Recently, I ordered a book from a well known online book retailer and experienced a significant delay in delivery. Navigating their online customer service facility to find out what was happening was extremely frustrating and made me more irritated by being sent an automated customer satisfaction survey before the problem had been resolved. It’s easy to think customer service is all about when clients walk into your premises or pick up the phone. But in many businesses these days, most, if not all, interaction happens online.
If you want your customers to be happy in cyberspace, don’t fall into these traps:
- Not responding to emails in a timely fashion. For some time-sensitive businesses, this might be within a couple of hours, for others next day. Try to put yourself in the mind of the customer – don’t leave them wondering if their message has even been received. And if you don’t have the solution to their problem immediately, at least let them know you are working on it.
- Keeping your contact details really well hidden on your website. If you’re happy for customers to call, make the phone number easy to see. Similarly with enquiry email – have a direct link on your home page. You might also consider a Live Chat facility – this could be a real asset for service based businesses in particular.
- No website FAQ/information section. If you’re getting the same queries over and over again from prospects and customers, give them the information before they have to ask. Develop a straightforward FAQ section, or a free eBook, to solve the common frustrations before they arise.
- Product and service details on your website are difficult to find. Navigation around your site should be easy and clear –finding the appropriate product with all details shouldn’t require trawling all over your site.
- Your shopping cart is poorly designed and difficult to use. There is a huge range of online purchase software now available. Make sure you choose one that’s suitable for your product or service, clear and easy to use, and which gives email acknowledgement of purchase. And have a method for the customer to contact you quickly if they have a problem.
Top of my priority list for 2012 is to fix the shopping cart on our CalendarPrint website – it’s frustrating some of our customers and why would we want to do that? What’s on your list?
