We all know that Amazon pretty much rules the online world these days. So when it comes to tapping into this potentially massive opportunity with your VA services, you may be wondering how to become an Amazon Virtual Assistant. 

I reached out to my friend Michelle Welles, a successful Virtual Assistant and online business owner to answer this question. In a former life, Michelle was an Amazon FBA seller who successfully private-labeled and sold a pour-over coffee filter.

Michelle is going to fill us in on nine ways you can help sellers as an Amazon Virtual Assistant, including…

1. Researching profitable products
2. Sourcing products from around the globe
3. Writing and creating optimized product listings
4. Managing inventory
5. Providing customer service
6. Creating content to help build a brand
7. Maintaining and building contact lists
8. Managing social media marketing
9. Handling Amazon pay per click advertising

Ready to find out how to become a VA on Amazon? Take it away, Michelle!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find a way to break into the Amazon FBA world as a Virtual Assistant by the end of this post. 

Does this seem like a MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

If you’re lucky, finding a niche to streamline your VA business flows naturally out of past job experiences. Or it happens organically through an opportunity that comes from your personal network.

But it might also require a more intentional effort to find your “VA sweet spot.” If the latter is the case for you, consider offering your finely-tuned VA skills to Amazon sellers.

According to Statista –a leading provider of consumer data – the projected global revenue of Amazon is going up another 40 billion dollars by 2022. And with Prime shipping being pretty much a non-negotiable in most households, there isn’t an end in sight to this eCommerce superpower.

40 BILLION DOLLARS.

Those are crazy numbers by anyone’s standards! This essentially translates into a saturated market of Amazon sellers, ALL of whom are trying to build their own successful brands. 

Welcome to the world of Fulfillment By Amazon – also known as FBA.

Pretty compelling reason to learn how to become an Amazon Virtual Assistant, right? 

Should You Learn How to Become an Amazon Virtual Assistant?

To give you an overview of the Amazon FBA process, using the tried and true Amazon ecosystem a seller sends products to a fulfillment center and no longer has to worry about storing inventory, shipping products on-demand or handling simple customer service requests. 

Amazon takes over – for a monthly fee, of course.

But FBA sellers are still busy spinning all the typical plates of a hungry entrepreneur, plus navigating the ever-changing rules and regulations of using the Amazon platform to sell their goods.

It’s a lot for any one person to manage, which makes them prime candidates (see how I did that) for help.

And that’s where you can save the day!

9 Ways to Help Sellers as an Amazon Virtual Assistant

Now that you can see that there is a massive opportunity to help Amazon sellers scale their businesses, here are nine services you can offer as an Amazon Virtual Assistant to do just that.

1. Research Profitable Products

Doing your homework is not lost on successful Amazon sellers. With over 75 million products offered on the platform choosing the right ones to invest in is a key to profitability.

So how can a seller be sure that there will be a demand for a particular item?

And how can they stay away from the categories that have too many sellers?

In a word, it comes down to research.

I know, I know… If you think back to the days of doing research papers (I realize it might seem like a lifetime ago) you may remember that proper research can be a real time-suck. 

For that reason alone this is a service that a savvy VA could easily and successfully pitch to FBA sellers.

Is It for You? 

Ask yourself these questions to decide if product research is something you want to major in:

• Are you a naturally curious person?
• Do you enjoy exploring “bunny trails” but also have the discipline not to get lost in them?
• Does learning about the latest and greatest commodities get you excited?
• Has anyone ever told you that you can weed through a lot of information and find the one gold nugget?
• Does your sleuthing around on the internet always produce results?

Not for you? Not to worry, there’s more.

2. Source Products From Around the Globe

There are three popular approaches that an FBA seller can take in sourcing the products they want to sell:

1. Private Label – Work directly with a manufacturer to create their own branded product
2. Wholesale – Buy products in bulk from a wholesaler and negotiate the best price
3. Retail Arbitrage – Purchase discounted items at retail locations and resell at a profit

As you may have guessed, all three of these take up a significant amount of a seller’s time. Hiring a VA to handle early communications with manufacturers and wholesalers is an effective time management tool. 

 Is It for You?

• Do you consider your exceptional communication skills to be a secret weapon?
• Would you enjoy reaching out to individuals and companies around the globe to locate the best deals?
• Is negotiating a skill you’re confident about? 
• Do you scoff at the challenge of finding a needle in a haystack?
• Are you a fan of “the hunt?”

This service alone could offer full-time work for an Amazon Virtual Assistant if you connect with a busy seller.

3. Write and Create Optimized Product Listings

Remember those millions of products on the Amazon platform? Well, that’s the intense competition that FBA sellers face every day. And as the saying goes, “If people don’t know you exist, you don’t exist.”

So it stands to reason that a fully optimized product description is the first step toward being found.

Keywords, images, and customer reviews, oh my… these are just the obvious elements involved. But within the specific aspects of a listing are many more subtle guidelines and restrictions around the title, images, features, description, reviews and ratings.

A Virtual Assistant with a firm grasp on optimizing the listing can mean the difference between appearing on the first page of the search or on the 27th page. 

And that adds obvious and dramatic value to a seller’s efforts!

Is It for You?

• Is writing clear and concise copy part of your DNA?
• Do you like understanding a formula and following it?
• Is bringing all the pieces of a puzzle together an exercise you look forward to?
• Do you have a good grasp on the emotional elements that cause someone to purchase – and can you apply that in your writing?

If writing is your thing, you may want to specialize in this service along with #6.

4. Manage Inventory

“Floating money” is a reality for Amazon sellers. Their cash flow is directly impacted by how quickly or slowly their inventory moves.

And to make matters even more time-sensitive, Amazon fees are calculated based on the FBA Sell Through Rate. In simplest terms, this is:

Number of units they sold over a 90-day period  

________________________________________

Average number of units stored

The divided resulting number contributes to an Inventory Performance Index or IPI, which will affect their fees.

Managing and adjusting inventory becomes a critical aspect of doing business for all sellers, especially those carrying a vast amount of product.

Is It for You?

• Do you like pouring over “the numbers” and keeping track of daily changes?
• Are you good at interpreting data? This skill will help the seller with pricing, profit margins and purchasing decisions.
• Are you cut out for repetitive but valuable tasks?

If your personality leans toward admin-type skills, managing a seller’s inventory might be a great place to start.

5. Provide Customer Service

Although most customer service gets handled directly by Amazon, if a seller is trying to build a trusted personal brand beyond the Amazon marketplace it’s helpful to follow up with customers.

Responses to great or not-so-great reviews are another way to provide a more personalized level of customer service. 

Virtual Assistants digging into the Amazon niche can offer customer service as an add-on service to one of the other more expansive services.

Is It for You?

• Are you a people-pleaser that enjoys bringing satisfaction to a disgruntled customer?
• Do you revel in finding creative solutions to ongoing issues?
• Do you enjoy representing or advocating on behalf of a brand?

When you step into the customer service role as an Amazon Virtual Assistant, you’ll have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular product. This will always be valuable information to a seller looking to improve product options.

6. Create Content to Help Build a Brand

If you’ve spent any time shopping on Amazon, you know that product videos help sell. (I mean, who doesn’t like clicking on that little triangular button, right?)

This form of content goes directly onto the listing and can set a seller’s offer apart from others who don’t offer the visual component.

Additionally, well-written product reviews or blog articles can help:

1. Direct customers straight to a listing – bypassing all the others
2. Improve a product’s search results
3. Build brand presence
4. Answer FAQs that will speak directly to the problem the customer is looking to solve

Is It for You?

• Do you have the technical skills to put together excellent video content?
• Is copywriting your area of expertise?
• Would you enjoy testing products and writing helpful reviews of them?
• Is mapping out a comprehensive content strategy something you can sink your teeth into?

This is another area that could provide an Amazon Virtual Assistant full-time work with just a few sellers.

7. Maintain and Build Contact Lists

Amazon keeps its client information close to the vest. In other words, they don’t hand over the emails of customers. It’s kept under lock and key and sellers communicate with buyers through the Amazon platform.

However, that doesn’t mean a sharp seller couldn’t find other ways to engage customers and build a contact list. Contacts could be collected through the brand’s website and incentives to visit that website could be included in the product packaging.

An up-to-date list of contacts gives a seller the perfect audience to introduce new products to and conduct their own product research.

Is It for You?

• Do you like creating and sending out newsletters to keep a contact list engaged?
• Are you adept at using a platform like Canva, where you could create beautiful PDFs to use as lead magnets?
• Does the backend of a website feel like “home,” making it easy for you to help a seller collect important contact info from every visitor to their site?
• Are you familiar with some of the popular CRMs that a seller might use?

The Amazon platform is a tremendous marketplace for sellers. But it is Amazon’s sandbox, and they get to make the rules and change them. This fact alone makes a seller’s contact list worth its weight in gold.

8. Manage Social Media Marketing

Whether you spend a lot of time on social media personally or professionally, you already understand that scrollers are prepared to make purchases.

And VAs are often hired to handle the social media accounts of businesses – small and large. 

Amazon sellers are no different. Remember that statement, “If they don’t know you exist…”

You know the rest.

Social media marketing is here to stay. A Virtual Assistant who understands the ins and outs of each platform can confidently approach an FBA seller and pitch their VA services which will undoubtedly scale their Amazon sales.

Is It for You?

• Are you a visual person with an eye for scroll-stopping images?
• Do you love creating in Canva? This is a great place to design some branded posts.
• Are you a caption queen or king?
• Are the analytics of a post something that gets your wheels spinning?

For sellers wanting to focus on building their brand, I recommend offering a bundle of services including #6, #7 and #8.

9. Handle Amazon Pay Per Click Advertising

Remember the millions of competitors on the far-reaching Amazon platform? 

Sometimes a seller can do EVERYTHING right and still find themselves on the 11th page of the search (sigh!). Although frustrating, it’s all part of the FBA game. And there is a way to earn yourself a front-page spot.

The key word here is earn. 

It’s officially called Pay Per Click, or PPC. It’s a widely used advertising strategy, including on over a dozen well-known platforms.

VAs are hired to handle these campaigns because they give a decent return on investment in the digital marketing space and need continual tweaking and maintenance. It can also be very time-consuming to learn how to manage these campaigns. 

Is It for You?

• Do you have experience working with PPC on Facebook, Google or anywhere else? 
• Would you enjoy doing keyword research to see what types of searches would most often pull up a product?
• Are you good at analyzing data to improve ad campaigns?

If you have a strong handle on PPC, target new sellers with this service. The quicker they can get on the first page of a search, the faster they can get some sales and hopefully reviews for their product. That’s a no-brainer for someone breaking onto the Amazon scene.

Ready to Become an Amazon Virtual Assistant? 

Mission Impossible is… not so impossible when it comes to learning how to become an Amazon Virtual Assistant.

Whether you’ve been looking for a way to break into the world of Amazon FBA or you’re searching for a niche for your current Virtual Assistant business, these nine service areas will make you very marketable.

If you’re ready to either get started as a Virtual Assistant or level up your existing VA biz, check out our VA training program, The #FullyBookedVA System. It’s the information, support, coaching – and leads! – you need to knock it out of the park as an Amazon Virtual Assistant.