Article written by Simone le Roux (Product Marketing Manager at Peach Payments)
In the recent World Wide Worx Online Retail Report, customer support was rated the number one driver of growth for an e-commerce business.
In the increasingly competitive landscape of e-commerce, you can’t afford to give your customers a subpar experience if you want to stand out from the crowd. Here are our top tips for making customers want to come back for more:
Be authentic and honest in your response
The default response to a customer complaint might be to say “I know how you feel” but this can often have the opposite effect, since you haven’t actually been in the customer’s shoes, and can’t identify with their experience. Rather, the first thing to do is acknowledge where you’ve gone wrong as a business, then say that you could have done better and ask for an opportunity to turn it around.
In this way, the customer doesn’t feel like you’re using cliche customer service phrases to placate them – rather, you’re taking accountability and working towards a solution.
Manage expectations
It’s important to be as upfront as possible with your customers about what to expect so that they can plan accordingly. For example, if your business runs off a made-to-order model, your customers should know how long their item will take to arrive.
Rather under promise and over deliver than the other way around – a customer is unlikely to be upset about an early delivery, but will definitely be annoyed about a late one.
Be knowledgeable about your systems
Familiarising yourself with the end-to-end customer journey on your website will go a long way to understanding your customers’ pain if they struggle to navigate your website, a payment fails, or something goes wrong with the courier. If you understand each aspect of their journey, you’re more able to reach out and personally help them.
Peach Payments is a proud National Partner of the NSBC