You provide customer service to online shoppers when you work in e-commerce. This feature helps visitors navigate your site and make purchases if they have questions or need help. Customers can receive quick, efficient support through ecommerce customer service because reps meet them where they are.
Brick-and-mortar settings differ slightly from ecommerce services. Customers will only be able to speak to reps via phone or chat, so anticipate roadblocks that they will encounter. To get user feedback consistently, you need to identify common pain points from customer feedback. Providing proactive service and self-service options to assist customers is possible once you know the variables.
Check out the best practices for ecommerce customer service in the next section if you’re looking to enhance the customer service in your shop.
Best Practices for Customer Service in Ecommerce
Ecommerce can present some businesses with some challenges when it comes to providing excellent customer service. When you’re not interacting face-to-face with customers, it can be hard to engage them. That’s why funnels are very important. But keeping that aside, here are some tips which may assist you in overcoming these issues and delighting your online store visitors.
1. Pay attention to how fast you respond on average.
Due to its efficiency and convenience, online shopping is popular among customers. Comparison shopping is easy between different products, and they can order items straight to their doorsteps. Customers expect, however, that questions will be answered quickly and accurately. When they come to your site for a quick purchase, they don’t want to wait for answers.
Because of this, it’s crucial for e-commerce companies to emphasize average response times. Customer service representatives should respond in seconds if a visitor contacts them. You can streamline the support process for your users with tools like live chat and chatbots. You are less likely to lose your customers if you reduce the time it takes for them to get an answer.
2. Customer service can be provided through social media.
Social media becomes a valuable customer service channel when speed and efficiency are our primary concerns. A customer can immediately notify your service team of problems or questions via social media.
Reps can then resolve the issue, get back in touch with your clients, and send them a comprehensive update all at once. This omni-channel experience lets shoppers contact your customer support team easier than if they had to contact you via one channel.
3. Support your customers in a proactive manner.
It’s possible that customers are unaware of your support and service features when they navigate your website. When they ask questions, they might not know where to turn. In some cases, customers may decide that it is too hard to contact support, and then move on to someone else. You should actively inform your customers about your website’s service features and its UX.
Creating CTAs on your website will enable you to provide proactive customer service. Provide FAQ’s on what your service team can expect from users and where they can file support inquiries. Pop-up messages that evoke interest in the live chat widget are best when you have live chat on your site. It enables you to engage your customers and delight them by encouraging them to use your support features.
4. Self-service options should be provided to customers.
A customer self-service feature is another efficient means of providing answers to customers. When customers have quick or fundamental questions, they can use these tools without needing assistance from a service rep. This saves them the time and effort it would take to open a formal inquiry.
Knowledge bases are examples of self-service. You can include service and support documents in a knowledge base on your website. The information discusses common issues that users face on a daily basis. The information can be used by customers before contacting support.
5. Support your customers by phone.
Online support options are not always patiently explored by all customers. In ecommerce, speed and efficiency are paramount and customers who are not tech-savvy will not spend a lot of time scouring your website.
Provide phone support for these users if you are able to do so. Having an immediate way of creating a live interaction is extremely important, even if you do not have call center software or a dedicated phone team.
6. Tools for customer service should be utilized.
Customer service tools can significantly boost the success of your ecommerce website, regardless of how big your company is. Automating support functions and expanding customer service capacity are both attainable with these tools.
Using a ticketing system can, for example, ensure that representatives know exactly what they need to do right away and no issues are overlooked.
The best e-commerce customer support software
You can see a list below of the best ecommerce customer service software if you’re interested in adopting these tools for your website.
1. HubSpot
For many reasons, HubSpot’s Service Hub is excellent for ecommerce businesses, including its integration with Shopify. Shopify customers can be integrated into your HubSpot CRM, so you can follow up on their actions.
Additionally, there are free chatbots and live chat tools available through Service Hub. The features you can add to your website will help you provide immediate support to your customers.
2. Kayako
In addition to providing help desk options, Kayako provides e-commerce-specific features. The company offers tools for managing social media inquiries on Facebook and Twitter, for example. Additionally, the shared inbox function gives users a central place to collect incoming requests. Reps can use a universal interface to stay on top of all customer interactions.
3. Clickdesk
You can also use Clickdesk as an e-commerce service platform. Customers are able to directly interact with customer service representatives through video chat.
You and your team can use video chat to clarify any miscommunications in a conversation that’s not going anywhere. SaaS companies can use this advantage to explain complex, highly technical solutions.
4. Get Satisfaction
Service communities are at the center of Get Satisfaction’s product. In order to provide immediate answers to customers, the self-service options, such as community forums, are deemed the best.
A community page is a way for users to work together to solve problems using gamification. You can make your customer service experience more satisfying by offering this forum and other support features.
5. Acquire
80% of client inquiries can be answered instantly by a chatbot developed by Acquire. Users are provided with the most relevant solutions based on machine learning. The bot can also be personalized with FAQs, snippets, and knowledge base content imported from your knowledge base. The bot gets better over time as it gathers more data on customers.
