself in a supervisory role. There could be many reasons, why you would want to assign the responsibility of blog writing to someone else: It could be that your writing skills are just above average and you want some one better than you to manage it.   Your writing skills are good, but the time factor does not permit you to devote the amount of time required to churn out a decent blog.   It is cumbersome for you at this point of time to do all the research. So it is prudent to hire someone to do research and blog as well.   As said above, the intention behind writing the blog is to attract more traffic to your website. In such a case you have to make an important decision to make sure the blog ticks. These are some of the important pointers you might want to adhere to while selecting the blogger: Your rapport with your readers It is possible that over the years you have created a credible following for your blog among your readers. And as your business has scaled up, time has become a precious and a limited resource for you. In such a context you would want to think twice before you outsource your blog writing. The option available before you could be to reduce the number of posts of your blog. But, this could result in a loss of some of your readers. In such a scenario, it is better to hire a blog writer and weather the storm of losing some readers. And you would see, things stabilizing after a certain period of time. Overall, it is about you posting good content on the blog. As long as the content is good, your readers will hang in there, without bidding goodbye. The Type of Blogger You are entrusting your business reputation with the blogger, when you make the choice of hiring someone from outside for your website. It becomes equally important to see whether: a. The blogger has similar personality traits as yours b. His/ her writing style is in sync with yours c. The writing style fits the brand d. The blogger has knowledge of the job You are looking at someone, who can take it one notch up and enhance your reputation. The person needs to fire up your reader’s imagination and get them to talk about your business. By doing so, it leaves you with additional time on your hands and lets you focus on streamlining your business. Blog Marketing It becomes very obvious that the time you save from assigning your blog to someone outside, can be used by you in doing other strategic activities for your business. While the blogger can help you in blog marketing, it is seen that Google places special emphasis on good content. By hiring a blogger from outside who is proficient in SEO, your website will achieve a higher page rank on Google. This would apparently invite more traffic to your website than before. Fresh Perspective As a business owner, there are times when you could become oblivious to certain aspects of the business. These can be termed as blind spots, which get overlooked most times. However, getting help from outside brings in a fresh pair of eyes and perspective to the business because the outside blogger would associate with the brand differently than you. The fresh view can help bring out never before heard stories about your brand, which could popularise your brand. In due course of time, you will learn to appreciate and associate yourself with this fresh perspective. Access to Updated Knowledge This luxury of having a blogger from outside means you are dealing with a professional. Since his/her profession calls for updating knowledge every now and then, it comes by default that the blogs he/she writes is always up to date on knowledge and happenings in the stipulated domain. The final deliverable that you come across would always be updated on SEO, content standards and the trends in the industry. Poorly written Posts Hurt Your Brand In a world where Google ranking is very important it becomes tremendously important that your blog is well written. Google’s page ranking algorithm is seen to be positively inclined towards high quality content. Else, there are chances that a blog with grammatical errors and spammy links is not going to get you a higher page rank. There needs to be consistent effort from your side to succeed at Google page rank, every time you post a blog. A professional can bring about the consistency, then it is a good idea to assign your blog writing to some one outside the company. You could also hire a virtual assistant (VA) from GetFriday to write a blog and keep yourself free to do other things, which would help your business in the longer run. You can also hire a freelancer from Hubstaff Talent.Your brand and its growth among other blogs can be completely taken over by the VA, while you provide the macro view on how the blog post must be managed.

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