Is the Virtual Assistant Industry Saturated?
Let’s address two statements that appear to be doing the rounds in the Virtual Assistant Industry at the moment:
“THE UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANT INDUSTRY IS SATURATED!”
“NOBODY IS OUTSOURCING ANYMORE.”
I’ve seen these popping up in numerous places, so let’s look at the current UK VA Survey statistics and see what’s really happening in the industry.
The Society of Virtual Assistants currently has around 6000 active UK members – this is down from approx 8000 in 2021 where we saw a surge of virtual assistants coming into the industry due to the Pandemic. This has levelled out again, and our membership levels are back to pre-pandemic figures.
In 2023, 621 people responded to our UK VA survey (just over 10% of the industry). In 2024, we had 622 people responding to our UK VA Survey. No significant growth in numbers there – the survey is going out soon for 2025. I will report any changes there.
Notably, at Industry event attendance over the last year, numbers are slightly down on previous years.
Are people still outsourcing? We are seeing a significant increase in the number of businesses who are outsourcing post-Autumn budget, although there is some change in who is outsourcing. Some small businesses are cutting back, but larger businesses are now looking to outsource rather than employ due to recent tax changes affecting employment.
With regard to the difficulty in finding clients, this comes down to marketing. In the UK VA Survey in 2024, the most effective form of gaining clients was ‘Word of Mouth/Referalls'(64.6%), followed by ‘Networking’ (13%). The industries in 2024 that used VAs the most were the Business Consultancy and Coaching industry – it will be interesting to see if this alters in our 2025 survey. The majority of VAs (81%) saw no difference in their ability to gain clients. The number of larger VA agencies is also significantly increased, demonstrating that there is enough work out there to support this growth.
As a working VA myself, I have not seen a reduction in the number of leads I am receiving, and our team is busy. A consistent and targeted marketing strategy is key…
So, in answer to the myth that the industry is saturated – there is absolutely no evidence to support this statement at present.
Are people outsourcing less? Possibly, although in speaking to other VAs and in my own business, we have not seen a drop off of small business clients, but bigger businesses are outsourcing more – the key thing is to stay on top of your marketing strategy, look at changes in the business world. It is more important than ever to attend VA events, keep up to date with industry and legislative changes and adhere to best practice within the industry.
The new survey is out next month – looking forward to seeing any changes (particularly with the wider introduction of AI over the last year).
https://lnkd.in/eVZEiEnH
A free document to get you started with your marketing strategy:
https://we.tl/t-iwZVJjWIqy