For companies in all sectors, great customer service is critical, and that’s especially true of those in e-commerce. It’s difficult to create a successful e-commerce business, and they help you give your clients will make all the difference in whether you succeed. So if your e-commerce customer service isn’t where it should be, keep reading to learn why it’s time to make some improvements, as well as tips to help you get started.
Give options to your visitors
In the past, many businesses actually provided a single telephone support line to benefit all of their clients. And while this used to be completely appropriate, it’s not enough anymore. Consumers now demand multi-channel assistance on a number of platforms and easy opportunities to contact companies. This is why email, telephone assistance, and social media are all commonly accepted practices today. Some organizations also provide features such as live chat and text support in addition to these.
Fast Responses
The fact that today’s customers demand pace, should come as no surprise. In virtually every aspect of consumer interactions with companies, and especially when it comes to customer service for ecommerce, this is true. In reality, one survey found that in under an hour, 30 percent of customers expect a response to their email. For social media, the number rises, with 50 percent of Twitter users expecting an answer to a direct message in under an hour. This is not to suggest, of course, that your team can sprint through customer interactions with the intention of going as fast as possible to the next one.
Helping the customers support themselves
With particular problems and issues, some of your clients will reach out. But several of them will contact you about your warranties, return policy, and other reasonably easy inquiries your team would have answered many times to the customer. In such cases, you can have a FAQ page to answer customer’s common questions that could be extremely helpful for them.
Personalized approach
Each of your clients is special and they want to be handled properly. But if you’re not a very small, niche business, it’s almost impossible to have personal relationships with any of your clients, due to the sheer volume of contacts. Fortunately, most e-commerce customer service platforms today provide data saving tools that enable your team to provide your shoppers with a more personalized experience.
Consider the full Customer Journey
As you search for ways to enhance the service of your business, it is important not to restrict your efforts to support clients who are facing a problem. When done correctly, the customer service staff will play a part in the entire customer journey. You have many ways to connect with your client base, from your social media platforms to your website to your email newsletters. And you don’t want to ignore these opportunities when you know that active consumers spend 30 percent more. An ideal way to improve the overall customer experience is to look for ways to involve your team with consumers at any point of the purchase process: this is called “customer success” and distinguishes itself from the traditional customer service by actively looking where the customer goes wrong or abandons the purchase process.
