Customer service impacts new and existing customers, heavily affecting your business sales. According to a Zendesk trends report, nearly 50% of consumers would move to a different brand after just one negative encounter.
This number plays a more vital role as companies struggle to stay competitive in today’s business landscape. COVID-19 paved the way for a whopping 5.4 million new business applications in 2021, surpassing the 4.1 million in 2020.
Globally, there are over 9.1 million online retailers today, which means all the more reasons to give your business that X factor. What better way to showcase your unique selling proposition than by offering superb customer service? However, as the world changes, so do standard customer service strategies.
To become a customer service expert in e-commerce, check out this helpful infographic. It’ll give you the tools to stay on top of the industry.
What is E-Commerce Customer Service?
E-commerce customer service is when businesses provide customer service to consumers purchasing from online stores. Retailers who invest in enhancing their online customer care, supplied through various channels like live chat or an e-commerce call centre, typically reap the benefits of more devoted clients, improved conversion rates, and competitive advantage.
With this particular type of customer service, businesses take out customers’ long wait times to get the assistance or response they need for their purchase. In today’s fast-paced world, the best e-commerce customer care interactions are quick, positive, and successful.
Customer service plays a vital role in brand interest and brand loyalty. The quicker you solve customer problems and answer their questions, the higher the chances of earning their trust as they would feel heard and valued.
According to Invesp, 60-70% of sales will likely come from repeat customers, compared to only 5-20% from new prospects. Also, returning consumers are 31% more likely to spend more money and are 50% more inclined to explore new products.
To further drive the points above, here are some undisputed benefits of e-commerce customer service to your business.
Improved customer acquisition
There are several options available when purchasing online, and if your customer finds your process complex, it can quickly become overwhelming for them.
Customer service for e-commerce helps ensure your leads get fast, comprehensive assistance at the outset. It increases your chances of attracting clients who may have let their worries prevent them from looking up your business again.
Increased customer retention
Customer service is crucial to customer retention and brand loyalty. Existing customers spend 67% more on average than those who have just come across your company. To keep customers loyal, offering quick, effective customer assistance is essential to retain your current clientele.
Providing an all-encompassing customer experience strategy guarantees that you keep your clientele regardless of their problems. Remember that even one bad experience might cause a valuable consumer to never return.
Higher conversion rates
Another crucial aspect of e-commerce is the conversion rate, which can be challenging to raise. Sales are among the key performance indicators you can monitor to improve customer service, specifically for your e-commerce call centre metrics.
Customer service representatives help build customer trust by offering excellent service and getting to know them. These efforts create a network of customers who will recommend the business to others. These prospective customers can increase revenue, brand recognition in new social networks, and overall corporate visibility.
Attentive customer service
While some business owners might be apprehensive about integrating technology more heavily into their operations, many use them for a reason.
When performing customer service tasks, integrating e-commerce customer support tools like software management systems and other artificial intelligence (AI) solutions helps save time and streamline your workflow. This implementation can give your consumers more personalised, attentive care, improving your brand image to target and general audiences alike.
Understanding E-Commerce vs. Retail Customer Service
While customer service work is vital for all industries across the board, its approach in the retail and e-commerce setup differs. To help you better understand, here’s a comprehensive look to explain the two types and their differences.
Mode of communication
- E-commerce
In today’s digital age, the most obvious way businesses can communicate would be through channels such as SMS messaging, live chats, click-to-call, and forums.
Consumers value direct and immediate communication, whether over the phone or through live chat assistance. Studies show that 41% of customers favour live chat assistance while others prefer telephone (32%) and email (23%). - Retail
In typical retail customer service, the mode of communication remains to be in-person assistance, where a customer representative physically assists a customer when needed or sometimes while following them around the store.
Time of response
- E-commerce
As an online business, your customers expect you to answer quickly. Customers continue to favour live chat as their preferred help medium, as they can get immediate assistance with just a few taps on their devices. - Retail
Customers physically go into a store to make their purchases or ask for assistance from representatives. As such, it can take a while for an associate to address concerns, especially if the store’s fully packed.
Time of resolve
- E-commerce
Your e-commerce business can instantly resolve issues with an automated system, a dedicated team, and a streamlined process. Your personnel can address multiple problems simultaneously, taking the queue out in no time. - Retail
Other factors besides the physical queue may contribute to resolution delays for your clients. There’s the issue of understaffing, peak store times, and the allotted store hours where a customer can only ask for assistance within a certain period, regardless of an emergency.
Customer expectation
- E-commerce
Customers anticipate having a variety of options when purchasing online. It can include shopping, payment, shipping, delivery options, and customer service channels. - Retail
Data reveals that 61% of consumers feel retailers should offer the same cross-channel flexibility, whether click-and-collect convenience or in-app loyalty programs. Moreover, 55% of customers prefer businesses with physical locations and online storefronts.
Context
- E-commerce
E-commerce stores get their insights from the countless times users interact with their brand through various channels. Examples of these channels include the company’s social media pages, website, public forums, digital surveys, and online communities. - Retail
To gain valuable customer insights, retail businesses benefit from leveraging word of mouth, direct customer feedback, and in-person recommendations. These strategies, albeit limited, can help refine their business approaches for better results.
Types of E-Commerce Customer Support Channels
Today’s clients use various communication methods. Thus, e-commerce businesses must be present in most (if not all) of them to reach customers. If you have been thinking of how to improve customer service in e-commerce, here are some support channels you can explore.
Social media
Using social media for your business allows you to be present on more platforms where your customers are. This way, you know what they want and need from your brand when you do social listening regularly. Engaging customers on their preferred channels also demonstrates your interest, which fosters trust.
Live chat
Consumers appreciate real-time support, with 90% of customers saying an “instant” response is vital. As a business, real-time replies can help you retain potential customers who might otherwise abandon your site. Not all companies can have chat agents available 24/7, so integrating this feature can set you apart from your competitors.
Live chat is available when human customer support agents are online. Otherwise, consumers can “leave a message” and receive a response later.
Many people assume that social media or instant messaging have completely replaced email as a form of communication when running a business. That’s not the case for online stores, as email remains a widely used method of communicating with customers.
Managing your inbox becomes crucial as more people expect timely responses when contacting brands online. Also, remember that customers still desire a personal touch, even if they’re asking typical questions, so avoid using standard template responses when attending to requests or inquiries.
Chatbots
E-commerce chatbots are computer programs that communicate in real-time with website visitors. They offer customer service, respond to inquiries, provide quick product recommendations, collect feedback, and monitor engagement.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Businesses can provide customers with quick answers to their questions by adding an FAQ section on their website, chatbox, or social media page. This section can provide customers with instant solutions to their concerns, meaning they don’t have to wait for an agent to be available to get answers.
Telephone support
Phone conversations help you produce great customer experiences through quick engagement and personalisation. Through this channel, customer service representatives can more easily discern the client’s emotion, combined with the convenience of instant solutions, leading to true personal interactions that will improve the client’s overall experience.
6 Best Practices on How to Improve Customer Service in E-Commerce
Because the customer service team is at the forefront of a company’s interactions with consumers, they play a critical role in developing relationships and establishing trust. As such, businesses must adjust their strategies to keep up with the evolving buyer landscape.
Here are a few ways to enhance your e-commerce customer service approach.
- Understand your customers
In e-commerce, there’s no single way to communicate and understand your customers. However, most would expect you to provide a personalised approach that makes them feel special. Understand your audience by learning their preferred support channels and regularly interacting with them to determine their needs. - Build strong customer relationships
Your support representative can access information about the customer, including their purchase history, which can help you create a more customised buyer’s experience for your clients. Moreover, you can start maintaining consistency in communication, especially if you have promotions and deals.
You can also try launching a loyalty program to reward customers for their loyalty by offering exclusive discounts or offers. Knowing when and how to help your audience gives them a sense of value and importance, strengthening your brand’s relationship with them. - Maximise customer service tools
Automating tasks can save time and effort, allowing teams to focus on more essential assignments. Reviewing the workflow and identifying these functions that consume excessive time is beneficial. According to Forbes, 96% of people will leave you due to bad service, so if automating and utilising customer service tools helps retain your customers, it might be best to keep using them. - Measure and improve customer service
Utilise different methods that can help you gather insight about your customers, such as sending feedback forms and surveys to clients and promoting engagement in your company’s social media comments section. This way, you formulate better strategies that target your audience’s requests. - Improve your response time
Operating online automatically sets your business up for customer expectations, particularly for quicker service. To avoid getting left behind and leaving a bad impression on your customers, streamline your processes to improve your response times. Consider implementing self-service tools like chatbots or an FAQs page for your customers. - Stay organised
An efficient system and a passionate team are vital for delivering excellent customer service. However, these may not be sufficient without proper organisation. Hence, keep track of customer interactions and provide your team with tools that promote effective collaboration.
Using a shared inbox and saving responses for common client concerns can enable your customer service team to address inquiries in a structured and efficient manner.
Customer Service Done Properly
The world has come a long way from the typical brick-and-mortar stores that used to be prevalent everywhere. With millions of new online stores available today, it’s no surprise that customers expect more efficient ways to have a seamless buying experience from start to finish.
The customer service trends and points above only touch on the benefits of enhancing your customer service efforts. However, if you’re thinking of outsourcing an e-commerce call centre for assistance, it’d be best to ask the help of professionals who can better explain why you need their services.
Select VoiceCom is a call centre in the Philippines specialising in multi-channel support solutions for businesses that want to maximise their customer service tools. If you’re interested in partnering with a reputable company that can assist with their customer service functions, send us a message today to learn more!