With the increasing popularity of online stores and the convenience they offer, people shop year-round, be it a weekday or weekend. Though the online stores may experience an increased number of visitors during festive seasons or weekends, there is a good amount of traffic on these e-commerce stores throughout the year. Nonetheless, the uptick in your business shouldn’t affect the shopping experience of your customers, otherwise, you may start losing your customers very soon.
Your customer support service quality is one of the metrics which can either make or break your business’s success. The way in which you manage your customer relationships, right from pre-purchase queries to tracking the shipment and returns determines whether the first buyer remains just a one-time shopper or he/she becomes a long term and loyal customer.
So, what can you do to bring back the customers to your store every time? Continue reading to find some of the best practices to adopt to offer competitive and good customer service during busy shopping seasons:
- Reduced Abandoned Carts
Did you know 88% of online shopping carts were abandoned across different industries worldwide? For increasing your e-commerce sales, you need to know the obstacles that people face while shopping from your store and what stops them from completing their purchases. Does your check out form fail to build trust? Or your return policy is not as satisfactory as it should be, or you do not have easy payment options? Make sure that you provide multiple payment options to your customers. Further, allow your customers to decide how and when they want their packages to be delivered.
Sometimes people also forget about their ready shopping carts. For such customers, you can automatically share a link over the email with the buyer using abandoned cart email solutions, tools or plugins, directing them back to their shopping cart. There are high chances that they may take action and complete their purchase.
- Ensure Mobile Shopping
Provide your customers with an opportunity to help them make a purchase on the go. You can design an application for your e-commerce store or ensure that your store is highly responsive to all the devices whether the user browses your store on a mobile device or desktop. The most crucial thing here is to ensure that your website works seamlessly on any device and is frictionless, thus, providing exceptional customer support.
- Mentioned Detailed FAQs on Your Website
As much as you would love to answer each and every question of your customers, you simply won’t have time to do so. Therefore, you can have a detailed FAQ page with all the commonly asked questions along with their answers, and you can direct all your customers to that FAQ page.
Doubtful about what to include on your FAQ page? Try out the following things:
- Note Down Common Questions
Ask your e-commerce customer service or sales team to note down all the questions that are asked repeatedly from customers. You can include all such questions on your FAQ page.
- Competitor FAQ Pages
Notice the questions that your competitors are answering through their FAQ pages and then analyze and decide if doing the same would be helpful for your business as well.
You can also take some time to brief your customers about your products’ description, they can help you answer customer questions even before they ask. You can even include information about your product, how to use it, what it does and other essential pieces of information.
- Simplify Your Return/Exchange Process
Even though you offer superior quality products, they might not be the right fit for all your customers. And, nothing is more frustrating for a customer than buying from a store with a cumbersome exchange and returns policy or poor customer support services, therefore, it is important to ease out the process for your shoppers.
You can even automate the exchange/return process with the help of returns and warranty requests extension. Instead of contacting you directly, your shoppers can go through the entire return process from their user account itself, thus, smoothening the customer support service process.
Depending on the merchandise type that you sell, you may decide to offer warranties on your products too. You can both manage and add warranties from your dashboard and can also clearly outline how long your return and warranty period last. Letting people know about all such policies in advance will reduce the chances of misunderstanding to a bare minimum.
- Go the Extra Mile
If you want to outperform your competitors and boost your sales, your customer service quality can be the differentiating factor. You may be providing the best customer service to your customers; however, it is advisable to expand your horizons further and look out for ways in which you can delight your customers and keep them loyal to your store. A few other things that you can do are – add a handwritten note to the package, a discount code for future purchases or a surprise treat, making your customers feel valued.
Are You Ready for Setting the Benchmark?
If you are running an online store, it is essential to offer exceptional customer service all year round. And, giving your customers a memorable experience constantly is one way to have them coming back time and again.
Your primary goal should be – every customer should leave your store feeling respected and valued, which you can easily achieve by keeping in consideration all the points mentioned above and balancing the workload, even if it takes hiring temporary workers. Lastly, do not underestimate the power of sending out a simple and warm welcome email to your new customers, giving welcoming vibes to your website visitors.
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