There is truly only one thing that sets your online business apart from all the others available on the internet today and that is the quality of online customer service you provide.
Let’s face it; consumers have their pick of which vendor to purchase a particular product or service from but only those that exceed their expectations will be revisited and the experience shared. In fact, for virally spreading good public relations, you can’t beat the power of a great customer service story.
Why Online Customer Service Is So Important
Before the world was modernised with great technological devices and the internet was considered a household necessity, people did all their business via the telephone or by physically visiting a store.
When they had a complaint they had a very specific recourse – to contact an actual person who would either resolve the issue or not. Even with bad customer service, the consumer was assured that their complaint would be heard by an actual human being.
This is the main reason why many people continue to resist online shopping. There is no personal connection. If they purchase a product from a website and they are dissatisfied, there is rarely a phone number to call; rather they are offered the option of sending an email or completing an online form and receiving an automatic response from a computer. In fact, this is the number one complaint regarding online customer service. It’s no wonder that numerous consumers refuse to place an order on a website.
The Positive Difference
The best way to combat this depersonalised view of e-commerce transactions is to make a positive difference by offering exemplary online customer service. When your online business stands out from the crowd, you are sure to be rewarded with more than your share of sales, loyal customers and repeat business.
It’s not all that hard to get started. Consider these tips for adding that personal touch to customer communications:
• Offer an interactive live agent chat option.
• Prominently post all contact options on every page; be sure to include a telephone number.
• Send an order acknowledgement email to every customer.
• Send a follow-up email and customer service survey as part of your after sales service once the order has been shipped.
• Personally respond to any negative comments or suggestions revealed by the surveys. Consider placing a phone call rather than just sending an email message or letter.
• Offer loyal clients something special in exchange for a customer testimonial you can post online.
• Give current customers the first opportunity to take advantage of special offers.
• Include your own personal business card with a telephone number in each order that is shipped.
• Keep customer profiles with information from an online subscription form in a database. Send email cards for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and any other special occasions.
• Personalise the message on a subscriber’s log-in home page.
• Deal with problems and complaints promptly and courteously.
These are just a few of the ways you can make your online business stand out from the crowd by offering a personal touch. Try instituting these ideas today and find out just what a difference it makes when you take the time and effort to provide exceptional online customer service to your clients. Chances are you will receive more repeat business in the future and your customers will tell their friends about you as well.
About Sean Rasmussen
I always believe din the value of customer service
Thanks Sean for the tips on insuring I deliver to my customers
HostGator (hosting service) must give the best online customer service I know of… (oh, besides the YOTA forum, which is in itself, online customer service!). Excellent chatting service 24/7. Never let me down.
What sage advice.
I was fortunate enough to grow up in a very small country town in the hills of Arkansas. There was the corner grocery store, the drug store and the bank and that was about it. However the necessity of courtesy and service was learned very early. It wasn’t so much that competition forced it, it was just a way of life in the country.
So applying that sort of manners and courtesies to online marketing is quite easy for me because my parents instilled the whole concept so thoroughly.
People like to be treated like real people who are alive and whose opinions matter. Sean you are absolutely right in showing us how to make sure that we have the superior online customer service basically by being caring people.
Dobbs I really like your philosophy, it is a rare person who can care in that way.
You said: “People like to be treated like real people who are alive and whose opinions matter”
This is relevant to people online and offline Dobbs
So many people these days in business are nice to you until they get your money and then they show that they don’t care about you at all. You just get ignored and the after sales service becomes non existent.
When that happens you never, ever forget it and you warn other people not to do business with them.
I choose not to be like that either and treat my customers like gold.
Hi Sean,
This is excellent advice. I’m just a little unsure about including my personal phone number. I get some really strange emails at times and I am concerned about the safety aspect of including my number. I would definitely want to take care of any issues that my customers may have. Do you have any suggestions on how to handle this?
Also, what is the best way to include a live chat option?
Thanks Sean,
Online customer service goes a long way in my eyes when I am choosing a company or website to use so it makes sense to provide great customer service to clients as a website owner as well.
I quite like the live chat option because you just hit a button & Bam! …your connected to someone to answer your query.
I really dislike the automated chat windows that have a bunch of set answers regardless of what you ask, it seems very tacky & can be quite annoying.
online customer service is also dangerous because some one could steal your identity