The first paragraph of this article serves as a summary of the content. It emphasizes the importance of customer service in online businesses, given the 24/7 availability of websites. It explores how businesses can optimize their websites to allow customers to serve themselves, eliminating the need for overtime staff or lengthy voice mail procedures. The article also highlights the success of JFA, Inc., an online business that has doubled its income every year since its inception in 1997, thanks to its focus on customer service.
James Feldman, President of JFA, Inc., a successful online business selling high-quality and unique gift items, underscores the difference between the online and physical buying experience. The absence of a physical salesperson in online transactions makes the website copy crucial in establishing a relationship with the customer. Therefore, every page of your site should be written from the visitor's perspective, answering the questions: "Why me?" and "Why should I care?"
Online customers have a wider range of choices and can easily switch from one website to another. Therefore, the challenge for online customer service is to focus on one customer and one purchase at a time. Customers expect excellent service with minimal direct interaction. They can tolerate a few mistakes, but not many.
Feldman offers five rules for effective online customer service:
Be accessible. Clearly display all the ways a customer can contact you on your site, including e-mail, phone and fax numbers, and your office hours. If possible, provide a real person for your visitors to call.
Prompt response. Aim to return every e-mail or phone call within the same day. A recent study showed that nearly a third of the top Fortune 100 companies failed to respond to e-mails sent through their website within a month.
Acknowledge all orders. Send e-mail confirmations and, if you're shipping actual products, provide tracking numbers and expected delivery dates.
Provide a clear return policy. Honor it and learn from it. This can provide valuable insights into what's working and what's not.
Expect more phone calls. As your website traffic and response rates grow, so will the volume of phone calls. Despite the quality of the site and clear policies, people still require human interaction.
Effective customer service can significantly impact your business's bottom line. Feldman attributes the substantial growth of his business to repeat business and referrals from satisfied customers. On the other hand, poor customer service and fulfillment procedures have led to the failure of many dot.coms. People buy things online expecting to get something more valuable than the money they spend. Does your website deliver this value?
You can learn more about JFA, Inc. and their approach to customer service on their website.
Consider the Competition
It's very important for every company, small or large, to consider what information to make public on the website.Site Search is Serious Business
Learn why having an internal search engine can be critical to the success of your website.Numbers and Testing Trump Politics
Consultant Philippa Gamse explains why objective testing and reporting can help staff make objective decisions for their website.