E-Commerce Customer Service Checklist
November 27th, 2007 by hbond{{chris}} The Christmas season is upon us and if you’re running an e-commerce store, you need to read this list of 10 e-Commerce Customer Service tips.
This list comes to us courtesy of the Virtual Hosting Blog. Here are the first five on the list – checkout their blog posting for the complete list.
- Make communication easy. Don’t make your customers work to figure out how to contact you if they have a problem or concern, it will make them think you don’t care about what they have to say. List your email, fax, and phone numbers in places where shoppers will be sure to see them, or you can even dedicate a whole page to contact information.
- Create a rating system. One thing many online businesses forget about is getting follow-up from customers. If your budget allows, give customers a way to rate their purchases and write reviews for other potential customers. Hearing that other customers liked a product is often enough assurance for an undecided buyer to add the item to their shopping cart. Remember, even negative feedback can help you if you use it to improve your products.
- Create clear policies. You can avoid future headaches by clearly stating your company’s policies on purchases, returns, privacy and anything else that might concern your customers. This way, if there is a problem later, there won’t be any question about what the rules are. This protects both you and your customers.
- Maintain a professional but caring attitude. You want to be professional when dealing with your customers, but not so much that you seem detached. Make sure your customers feel like you genuinely care about their problems and concerns.
- Always send confirmation emails. When a customer places an order with you, always let them know that you’ve received their order and that you’re processing it. Once you’re ready to ship it, send them an email to give them a heads up, so that they know the status of their purchase at all times. That way, there will be no surprises and customers will feel confident in purchasing from you.
Remember, there are five more tips on the Virtual Hosting Blog post – be sure to check them out too, and take advantage of this timely advice!
Great article and some very valid points. I would like to add cart recovery to the list as I think it is a very valid for of customer service.
If your customer abandons their cart, email or call them back immediately. It will show you are serious, trustworthy and you can gain valuable feedback about your sales funnel so it doesn’t happen again (win-win).
Dave, your absolutely right! That’s a fantastic point to add to the list.
awesome post. worth to read this blog. Communication is the big issue at this time.
Interesting points. As a customer, I have to disagree with Dave, though.
If I “abandon” my cart, it’s probably because I changed my mind about the purchase.
If I get an email about it, the seller will likely appear opportunistic or desperate to me. They’ll certainly seem annoying and I’ll be far less likely to return to their site.
If someone calls me on something like this, I’ll probably hang up.
Lose-lose if someone contacts me after I’ve “abandoned” a cart. They lost the initial sale and, when they tried to contact me, they lost potential future sales.
I might be so annoyed that I blog about it.
Hey Mike,
I agree with you on the calling part – but I’d be OK with the follow up email assuming the site had my email address. For example an email letting me know that my cart “contents” were stored for 48 hours with a link back to my cart would be pretty convenient. Better yet – a % discount or free shipping if I completed my purchase after abandoning would be alright in my books.
What do you think about that kind of an offer?
Ckata makes a good point, except if consumers found out that once you abandon the cart then come back to it that you get a discount might be a little bit tricky. it’s a good incentive though to get the customer to come back once they abandon their cart.
With customer service being so important in the business world (ecommerce especially) these are some great tips.
Hola Perros!
You’re absolutely right. It’s the single most important factor a retailer should not overlook!
Nice post. I agree with U. thanks for the post.
I have to agree with Mike. When a customer get a call or email for his abandoned cart, he most probably will think the seller is desparate. If he want to buy, he will definitely return to the site without any email or call.
Hey Murali,
It really depends on how the connection is made, but then it’s the end users who really decide if it’s a good or bad approach!
Great point. Thanks for it.
You’re welcome!
Good post with good points. really informative. thanks for the post.
Nice list. May be we could use it well. Thanks.
I am interested in Ecomers. I`ll read you articles for this obkect. This article is relly good. Thanks for it.
I’m glad this information is coming in handy!
I wouldn’t mind getting an email about an abandoned cart. I’m sure it would annoy a certain percentage of users but I’m sure the results would be a net plus.
Hey Jewelery Luvr – I am in the same boat. I would not mind the reminder.
Good post……..thank for info.
Thanks for this important information. And keep up this good working.
Wish I could of had this to pass around during X-mas time. I always tellmy customers how important it is to have a clear contact form. Marketingsherpa has something about it.
Hey Billy – This is a really great list. It certainly has improved e-commerce sites!
BTW – the SEOHaus site design is very nice!
Cheers,
Chris
Helpful.Very helpful indeed.Thanks for such an important post.