Whether you are a product owner, a business manager, or your thing is dropshipping, you probably know about the importance of customer service in ecommerce beyond administrative tasks and order management.
Customer service is what makes the difference between an anonymous and practical sale, and a memorable experience. An indispensable component for any business, which plays a central role in a brand’s image and reputation, revenue, and customer loyalty.
While product content acts as a product’s réclame and focuses on gathering attention and highlighting its features and benefits, Customer Service is a company’s voice to its prospects and actual customers. And while every business dreams of having fully satisfied customers and little to no need for customer support, Customer Service is what bridges a company’s statements and customer expectations.
In this post, we’ll explore what you can do to provide more than sufficient customer service without implementing an actual customer support team.
Why is customer service so important in ecommerce?
Trust and loyalty
As we explained in our recent post on how to build trust in ecommerce, trust is the currency that fuels customer relationships. And that works for every business.
Consumer trust is not just a result of a product’s quality, but also of the customer service they receive. The advantages of ecommerce include not needing human intervention to close sales, because there are no time or space limitations. And yet, because online transactions often lack the human touch, consumers need to feel reassured that their questions can be answered, and any issues promptly addressed.
Responsive communication about customer inquiries, and quick problem resolution can strongly reinforce a brand’s reputation as a reliable and trustworthy business.
Better Customer Experience
Customer experience is what drives business success. Beyond showing products through appealing images and descriptions, an easy and pleasant shopping journey is key to increasing their conversions. Again, Customer service plays a central role in Customer experience, as it guarantees that any challenges or concerns customers find are met with empathy and efficiency. Good customer service in ecommerce can transform negative experiences into positive ones, thus, into higher customer satisfaction, retention, and proactive advocacy. However, it’s not about taking users by the hand, but being there when they need support.
Getting feedback for continuous improvement
Customer service is a very valuable source of feedback. Listening to customer inquiries, complaints, and suggestions provides rich insights about the strengths and weaknesses of products and online experience. From inaccuracies in product descriptions and broken links to typos in your copy or problems in your website.
It is very important to keep a clean database in order to quantify and find ways to optimize any potential improvement. At the end of they, it’s an important investment that can change the customer’s experience and have a very positive impact. A UX/UI specialist is an expensive investment small businesses are not ready to make. Still, most themes and templates are designed for easy navigation.
But just as important it is to respond to feedback, which proves you actually care and are ready to make the necessary corrections. Moreover, proactively seeking feedback allows making decisions based on facts, better iteration planning, and continuous improvements.
Reducing returns
There is one thing worse than not having Customer Service: inefficient customer service, which results in more returns, and frustrated and unsatisfied customers. Consumers who struggle to obtain information or have their issues solved are more likely to return their purchase rather than seek assistance.
An efficient customer service infrastructure helps reduce the risk of returns and operational costs. Today, Artificial Intelligence makes it very easy for any business of any size to provide basic customer support. Chatbots, for instance. The level of customization they allow may vary, but bots can be educated with catalog data and decision trees. And the better the data is structured, the more educated they will be to provide users with satisfactory solutions.
Personalization
Personalized shopping experiences are a challenging goal for businesses, but a crucial factor in driving customer retention. Customer service is great to bridge this gap and offer personalized recommendations. Customers appreciate feeling valued and understood, and that makes them more likely to remain loyal to the brand and become returning customers. Remember that personalization is the least users expect in exchange for their personal data.
Customer service isn’t just about putting someone to answer emails and phone calls. Instead, it’s an opportunity to create personalized customer service strategies that strengthen customer retention and boost their lifetime value. For example, through upsales or the “Just for you…” or “You may also be interested in…” kind of offers.
Social proof
Social proof has become a – if not, the most powerful driver of consumer behavior. Positive reviews, testimonials, and word-of-mouth recommendations have a strong impact on purchasing decisions, as we explained in our post about psychology in ecommerce.
Offering close and effective customer service, promptly addressing customer queries and complaints, keeping an eye on satisfied customers, and asking them to share their experiences is non-negotiable.
These testimonials and product reviews are just a part of a broader strategy along with product descriptions, marketing campaigns, social media, and even social commerce and influencer collaborations. But a reach extension should always have a proportional response capacity, to avoid a backfire in customer satisfaction.
How can you offer good customer service in ecommerce?
When users have questions, they turn to Google unless they have an official point of contact. Your anticipation can make Google take them to your pages and official answers. Not finding such answers can be frustrating and become emails, calls, or the kind of noise nobody wants on Social Media.
There are many useful ways to answer frequent user questions and solve issues promptly. And you don’t need an actual Customer Service department.
And implementing them will save you tons of time and money:
- FAQ pages are of great help to quickly answer any question, especially when their product content is SEO-optimized. Hence the need for a feedback database!
- Product explainer videos can provide brief and clear visual demonstrations of a product’s usage, anticipating any rising concern.
- Chatbots are able to instantly answer questions and gather all the necessary information about the problems faced by customers. Worst-case scenario, they’ll provide you with enough information to take prompt action on recurrent issues. Just make sure to have one on every channel you use.
- Making sure the entire team knows the product like the back of their hand will not only cover potential informational gaps but will also allow them to spot inaccuracies and inconsistencies.
- Keep your stock up-to-date, wherever you are selling your product.
- Put yourself in your customer’s shoes, based on your buyer personas. Seamless navigation and checkout depend on not finding any challenges or drawbacks during there journey.
- Consider using a CRM software to centralize all communications and simplify in-house collaboration to problem-solving.
71% of customers expect companies to collaborate internally so they don’t have to repeat themselves
Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report – 2020.
But to get customers, product content is necessary
Customer service should be a top priority once a product has been launched and should be planned in advance. It plays a pivotal role in building trust, improving customer experience and brand loyalty. And that’s key to standing out from the competition.
Still, a product is nothing without compelling product photography and videos to promote it in different channels. Especially in this hybrid ecommerce world. At Content2Sell, we craft unique, self-explaining, and relatable product content for small and medium-sized businesses to successfully sell their products.
