When you think of customer service, you might think of the service you receive when entering a store. The service a sales representative offers, Ëœhello, can I help you with anything? Many of us may ignore this question but we understand that if we need help there is someone who can assist us with our needs.
Those who own an online business need to understand that customer service can also be provided online. Customer service is equally important for online stores, and with the growing understanding of service and sales, customers expect a high standard of service to be provided to them.
When looking at an Ecommerce website, many online stores miss the basic elements of customer service. However, in todays market it is important to have great customer services, not only for the customer but also for the company.
Loyalty:
Customer service is extremely important for any business online or physical. It allows customers to find what they are looking for, have their questions answered, and feel at ease whilst shopping. This will allow customers to come back shopping for your products, which should be every businesses goal. Customers who receive great services will also mention this to friends and family, a huge pool of potential customers.
Reputation:
High quality of service can help build your reputation amongst your customers. You will stand out from your competitors, and customers will want to come back. Reputation is important to build any business or brand.
Sales
The ultimate goal is to increase sales, and customer service can certainly help this. If you have loyal customers, answer their queries this will lead to sale.
Customer Service for Online stores
The reasons are clean on how it can help a company but how do you provide exceptional customer service online?
1)    Readily available contact information “
It is important to have this information on hand , for example on the header. Therefore, if a customer is looking at a product and is having a problem purchasing they can easily call you.
Have a contact us section, this should have an email address, a contact number, opening times all the relevant information a customer needs to get in contact with you.
2)Â Â Â Â Customer feedback
Customer review is a great way of customers to be able to communicate with you about your services and how you can improve your service. This can help build your reputation and customer satisfaction.
3)Â Â Â Â Enquiry form
This is a great way of customers to enquire directly with you, without having to go their email outbox. Â This is efficient customer service, which can help you address the issues and for your customers to navigate on your website easily.
4)Â Â Â Â Chat
An advance option for customer service is to have a live chat option. This allows you to handle the questions directly and quickly. This can drive the sales more quickly and help them if they are having issues on the website. This is great way of offering exceptional customer service.
5)Â Â Â Â FAQ section, informative pages.
This is great for questions that constantly arise, without you having to answer emails or calls which address the same problems. This saves time and is more efficient for the customer as they can have their questions answered quickly.
Clearly label shipping and returns policy so customers understand the policy and charges. It is important to have informative pages such as this so customers can read. This will save you time answering these questions and make it more easy for the customer to purchase.
6)Â Â Â Â Social media usage
Customers usually go on social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook to ask questions. This allows you to answer them directly and is a great way of engaging customers. If you offer great service through these platforms, potential customers will be able to see how efficient an friendly your company is which can once again help build reputation and loyalty.
Following this guide, you will be able to offer great customer services to your potential customers.
