Online Customer Relations

Offering a good customer service is one of the most important aspects to get right when setting up your Online Store. The first and major part of any online customer service is to offer good information about of the products you are selling and make it easy for your customers to find the products they want to buy from you. The second most important aspect of customer service is what to do when things go wrong.

Pre-Sales Customer Service

Providing your customers with an Online Store where they can easily find what they have come to your site to buy, may sound obvious, but is one of the major downfalls of many Online Stores. How many times have you found yourself walking out of a high street store without the item you went in for because you couldn't find it? Well it's the same, if not worse for Online Stores.

With an Online Store, if a customer can't find what they are after within 3 clicks, then you can pretty much wave them goodbye. Internet surfers have a notoriously low boredom threshold. That's why a well-designed web store can make all the difference with good navigation and menus to well categorised products.

Once they have found what their product, they will then want to be sure that it is exactly what it says on the tin... Of course, when your potential customers have found their way to the item they are after, that's when you want to offer them as much information as you think the customer will need to prevent from going to look elsewhere to ensure that the product before their eyes is indeed what they are seeking. Remember, your customers cannot pick up the object and look it over, also, they cannot read the manufacturer's information on the back of the box. Try to supply as much information as you can about the product that isn't obvious from any good quality images that you have of the product. With the likes of jewellery for example, is the item 9-carat gold or 18, is that a diamond stone in those earrings or a cubic zirconia?

Providing as much information as possible, without overwhelming the customer will save you the time of answering repeated question after question by e-mail or telephone.

After sales service

After sales service is where you can really prove to a customer that it's worth coming back to your store. It's even worth noting that customers who have had a bad experience and who have had their problems dealt with successfully, are the ones who will bookmark your store and keep returning in the future.

If, or when problems occur with orders, and they will you can guarantee it, then be sympathetic with your customers’ grievances and be polite. People's first instinct when they receive a wrong order or no order at all is to think that they are being taken for a ride. Ensure your customer that this is not the case and that their problem is going to be dealt with promptly and without too much fuss - no problem is too big for a successful, professional company like yours.

This bit is important: DO NOT make any promises that you cannot keep. Honesty, especially at this point, is your best policy. If there's been a human error, let the customer know and they will then acknowledge that you are only human like them and they will ease of you a little bit and give you the chance to help them.

If a problem can't be dealt with right there and then, then make sure that you keep the customer informed as to the status of their order. If your suppliers are delaying a shipment, then let your customers know. They will always appreciate being told before it becomes a problem for them. Let the customer know that you are bending over backwards to resolve their problem and that you are more than capable of solving whatever problem has occurred and that all they have to do is give you a little time to do so.

If it is at all possible, ensure that only one member of your staff is dealing with the complaint from start to finish. If you can build a rapport with your customers, then this will help with their sense of security. That one member of staff should be able to inform the customer of the status of their order at any time they are called upon to do so.

Conversational or Professional telephone manner?

There is no quick answer for this and there is no definite answer either. You should always be professional, in that you should be ready with answers to the most common questions like how long is the delivery time, is the item in stock, does it come in blue? However, play it by ear, some customers will want to get a feel of the size and professionalism of your organisation to instill themselves with confidence to purchase from you; some customers will want to know that they are dealing with real people who can help them to make the right decision with their purchase.

Of course you should be polite, but the most important thing to do is to listen! It is very easy to think that you have heard all the questions before or dealt with the same problem a myriad of times before, but to your customers, this could the first time that they have contacted an Online Store, and it could be that they are very dubious of whom they are contacting. Be sure to answer their questions, don't assume and don't confuse them with information they don't need or want. If you don't know the answer, admit it, take their details and offer to contact them back.

Of course this all applies with answering customer queries by e-mail. You are on Online Store after all.

Try to answer all e-mails as quickly as possible - strike whilst the iron is hot, but also, make sure that you SPELL CHECK each e-mail. There's nothing less professional than badly typed letters.

To sum up, be polite and concise, listen and be honest and let them know that their sale is important to you. If you take in only this last paragraph, then you should do all right.

- 27th August 2004

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