Limited Order Management System or a Fully Functional Order Management System

In doing freelancing work, it is a good idea to have an order management system.  It is not a question of whether you need it or not. It is needed because it helps you organize the orders.  The only question is whether you need a limited order management or invest on a fully functional order management system. 

In my case, it is essential to start with a limited order management system.  While it is cool and fun to have a fully functional order management system, it is best to start with a limited one not only because it is cheaper but also because if you are just starting in this business there is still no guarantee whether your business will grow to a point where he will need the fully functional order management system.  Compared to a fully functional order management, the limited order management system is much more simple.  It contains only the essential things that both the client and the freelancer need to complete an order.  Moreover, a limited order management system is much easier to do compared to a fully functional order management system which requires a very skilled and experienced programmer who can be hard to find. 

For freelancers who have been in the business long enough, the use of a fully functional order management system is very essential to our success.  With a complete system, we can do so many things even when we are not online.  In fact, the system can be automated that the freelancer needs only to check the messages from time to time in case there are customer issues and complaints.  With this system, a freelancer has more time for himself and for his family.

A fully functional order management has a lot of cool features that is not available in a limited order management system.  We prefer it because it provides us with more data and information which is essential in our decision making.  For freelancers who are seeking to improve their current order management system, these are the information that you need to include:

Total Sales

The Total Sales provide the freelancer with the complete information on the total amount of all the orders received from the client.  I suggest that the system should be able to count the sales on a monthly and yearly basis.

Total Number of Orders

The total number of orders provide the freelancer with information about the number of orders received.  I suggest that the system should be able to count the orders on a monthly basis and annual basis. 

Ability to Pre-Select Groups of Writers

Freelancers who manage essay writing business want the system to be able to distribute orders to their writers immediately after receiving them. For example, upon receiving payment for the order, you want your system to be able to send the order to your writers without your presence.  One obstacle though is that not all writers in the roster are actively working full-time.  In general, while I have more than a hundred writers, only 60% to 70% of them are actively getting orders while the rest are not.  So, sending orders to all the writers in the roster might not be a good idea considering that some of the are not active or may not have intention to work on papers. 

The best solution is to be able to group your writers.  For example, when you are offline, you can pre-select writers and groups them into Top 30 writers or Best Writers or Active Writers.  By pre-selecting writers, you are able to make sure that the orders will be sent only to the active writers or the pool of writers that you want to work on the new orders.

Ability to Send Orders to Multiple Writers

Once the group of writers are pre-selected, the system can now distribute your orders to the pre-selected group of writers.  Freelancers want to automate their system.  This means they don’t want to select which writer will be assigned on an order everytime an order is received.  By automating the distribution process, the freelancer is freed from these tasks allowing him to focus on the more important operations of his business.

Ability to Send Discount Coupons

Clients are actively seeking for websites offering discount coupons.  For these clients, it does not matter whether you are already offering very low prices.  You want your system to be able to send discount coupons to all clients.  You also want your system to be able to send discount coupons to specific clients only. 

Ability to Track Number of New Clients

You want your system to be able to track how many new clients register every month and every year.  This gives you information on the health of your business. When you have new clients registering every month, it tells you that your business is healthy and sustainable.  You also need to find out how many of the new clients are placing their orders for the first-time.

Obtain Customer Related Information

As a freelancer you want your system to be able to track how many orders each customer is placing.  You want to know which of your customers are placing more orders than the others.  When there are a number of customers who are ordering at least 5 per month, it means that your clients are pleased with the services you offer. 

Obtain Writer Related Information

Freelancers also want to obtain information about their writers.  How many writers does the business have? How many orders are these writers taking on a monthly basis? Which are taking more orders? Who are getting rave reviews from clients? Which are getting poor reviews? You need to able to reward the top performing writers by giving them the best orders. For the poor performers, you want to be able to communicate with them and find out which part they need help with.

Ability to Offer Affiliate Earnings

Majority of the websites offering essay writing service scale their business because they offer commission to their affiliates.  Affiliates are individuals who earn commissions by referring new clients to the website.  The Affiliate simply sends a unique link to his referrals.  Once the referrals register, the affiliate receives a certain percentage of the sales from all orders of their referrals.  So, the system should be able to create a unique link to every registered member, keep track of all the referrals and the commission each affiliate is entitled to. The system should also be able to set a minimum amount for paying these commissions. 

Send Tips to Writers

In my system, I give the clients the opportunity to send tips to the writers.  The tip system encourages the writers to provide exceptional service to the client.  At the same time, the tip allows clients to send money to their writer as their way of appreciation for exceptional work.