Customers have a lot of choices these days, and if you don’t deliver value, they’ll go to your competition. This is why customer support is important for your eCommerce business. With the eCommerce industry expanding at a rapid pace, maintaining client confidence and loyalty is always a major concern. And if customer service isn’t a priority in your e-commerce strategy, there will always be a gap between what people anticipate and what you give. According to HubSpot Research, 93% of customers are more likely to buy from a company that provides exceptional customer support even after the purchase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To meet customers’ expectations and keep them loyal, e-commerce businesses must step up their customer service game. To do so, they’ll need to first develop a solid e-commerce customer support<\/a> strategy. However, before delving into that, let’s talk about customer support in eCommerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n E-commerce customer support lays the groundwork for assisting customers on e-commerce platforms and throughout their lives. It’s all about assisting customers with anything from online purchase decisions to problem-solving, all while maintaining a consistent customer experience across channels and platforms. Customer service for online businesses must take into account the distinct problems of serving digital customers with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer experience remains supreme amidst these issues. Your customer service team is tasked with becoming the brand’s voice \u2013 the only human touchpoint in this digital world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The importance of customer service to an eCommerce business’s success cannot be emphasized. As a result, 95% of consumers believe that providing excellent customer service is critical if you want to earn their brand loyalty and retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, following a single negative experience, 32% of consumers will abandon a brand they enjoy (not just any brand, but one they currently enjoy using their product or service). That means that even if they like your products, 32% of them will never buy them again if they had a terrible experience with your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the plus side, 86% of customers are willing to spend more for a superior customer experience. This means that if you get it right, you’ll get more visitors, more sales, and more revenue since customers would rather buy from you than from someone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every industry has a preferred mode of communication. Live chat is the most popular method of customer support in the eCommerce industry. Social media, email, and phonecall may come in second place depending on the age range of your target audience. For instance, older customers usually demand phone service, whereas younger customers expect assistance through your brand’s social media channels. The golden rule of eCommerce customer support<\/a> is to meet them where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 75% of customers prefer live chat to phone service, and this number is steadily increasing as more Gen Z buyers enter the market. When chatting with a chatbot, however, only 40% of customers expect the issue to be fixed quickly. This provides you with a fantastic opportunity to surprise and delight your consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many online shoppers (especially the younger generation) expect to receive some type of assistance via social media, which is currently regarded as one of the most popular customer service platforms. There are several drawbacks to incorporating social media into your customer support approach, including tracking issues and the inability to respond with confidential data. When your staff handles social media support successfully, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate to followers and potential clients the excellent customer experience you deliver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In comparison to a live chat, email is the primary medium for managing customer service at many major and successful eCommerce organizations. This is because email does not pretend to be instantaneous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, just because your customer service team uses email doesn’t imply they don’t require innovative technologies. Automations, integrations, and templates can all be used to improve email response times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Older folks, as previously stated, prefer this style of communication. To keep up with customers’ demands, big eCommerce websites usually provide phone support. Moreover, phones offer a quicker means of resolving issues. As a result, eCommerce businesses that provide phone assistance have an average resolution time that is 34% faster compared to the ones that doesn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s take a closer look at each of the key strategies for improving your eCommerce customer support:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can improve your customer support process by using reliable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Customer queries may be disseminated over several channels if you don’t have a good CRM system in place. This may cause additional issues, as customers may not receive timely responses to their questions. Furthermore, a disorderly approach may cause them to repeat their problem, resulting in a bad customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CRM software keeps your business organized and helps you retain customer relationships. It will simplify your team’s job and bring your business closer to your devoted customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When potential customers are browsing through your e-commerce website, they may feel unsure about receiving answers to their queries. Using a live chat window to provide immediate assistance will help you get the task done. According to Econsultancy, 79% of customers prefer live chat to other channels because of the immediacy it provides. Hence, you can save costs by minimizing the time it takes to respond to customers with a live chat and thereby enhance sales and conversion rates. Some of the reasons why live chat is considered a great eCommerce practice include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analytics can tell you a lot about how customers feel about your customer service and what they think when they connect with your online store. Customer-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as customer happiness, average response time, churn, total discussions per day, and average resolution time are all important metrics to track when it comes to customer support. Therefore, when your customer service level is high, your sales conversion rate rises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most important aspects of business development is customer feedback. Feedback provides a clear picture of how well your company is doing. Did you know that only 1 out of every 26 customers make a complaint, while the rest remain silent? Asking for feedback is the best method to determine if your company is doing a good job. The absence of negative feedback is an indication of customer satisfaction for many businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer service is essential to a company’s success in the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat is Customer Support in E-commerce?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How Can Customer Support Impact E-commerce Businesses?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Top E-commerce Customer Support Channels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Live Chat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Social Media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Email<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Phone Call<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Best E-commerce Customer Support Practices You Should Implement <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Use a Reliable CRM<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Offer Real-Time Support with Live Chat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Analyze and Optimize Relevant Metrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ask for Feedback<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Outsource Customer Support Service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n