Tips to improve your online customer service

Wednesday, August 12th, 2020

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Successful customer service can be a challenge for your e-commerce site because of the lack of face-to-face communications

When running an ecommerce site, customer service can be challenging, especially if you're dealing with high volumes of traffic. If the focus is purely on selling the product, without considering the importance of good customer service, the lack of face-to-face interaction can result in a poor experience for the customer, impacting future sales and word-of-mouth advertising. To break this face-to-face barrier, your business needs to enhance the customer online experience with different tools and resources.

Online customer service is more important than you may think; it is one of the factors that will push a customer to make a purchase, come back in the future or leave a positive online review that will attract to future customers. While brand equity and familiarity usually play a role in the decision making, it often comes down to how quickly they get the product, what support is available and what their relationship is with the brand. All these factors point to the importance of selling a service while selling a product.

We have listed a few tips to improve your online customer service.

1. Ask for online reviews in any of your platforms

When interacting with customers on the phone or through any online platform, it's important to clarify and rephrase what they are saying to make certain you understand everything. Empathy is key in this step so it will lead the conversation in the right direction.

2. Include as much information as possible

Unhappy customers are part of any business, but you can avoid them by being crystal clear on your website and not hiding any information that can generate a misunderstanding for the customer. The best thing to do in order to avoid any conflict with a customer is providing detailed information on different parts of the shopping process, from shipping, return policies, T&C's, or any other information that could affect the customer's experience.

3. Provide a measured follow-up

Don't be that company that sends a bunch of promotional emails for months after a purchase. The fact that a customer is on your e-commerce site and has put through an order means they are relying on you and choosing your business before others. Try to be more unique and share some valuable deals and offers immediately after they buy. Users are more likely to convert when your brand is still fresh in their minds and even more if it's a really good deal, showing you care about them and you appreciate their trust on your brand.

4. Reinforce follow-up when a problem has been solved

Once a problem has been solved, it's important to show to customers that you were on their side all the time. Following up to ensure the problem has been fully resolved and that customer is pleased with the product and the service will guarantee successful customer support and service performance. For this step is recommended to send an email or a feedback survey.

5. Listen carefully to your customers

When interacting with customers on the phone or through any online platform, it's important to clarify and rephrase what they are saying to make certain you understand everything. Empathy is key in this step so it will lead the conversation in the right direction.

6. Enhance customer interactions

Even though your customer service team has got the skills and experience on dealing with customers, they also need to relate to the customer for a better customer service experience. Trying to find a mutual interest with the customer will help team members to resolve conflicts and humanise the relationship with the service staff for the customer.

7. Provide different ways for your customers to contact you

Making sure your customers can reach you is the most important thing to add that personal touch to your business. You should consider what methods will be appropriate for different scenarios, and give your customers different choices when contacting you, such as email, direct chat, or phone. Not every customer is the same, so you need to be ready to help each customer via whatever methods work for them.

It's true customer service may not be needed for every customer, but is still a very important point in any online or offline business activity. If you are looking for ways to improve your e-commerce site, analyse your customer service activity and find areas where you can improve.