Customer service must form the core of your e-commerce marketing plan because by giving exceptional customer service, you found happy customers. “A happy customer is the most suitable business plan of all.” The smart advice of business journalist Michael LeBoeuf, summing up the value of customer service for the progress of any enterprise.
Excellent Customer Service Definition
What does excellent customer service mean? Excellent customer service involves meeting and even surpassing expectations. Data from Microsoft reveals that customer service is essential for brand reliability. Hence, it’s not sufficient to state that you have customer service. Poor customer service is more dangerous than none at all. There is an important difference in the attention of businesses and buyers when it gets to the quality of assistance, as 80% of businesses think they give exceptional customer service, but only 8% of consumers agree.
Today’s consumers have high expectations. As an e-commerce business owner, you should know how to cultivate excellent customer service skills to achieve a 5-star store.
How to Provide Excellent Customer Services?
1. Make a Multi-channel Engagement Plan
E-commerce doesn’t only involve having consumers do something on a website—it involves using technology to assist you to communicate and join with them in a kind of different methods. Technology may take several forms involving websites, phone, chat, email, mobile applications, online marketplaces and social media.
Each of these allows you to communicate with consumers in a different way and it is essential to pick the right tools and methods to suit your communication requirements.
2. One-way VS 2-way Communication
Are you attempting to receive information from clients? Do they want to interact with you? The quality of the communication is necessary to decide whether you require a capacity for transferring/getting information or whether you require the skill to take on a discussion with the client.
3. Real-time or Delayed Replies
When your customer asks you a question, do they want a reply right now or can they pause to receive an answer? Frequently, clients are asking for real-time communications with firms they do business with, indicating you will require both technical abilities and staffing to join with them completely.
4. Voice, Text or Picture-based Interaction
How do your clients need to communicate with you? Do the questions include a set of complicated steps or a lot of details that are extremely fulfilled in writing? Do you require to show compassion for customer failures that are completely done with words? Do you want to explain to the client how to do something where images and video are suitable? Using the best communication tools for discussion not only assists you engage efficiently but can further enhance customer opinions of the comfort of doing business with you.
5. FAQs
Most clients don’t desire to communicate with a person. They see social communication as slow and frustrating. They would much preferably resolve queries on their own. Frequently asked questions (FAQs) and self-help skills for simple tasks like making a cost quote, putting orders, monitoring status, giving feedback and asking for return/warranty co-operation are all things that consumers demand to do via self-service means. Giving self-service skills may need few up-front expenses but will create advantages both in client satisfaction and lower client service staffing expenses.
6. Mobile Interactions
Besides the prior few years, customer choice for digital interaction has moved from desktop (and laptop) networks to mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. It is important that your business e-commerce capacities run well on these smaller setup devices.
7. Live Chat
If clients can’t receive the answers they want on their own, they demand the capacity to join with one of your agents… right now. They don’t need to propose a web form or send an email and pause for a reply tomorrow. Giving live chat functions can have a huge influence on client satisfaction and may indicate the distinction between getting the customer’s business or dropping it to a rival. You captured their attention and their engagement on your website, don’t let them drive away because they can’t see the commitment they assume. Giving live chat functions needs planning to staff and assuring that your agents reply to the new appointment request (really like answering the phone).
8. Responsive Customer Support
Customers assume that online businesses are supported by real people who are ready to answer their queries and help address concerns and requirements responsively. From their view, because your products and help are available in their regional area, your staff should be available to join in their regional time-zone. Meeting this expectation can be very challenging for several online businesses—especially those that are unskilled or need the size/scale to maintain around-the-clock client service roles. Luckily, there are various outsourced alternatives that can allow digital businesses to get access to a client service call-center team that can better fulfill their customer requirements.
9. Offer Warranty Service and Returns carefully
No business will have satisfied customers all the time. Products may have shortages or they may not fit the customer’s requirements for whatever cause. When this occurs, clients want to understand you will discuss their requirements and concerns without a lot of trouble. This begins with writing a simple-to-understand and simple-to-fulfill returns policy. Customers must understand what to anticipate with a returns experience before they place an order.
Bonus Tip: Find the Best Dropshipping Supplier to Help You
By dropshipping, you don’t need to deal with complicated issues related to after-sales, inventory, product quality, etc. But it only happens when you select the best dropshipping supplier.
SaleYee dropshipping platform takes pride in its dropshipping customer service system. It boasts incredible customer service since it provides over 30,000 product choices to online retailers on eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, Wish and so on. By offering up to three months after-sales period, SaleYee powerfully helps you to exceed customer satisfaction. Besides, it offers outstanding customer assistance through chat and call to solve your query in the earliest revert time possible. You will never have to worry about the product’s quality and delivery time since the platform ships superior quality items with more than 1M square meters of local warehouses.
Conclusion
If you want to build your e-commerce business, give consumers a unique experience. With precise planning, tactics, and by executing some of the purposes described in this post, your e-commerce business can be a victory.
