Customer service isn’t just about face to interaction and the way we speak to people on the phone, in an increasingly digitised world, many people choose to shop online, rather than braving the bustle and madness of busy city centre shopping malls. Unfortunately, online customer service still has a reputation for being less than satisfactory a lot of the time. From webchats that drop out halfway through a conversation to those incredibly frustrated automated email chains that never really answer the question you asked, there are many areas that need to be improved. Here’s Probella’s guide to providing good quality online customer service for your business.
Use Your Own Service as a Customer
This is something so many businesses forget to do and subsequently, they never fully understand what it’s like on the other side of the transaction. Try using your own website as a customer and be totally honest about the way you feel throughout the experience. Pay close attention to details such as page loading times, waiting times for live chat agents and the quality of the content provided in confirmation emails. Details matter and they’re also incredibly easy to miss when you’re busy looking at the whole process. Encourage your staff to do the same so you can get a good overall view on the quality of the service you are really offering.
Treat Online Complaints in the Same Way as Face to Face Interactions
Let’s be honest. In 2019, the online world is often a place that eschews good manners for abruptness and even hostility. There’s no place for this in customer service, ever. Always treat online complaints seriously and ensure the language you use with customers who feel they have something to criticise is open, receptive and apologetic. It can be tempting to hide behind the anonymity of a keyboard but remember there’s a real person on the other end of that live chat or email conversation.
Avoid Automation Unless It Works Perfectly
If you listen to marketing professionals and business owners, you would be forgiven for thinking that customers in the online world are quite fond of automated services. This couldn’t be further from the truth. When automated chat bots and forum-based FAQs work properly, they’re incredibly effective but often, customers are left scratching their heads, unable to resolve the issue they contacted you to solve. Invest in a dedicated, staffed, customer support service. Even if this is just somebody who regularly answers email in person. This allows for any complex or difficult situations to be resolved smoothly and with a sense of genuine human intention. Sometimes the simplest of misunderstandings can lead to weeks of frustration for customers, so avoid this by giving them the option to speak to a human being.
Understand Your Customer’s Time is Precious
To you, it’s just a quick, five-minute survey that pops up on the screen whenever a new customer enters your digital store. Unfortunately, to the average internet user, its probably just one of many similar marketing ploys they’ve had to deal with that day. Always avoid wasting your customer’s time by making them fill in needless pieces of information. Data capture is obviously extremely important, but the way in which you do this is critical. Design any online surveys in a way that makes them optional. If customers have the time, they will more than likely be happy to give you some feedback, but never make it feel as if you are forcing them to complete a task they don’t want to engage with.
Ensure Your Product Knowledge is Second to None
If a customer contacts you with a question about a product you sell, you should be able to talk about it confidently and in detail. In physical shops, assistants are trained to be able to discuss the finer points of every product they sell and the same should apply to your online customer service team. Even if you have a detailed list of product specifications on your online store, some people need a little more reassurance than others and may appreciate speaking to a member of staff so they can ask a few questions. If it takes longer for you to find the information about your own product than it does for your customers to carry out a google search, you will need to up your game.
Use a human name when speaking to customers
There’s something unsettling and anonymous about receiving a message from “the team.” It’s impersonal and creates the impression of a faceless group of people without any discernible sense of personality. Sign off all emails with the name of the customer service agent and ideally do the same on live chat services. Chatbots can be ok for the absolute basics but avoid trying to trick your customers in to thinking they are speaking with a real person if they aren’t. It doesn’t take long for them to realise they’re having a conversation with an algorithm and most people don’t usually enjoy this.
Offer a telephone number or skype conversation
This point may well split opinions among some marketing professionals, but the fact remains that a conversation with a human being is generally far more effective than any automated FAQ style site or email system. When your customers feel as if they can get in touch with you directly and speak to a human being, they are far less likely to become frustrated than if they must navigate a trail of awkwardly worded emails. If phone calls aren’t an option, an email or live chat that offers a skype call could be an alternative. Even if the conversation only lasts for a short time, it can make the difference between a satisfied customer and a lost sale, complete with negative review.
Summary
Ultimately, you want your online customers to feel as if they are just as valuable to you as your physical ones, so always ensure you treat them with the same amount of care and attention.
