The Importance of eCommerce Customer Support

Customer support is one of the core aspects that you need to consider in regards to your eCommerce business. After all, the end goal of your online store is to sell products or services to customers. And the people who do buy from you deserve to be appreciated and taken care of. If your customers are happy, they’re more likely to continue buying from you and spread the word.

Customer support is about establishing a trust that vastly improves the shopping experience of the people who buy from you. Many of your customers will probably want to know more about the things that you offer. They may have certain concerns that need to be addressed. Or if they have already made a purchase, you will need to provide help or further service if and when they need it.

Use Several Modes of Communication

In order for great customer support to take place, you will need to establish communication with your customers. This refers to the ways that the people will be able to contact you, and for you to answer back. It’s very advisable that you don’t rely on a single mode of communication. This is because different customers may have different preferences when it comes to contacting you.

If you have different modes of communication available, this also ensures that the customers will receive support quickly. To exemplify, instead of just having an e-mail or a phone line, you could offer customer support in different ways. This could include social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. But another great tool to utilize is a live chat which offers instantaneous support.

Great Customer Support Improves the Shopping Experience

You have to remember that offering assistance to customers via eCommerce is harder than buying things in person. Let’s say a customer is looking to buy some audio equipment like studio monitors. If they go to buy it in person, a shop assistant could answer all of their questions. The customer could learn about the specifications and means of use – then and there, unlike with eCommerce.

When a person is buying online, it’s a bit harder for their questions to be answered. Therefore, if your eCommerce provides excellent customer support, the people will appreciate it. If you offer multiple modes of communication, you will make it easier on the customers to contact you. This plays great with social proof because happy customers will spread the word and let others know.

Offer Quick & Quality Replies

Great customer support tends to be associated with quickness and quality, so it’s important for you to balance the two. On one hand, you will like to answer back to your customers as soon as possible so that they don’t wait for too long. But on the other, your answers need to be of high quality so that they actually help the customers. Try to offer quality replies in under an hour if possible.

The more costumers contact you, the more patterns will start to appear. This refers to questions that happen to repeat often and you should take notice of these. From there, what’s most advisable is that you put together a list of frequently asked questions i.e. a FAQ. If you provide a FAQ to your customers, this will free up more time for your service to focus on the more unique requests.

Use a Live Chat

As mentioned earlier, one way to provide quick customer support is to offer a live chat. The expectation with a live chat is that you will answer the person very quickly. That’s why a lot of customers may prefer it over sending an e-mail. If you provide quick answers, this will leave a great impression. Just make sure that you avoid automated responses and show you care for the person.

One of the best things about live chat is that it helps with the conversion rate. When potential customers are using the live chat option, they’re buying temperature is likely higher than usual. At that moment, they’re paying attention to your products and you don’t want them to cool off. Remember that fast replies are of utmost importance. Always try to reply in under 5 minutes.

Automated Bots Could Be of Help

If you aren’t able to answer to live chat question at all times, there are some tools that could help. This mainly refers to using automated bots that could provide relevant answers. So for example, if a customer asks for something, the bots could refer them to relevant articles.

There are apps that you could use in order to set up a live chat for your eCommerce business. One such app is LiveChat which is easily integrated with WordPress. It also comes with a great design and you could choose various plans for payment. Of course, there are other similar apps you could use.

E-mail

One of the most obvious ways of establishing customer support is to communicate via e-mail. When an e-mail is used, costumers will have slightly different expectations in comparison to using a live chat. This mostly refers to the time required for you to send back a reply. With live chat, people will expect instantaneous replies, but with e-mail, it’s understandable for them to wait a bit longer.

This frees up your time and allows you to put together a high-quality reply. You could even leave an announcement on your website and let your customers know the average response time to e-mails. For example, the contact page on your website may state that you reply to e-mails within a couple of hours. E-mails are also very easy to use and you will have a great overview of the conversations.

Personalize the Communication

A key thing to remember in regards to sending replies via e-mail is to personalize the interaction. This is as simple as addressing the customers by using their name. People jokingly say that everyone’s favorite word is actually their own name. This definitely holds true to some extent.

If people read their own name in the opening of an e-mail, they will know for sure that you’re addressing them. Moreover, this will evoke positive emotions and make them feel satisfied and secure. In other words, this simple tweak will improve the shopping experience of your customers.

Social Media

Social media is another great way for you to provide customer support, especially if we consider that it’s not private. Your social media accounts will be available to the public, so more people will be able to read your conversations. Therefore, you will need to be careful when putting together your replies. Public replies could tie in with your FAQ, so make sure to pick relevant questions to answer.

Of course, you could ask the customer to send a private message when needed. But this should only be the case when they have a more unique question that would require further details. If a customer leaves some positive feedback, it would be a good idea to reply and show appreciation. This is another thing that adds to your social proof because other people will see you treat customers well.

Use Social Media to Provide Solutions

Sometimes, customers will have issues with regards to your products or services. If they post public comments about it on some of your social media profiles, this could be a bit tricky. However, there are several things to keep in mind so that you approach their problems in a solution-based way.

For one, you should show that you care and understand where they are coming from in regards to their issues. Feel free to apologize in case there has been a mistake on your part. However, keep the focus on providing a solution and try to do so quickly. The customers will definitely appreciate it.

Provide Help Beforehand

Earlier, we mentioned that your online business should definitely include a FAQ because it will free up your time. However, this isn’t the only reason. In fact, if your site has a FAQ this will help customers to avoid the need to actually contact you. If they find the answers they’re looking for by themselves, it’ll take care of their concerns. On that note, ensure your product descriptions are solid.

Another way to make things easier on your customers is to provide payment options even on mobile phones. Most people spend tons of time on their phones and this also includes the aspect of shopping. Therefore, when a potential customer is browsing your online store on their phone and sees something he likes, he may get the urge to buy. Give them the option to buy then and there.

Customer Support over the Phone

The traditional way to offer customer support is by having a phone line where the people can reach you. Some issues and concerns require more detailed explanations and your customers may find it easier to explain it over the phone rather than writing a message. An important aspect of customer support over the phone is availability. There are two main options you should consider providing.

One of them is 24-hour support over the phone, meaning customers could talk to some of your employees any time of the day.  This can improve the shopping experience of the customers and make them feel safe knowing they could contact you whenever they may have a problem. However, another option is voicemails. Just make sure you let the customers know when to expect an answer.

Get Feedback on Your Customer Support

It is safe to assume that you will do your best to provide the most amazing customer support possible. However, just because you have the best intentions it doesn’t mean that you will know how well you are doing. That’s why it’s important to ask your customers for feedback in regards to the support that you provide. There are several ways of doing this like asking them to fill a survey.

If you ask your customers to leave feedback in regards to your provided support, this will help you improve. It will make it easier for you to know where you may have some shortcomings. And if you become aware of them, it will be easier to fix them. Other than asking your customers to fill a survey, you could also e-mail them and see if they could put together a review or leave a rating.

Customer Support Helps With Marketing

Social proof is one of the things that help your online business the most. Customers who have positive shopping experiences when dealing with your eCommerce business are very likely to spread the word. And customer support is one of the best ways to improve the shopping experience of your buyers. Therefore, if you invest in this aspect of your online business, it helps with marketing.

Think about it, if your customers spread the word about your business, that’s authentic marketing. People are more likely to value the opinions of their friends and family over random ads. And this also holds true when it comes to their peers who they may not personally know. So, if you invest in good customer service, it’s like investing in marketing. Make sure you remember this tip.

Conclusion

Customer support is an aspect of your eCommerce business that requires serious consideration. The goal of your online business is to sell products or services so your customers must be kept happy. They will many times have certain questions and concerns at any stage of the sales funnel. That’s why you should’ve quality product descriptions and a FAQ, but also to offer solutions when needed.

Many of the customer support components are tied into the overall design of your online store i.e. eCommerce website. On that note, don’t forget that DragDropr is a tool that could be of massive help in this regard. Its simplicity and ease to use will allow you to design your website in a great way without the need of having any coding skills.  Such design improves the overall shopping experience.