If you're like me, you'd prefer a night on the couch to a night clearing out your email inbox. Or, you'd prefer a weekend away camping with your friends or family to slaving over "busy work" that seems to keep you occupied 24/7.
If you want to put an end to working hard and start working smart, here are nine of the best tools for busy online retailers.
1. NudgeMail
Nudgemail offers one single feature: It turns your email inbox into a reminder system. Use it to send yourself a reminder for later that day, later that week or any date you choose. It will help you de-clutter your brain by offloading your mental to-do list.
You can also use it to send emails back to your inbox when you actually have time to follow through on them. For example, let’s say you get an email from a supplier offering you a discount on your next order: Use NudgeMail to send that email to you again in a week, when you plan to place an order. This saves you from having to “Mark as unread” or from having to search for it in your inbox next time you want to place an order.
Cost: Free for you. Nudgemail does have an enterprise-level license that the company sells to larger businesses, which is how the company makes money.
2. Evernote
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In its own words, Evernote "makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web." Essentially, Evernote keeps you organized online. With Evernote, you can also:
- Sync your devices (access everything from your mobile, tablet and laptop).
- Save your favorite webpages. Pretty much the same as bookmarking, but you can do it across all your devices—perfect for saving links to your favorite suppliers' websites.
- Share easily with your friends or staff if you start growing a team.
Cost: Free for the basic option, or from $6 per month for premium or business accounts.
3. Remember the Milk
If you are a little forgetful (like me), or you get overwhelmed or stressed thinking about all the little things you have to do, this app can help. Like Evernote and NudgeMail, this tool is ideal for clearing out the mental clutter and allowing you to focus on the most important task at the time. With Remember the Milk, you can:
- Manage tasks, set reminders and to-do lists.
- Set long-term tasks such as "Find supplier for sporting supplies" or short term tasks such as "Pay Internet bill."
- Get email, SMS or IM reminders.
- Use it on the web, your Blackberry, Android or Apple device.
Cost: Free, or upgrade to a Pro account for $25 per year.
4. RescueTime (SaleHoo Staffers Pick)
Have you ever got to 5 p.m. and wondered where you day went, and why you haven't completed all the tasks on your to-do list? RescueTime can help. RescueTime works by tracking where you spend your time while working on your computer.
The RescueTime application runs in the background as your go about your day and tracks the websites and computer applications (such as Microsoft Word) that you use and how long you spend on each.
You can view reports on your activity as you go, or at the end of the day. This can be a real eye opener! I did this one day and was shocked at how long I spent on emails. It made me realize how time-consuming customer service can be.
Cost: Free, or upgrade to the premium option for $72 per year.
5. PhoneTag
I thought I was really impatient until I found this app, but apparently a lot of others out there dislike the slow process of checking their voice mail, too—hence why this app is so popular! PhoneTag allows you to skip the usual routine of entering your password and listening to your voice mail. Instead, your voice mail messages will be converted to text and delivered to you via SMS or email.
This is ideal if you are working with customers or suppliers in different time zones and you often miss calls.
6. Buffer
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Do you use social media to market your business? Buffer can help make it more efficient. It's easy to log into Facebook or Twitter with the intention of posting an update or tweeting, but then you get side-tracked by something in your newsfeed.
With Buffer, you queue posts to go out during the day/week so there’s no need to keep logging in and getting distracted when you could be completing important tasks.
Buffer also allows you to publish the same posts across multiple channels (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter), saving the time it usually takes to maintain your social profiles.
Cost: Try it free, then pay $10 per month if you find it useful.
7. Shoeboxed (for businesses in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand)
Do you hate storing receipts, or have a habit of losing important business ones? As much as I hate having to keep paper receipts and invoices, the tax department insists on it! Shoeboxed makes it easy to store and organize them securely online. Get Shoeboxed and save time on paperwork, so you can spend more time on your business.
Cost: Free 30-day trials for every plan, then choose either the basic free plan or upgrade to a plan that suits you from $19.95 a month.
8. TextExpander (for Mac users)
TextExpander allows you to type more with less effort. You will create abbreviations for bits of text that you frequently type, such as product descriptions. TextExpander calls these snippets. While you are working away, type out an abbreviation and you will see it instantly replaced with the corresponding snippet.
Here's an example: Instead of typing out my name, Marc Ransom, I can type out my abbreviation, "mr," and "Marc Ransom," the corresponding snippet, will appear.
The program also automates the tasks of filling out online forms, inserting email signatures, and even correcting typos (instantly replacing "teh" with "the," for example). This makes it faster when you are contacting new suppliers using their contact forms on their websites.
Cost: $34.95
9. SaleHoo Market Research Lab
The SaleHoo Market Research Lab is free with all SaleHoo memberships and remains the fast and easy way to find new product niches. Now you can stop wasting time trawling the Internet and crunching numbers manually—the Research Lab does it all for you! With the Research Lab, you can:
- Find out how profitable items will be.
- Gauge how many other sellers are offering the product. Is it too competitive, or is there an opening in the market?
- Discover the very best time to list your items on eBay. Which days of the week and times of the day will earn the biggest profits?
- Get links to trusted suppliers selling the products you are researching.
Plus much more! Get free access to the Lab when you join SaleHoo.
Action Steps:
How much time can you save? There should be at least one app/tool in this list that you can use to help save you time and make you more productive. Choose at least one app and start using it this week. If you’re stuck on where to start, I think everyone can benefit from RescueTime, which gives you an overview of how you spend your time during your work sessions.
