How to Improve an e-Commerce Customer Support Strategy?
[This article was written by Jessica Fender.]
As an e-commerce business, you’re always trying to up your sales, improve your services, and reach more people. That means you have to show improvement and professionalism in all the aspects of your business. And, if you put your relationship with your customers high up on the list, then customer support should be one of your top priorities.
Providing a strong customer support service means having a brilliant customer support strategy. You need to think about it and develop it to make sure you’ve got everything and everyone covered. If you want to improve your customer support strategy but aren’t sure how just keep reading.
Here’s our ultimate guide for improving your e-commerce customer support strategy.
1. Offer Multiple Channels
When you think about your customers, you can only imagine how many different types of people are there. And, there’s no way you’ll suit everyone’s taste or everyone’s needs by using a single customer support channel.
On the contrary, you should adopt a multichannel strategy.
This strategy will allow your customers to reach your support service using all kinds of channels and choosing the ones they prefer. It could be:
- direct phone call
- your website
You need to be wherever they need you to be. This way, you’re making it easy and more comfortable for them to contact you and find the solution for their problem.
2. Employ Live Chat
We live in a modern era where people love getting what they need instantly. Calling customer support is more or less an outdated method.
Today, people love to chat.
Here’s what’s so great about live chat:
- people don’t have to wait on hold to define the problem
- they don’t have to deal with live operators
- they get instant answers and help
- they still get human interaction
It’s quick, it’s convenient, and super easy. Make sure your customer support strategy offers live chat to your customers.
3. Train Your Operators to be Proactive
Every customer matters and every order and shipment should be a top priority. This is why you should train your operators to be proactive in giving customer support.
What does that mean?
It means they should keep track of individual customers’ experience and try to predict and anticipate problems before the customer does.
You should notify the customers if you notice things like:
- their order will run a day late
- there’s no stock for fulfilling their order
Don’t let them notice the problem first, but work hard on taking care of each customer and giving them the support they didn’t even know they needed.
1. Always Follow-Up
You don’t want to let your customer slip away. You want to keep them engaged with your business and happy to be a part of it.
This is why you should employ different kinds of follow-up techniques and make sure your customers are happy with how you’re treating them.
These techniques include:
- asking for their feedback on a shopping experience
- sending them thank-you notes
- sending them coupons and discounts
Give them a sign that you care about them, and you want to know how they feel. Also, reward them for their loyalty and feedback. In case you need writing help for the emails you’ll send them, this writing service can help you out.
Customers want to feel appreciated, so make sure this is a part of your customer support strategy.
2. Set and Track KPIs
KPIs (key performance indicators) are important. They can show us how well we’re doing, what needs improvement, and what setbacks we are facing.
If you set the right KPIs for your customer support service, you’ll be able to learn from them and track them over time.
KPIs will allow you to:
- set your expectations high
- monitor your operators’ success
- motivate them to work harder
- identify pain points in the process
You need KPIs to tell you what needs more work and what’s your weakest point.
3. Work on Personalization
Personalization is one of the most important aspects of your improved customer support strategy. Personalizing your conversations with the customer, regardless of the channel, will make a huge difference for them.
And, we mean more than just addressing them by their name at the beginning of the email.
We also mean you need to learn about:
- their taste and preferences
- their customer journey
- their likes and dislikes
- what they value and not
- their experience with your e-commerce so far
This will help you support all their future shopping experiences, but also send them offers and satisfy their needs before they even ask for it.
4. Allow Follow-Up With the Same Operator
Another great way to improve your e-commerce customer support strategy is to allow the customers to communicate with the same operator each during the entire process.
In other words, your customers will want to:
- explain the problem once
- communicate with one operator
- get feedback or follow-up from the same person
This will create a more friendly and trusting relationship between the customers and the operators. Also, it will make the process easier for the customer since they won’t have to explain the same thing over and over again.
5. Speed it Up
Finally, there’s nothing worse for a customer than to have to wait for your response. Poor response time will kill all your above efforts, so make sure to work on it.
You need to find a way to:
- have a fast response time
- solve problems instantly
Focus your strategy on speed and availability for maximum results.
Final Thoughts
Your e-commerce customer support strategy is an important asset on your road to constant improvements. You need to learn how to listen, measure, and satisfy your customers’ needs, sometimes even before they ask you to.
Use the tips shared above to improve your customer support service and keep your customers happy and ready to continue shopping from you.
Author Bio:
Jessica Fender is a copywriter and blogger at GetGoodGrade with a background in marketing and sales. She enjoys sharing her experience with like-minded professionals who aim to provide customers with high-quality services.
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