Customer,Service,amp,#58,Your, ecommerce Customer Service: Your Advantage

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So, you don't have a multi-million dollar advertising campaign? You don't have astaff of hundreds, venture capital backing or someone from Star Trek as yourspokesperson? Then perhaps it's time to look into one of the advantages that youdo have over these e-commerce giants..... customer service. You might wonder how a small company can hope to give better customer servicethan these heavily staffed, heavily funded e-giants. Believe it or not, it may be yourlack of size, that just might give you the edge. Think about your average customer service experience in an off-line setting. Wheredo you usually have the kinds of customer service experiences that are so positive,you come away raving to your friends and co-workers? While I can't answer foryou, I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of my experiences of this naturehave come with small businesses, often very small. Conversely, I can also say thatas a rule, my biggest CS (customer service) nightmares have come with the biggestcompanies. Of course, there are always exceptions, but this theory has proven tobe surprisingly consistent for me. I would bet that if you compile a quick mental listof your best and worst experiences as a customer, you might find this to be true foryou as well. The problem with large companies is usually a volume issue. Many of thesebusinesses have such a large volume of CS inquiries, that they simply don't havethe manpower to adequately provide timely and efficient service. Often, it isdifficult to even find the proper channel for which to take your CS issue. Largee-commerce companies aren't immune to these kinds of issues. In fact, they areoften even less prepared to handle the flow of questions and comments that comein from their site on a daily basis. Many of these companies experience massivevolume of traffic to their sites. A nice problem to have, but a problem that canoften leave the customer out in the cold. A recent Gartner study surveyed 50 top-rated internet retail sites on their customerservice readiness and effectiveness. The results were very telling. Not one of these50 sites ranked as excellent with regards to customer service readiness. 23%graded out as average, and 73% were rated below average, and 4% rated poor. Cnet quoted another recent study by Resource Marketing which showed similarresults. "Wal-Mart online is a maze, Williams-Sonoma makes customers fill outapplications every time they shop, and KBkids.com automatically sends newcustomers its electronic newsletter, whether they ask for it or not." Caroline Cofer,a spokesperson for Resource Marketing added that many of these large merchantsare "making some scary mistakes." Now, with many of these large e-tailers streamlining operations in order to stayafloat, it is difficult to imagine customer service improving. In fact, customer serviceissues on-line have become such an issue, that an entire sector has evolved to dealwith the problems. Companies such as Egain Communications and KanaCommunications offer automated, CRM (customer relation management) solutions.Many of these automated services are ASP (application service provider) modelsthat feature multi-channel response e-mail systems. In other words, software thatattempts to emulate a real human. On one hand, these companies should beadmired for their vision, and will probably be rewarded with booming sales. On theother hand, the technology has a way to go before it is a replacement for humaninteraction. Have you ever sent a question to a site's customer service center, andreceived the answer to the wrong question? More than likely, this was the result ofautomated CRM software that was unable to properly interpret your question andsend the correct response. This is where your advantage as a small company comes into play. While you maynot enjoy the volume of these sites, you can create a higher percentage of repeatvisitors/buyers with superior CS. Generally, when you hear people talk aboutimproving CS, you hear things like: "make yourself available" and "give goodcontact information." This is true, but it goes beyond that. What people really wantis speed. People want their questions answered now. People want their CS issueresolved in a hurry. Providing a phone number is a must, but chances are, peopledon't want to go off-line and call you for the answers to their questions unless it is alast resort. In the e-world, people want an i-response: Immediate, internetresponse. Of course, you can't be everywhere at once. Managing a small business or websiteis already a full-time job. But making CS a focal point of your website can payimmense dividends for your traffic and or profit. Think of it this way, if you canrespond to a customer's question within 24 hours, you are beating about 50% ofthe large e-companies already. If you can respond within 12 hours, I wouldestimate that you would be beating somewhere around 80%. If you can respondwithin 6 hours, you are providing customer service that most e-commerce giantsonly dream about. A quick list of ways to improve your customer service: 1. Speed: We all know as customers, that few things are more valuable to us thantime. Standing in line is no fun at the supermarket, and waiting for a response froma CS center is no fun either. 2. Contact information: Make it easy to find. Make it an address that you or anemployee checks on a regular basis. Don't make the customer work to find you. 3. Live chat: Offer your customers the opportunity to use instant messagingsoftware to contact you. MSN Messenger and ICQ are two widely used formatsthat work on almost all platforms, and it's 100% free. 4. F.A.Q and search options: Make them thorough. Not all sites need F.A.Q(frequently asked questions) pages, but if your site does, then make it thorough andeasy to understand. If your site has an search box, be sure that it gives adequateresults. Test it out. It's surprising how many high-profile websites have inadequatein-site search functions. 5. Customer is always right: We all know that this is bull, but, the old adage stillstands the test of time. Whether or not the customer is "right," our job as CSmanagers is to put out fires. Quick, pleasant responses to even the most iratecustomers will almost always cool the situation. In fact, an efficient CS agent canturn even the most irate customer into a loyal customer Take the work out of it for your visitors. Encourage them to ask questions andreward them with quick, friendly responses. Your customers and visitors are themost important asset you have. Make them feel that way. Article Tags: Customer Service, People Want