Customer Service for E-commerce: Are you managing it right?

Customer service in an e-commerce business is an essential element to implement in order to solidify the trust that customers place in your business. It is a fundamental aspect for any e-commerce activity or, indeed, any other activities that take place online. 

The success of a company depends almost entirely on the way it relates and interfaces with the customer. 

Yet, customer care for those who sell online is still an underestimated aspect and a sore point, which, if not managed in the right way, turns out to have a boomerang effect. 

Simply browse the internet to come across sites with broken chat rooms, inactive phone numbers and operators not prepared to respond to customer needs. The result of getting it right is satisfied customers who will run from the competition! 

If this is not enough for you to decide to take care of the customer service of your e-commerce activities, read on to discover why it is absolutely critical for your company’s success. 

Customer service for e-commerce: reliable, effective and ever active

With online stores, the purchasing process has changed significantly: there is no direct contact with the customer, but rather everything happens virtually. 

Although users have become far more digital and able to navigate through products on the web with relative ease, pampering them is still important. In fact, customer service within e-commerce activities is critical to ensure that your customers return, remain faithful and speak positively about your brand!

Here are the fundamental rules for a customer service that works: 

• Guarantee a service 24 hours a day: your site will be visited at any time, so it is important that users have instant responses when they search for them; 
• Offer multilingual assistance: keep pace with internationalization and don't leave any customer unanswered;
• Refine the skills of the customer care team: make sure your team has the right skills to manage customer needs; no CRM software can make up for that shortcoming;
• Monitor all activities: always keep performance under control, so you can intervene with improvements at the right time;
• Don't overlook the WOW effect: send your customers a birthday card, for instance; they will be pleased and remember your brand fondly.
• Listen to customer feedback: to remain aware of user experiences, ranging from positive to negative, provide a forum for your customers to leave comments. 

Customer opinions are a very important sounding board for understanding which countermeasures to adopt, or on the contrary, which strength to push. Negative feedback cannot be ignored, in fact, paradoxically, it is often more helpful than positive feedback. It is essential for helping you to understand where you need to intervene to improve your service.

Now that you know the most important rules so as not to disappoint your users, you need to understand which tools to use before, during and after the purchase for a first-class customer service. 

Customer care for e-commerce: what tools to use to get your business off the ground

The definition of customer care centers upon the attention and care given to those interested in a product or service. This concept has evolved over time, due to the digital transformation and the advent of social networks. 

Yet, even today, many companies tend to underestimate this service, which is erroneously considered a side dish. 

Many users find themselves struggling with malfunctioning switchboards or with lengthy waiting time, inaccurate answers or late responses. All this results in a dissatisfied customer who will be forced to look elsewhere for what he or she needs.

The modern consumer is extremely demanding and has no time to waste. They demand answers that can solve problems quickly. To solve such problems, you need to implement solutions that improve the perception of the company and make it more efficient in the eyes of customers. The primary tools to improve customer service for e-commerce businesses are: 

• Telephone;
• Emails;
• Chatbots;
• FAQ; 
• Social Media. 

Traditional assistance with the telephone

The good old faithful telephone has remained one of the tools loved by many users. This is because it creates direct, human contact between customer and company and is essential especially when you have to solve fairly complex problems in a short space of time. This solution, however, involves some disadvantages to consider. Firstly, it represents a cost, particularly in the case of a toll-free number. 

Furthermore, for telephone customer care to be truly efficient, it is necessary to have staff who take care of it on a full-time basis. Most e-commerce sites are too small to afford resources dedicated solely to this task.

Customer service via email 

In recent years, email has far exceeded contact via telephone. Many sites entrust their customer care exclusively to this tool. One of the main advantages is the reduction of costs and the need for fewer staff: one person can handle more requests. To make this tool work, however, you need to customize it as much as possible. 

Chatbots: intelligent responses in real time

What are chatbots? The term comes from the fusion of two terms: chat and robot. They are essentially robots that, through machine learning or automatic learning, carry on a conversation almost as if they were human beings, by providing appropriate solutions to customers.

These tools are used by e-commerce sites because they guarantee a series of advantages and free staff from repetitive activities. 

They are also active 24 hours a day and, thanks to their intelligence, are able to provide a personalized service, tailored to the needs of the consumer.

If you want to know more about this tool, read our article: Improving the Customer Experience with a Chatbot. 

FAQ page: let your customers find the answers for themselves

FAQ stands for frequently asked questions, or those questions asked most frequently by consumers. These problems can overwhelm customer support, where the result is solving the same problem over and over again. 

It is therefore worth creating a space on the company or e-commerce website where you can answer the most common questions asked by customers in a clear and precise manner, so as to allow customers to solve problems independently.

Social customer care for the consumer 2.0

Most online commerce passes through social networks, where being present is equivalent to being visible. 

To provide a satisfactory social media customer care service, it is advisable to use those platforms most used by your customers, so as to optimize internal resources.

Better to be present on one or two social networks, but to guarantee an effective and proactive assistance service, than being present on numerous social networks without being able to answer customer questions effectively.

If a brand is present on social media, consumers expect to be able to interface with the company to ask questions, solve problems and satisfy curiosity at any time.

How to increase customer satisfaction by focusing on customer service

The importance of customer service is certainly indisputable. Offering excellent customer service not only ensures a satisfied consumer, but allows you to increase revenue and acquire new customers with the positive word of mouth triggered.

To achieve this, it is not enough to answer calls and send emails. A quality customer service is able to anticipate problems, provide simple and timely solutions to any inconvenience, or even propose up-selling or cross-selling for relevant products or services, so as to improve the shopping experience as much as possible. 

If you are wondering how to offer your customers fast and efficient support, you can trust us at We Are Fiber with our substantial experience in the sector.

Outsourcing customer service for e-commerce makes it possible to support your customers through their preferred contact method and without any language issues.

We Are Fiber  offers multilingual service and 24/7 support for customers around the world. Our customer care solutions are tailor-made, combining different customer support channels, languages ​​and working hours. 

Are you interested in our services?

You can also test us with the “Try and Buy” formula, where you can evaluate the work of our team for

<span class="Y2IQFc" lang="en">three </span>months and make a decision with complete peace of mind.