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Consumer and product data volumes surge as online shopping expans. Outsourcing call centers for e-commerce and data entry tasks emerges as a practical solution to managing increasing workloads among online businesses.
If you want to learn more about the benefits of outsourcing data entry and call center services, this article is for you. It discusses the advantages of the business practice and addresses common misconceptions that might hinder you from exploring it. Keep reading to learn more.
Overview of E-commerce Data Entry and Types of Data
E-commerce data entry is the backbone of any successful e-commerce shop. It involves inputting and managing information related to various aspects of online businesses. Below are the different types of data essential to the industry.
Product Information
Your online shop can drive higher conversion rates by providing customers with precise and reliable information about its offers, including:
- Titles
- Descriptions
- Specifications
- Size variations
- Color variations
- Prices
- Inventory levels
- Images
- Keywords for search engine optimization (SEO)
Data entry is not just about inputting the listed information. It also includes updating, editing, managing, and adjusting product details.
Accurate data builds trust and encourages customers to make more informed purchase decisions. It also helps your products rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), increasing your shop’s visibility and attracting more customers.
Customer Data
Outsourced e-commerce data entry is popular among online retailers because it boosts customer service quality. But what is e-commerce customer service in the first place?
This process assists consumers before, during, and after purchasing a product or service. To build a customer-centric culture, your online shop must personalize interactions throughout the shopping experience. This is where data entry comes in.
Customer data entry handles contact details, preferences, purchase history, and communication records. However, this task involves more than just collecting and logging such information at the start of the interaction. Your business must also:
- Update records based on interactions
- Segment customers based on preferences and demographics
- Maintain accurate contact information
Access to such information allows you to improve your e-commerce business’s customer service initiatives. It ensures smooth processes and reduces buyers’ need to repeat information across all touchpoints.
Website Content
Creating blog posts, managing website menus, and ensuring accurate information across all web pages also require data entry. All these tasks involve inputting text, images, and other information into a content management system or a website’s code.
Website content typically includes:
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Promotions
- Landing pages
- Web pages
- Testimonials
- Legal pages
- Page titles
- Meta descriptions
- Alt text
As with product descriptions, accurate and optimized content helps you rank higher in search engines. Data entry specialists ensure all the information above is correctly inputted to make your website more visible and attract organic traffic.
Order Data
Data entry is critical to efficient and accurate order processing. However, it can be time-consuming and repetitive. Hence, many online retailers outsource their e-commerce shop’s order data entry operations.
Online businesses of all sizes encounter fluctuating order volumes, which can be overwhelming for data encoders. They meticulously input the following information into your order management system:
- Shipping data such as customer name, address, and contact details
- Order details covering product selections, quantities, and customizations
- Payment information, including credit card numbers and billing addresses
- Other particulars, such as tracking numbers and status updates
Order data entry processes also involve confirming product availability, applying discounts and promotions, and sending order confirmations.
Streamlining this task helps your online shop ensure that all orders are received, processed, and fulfilled smoothly. It also minimizes errors and delays in order fulfillment, increasing customer satisfaction and revenue.
Challenges of Performing Data Entry Internally
Data volumes increase as your e-commerce business grows. This situation can pose challenges to your scalability and profitability due to several factors, including:
- Time constraints
- Resource limitations
- Staffing restrictions
- Training limitations
With more work, your internal team might struggle to meet demand. You could employ staff from other departments, reducing focus on core aspects of your shop. Large work volumes could also entail longer operating hours.
These conditions can lead to employee burnout, lower productivity and accuracy, and increased turnover. With delayed, inconsistent, and error-prone data entry, your e-commerce shop risks increasing returns, refunds, complaints, and customer loss.
Advantages of Outsourcing E-commerce Data Entry
Delegating data entry tasks through business process outsourcing (BPO) allows your e-commerce shop to enhance efficiency without incurring additional costs. It provides better access to specialists and technology, increases scalability and flexibility, and improves focus on core competencies.
The practice’s many benefits make it popular among businesses of all kinds and sizes. According to Grand View Research, the global BPO market value reached almost $262 billion in 2022 and can grow by 9.4% by 2030.
So, how exactly does data entry outsourcing benefit your e-commerce shop? Let us dive deeper into its features and advantages.
1. Increased Cost Savings
Outsourcing is most known for its cost-saving potential, which is possible through economies of scale and outsourcing hubs’ lower living expenses and wage ranges. Here are a few ways partnering with a BPO provider can help you reduce costs:
- Minimized hiring expenses. With data entry tasks handled by an external team, you no longer have to worry about allocating a budget for staff recruitment. Most outsourcing firms cover all hiring-related expenses, including job postings, screening, onboarding, and training.
- Lower labor costs. Working with a BPO provider with operations in countries with lower living expenses entails reduced wage ranges. For example, businesses that outsource to the Philippines enjoy saving 70% on labor costs. This benefit of outsourcing is valuable for e-commerce businesses in need of many data entry specialists.
- Eliminated benefits fees. BPO providers often cover their teams’ compensation, which includes benefits packages. They offer health insurance, paid time off, overtime, and retirement plans. They also pay a share of necessary contributions, allowing you to save on these aspects.
- Fewer technology investments. Data entry outsourcing firms typically leverage the latest tools and software. Partnering with a provider gives you access to such technologies, helping you avoid costly investments, subscriptions, loans, and purchases. In one of the following sections, we will discuss these tools in more detail.
- Reduced overhead. Outsourcing often entails working with a virtual team, enabling you to cut costs on office space and rent. It also helps you avoid incurring additional equipment, infrastructure, and utility expenses, such as water, electricity, and telecommunications.
2. Guaranteed Access to Data Entry Specialists
E-commerce outsourcing providers access a global pool of professionals skilled in different tasks and industries. Third-party data entry workers have the following technical skills:
- Fast and accurate typing. BPO providers screen and upskill their teams to ensure they can quickly type large volumes of data with minimal mistakes. Data entry specialists must have a typing rate of at least 40 words per minute (WPM), with some service vendors requiring 70–90 WPM.
- Expertise in data entry software. Outsourcing professionals familiarize themselves with standard data entry tools, such as Excel, Google Sheets, and your e-commerce business’s specific software. Maximizing such technologies enhances efficiency and productivity when handling time-consuming data entry tasks.
- Basic computer skills. Navigating folders, managing files, and using email effectively are essential for daily data entry tasks. BPO providers emphasize the importance of basic computer skills during their recruitment process. They typically do not progress with an underqualified candidate or show minimal potential.
Outsourcing teams also possess the following soft skills necessary to perform e-commerce data entry tasks at a high standard:
- Attention to detail
- Strong focus and concentration
- Good communication skills
- Time management skills
- Adaptability and flexibility
In addition, affordable call center services allow you to leverage data entry specialists who are also well-versed in customer service best practices and etiquette. Call center outsourcing teams can reliably handle support tasks, whether data collection or outbound and inbound call centers for e-commerce.
3. Ensured Leverage of Sophisticated Technologies
As mentioned, most e-commerce outsourcing providers have industry-specific software and tools that can benefit their clients. These resources are vital to streamlining repetitive and time-consuming data entry tasks without compromising quality or accuracy.
Aside from spreadsheets, such as Excel and Google Sheets, the most common tools e-commerce BPO providers leverage include:
- Database management systems (DBMS)
- Custom data entry applications
- Word processors
- Text editors
- Online data entry systems
- Cloud storage
- Project management software
- Videoconferencing tools
- Quality assurance programs
- Security technologies
Automation and efficiency enhancement tools are also worth delving into. These include:
- Optical character recognition (OCR). This technology converts scanned images or documents into editable text.
- Voice recognition. Dictation software, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking, allows computers to understand and translate spoken language into text for transcription or proofreading.
- Robotic process automation (RPA). A staple for outsourcing, this rule-based technology automatically performs routine tasks such as e-commerce data entry.
- Macros. Like RPA, these tiny scripts can automate repetitive tasks efficiently by recording or copying human actions.
4. Improved Scalability and Flexibility
Outsourcing lets you add or remove data entry specialists based on project volumes or deadlines. This ability allows you to accommodate fluctuations without incurring the costs of overstaffing and understaffing.
With additional expertise and sophisticated technologies to enhance operational efficiency, your online business will have no trouble scaling. Here are a few other ways outsourcing helps you improve operational scalability and flexibility:
- Round-the-clock team. Partnering with a BPO provider operating in a different time zone gives you a 24/7 team. Working beyond regular business hours enables your e-commerce shop to accommodate a global market and utilize otherwise idle shifts. Ultimately, such conditions increase customer satisfaction and profitability.
- Multilingual data entry specialists. Outsourcing to countries that speak more than one tongue provides you with a multilingual team. Third-party data entry specialists understand the cultural nuances and sensitivities carried through other languages. Access to such staff gives you a competitive advantage in the global market.
- Better access to global market insights. Global outsourcing providers allow you to collect e-commerce industry and buyer data on the markets you plan to enter. This access provides a broader and more accurate picture of international trends and customer behaviors.
5. Enhanced Focus on Core Competencies
Data entry is time-consuming and resource-intensive. By outsourcing this task, you can free up your internal team to attend to more strategic and value-adding activities that align with your e-commerce shop’s growth and vision.
In addition, you can use the finances you saved through outsourcing for product development, advertising, or market expansion. Focusing on these competencies increases knowledge, innovation, and competitive advantage.
Outsourcing data entry improves productivity and output, leading to higher profitability and growth.
Common Misconceptions About E-commerce Data Entry Outsourcing
While outsourcing offers many benefits, some businesses still have reservations regarding the practice. Although these doubts are valid, partnering with the best call center for e-commerce businesses can quickly debunk these misconceptions.
Below is a list of the most common fallacies surrounding outsourced e-commerce data entry and the realities behind them:
- Outsourcing leads to loss of control and quality. Reputable BPO providers follow your specified service-level agreement (SLA), ensuring you avoid such issues. You must choose a reliable outsourcing partner with a proven track record and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to maintain quality and control in data entry operations.
- It is only cost-effective for large businesses. Outsourcing benefits ventures of all sizes. Most providers offer flexible pricing models to suit client needs and work volumes. Additionally, access to specialized skills and technology is valuable for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with inadequate internal resources.
- Language barriers create communication challenges. As mentioned, partnering with a call center service vendor gives you a multilingual team. These experts can handle data entry in various languages and communicate with multiple parties effectively. In addition, providers have tools and platforms to facilitate seamless team collaboration.
- Security risks are too high. Experienced outsourcing firms prioritize data privacy and security above anything else, carrying a sense of shared responsibility. They implement robust measures such as encryption, access controls, and regular audits. Choose a firm that complies with relevant data privacy regulations and has security certifications.
- Training BPO teams takes too long. Specialized outsourcing firms employ readily available e-commerce data entry experts. These specialists can quickly adapt to your industry and task requirements through comprehensive, well-structured, and established training procedures. They ensure smooth team onboarding and quality performance.
The Bottom Line
Data entry and call center outsourcing offer many benefits. It provides online businesses with better access to specialized operators and the technologies necessary to improve efficiency.
Such advantages are valuable for data entry tasks, which are the backbone of a successful e-commerce business. Ensuring timeliness and accuracy is critical to effective processes, and outsourcing can help shops achieve such objectives.
Let’s connect if you need a reliable outsourcing partner to fulfill your e-commerce data entry operations.
