Customer Service Focus – October 2005

Your goal as an e-tailer should be to amaze customers with an unusually high level of service. Consider these customer service tips to improve your ecommerce business.

More Than One Method of Communication.

Make sure your site offers more than one method of communication. Most sites have only a form that can be filled out on their Contact page. But, this is really not enough for today’s standards.

Try a Portable Email Device.

Many small business owners don’t have the means to check email constantly throughout the day due to a full-time “bread n’ butter” job. Today’s portable technology is solving that problem. There are many inexpensive email-capable devices on the market such as PDA’s and BlackBerrys.

List Your Phone Number.

Having a phone number on your site is a simple way of building instant credibility, and offering good customer service. A toll free number is even better. For example, you can get a toll free number for as little as $10/month, and have calls forwarded to your home, office or cell phone.

Live Chat.

Live Chat is a nice feature you can offer visitors who don’t want to wait for an email reply, or pick up the phone. If you’re skeptical about it here are a few services that offer free trials and easy site-integration. Live2Support (Live2Support.com), PHP Live Support (PhpLiveSupport.com).

Respond Quickly.

I recently sent an email to a new Internet VoIP provider and received a response four days later. They didn’t even answer my question, but instead referred me to a FAQ page. It didn’t really matter since I had signed-up with a different company two days prior. Poor communication led to a lost customer. It’s that simple. Adding a few key communication tools to your site can make a world of difference in sales and customer loyalty.