Day: January 11, 2025

 

Are emails bogging you down? Do you feel like you’re spending way too much time at your desk answering them? Do you feel like your inbox could use some sprucing up? Maybe you need a complete email spring cleaning! Whichever it is, it sounds to us like you’re in need of an inbox management virtual assistant. 

The good news is that you can actually hire one today!

But before you go there, we put together a few things that we think you should know about hiring an inbox management virtual assistant. In this article, we are going to be covering 

• What Is an Email Management Virtual Assistant?
• Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Email Management
• 11 Tasks to Hire an Inbox Management Virtual Assistant For
• How Much Does an Email Management VA Cost?
• What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?
• Case Study: How John Hired an Email VA & Saved 2 Hours Per Day

Sign up for Outsource School and unlock our free hiring packet to help you get the best email management virtual assistant.

What Is an Email Management Virtual Assistant?

Also known as an inbox management virtual assistant, these individuals are responsible for handling your emails. Their duties involve organizing and sorting emails, creating folders and labels to categorize emails, color coding emails to make them easier to locate, and even deleting unnecessary emails or spam.

An outsourced inbox VA will even do all of this for you before you get on in the morning! This way, you can start your with a clean and beautiful inbox and avoid all the stress that unkept email will usually cause.

Now, that’s just the categorizing part of the job. You also have the replying side of things, which a more specialized email assistant can handle, too. 

When you think about all of that and the amount of time it could take you to accomplish a single day’s worth of emails, you start to see the value of hiring an email assistant. These people typically have developed efficient methods. They will implement proven processes to clean up your inbox and keep it that way. They may also use software programs, as needed and if you prefer, to help manage all the online correspondence. 

Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Email Management

Outsourcing email management impacts both your professional and personal well-being. It frees up your time, so you can undertake other tasks with less strain.

Below, let’s highlight the main incentives for hiring an email management virtual assistant.

Improved Productivity

The average user spends about two and a half hours checking their work email daily, which increases to six hours when you include personal inboxes.

This reduces the time spent on productive tasks.

Hiring an email management VA frees up these hours, some of which you can allocate to your core business functions, improving productivity.

Timely Responses

Entrepreneurs understand the hassle of replying to daily client inquiries. Oftentimes, you might get overwhelmed and fail to reply to potential clients, losing business.

Email management VAs monitor your inbox for new messages and quickly respond to customer inquiries and feedback.

Confidentiality and Security

Hiring an email management VA lets you control how many people access your messages, especially those containing sensitive business information.

This is safer than allowing the whole in-house team to access your email. It also simplifies following up on security incidents like data breaches.

Improved Work-Life Balance

You should hire an email management VA if you often check your email when out of the office, including during social gatherings.

The VA will respond to incoming emails and only contact you for issues that require your attention. This lets you enjoy your breaks from work and take up hobbies, improving your overall well-being.

Professional Communication

Email management VAs are trained in effective communication as part of their virtual assistant skills. They are proficient at handling customers, including using the right tone and observing cultural sensitivity.

They also align the email responses with your brand communication strategy to give your business a professional image.

Cost Advantages

Hiring an email management VA is more cost-effective than recruiting an in-house personal assistant.

The VA works remotely, so you need not increase your office space or invest in infrastructure to accommodate them.

Tasks to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant for Email Management

1. Deleting junk emails and keeping your inbox clear of any unwanted newsletters, subscriptions, or promos. 
2. Forwarding emails to the necessary people within your team or others
3. Archiving old emails that might be useful later so you main box isn’t filled with old mail
4. Responding to emails and setting up automatic replies
5. Some email marketing like sending out mass emails such as newsletters and introductory emails to the selected list of customers
6. Managing your contact list which involves sorting contacts in order of importance or priority, categorizing them with labels (customers, business partners, suppliers, internal team, etc.), adding new contacts, and deleting old ones
7. Sorting emails in order of priority so you know which emails are urgent and which can wait 
8. Some customer support duties like answering customer inquiries 
9. Creating folders and applying labels to emails. Labels add specificity. Folders organize old and new emails for future reference.
10. Setting up filters ensuring incoming emails go into the applicable folders tidying up your main inbox
11. Answering emails about meetings and adding them to schedule 

How Much Does an Email Management VA Cost?

Virtual assistants have a range of prices depending on a number of factors such as skill level, level of experience, scope of work, specialized knowledge, length of project, are you hiring a VA full-time or a part-time VA, and what country they come from. 

If you want an inbox management virtual assistant who does only the admin side of things, then in the U.S. you’re looking at an average of $10-$12 per hour. VAs from the Philippines and India are less costly both averaging around $6-$7 per hour. 

Now if you’re looking for a VA who can also do some marketing and customer support duties, that’s going to cost you a few more dollars. In the U.S. you could be looking at anywhere between $15-$22 and in the PH and India around $10-$15. 

Again, these pricings vary depending on the scope and depth of the work. This is why negotiating rates and providing a detailed overview of the work should be done together. It’s bad form to hire someone and give them work you didn’t discuss beforehand. It’s even worse form to pile on extra work without just compensation. 

Take care of your VAs and they will take care of you.

What Are the Best Virtual Assistant Websites to Hire From?

Here are the best virtual assistant websites to find top talent:

1. Zirtual

Zirtual is a VA platform known for its superb hiring processes and training programs to ensure VA excellence. They also have a matching process that connects you with an inbox va that is the best fit for your specific needs. 

2. Upwork

Upwork is one of the most famous freelance marketplaces. They help connect businesses and freelancers together for better business opportunities. They have three unique methods for locating the talent you need. 

3. Onlinejobs.ph 

Known as “The Job Board for Virtual Workers in the Philippines”, Onlinejobsph allows you to exclusively hire Filipino VAs who are among the best in the business. Create a job post and let your inbox management virtual assistant come to you. 

4. FreeUp

FreeUp offers a variety of talents in several categories. Their hiring and vetting process only allows the top percentile of freelancers to ensure excellent service on their platform. Their “No Turnover Guarantee” means you are protected in a freelancer quits on the job. 

5. InboxDone

InboxDone is currently the only platform to offer VA services specializing in email management. They provide two assistants to cover for each other and adapt to your unique business needs and work style. 

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School helps you to unlock the potential of virtual assistants and accelerate your business growth.

This is the exact system Outsource School’s founders, Nathan Hirsch and Connor Gillivan, used to go from zero to 8 figures and 40+ virtual assistants with an exit in 2019.

Since being founded in 2020, Outsource School has helped 1,000+ business owners hire 2,000+ virtual assistants for their companies.

Schedule a free sales call to learn more

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

How OutsourceSchool Can Help You Hire the Right Virtual Assistant

Here’s how Outsource School can help you recruit the best VA for you:

• Free Outsourcing Consultation: You can book a call where we can help you audit your communication strategy and email management needs.

• Outsourcing Training: We provide one-on-one training on hiring and managing VA teams.

• Access to Onboarding Tools: You can use our customizable templates, SOPs, and other resources to reduce the VAs’ learning curve during onboarding.

• Advice for Scaling with VAs: We provide expert advice on how to scale your email management VA team to meet your business needs without compromising productivity and customer service.

• VA Budget Estimation: Our free VA calculator helps you estimate the number of full-time and part-time email management VAs you can afford based on your budget.

Ready to outsource email management VAs but don’t know where to start?

Schedule a free consultation call with us today!

Case Study: How John Hired an Email VA & Saved 2 Hours Per Day

John is a small business owner who has had a boom in business lately. In the beginning, he was able to manage customer emails and manage communication with his suppliers, accounting team, team members, and other business partners. Now, John has been falling behind on his inbox and it is slowly eating away at his time. What used to take 30 minutes turned into almost 2 hours of sorting through a mishmash of customer inquiries, business inquiries, internal communications, newsletters, and other subscriptions he doesn’t even remember subscribing to! 

His time is split between 

• marketing his products to capitalize on the recent surge
• organizing logistics
• getting on meetings with his bookkeeping team and workers
• answering emails
• developing an FAQ so he doesn’t have to answer the same question 20 times over

That’s when John decided to look for an inbox management virtual assistant, and she was a lifesaver. After orienting the VA on the situation, the VA began working. The email was even a bit more cluttered at this point. After all, it took some time to find the right VA and go through the whole onboarding process.

However, because she had experience, the VA was able to easily create folders for the different people John was in contact with. She created one for the accounting team, one for the internal team, one for suppliers, and one for customer inquiries. The VA also set up filters so that emails that came from any of those groups would be sorted into those folders automatically. The VA also made sure to mark those unwanted subscriptions as spam. The ones that fit the categories that John said he was interested in, she placed in a separate folder.

John instructed the VA that he wanted to keep customer records, including email interactions. So, the VA made sure that all resolved inquiries were archived and labeled as such. This made it easier for John to locate those emails and refer back to them for the development of the FAQ. 

John also mentioned that once the FAQ was finished, the email assistant could use that to answer customer inquiries. The VA, who had email marketing experience was able to help John set up an automated reply system. 

Before he knew it, John was on top of his inbox game. The emails that he needed his input on were labeled “Urgent” and the others he left to his email assistant to respond to. He is now able to focus more of his time on developing his brand. This way, he also has more opportunities to scale up his business even further.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This section answers the most commonly asked questions about hiring email management virtual assistants.

What Tools Do Virtual Assistants Use for Email Management?

Below are common tools VAs use for email management:

• Email platforms like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo.

• Automation tools to help you schedule messages or sort incoming emails based on priority.

• Customer support tools that help convert tickets and live chat messages into emails for record purposes.

• Writing assistant tools that provide prompts and customizable templates for customer responses.

What Are the Key Skills of an Email Management Virtual Assistant?

Here are the core skills to look for in an email management VA:

• Proficiency with email platforms and automation tools
• Strong and culturally sensitive communication skills
• Time management and organizational skills
• Analytical and problem-solving skills

How Can I Ensure Data Security When Hiring a Virtual Assistant?

Use these tips to ensure data security when hiring VAs:

• Hire candidates from reputable agencies
• Run background checks as part of the screening
• Require the hired candidates to sign non-disclosure agreements as part of the virtual assistant contracts
• Assign role-based access

Conclusion

If you want to prevent a clogged-up inbox, stop the overwhelm, or mitigate the pileup, an inbox management virtual assistant might just be the person you need to clean things up.

Book a free consultation and learn how you can outsource email management services!

 

 

Did you know that you could reap the benefits of outsourcing to India, even if your business is small? In fact, most smaller businesses these days are taking advantage of outsourcing software development to India, along with many other tasks.

In this post, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of SEO, customer service, software outsourcing to India, and more. We’ll also look into how businesses normally take advantage of outsourcing to India. Finally, you’ll catch a glimpse into how to outsource work to India once you’re ready to give it a try.

Need a quick solution for upscaling your business operations to meet market demand? Try our proven outsourcing methods!

Thousands of business owners use our Outsource School templates and guides to simplify their hiring processes.

Sign up for Outsource School and get our free hiring packet!

Why Do Companies Outsource to India?

Is your business expanding faster than expected, affecting your production efficiency? Or are you struggling to balance all the business functions?

It is time to outsource to India so you can streamline your operations.

Let’s go over the main reasons companies need to outsource to India.

Focus on Core Business Functions

While administrative functions like customer service and technical support are important, they are time and personnel-intensive.

Companies can outsource such roles to third parties, allowing them to focus on more essential tasks.

Access to Global Talents

Sometimes, the expertise you need is not readily available in your local talent pool. This can hurt your operations and brand image, especially when you don’t meet customer expectations.

Offshore outsourcing lets you attract top talent from India to fill your company’s skill gap. 

Flexible Scalability

Upscaling your business operations often requires additional personnel to handle the growing workload.

Outsourcing to India lets you respond to these demands quickly, reducing the impact on your operating efficiency. Additionally, it becomes easier to scale down when the market demand declines.

Cost-Saving

Small and mid-sized companies can outsource to India to reduce expenses associated with recruiting and maintaining internal staff.

For example, outsourcing reduces office space requirements as contracted personnel often work remotely.

Streamlined Operations

Companies serving global markets should outsource to India to maintain 24-hour operations.

The outsourced team could handle customer support when your in-house team clocks out, ensuring continuity of service.

Benefits of Outsourcing to India

You may be asking, “Why outsource to India in the first place?” Well, the benefits of outsourcing to India include several major factors, which we’ll go over here. 

Cost Savings

The first of the major advantages of outsourcing to India is cost savings. It will cost you a lot less when you’re outsourcing customer service to India, for example. If you hire from the US, Canada, UK, or other western country, you can easily pay double or triple for the same work. Because India’s economy is different, your dollar will go further than it would at home. As long as you’re still paying decent wages, you should be able to get the quality services that you and your customers deserve.

Access to Skilled Talent

Let’s say you wanted to try outsourcing SEO to India because of the cost savings. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to know that many Indians are highly technologically savvy. By this logic, outsourcing web development or software development to India is a good idea as well. If you were to ask other businesses out there, you would probably find that most have had at least one Indian involved at some stage in their project. 

Time Zone Advantages

Hiring from a country that’s several hours ahead may not sound like an advantage at all. However, we think it’s another of the best benefits of outsourcing to India. While you’re still cozy in bed, an Indian team can be hard at work on your app or website. This way, you can immediately have a look at their progress. Then, you still have time to give further instructions for them to do before their workday ends. If you’re outsourcing customer service to India, the time difference means that you can have people taking care of your customers while you sleep. And you’re not even paying the usual night differential!

Technology Infrastructure

India is one of the few countries in the world that have massive technology infrastructure for serving overseas industries. India is known for tech savvy, exposure to western culture and the English language, and low cost of living. Because of this, they are one of the BPO giants. BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing, which is an industry centered on helping other countries with outsourcing and offshoring to India. It’s a huge industry because businesses always look for ways to save on costs while getting the same quality output.

Types of Services Commonly Outsourced to India

You can outsource a lot of different tasks to India. We don’t want you to think that there is a limit on what you can hire for there. These are just a handful of the most common outsourcing examples. 

Software Development

Outsourcing software development to India is probably the most well-known of all. Getting software built from scratch can be super expensive. This is the main reason why India is a go-to option, since they can do the work just as well as developers from the other side of the world.

Mobile App Development

Software outsourcing to India isn’t just desktop stuff. These days, a lot of companies are getting their own apps made. This is because just about everyone has a smartphone, and prefer to use it. More than this, companies can target more users with mobile apps because people are on their phones loads more than they are on computers. If you want an app built without getting into debt, consider outsourcing to India.

Digital Marketing

Outsourcing SEO to India is another really common one. SEO is really technical, and India has a long history of focusing on technical skills. It takes a special mind and special training to understand SEO at a high level. When your business is at stake, you want to hire only the best optimizers to get you quality hits to make bank.

Back Office Services

We highly recommend to all our clients that they pass off administrative type tasks as quickly as possible. These tasks are tedious and time-consuming – not the type of stuff a business owner should be handling. These tasks usually don’t require a ton of skills, but it’s always good to hire someone who understands all the tech that you use for business operations so they can do their job well.

Customer Support Services

A lot of businesses shy away from outsourcing customer service to India. They prefer to go with the Philippines or Latin countries because the accents are easier to understand. However, you can find a number of Indians who actually have very clean English – you just have to be willing to pay more than a few dollars per hour! It will still be totally worth it. In addition, accents have nothing to do with grammar, so if you need some non-voice talent, there’s nothing stopping you from outsourcing to India.

How to Outsource Work to India

Is this your first rodeo outsourcing work to India? We’ve got you covered!

Here’s a step-by-step guide for offshore outsourcing to India.

1. Outline Your Business Needs

Determine which business functions can be outsourced and which must be handled in-house.

For example, suppose you run an online store. Learn how to scale the ecommerce business by outsourcing customer support while your internal staff handles order processing.

2. Develop Job Descriptions

Convert the identified business needs into tasks and organize them under specific roles.

Next, create job descriptions for the roles and outline their duties and responsibilities. Also, highlight the requisite skill level and experience.

3. Research Reliable Agencies

Identify outsourcing companies in India that specialize in the virtual assistant skills or services you need.

We recommend checking past customer testimonials and case studies for credibility and the expected service quality.

4. Recruit the Best Candidates

Identify personnel who meet your qualification requirements.

Candidates who pass the first screening can progress to one-on-one interviews.

Focus on technical expertise, human skills, and the ability to fit into your company culture.

5. Onboard the Talent

Leverage onboarding tools to train the outsourced talent about your operations, including company policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Also, outline their roles and responsibilities, including how their input will contribute to overall company goals.

6. Monitor and Optimize

Schedule regular follow-ups to measure progress and address arising challenges.

You can also provide feedback to motivate the talent and help them refine their efforts.

What Is Outsource School?

Outsource School offers a support system to help entrepreneurs hire virtual assistants to upscale their businesses.

As career entrepreneurs, we run a portfolio of companies and understand the challenges of recruiting additional staff, especially for higher-level roles.

However, unlike when starting, we figured out a proven method for recruiting and maintaining virtual teams.

We launched Outsource School to help other business owners learn how to hire, onboard, and manage virtual assistants quickly to scale their operations.

Book a consultation call today and learn how you can scale your business with our systems!

Free resources you might like: 

• Outsource School Case Study: How We Scaled to 45+ VAs and 8 Figures in Revenue
• Free VA Calculator | See How Many VAs You Can Afford
• Free Training on 5 Keys to Working With VAs
• Learn Outsourcing 101 | Guides, Downloads, and Checklists

Challenges of Outsourcing Work to India

Outsourcing to India is not all rainbows and roses. Every option out there is going to have some caveats. You need to be aware of these pitfalls, but don’t let them scare you away from outsourcing to India.

Cultural and Communication Barriers

India does have a lot of contact with the western world. However, this does not guarantee an absolute match in terms of culture. It also does not mean that every individual you come across will speak English the way you expect. 

Many will say that they speak English fluently. That means, however, that they speak well according to their standards. It’s a different variety of English, just like British English differs from American English in vocabulary and accent, and even grammar. Maybe their teachers – also not speakers of your native variety of English – told them they speak very well. They are likely not aware that people in other countries can’t understand them or don’t hold the same values and norms as they do.

One thing that warrants its own paragraph here is a warning about Indian holidays. Make sure that you ask anyone you hire about the holidays that they observe because Hindus and Buddhists especially have some very lengthy holidays that the west isn’t accustomed to.

Lack of Privacy and Security Laws

Every country has its own rules and regulations. Outsourcing to India means managing your expectations in terms of what laws they must abide by. When it comes to Asia, you need to know that the law tends to be less advanced in the areas of technology. This means that you need to cover your bases more thoroughly than you would if you were hiring locally. We recommend consulting a lawyer who is well-versed in the privacy and security laws that will affect you.

Unforeseen Expenses

Hiring overseas will always come with the risk of unforeseen expenses. You won’t be able to control the work environment, for instance, because it’s not your office. You won’t always know what might pop up for an overseas hire, either. However, you can easily reduce these risks by going over the details of the job and setting clear expectations. 

Take note of any instances when a hire doesn’t comply. Take steps immediately to ensure higher compliance next time around. Still, they may simply not meet your expectations, or don’t seem to be trying to. In this case, be prepared to safely stop work at a reasonable point in the project and let them go. If you have the proper milestones set up, you should have zero problems hiring someone else to pick up where they left off.

Alternative for Outsourcing

Outsourcing to India is not your only option! You can outsource to many different countries all over the world. You can actually hire anyone these days who has the ability to work online. We have a favorite, however, which is the Philippines! Our whole team, actually, almost exclusively consists of freelancers we’ve hired from the Philippines.

The reason why we so highly recommend hiring from the Philippines is because they have the best scores in the areas we mentioned above. The costs of hiring in the Philippines are comparable to those in India. Sometimes, they can be higher, but this is because you get better quality. 

The time zone advantages are the same, and most Filipino freelancers are actually willing to work odd hours. They are very accommodating – it’s part of their laid-back culture! – so you can quite easily come to an agreement on hours. The BPO industry in the Philippines is also booming, so they have the experience and the infrastructure to support outsourcing. One of the things we love the most is that Filipinos speak English much better overall than the rest of Asia. Although some may have some accent and grammar issues, it’s not hard to understand them, comparatively. You will still need to look into privacy and security laws and set clear expectations to avoid unforeseen expenses. But you should be doing this with any hire, anyway!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some of the most common questions businesses have when considering outsourcing to India:

How Much Can I Save By Outsourcing to India?

The amount that you can save by outsourcing to India versus hiring locally depends on the task you are hiring for. As mentioned above, you can expect to save up to 70% for the most part. This takes into consideration salaries and benefits, overhead, and equipment. If you require special software and are paying lower hourly rates, most freelancers will not agree to pay for the software.

What are the Risks Associated With Outsourcing to India?

Outsourcing to anyone is risky because you have a lower level of control. You do not work in the same space, and cannot supervise them closely. When you outsource overseas, this level of control drops further. You can manage these risks quite well, though, if you set up the right checks and balances and keep a close eye on operations – or hire someone to do that for you!

How Do I Ensure Data Security and Confidentiality When Outsourcing to India?

For the most part, limiting access to data is the best way to ensure data security and confidentiality across the board. Always keep backups, and set up safeguards so you are always in control of your data. This is especially important for financial data. Scammers are everywhere! The only reason why we all worry about getting scammed overseas is because it’s much harder to prosecute an overseas scammer. Moreover, the reason why countries like India, China and Russia have a bad reputation when it comes to scams is because of numbers – there are many more Indians, Chinese and Russians in the world than other nationalities. 

What are the Cultural Differences That I Need to Consider When Outsourcing to India?

One major hurdle for many western businesses when hiring Indians is the expectation of advancement. The Indian mindset is hierarchical because their society is hierarchical. An Indian hire can quickly lost motivation if not given opportunities for advancement. If you have a flatter operating structure, you may want to adjust for your Indian team to keep them performing well. 

To meet their aspirational goals, you will need to develop performance metrics to apply to them that unlock benefits. For example, if they finish a project faster without a lot of bugs, they get a bonus. If they fix bugs before the set deadline, you give them a nice review to post on different sites where they get work. Commendation within the company is also a good way to motivate people who love knowing that they can climb the ranks and hate feeling like they are commodities.

Conclusion

After weighing the drawbacks and benefits of outsourcing to India, you may still feel uncomfortable pulling the trigger. We understand how making that first overseas hire can be daunting. However, we are confident that if you know how to outsource work to India, you’ll be totally fine. It’s really about hope much attention you pay in the early stages, as you prepare to get an overseas hire ready to start working. If you need help in this area, we are, of course, available to you. Just book a call and we’ll get together to see how we can be of assistance.