If you are operating an online business, the best way to keep people coming back and spending money is to give them outstanding customer service. When a person has a question about a product they ordered from you, or about something they saw on your website, it is important to be able to answer them as quickly as possible. Most businesses offer email customer service. However, this takes too long for many people. The vast majority of the public wants instant gratification. They are not prepared to wait a day or two for a reply to their email. They want to get in touch with a live person immediately. Customer service for your online business should be one of your top concerns. Here are some things to consider.
1. Call center
Most people want to speak to a live customer service representative on the phone to answer their question or solve the problem they are experiencing. You will most likely be too busy to answer the phone yourself, especially if your site begins to experience some major growth. Therefore, your best bet would be to outsource your phone customer service to a company that offers call center services such as Solid Cactus. These companies learn all of the details about your business, including what products you sell. They then take all of your customer phone calls, answering all of their questions. This allows you more time to spend running your website and making it continue to grow. You can choose to have your call center open only during normal business hours, or around the clock. It is totally up to you. It just depends on how much money you want to spend.
2. Live chat
Live chat, originally designed as a way for people to talk with friends and family, has now become a very popular tool in the world of customer service. If you go to many business websites, particularly banks and law firms, you will see something to click on that says live chat. If the chat is online, you can chat with a person and have them answer any questions you have. Chatting in this manner is very helpful if you are at your office and you do not want other people to hear what you are discussing. Live chat services are something that many business are now starting to outsource because of the large demand.
3. Email
As mentioned earlier, many people prefer to be able to either talk or chat with a customer service representative immediately. However, there are still people who have no problem sending an email to a customer service department, especially if it is regarding a matter that is not time sensitive. When your customers email you a question or concern, it is important to get back to them quickly. Preferably, your reply should take no longer than a single business day, unless an additional delay can’t be avoided. Remember, the faster you reply to their email, the more likely the customer is to do business with you again.
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
Learn more
The recent pandemic impacted businesses throughout the world and almost everyone was impacted in some or the other way. Now, businesses around ...
Is your dealership’s Christmas marketing strategy ready for the year’s most important shopping season? Have you decided on the discounts, incentiv ...
Business owners who aren't using the latest technologies available to strengthen day-to-day operations are missing out on opportunities to retain ...
There are a number of reasons you should learn what your customers have to say. After all, they are the ones purchasing your product, so knowing w ...
When it comes to business communication, few methods are more popular than email. In fact, there are many online businesses that only use email as ...
