How To Improve Your Online Customer Service

Good customer service isn’t restricted to face-to-face interaction: these days it is important to ensure that your online customer service is just as professional. After all, your website is your virtual shop window so you want any customers to go away feeling they have been treated well – just as you would if they visited your premises in person.

There are many different areas you can work on to ensure this is the case, some of which are as follows:

Allow For Self-Service: You don’t need to patronise your clients: yes, you need to make the process of using your website as simple as possible for those who are less confident online; but just as you find self-service check-outs in most supermarkets today, you also need to offer the option of online self-service. Make sure you have a comprehensive FAQ page to enable users to find the answers to common questions so they don’t necessarily have to contact your customer service team about every query. You should monitor and update this regularly to keep up with changing demands.

Clear Contact Info: You should always make it as easy as possible for your customers to contact you: failure to do so engenders mistrust and they will very likely go elsewhere to buy what they’re looking for. The best sites will offer multiple contact options so you should too: give telephone numbers, email addresses, instant chat options and so on. Include several links to all of these to show demonstrate transparency. Making your contact details easy and accessible will show that you are serious about providing excellent customer service.

Encourage Feedback: In addition to providing contact details, it’s also important that you allow customers to leave feedback on your website. This will show that you have nothing to hide. You can do this however you like: via a dedicated ‘feedback’ link, specific product reviews or through allowing visitors to comment on your blog posts. You should then try to engage personally with your customers by responding to these comments.

Deal With Complaints: Every company, however good it is, will now and then have to deal with customer complaints. It’s simply a fact of life in the business world. What is important is how you respond to and deal with these complaints. The most important thing is to act quickly: if someone has posted a negative comment on your website, respond publicly and always apologise for any inconvenience they may have had. If you’re at fault then don’t argue the point – just admit to it and offer recompense. An example would be if a product is damaged in transit and arrives broken: don’t quibble, just send them out another one and even offer a discount if they have been very inconvenienced.

Do Your Customers Like You?

It’s no secret that we as consumers choose to buy from people (businesses and brands) we like and trust. So if I asked you what your customers think of you – do they like you? Do they love your products and services? Do they trust you? Do you know?

If you’re a fan of ‘Mary Queen of Shops’ or ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ and the like, you will know that when Mary Portas or Gordon Ramsay attempt to turn around the fortunes of an ailing retail store or restaurant, one of the first things they will do is to ask customers of that business what they think about it. What they like about it – and mainly what they don’t. Yes, it makes for compelling TV viewing, but there’s a sound resonance behind this approach also.

Namely that once you know what your customers like or don’t like about your business, you can create a strategy to address these things.

Many businesses fail because they create a product or service for which there is insufficient demand. Another reason for failure is due to poor marketing strategy. If there is a proven demand for your product or service, but your marketing messages are either not reaching the right people at the right time, or your messages are not being understood, then you will need to take steps to address this.

Customer complaints can be good for business

The most successful businesses thrive on customer feedback – not only do they encourage it – but they actively seek it.

“How was your shopping experience today? Tell us at ourwebsite.com and you could win a £25 voucher to spend on your next visit.”

And did you realise that your customers who complain could turn out to be your biggest allies? That’s right, if you acknowledge the validity of their complaints quickly and put them right, research shows that these customers are likely to become your brand ambassadors – possibly for life.

As a business owner it may be more palatable to bury your head in the sand and blindly carry on as you are. That’s perfectly natural. As human beings we all want to be liked and most of us like to think we are good at what we do, but unless you seek feedback from your customers regularly, you may never know the truth of why people buy from you and why they don’t.

You may wish to engage a marketing consultant to set you off on the right track with your customer feedback campaign. Or if you are on a tight budget there’s a really simple ‘two-minute customer satisfaction survey’ you can download from the ‘Marketing Donut’ website – just insert your business details and logo and you’re good to go. You can of course customise the feedback form as you wish.

And once you know what your customers really think about you, you will be able to drive your business forward with confidence.

Providing Great Customer Service

It is vital that you provide each and every client with outstanding customer service so that you can ensure they leave feeling satisfied with your work. This article will give you a few key areas to focus on which could see you needing to do less marketing in the long run.

No matter if you are working for yourself or someone else, one thing that you should always remember is that you must provide your client with good customer service. Failure to do so may mean that they choose to take their business elsewhere and may also result in bad reputation for you. By providing good customer service you also help to improve your own marketing as you will often get repeat custom and recommendations. Make sure that when you take on a job you are sure that you are 100% committed to it and carry out the project to the clients specifications.

1.Communicate

One area that you should always try to maintain is your communication with your clients. By remembering to do this your client will feel that their project is in capable hands and they will be able to keep track of your progress. It is important to remember that good customer service and communication go hand in hand.

You should also make sure that you let your client know the hours that you usually work so that they are able to contact you if needs be. It is important to make sure that the client knows exactly how you work and when they can expect the work. In some cases it may be necessary to explain exactly what you will and will not do and when you expect to be paid etc so that everything is completely clear to the client.

2.Be Amenable

If you want to really make a success of your home business then you have to make sure that you cater for a wide range of clients. This can mean being available to travel to meetings or simply answering phone calls and emails as required. Ultimately it really is about going that extra mile to make sure that you provide excellent customer service and commitment to your client.

3.Always Obtain Feedback

This may seem like an obvious one but you would be surprised just how many people with their own business neglect to obtain feedback. This is one of the most important parts of the service as you need to know if you went wrong anywhere and if the client is completely satisfied with the work. By taking the time to do this your client will realise that you are committed to your job and that you care about making sure that they are happy with the standard of work. If you do find that there are parts of your work they are unhappy with then you can rectify this situation. Often this may encourage repeat business and also means you are more likely to receive additional work through recommendations without costly business marketing

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