Online businesses are booming. It has become second nature for increasing numbers of consumers to buy online, whether they are shopping for new shoes or a new car. That’s not to say, however, that online businesses can afford to grow complacent when it comes to providing excellent customer service.
Discover why creating a seamless customer experience is essential for your brand, below.
1. Create a Personalized Online Shopping Experience
Personalization is where you can stand stronger and more prominent than your competition – provided you have the tools to do so. Wix ecommerce, for example, includes a fully integrated functionality that creates the data you need for a personalized shopping journey.
Make sure that your site offers the option to remember clients’ details and provide fast-track checkout for repeat buyers, along with services like personalized confirmation emails and tailored special offers.
And customer service provision helps you to achieve these levels of personalization. Online shopping is easier when you know your customer – their previous browsing history, their preferences, their payment methods. Using this to create a valuable customer experience makes people buy more and come back more often.
Use your ecommerce site to its maximum potential for personalization.
2. Retain Customers and Win Loyalty
Did you know that, according to this infographic, the cost of attracting a new customer is seven times greater than to retain an existing customer? So, you really don’t want to send the customer you’ve spent considerable time and energy attracting away.
Unfortunately, many things can go wrong online. A customer’s screen freezes, and they are unable to complete their purchase. They can’t apply a discount code. They are having problems finding the right size. If your customers can’t get help with these issues, they may leave and never come back.
After all, it’s easy to click out of a site; much easier than walking out of a shop. When you put effective customer service in place, you minimize the risk that your existing customers leave dissatisfied.
Customer service online could include a phone number to call if there are technical problems or a customer is unsure whether their order has been processed. Most people appreciate speaking to a real live person if their purchase is expensive and there is doubt over whether they have been successful in making it.
For other occasions, chat bots are more convenient. FAQs and customer service questions answered on the website also make it more likely that your customer will be able to solve any problem they are experiencing. Retaining customers is hugely important in both online and offline retail.
3. Develop an Amazing Customer Experience
Businesses that look at customer service as part of an overall positive customer experience utilize the power of this provision to build brand and increase following. Ultimately, you want to create the “wow” factor with your online customer service.
You want to retain clients but also attract new customers through the power of your brand. And with users increasingly taking to their phones or tablets to express their opinions about you, you have an amazing opportunity to develop your brand through social media exposure.
A great review for your brand can go viral, creating a buzz around your company. And an act of exceptional customer service may also reach across the internet in a millisecond, showing that you go above and beyond for your customers. And on the other hand, a poor example of customer service is highly likely to be tweeted or shared – and the effects of this viral mudslinging could take months to reverse.
Look at customer service as a whole, from the basic “questions answered” to the idea of dealing with customers’ questions before they have even asked them. There are many examples of companies using inventive customer service to amaze the internet and their future clients.
4. Streamline Your Order Fulfillment
Customer service is an essential part of ecommerce order fulfilment, which is the bedrock of your online commerce operation. Ecommerce fulfillment encompasses the entire process from your customer placing an order to having it “fulfilled” – delivered to their door or their hand, in a direct to consumer model. Customer service streamlines fulfillment, dealing with snags in the process and enabling you to predict and solve problems as, or before, they arise.
Use your online customer service to swiftly answer queries and respond to issues after the customer places an order. Having a phone number for people to call helps to prevent backlogs occurring in your fulfillment process. A chat bot is even more convenient, allowing users to solve issues at the touch of a button.
The Excellent Customer Service Takeaway
Hopefully we have demonstrated that the capacity for, and impact of, amazing customer service is not limited to bricks and mortar stores. Your online presence is a valuable asset, and you can use your online store to boost your brand and deliver excellent customer service and an experience that will help you stand out from the crowd.