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Customer_Service_Your_Advantage
| Customer Service: Your Advantage
So, you don't have a multi-million dollar advertising campaign?
You don't have a staff of hundreds, venture capital backing or
someone from Star Trek as your spokesperson? Then perhaps it's
time to look into one of the advantages that you do have over
these e-commerce giants..... customer service.
You might wonder how a small company can hope to give better
customer service than these heavily staffed, heavily funded
e-giants. Believe it or not, it may be your lack of size, that
just might give you the edge.
Think about your average customer service experience in an
off-line setting. Where do you usually have the kinds of
customer service experiences that are so positive, you come away
raving to your friends and co-workers? While I can't answer for
you, I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of my
experiences of this nature have come with small businesses,
often very small. Conversely, I can also say that as a rule, my
biggest CS (customer service) nightmares have come with the
biggest companies. Of course, there are always exceptions, but
this theory has proven to be surprisingly consistent for me. I
would bet that if you compile a quick mental list of your best
and worst experiences as a customer, you might find this to be
true for you as well.
The problem with large companies is usually a volume issue. Many
of these businesses have such a large volume of CS inquiries,
that they simply don't have the manpower to adequately provide
timely and efficient service. Often, it is difficult to even
find the proper channel for which to take your CS issue. Large
e-commerce companies aren't immune to these kinds of issues. In
fact, they are often even less prepared to handle the flow of
questions and comments that come in from their site on a daily
basis. Many of these companies experience massive volume of
traffic to their sites. A nice problem to have, but a problem
that can often leave the customer out in the cold.
A recent Gartner study surveyed 50 top-rated internet retail
sites on their customer service readiness and effectiveness. The
results were very telling. Not one of these 50 sites ranked as
excellent with regards to customer service readiness. 23% graded
out as average, and 73% were rated below average, and 4% rated
poor.
Cnet quoted another recent study by Resource Marketing which
showed similar results. "Wal-Mart online is a maze,
Williams-Sonoma makes customers fill out applications every time
they shop, and KBkids.com automatically sends new customers its
electronic newsletter, whether they ask for it or not." Caroline
Cofer, a spokesperson for Resource Marketing added that many of
these large merchants are "making some scary mistakes."
Now, with many of these large e-tailers streamlining operations
in order to stay afloat, it is difficult to imagine customer
service improving. In fact, customer service issues on-line have
become such an issue, that an entire sector has evolved to deal
with the problems. Companies such as Egain Communications and
Kana Communications offer automated, CRM (customer relation
management) solutions. Many of these automated services are ASP
(application service provider) models that feature multi-channel
response e-mail systems. In other words, software that attempts
to emulate a real human. On one hand, these companies should be
admired for their vision, and will probably be rewarded with
booming sales. On the other hand, the technology has a way to go
before it is a replacement for human interaction. Have you ever
sent a question to a site's customer service center, and
received the answer to the wrong question? More than likely,
this was the result of automated CRM software that was unable to
properly interpret your question and send the correct response.
This is where your advantage as a small company comes into play.
While you may not enjoy the volume of these sites, you can
create a higher percentage of repeat visitors/buyers with
superior CS. Generally, when you hear people talk about
improving CS, you hear things like: "make yourself available"
and "give good contact information." This is true, but it goes
beyond that. What people really want is speed. People want their
questions answered now. People want their CS issue resolved in a
hurry. Providing a phone number is a must, but chances are,
people don't want to go off-line and call you for the answers to
their questions unless it is a last resort. In the e-world,
people want an i-response: Immediate, internet response.
Of course, you can't be everywhere at once. Managing a small
business or website is already a full-time job. But making CS a
focal point of your website can pay immense dividends for your
traffic and or profit. Think of it this way, if you can respond
to a customer's question within 24 hours, you are beating about
50% of the large e-companies already. If you can respond within
12 hours, I would estimate that you would be beating somewhere
around 80%. If you can respond within 6 hours, you are providing
customer service that most e-commerce giants only dream about.
A quick list of ways to improve your customer service:
1. Speed: We all know as customers, that few things are more
valuable to us than time. Standing in line is no fun at the
supermarket, and waiting for a response from a CS center is no
fun either. 2. Contact information: Make it easy to find. Make
it an address that you or an employee checks on a regular basis.
Don't make the customer work to find you. 3. Live chat: Offer
your customers the opportunity to use instant messaging software
to contact you. MSN Messenger and ICQ are two widely used
formats that work on almost all platforms, and it's 100% free.
4. F.A.Q and search options: Make them thorough. Not all sites
need F.A.Q (frequently asked questions) pages, but if your site
does, then make it thorough and easy to understand. If your site
has an search box, be sure that it gives adequate results. Test
it out. It's surprising how many high-profile websites have
inadequate in-site search functions. 5. Customer is always
right: We all know that this is bull, but, the old adage still
stands the test of time. Whether or not the customer is "right,"
our job as CS managers is to put out fires. Quick, pleasant
responses to even the most irate customers will almost always
cool the situation. In fact, an efficient CS agent can turn even
the most irate customer into a loyal customer
Take the work out of it for your visitors. Encourage them to ask
questions and reward them with quick, friendly responses. Your
customers and visitors are the most important asset you have.
Make them feel that way.
About the author:
Bryan Marye, IMR http://www.imr-central.com Receive articles
like this every week free, by signing up for the IMR
Resourceletter: mailto:subscribe@imr-central.com?SubscribeA
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