Why Customer Service is Crucial for Running Online Business
The role of the customer service in building trustworthy online business is often underestimated. The merchants looking for online payment solutions often do not consider dealing with customers’ queries a necessity or treat it as a marginal issue. However, hiring and training your customer support service would help you on many different levels of communication with customers. It would also establish your company’s credibility and make your company worth recommending to others. What’s more, it will boost your sales.
Imagine that you are a customer who wishes to buy something on your website. Most shops can be reached via contact info provided in the section “Contact Us”. If you have any doubts about the product, you will surely want to write an e-mail or call the shop to clear up. If there are more well-trained staff hired, the customer’s issue will be handled on spot. More support staff at the computer or on the phone will shorten the response queue times and ensure the customers that their valuable time is cherished by your company. The customers will be especially impressed when they discover that the support representatives additionally speak their native language. Remember that a well-assisted customer will be prone to come back for another purchase and recommend your services to others.
It may also happen that a customer who receives a bank account statement will not recognize certain transactions and might want to initiate a chargeback. When the transaction is marked with a proper descriptor – the company/service name and the telephone number, the customer will most likely call the number to talk to a real person who stands behind the scenes. Similarly, the customer who does not like the product, has found it faulty or wishes to exchange it may also want to chargeback the transaction. Here the role of a well-trained support representative who will resolve all the doubts and calm down the customer is the one of great significance. In this way the chargeback can easily be avoided, providing that a professional will handle the customer’s claim efficiently. Being able to contact a real person under such circumstances helps to establish the company credibility and boosts customers’ trust.
Quite often the support staff receives valuable feedback information about what could be improved within the service. If the customer trusts the representative and they have developed some kind of friendship, he or she will be willing to share their views, ideas and co-operate in many other fields that can be beneficial for the company. Such relations may result in other strong business connections. When the customers feel they have your company’s time and attention, they will be willing to share their knowledge and ideas with you. In turn, more customer friendly service will attract other customers. Maintaining good relationships with customers who in turn have the influence on the shape of your service is always a win-win.
If a small business cannot afford to hire a number of staff to cope with customers’ queries, it is a good practice to employ even one or two people responsible entirely for this field of the company activity. When there are people dedicated only to customer service, it will be more efficient and the customers will simply be assisted faster. When you put the information about the working hours of your shop, the customers will be fully aware of the time they are able to reach the support that will additionally facilitate the contact.
