Customer Service Matters When Selling Products Online

Your e-commerce website is your business. It’s your place, your store, and the home base for your customers. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense that you put an enormous amount of time and energy into making it the best that you possibly can. Your plugins all work, you catalog looks excellent, and it’s all set up to work for you in all the ways that you hoped it would. That’s not the entire process, though. Your website may handle all of your transactions, and you might even have a distributor that sends your products and services to the customers for you, but there’s still more that you need to maintain. Customer service still matters. You’re smiling face is not there to greet customers and tell them to “have a nice day” on the way out, but there are ways that you can ensure that your customers feel important. You can ensure that their experience is special, giving you a loyal customer base and viewers who truly enjoy their shopping experience on your website.

Means of Contact

One of the best ways to instill excellent customer service when selling products online is to have several means of contact that your customers have access to. Make it easy for them to voice their opinion.

•  Include a section for customer comments or reviews at the bottom of each product description. Give them a place to tell others about their experience. When customers shop in a brick and mortar shop, they can talk to fellow customers when they’re deliberating over whether or not to buy a product. This section gives them the illusion of doing this.
•  Respond to negative comments with positive feedback. There’s a good chance that your customers will remember you even more if they voice a problem and you fix it promptly and satisfactorily. It provides a way to show off your professionalism and give anyone reading the comments the impression that you care deeply about your customers’ experiences.
•  Utilize social media by reaching out to customers with your posts. Ask them questions about their experiences and ask for input about changes and new products that you plan to introduce.
•  Provide the option for customers to sign up for an e-mail list. You can send out coupons and special offers for this special group, making them feel like VIP customers for being loyal to your site.
•  Give incentives during holidays and other special occasions. You can run a contest or poll that gives customers the chance to win a prize. You’ll get feedback from them in the form of their entries and they’ll get the excitement of possibly winning something that they want from your catalog.

Take Complaints Seriously

When you’re selling products online, you’re bound to get some complaints. It’s the same in every business whether it’s ecommerce or not. The key is not just to take each complaint in stride, but to address them all professionally. Most of the time, these customers simply want to be acknowledged. They don’t only want their problem fixed, but they also want to know that you see that there was a problem and you’re sorry that their experience was less than desirable.

•  Apologize to the customer. Don’t take their complaint personally and apologize first thing in your response to them. Don’t grovel or tell them that you’re sorry over and over because this makes them feel like they should get more than a fix to the problem than you’re able to give.
•  Give an explanation. It is important that this explanation does not come off as an excuse. The customer likely wants to know why their experience was sullied and that’s what the explanation is about.
•  Fix the problem. Do whatever you can to ensure that their problem is fixed quickly. It is important to offer a solution for the problem faced by the customer. If they received a broken item, send them a new one. If they received the wrong color, send them the right color. Usually, the problem is simple and easily solved.
•  Give an incentive for the customer to continue shopping on your website. If it is possible, give them some credit on your website or an extra gift item of low-cost. Let the customer know that they are important to you.

Please and Thank You

These really are magic words and ones that aren’t used as often as they should. One of largest issues with selling products online is that your customers may feel like their experience is impersonal. These two simple phrases can change that for your customers. When you have instructions about how to checkout or provide information necessary for payment and shipping, it is a good idea to start with a “please.” In many cases, customers won’t even expect it and seeing that word will put a smile on their face. When their shopping experience is over, always include a “thank you for shopping with us” on the final page of their order. If you send out a confirmation e-mail for their order, you should include it there as well.

Hope you gained from this,

Chase