The Importance Of Good Customer Support
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"To whom it may concern.
I would like to cancel my remaining orders. I don't know what is going on with my order. To my understanding there are delays in shipping, but to get details from you guys is a pain. I asked for some product details and shipping schedules. I got nothing, not even a confirmation
email. I sent the same email out several times, but still no answer. I'm sorry but I can't do business with you any more. I am going to spread the word to my group that was going to order from you." |
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This email from a disgusted customer is an
online retailer's nightmare come true! Are we
going overboard by labeling this scenario as a "nightmare"?
You be the judge!
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In the short term, a customer may spend 50 or
100$ purchasing merchandise from your site. A
loss of revenue of a 100$ might does not sound
too bad, does it? However if you look at the
life time value of a customer, the loss of
revenue is huge!
So what is the life time value of a customer? David
buys 500$ worth of gifts from his favorite gifts
store every year. He is contributing 500$ to the
annual revenue of the store. If David continues
to be happy with the products and the service,
over a 20 year period, David would have
generated over 10,000$ revenue ( not factoring
in inflation) for this store! A loss of 10,000$ looks pretty
significant, doesn't it?
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Research reveals that a satisfied customer
shares his positive experience with an average
of 3 people, but a dissatisfied customer shares
his negative experience with an average of
8 other people. What's more scary is that for an
online customer it's very easy to share his
negative experience with a large number of people.
All he needs to do is to simply send an email. If David is
unhappy with the store and sends out an email to even 10 of his
friends who could have been potential store
customers,
the estimated life time loss of revenue for the
store rises to a whopping 100,000$!
What happens if
David posts his unhappy experience on a popular
online forum or on a website such as epinions.com
is best left to your imagination! |
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How
Do you Keep Online Customers Happy?
Here are some best practices for email support
that could prove useful in helping you maintain
customer satisfaction. |
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Respond to emails quickly.
A quick response shows that the customer's
query is important for your business and
helps generate customer confidence. Most
customers expect a response within one
business day. If it is going to take you
over 24 hours to respond, send an email acknowledging receipt of the customer query
and provide an estimate of how long it will
take you to respond. Stick to your committed
time of response. |
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Personalize
your emails.
Nothing is more important to a customer than
his or her name. Address your customers by
name in your email responses. "Hi
Harry" or "Dear Harry" sounds
much better than "Dear Valued
Customer". It also shows that you have
taken to trouble to find out some
information about them. |
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Solve the
customer's problem.
A customer who purchased a T-shirt from an
online store sent in this email.
"Hi, I purchased an extra large blue
Nike T-shirt from your site. I was wondering
whether I could exchange it for a smaller
size. Are smaller sizes available? Product
code is 44312. Thanks, John Edwards"
A merely adequate email response would have
been. "Hi John, Thanks for your email.
We currently don't have smaller sizes in
stock for the kind of Nike T-shirt you
purchased."
An excellent email response would have been
"Hi John, Thanks for your email. We
currently don't have smaller sizes in stock
for the kind of Nike T-shirt you
purchased. However, we do have white, yellow
and green Nike T-shirts in stock in smaller
sizes. Please let us know if you would like
a T-shirt in any of these colors and the
size you require. If you prefer a blue
T-shirt, we are expecting fresh stock to
arrive in two weeks." |
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Anticipate
what else the customer needs to know.
When a customer calls on the phone, he/she
has the option of asking further questions
based on your initial response. When it
comes to email, practice anticipating what
else the customer might need to know and
provide that additional information in your email
response. The customer will
appreciate not having to send a second email
and the customer support team will
have less emails to respond to. |
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Handle
customer queries politely and concisely. Sometimes uncomfortable questions may be
raised. Never try to fudge the issues by
sending an irrelevant reply. It only
irritates the customers and creates a
negative impression. |
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Be Honest.
If you are facing problems responding to a
customer request, share your problem
honestly with the customer along with when
they can expect a solution. They will
appreciate your honesty and increase their
level of trust. |
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