Online Customer Service – What Does It Look Like?

What does customer service mean when it comes to an online business?  The answer varies depending on whether you have an offline presence as well or whether it is purely an online entity.

If your business has an offline and online presence then things like consistency between them is crucial.  From maintaining the look and feel of the site in line with the retail outlet to things like being able to access membership information online if customers use a loyalty  card in-store to register purchases.

Regardless of whether your business operates exclusively online or not, some customer service best practices include the following:

• If you ask members to join your loyalty program then you should have order history available for them to view as well as their loyalty points and status.
• Contact us page that provides confirmation for each message submitted – confirmation on screen and an email confirming receipt and contact details for the customer to follow up if they need to.
• Contact us page with a physical address and phone number and name of who is responsible for handling queries sent through the contact form
• Shipping information readily available – what are the price and timing of different delivery options?
• Clear delivery estimates – when can customers expect to receive their order, how long do you take to pack an order?
• Accurate sizing information
• FAQ page that is regularly updated with common customer questions
• Company information on an about us page – visitors want to know who they are dealing with
• Detailed product information – be as descriptive as possible about each product or service, if you want to keep the description minimal then provide more comprehensive information as a pop up
• Allow opportunity for customer feedback on each product – this could be a star rating and comment system or social media links or both – this is going to be more and more important from a SEO point of view but it’s also something potential customers look for.
• Accurate listings – if a customer places an order then they expect the product to be available for immediate delivery.  If it isn’t available then it either shouldn’t be listed or listed with a caveat about delayed delivery times.

If you want your business to stand out amongst the competition and get a steady stream of return business then paying attention to your online customer service is crucial.  What can you implement from the practices listed above?