In recent years, customer support and customer service have become crucial components of the ecommerce world. As the number of online businesses has increased, so has the competition for customers. Therefore, businesses that prioritize customer support and service have an edge over their competitors. In this article, we will explore the current trends in customer support and customer service in the ecommerce world.
One of the most significant trends in customer support and service in the ecommerce world is the availability of self-service options. With the rise of online shopping, customers expect businesses to provide them with easy and convenient ways to solve their problems. Self-service options like FAQs, knowledge bases, and chatbots allow customers to find answers to their questions without having to interact with a customer support representative. This not only saves customers time but also reduces the workload of customer support representatives.
Another trend in customer support and service is the adoption of an omnichannel support approach. Omnichannel support means that customers can reach out to businesses through multiple channels, including email, phone, social media, and chat. This approach provides customers with the flexibility to choose the channel they prefer to contact the business. Omnichannel support also allows businesses to provide a consistent customer experience across all channels.
Personalization is another trend in customer support and service that has gained traction in recent years. Personalization means tailoring the customer experience to meet the specific needs of each customer. This includes using data to provide personalized recommendations, addressing customers by name, and offering personalized promotions. By personalizing the customer experience, businesses can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Automation is also a trend in customer support and service in the ecommerce world. With the help of technology, businesses can automate repetitive tasks such as order tracking, refunds, and returns. This not only saves time but also reduces the workload of customer support representatives. Automation also allows businesses to provide 24/7 support, which is essential for customers who shop online at any time of the day.
Social media has become an essential channel for customer support and service in the ecommerce world. Customers often use social media to reach out to businesses with questions or complaints. Therefore, businesses need to have a social media presence to provide timely and effective support. Social media support also allows businesses to showcase their customer service skills to a broader audience.
Customer feedback is another trend in customer support and service in the ecommerce world . By actively soliciting and listening to customer feedback, businesses can identify areas where they need to improve their customer service. This includes addressing common complaints, improving product offerings, and making the customer experience more seamless. Customer feedback is a valuable tool for businesses to improve their customer service and retain their customers.
In conclusion, customer support and service are critical components of the ecommerce world, and businesses must prioritize them to stay competitive. The trends mentioned in this article, including self-service options, omnichannel support, personalization, automation, social media support, and customer feedback, are essential for providing an exceptional customer experience. By adopting these trends, businesses can build a loyal customer base and increase their revenue in the long run.
How to Reduce the number of Abandoned Carts on your Website
Your website can be designed to be impressive, easy to use, and comfortable to browse.
You can offer a variety of products, provide high-quality product images, add videos for each product, and even enable easy and fast purchasing.
However, a significant portion of customers visiting your online store will abandon their shopping carts at some point during their visit.
Don't take it personally, this is a well-known phenomenon in the e-commerce industry.
This means that three out of every four people who have already browsed your site, selected the desired products, added them to their shopping cart, abandon their cart and leave the site without completing the purchase.
As you may have already understood, this is a fairly common consumer behavior, especially when it comes to online purchases – but why?
Unlike a physical store, where many customers feel uncomfortable leaving their shopping cart and leaving the store empty-handed after spending time in the store, browsing the products and even receiving help from professional staff, in a virtual store, customers are not exposed, and no one really knows who the customer who abandoned their cart is – so customers do not feel uncomfortable leaving their carts.
Most virtual stores allow easy and mobile-friendly browsing, which allows many customers to make transactions and many purchases through their mobile phones at their convenience, whether it's during a break at work, while waiting in line, or during their daily commute. This also means that customers may not have the time to complete the purchase at the moment, but may return later to do so – or they may simply forget about the purchase altogether.
Often, people abandon their shopping cart because of technical difficulties during the purchasing process – they don't understand which required fields to fill out, they can't connect to the website to complete the purchase, they have trouble redeeming a discount code, and finally they get frustrated with the process and give up on the order.
Many customers use their shopping cart to check the final price they will pay for the products they have chosen – they want to make sure that the discounts and promotions displayed on the website are reflected in the final price. They may not necessarily make the purchase at that moment, but sometimes only after a few days or from another device, and therefore the shopping cart remains full.
The first thing you need to do to try and minimize the number of abandoned carts on your site is to ensure that the purchasing process on your site is simple, easy and short, so that every user can complete the purchase easily and quickly without encountering technical difficulties or having to fill out too many fields that lengthen the process, frustrate them or cause them to give up on it.
The order completion experience on the site should be positive, fast and simple, so that the customer has no reason to abandon their cart in the middle of the process.
A creative and great way to prevent customers from abandoning their cart and to encourage them to complete their order is to use an abandoned cart pop-up.
This pop-up will appear when the customer navigates away from the site with a full shopping cart, reminding them that they have items in their cart and encouraging them to complete the purchase.
You can also offer them a special promotion or discount to further encourage them to complete the purchase.
Sending a reminder email to a customer who has abandoned their shopping cart, containing the selected products with direct and quick access to their shopping cart on the website, along with a small incentive (such as a 5% discount), can work wonders and improve conversion rates in your online store.
An abandoned cart email is automatically sent to all customers who have abandoned their shopping carts, according to the time frame you define – you can choose to send the email 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours after abandonment, depending on your preference.
Our recommendation is not to wait too long to send the email, so as not to reach a point where the email is no longer relevant to the customer. The reminder email allows customers to remember that they added products to their shopping cart but did not actually place an order, and the incentive given to them in the email motivates them to complete their purchase as soon as possible.
ASOS has created a well-designed and inviting reminder email that is similar in design to their website, uses their brand language, and offers the customer direct access to the item left in their shopping cart. Create an email that is suitable for your brand, design it to speak in your brand language, and start sending it to customers who have abandoned their carts – the profit will be all yours.
7 Tips for Increasing Sales in your Virtual StoreSo, you've set up a great virtual store, invested in a stunning design, beautiful photos, and of course, advertising in various media, but you still aren't generating enough sales as you hoped?
That's exactly why we've compiled 7 tips for you that will increase sales in your virtual store.
Just as you certainly don't like to wander around a giant, cluttered store with no category distribution where it's hard to find the products you're interested in, the same happens in the virtual arena.
If your site is difficult to use and not user-friendly, people won't use it and won't bother trying to understand how it works. People like order, clarity, and convenience, so when creating a virtual store, you must ensure that the user experience on the site will be positive, easy, simple, and intuitive.
Allow the users to easily navigate between site categories, help them find the product they are looking for easily, and assist them in understanding how the purchase process is done.
There are many statistics showing huge amounts of abandoned carts by potential customers on the site when in fact, this situation could have been avoided.
So how do you get a potential customer to complete a purchase on the site and not abandon their shopping cart?
Just as you've made it easy and simple for the user to search for products on the site, navigate between different categories, and find what they were looking for, you must ensure that the purchase process is quick, simple, and intuitive as well.
You know the phrase "we eat with our eyes first"?
This is also true when it comes to non-food products. Appearance is crucial in how we perceive things and how we feel towards them. Invest in quality photography of your products on your virtual store, and avoid amateurish photography and displaying dark, small, and unprofessional product images.
Also, display a wide variety of pictures and photograph the product from different angles. Some may think it's an unnecessary action, but it's important to understand that since it's an online purchase, the user can't really see and feel the product, so we need to ensure that they have the experience closest to purchasing in a physical store and can get as much information as possible about the product and be ready to buy it.
Motivate your potential customers to take action and make them purchase your products now by using various triggers that create a sense of urgency.
For example, you can use special discounts limited to a few days or hours, advertise products in a limited edition, limited stock, offer free or discounted shipping for those who buy now, offer cashback for the next purchase for every customer who buys today, and more.
A pop-up is a "window" that pops up on the site, usually on a small part of the screen, and catches the user's attention.
It is an effective advertising tool because it requires the user to take action: to close it or to click on it. Use pop-ups to promote your special offers, advertise new products, invite users to subscribe to your newsletter, or offer a discount code for their next purchase.
Do you know that feeling when you searched for a flight to London, entered some website offering various deals, but did not make a purchase, and a few minutes after leaving the site and continuing to browse other sites entirely, you encountered an advertisement for that website?
Well, it's not a coincidence, but rather the use of an effective advertising technique called "remarketing."
Remarketing is an advertising tool that allows you to reach visitors who have already been to your site and display your ads to them while they are visiting other sites on the web. It is an effective advertising tool offered by Google AdWords and Facebook that "follows" the visitor.
This way, you can reach potential customers who have left your site without making a purchase and show them an ad that will create brand awareness and encourage them to return to your site and make a purchase.
Contact and engagement with potential customers through various social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter, is seen by many business owners as a tool with little impact on actual sales.
However, it is actually one of the best ways to increase brand awareness, customer satisfaction, and sales.
When you respond to questions that people post on your Facebook page, provide them with vital information about the products they are interested in, and address each user personally, you create a living perception of your brand and increase the chance of gaining new customers.
5 Common Mistakes in Building an Online Store
There is no doubt that the number of e-commerce sites has been increasing in recent years, and the trend is that this market will continue to grow and develop over the years. Large businesses and many networks have already realized the potential inherent in this world. Alongside physical stores in malls and shopping centers, many businesses have decided to establish an online store, which provides a comprehensive alternative for all those who are not interested in going on a tedious and sometimes lengthy shopping trip.
Even small and medium-sized business owners are already showing interest in the new market segment and are moving towards "technological advancement" in the form of an online store. But it is important to remember that building an e-commerce site is not a simple task, nor is it something that can be marked as "done" just so your customers can make online purchases. Just like a physical store, an online store requires proper planning, time, advertising, maintenance, and experienced professionals in the field.
So what should you be careful of? We have surveyed for you the 5 most common mistakes to avoid:
A logo is one of the first things a user sees when entering a website, and it often sets the impression that the user has of the website. That is why it is surprising to find that this is a common mistake in building an online store.
Many business owners are content with just displaying their store name in plain text, without investing in an impressive and well-designed logo. This is usually due to the fear that it involves high costs and a long wait, but this is not the case.
Today, there are many websites that offer logo design for free or at very low costs, so there is really no reason to settle for a simple text that does not create any differentiation between you and your competitors. Create a unique and well-crafted logo that will make users remember you.
Many business owners underestimate the impact of these pages on their potential sales.
A quick referral to the analytics of your website will show that your "About" page is in one of the top three places in terms of the number of visitors. Although it is one of the most important pages for your users, there is a tendency to give little attention to this page and not write enough about it.
Many online sites do not provide sufficient information about their brand – Who are you? What is the story that led you to work in the field you have chosen? What are you selling? How long have you been in the field? What sets you apart from your competitors? There is no need for a thick and full page with details that are not really interesting, but it is important to write a few paragraphs that will allow visitors to get information about you and know that they are dealing with a serious and stable business.
As for the "Contact Us" page – business owners do not always provide the business address and phone number, as well as other ways to contact them, such as email or a contact form. It is important to make it easy for potential customers to contact you and get answers to their questions.
New online stores often fail to attribute significant importance to a wonderful and efficient advertising tool for their website – organic promotion. Many businesses ignore this advertising method or do not know how to use it properly.
SEO is essential for your website – how will customers find you and purchase from your site if you don't appear in the top search results of search engines?
In addition, it is one of your most powerful tools, as it continues to bring targeted traffic to your site every day, unlike paid advertising on Google Ads or Facebook, where traffic stops as soon as you stop paying for the ad.
Despite being an online store where purchases are not made face to face, but rather online, customer service is essential and important for your business, and perhaps even more so, given the fact that the user completes the entire purchasing process himself, and therefore may need a customer service representative who can assist him if necessary.
Online store owners make a mistake when they assume that there is no need for customer service to assist their customers, because it is a "self-service" service. The opposite is true. Help users and make the process easier for them – provide them with customer service representatives who can be contacted by phone or chat, answer their questions, and assist them with a variety of topics such as shipping, refunds, or product replacements.
Consumers appreciate having choices, and this is especially true when it comes to shipping.
Allow your customers to choose their desired shipping method. Offer them a number of options, detailing the delivery times and costs involved. Many customers are hesitant to make online purchases because they are not willing to pay too much for shipping or wait too long for delivery.
Variety in shipping options will also benefit you, the business owner, as different providers offer different benefits. This way, you can work with multiple suppliers, enjoy various offers, and seek help from different companies when faced with high demand, severe weather conditions, or problems with an existing shipping company.
5 Tips for Creating Successful Customer ServiceAs business owners, it is essential to always remember that the impression our customers develop of our store and their shopping experience depend directly on the quality of customer service we provide.
A customer may come in contact with our customer service team even before making a purchase when they are interested in a particular product and wish to receive information about it.
They may also contact the customer service team shortly after a purchase to ask questions about how to operate the product, if they encounter problems with the product, or if they are dissatisfied with it and wish to exchange it.
Regardless of the stage at which our customers contact our customer service team, it is important that they are satisfied with the service they receive, from the promptness and efficiency of the representatives to their courtesy and professionalism.
Remember, successful customer service encourages new customers to buy products from your store and encourages existing customers to return to purchase more.
This is even truer when it comes to online stores.
While in physical stores, there is the possibility of going directly to the business and receiving information about various products, dealing with problems and defects found in the product, or exchanging the purchased product, in an online store, the customer service center is the "face" of your business.
It is the only place where customers can turn, and therefore it is important that your customer service representatives be professional, courteous, patient, and operate through a variety of channels (chat, phone, and email) for the convenience of the customer.
You can use customer service and support tools to streamline and automate various processes, but it's important to remember that customer service requires a human touch.
It is essential to provide personalized attention to each customer, understand their needs, and provide them with a solution that meets their expectations. Excellent customer service can also help build customer loyalty, enhance your brand reputation, and drive sales growth.
If you are still interested in operating your own customer service center, we have gathered 5 important tips that you should emphasize when establishing a customer service center:
Avoid using "slang" and expressions that your customers may not understand.
Speak to them in a simple and clear language, answer their questions in a professional manner, and help them understand every action you take during the service delivery, in a personal approach.
Avoid using "generic" recordings when transferring a customer to another service provider – instead, address the customer by name, and explain to him that in order to provide him with better service, you are transferring him to another representative.
Avoid presenting a situation in a negative way. Instead, use language that presents the situation in a positive light.
For example, if there is a certain product that a customer wants to purchase, but it is out of stock and will only be available for purchase in a month, avoid using the following phrasing:
"Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with the desired product until next month because it is currently out of stock."
Instead, use more positive phrasing:
"This product will be available in stock next month. We can place an order for you now and ensure that once the product arrives in our warehouse, it will be shipped to you immediately."
By redirecting the conversation to a positive place and focusing on the offered solution instead of presenting a negative situation, we reduce the percentage of customers who may become angry or disappointed.
Customers are always happy to receive fast service, without wasting a whole day trying to speak with customer service representatives.
However, not at the expense of the quality of the response, advice given, or problem-solving. The speed and efficiency of service representatives are important and necessary to shorten waiting times and streamline the work process, but it is crucial to remember that the emphasis should be mainly on providing a response to customers.
Therefore, avoid talking too fast, which will make the customer feel like you are trying to "get rid of them" as quickly as possible, and focus on creating initial contact with the customer, understanding their needs, and the reason why they called.
Only after you have received all the information and know how to proceed with the issue, check how you can help them as quickly as possible.
Nothing is more appreciated by customers than professional, patient, and courteous service.
If you provide customer service through email, make sure to send them a follow-up email that includes their first name, their reference details, and the name of the customer service representative at the end of the email.
This way, the customer will feel that they are receiving personal service from a real person, and that they are not just another number recorded in an automated system. Avoid using generic templates, such as:
Hello, we appreciate you reaching out to us. Your request has been recorded and will be processed soon. Please note, a card with the number – #12345 has been opened for you. For any further inquiries on this matter, please mention the card number. Thank you, ABC team
Good customer service is made up of high-quality, professional people who can be relied upon.
Make sure to hire representatives with a high level of service awareness, patience, professionalism, and responsibility – after all, they represent your business, and are largely responsible for the impression created with your customers.
Interested in having us operate a customer service by phone, chat, or email for you? Talk to us!