Customer Service Tips

By Biana Babinsky

Consumer satisfaction surveys reveal a highly skewed view of customer service. Happy customers are reluctant to share information about a smooth business transaction unless specifically asked. On the other hand, customer's friends, family, colleagues, random acquaintances, and pet gerbils will find out about a bad shopping experience almost instantaneously. In a worst-case scenario, a detailed analysis of the events will be prominently featured in the customer's blog.

Naturally, said blog receives five million page views a day and is ranked higher than your company in Google. Bad news travels at the speed of light, while good news spreads at the pace of an exhausted giant tortoise. Providing exceptional customer service is the only way to avoid ruining your carefully orchestrated advertising campaign.

Even though online customer service is somewhat different from that at a brick-and-mortar store, the basic concept is the same everywhere. Online business owners normally never meet their customers or talk to them on the phone. Despite this fact, it is still possible to provide exceptional online customer service and have satisfied repeat customers.

Here are three customer service tips you can implement to ensure a superior shopping experience on your site:

1. Make it easy to contact you. Many customers are not ready to buy immediately. They have questions about colors, sizes, textures, and other product information. Prominently post your contact information on your site.
   
   An e-mail address or a "contact us" form is essential. Provide a toll-free telephone number as well, if your business has one. Remember to check your inbox frequently.
2. Make it easy to buy. Don't make your customers spend ten minutes figuring out how to order. A surprising number of e-commerce web sites don't have a prominent "Buy This Now!" button or link. Your profits will surely suffer if the customers can't figure out how to buy your products!
   
   Make sure that the checkout directions are clear and easy to follow. Re-examine and adjust the purchasing process if you discover that a large fraction of customers abandon the shopping cart and never check out.
   
   Shipping and handling charges, restocking fees, and methods of payment should be easy to find. Consider using flat rate or price-based shipping rates to make it possible to quickly estimate shipping costs. Avoid forcing customers to place products into a shopping cart just to figure out how much shipping will cost.
3. Respond to customers' requests promptly. When someone is shopping for a gift, and they have a question, they need a response one hour ago. The have most likely procrastinated until the last possible moment. Time spent waiting for the answer will make the gift arrive even later.
   
   Even if the product were not a gift, customers want to receive information about it as soon as possible. Respond to your customers' inquiries as soon as possible; twenty-four hours is the longest acceptable "lag time". Many people will ask a question just to gauge a merchant's responsiveness. Answers provided within an hour project a strong focus on customer service.

Providing good customer service is essential for the health of your business. A combination of great products and exception customer service will produce repeat customers for years to come.

About the author: Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who has helped many business owners attract more web site customers, bring in more online publicity and increase the bottom line. Visit http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html to subscribe to her newsletter full of marketing tips and ideas and join her online business coaching program at http://www.MarketingSalad.com.