Customers have many options these days, and they will not hesitate to switch to a competitor if they do not receive value. The e-commerce space expanding at incredible speed. The biggest challenge is always retaining customer trust and loyalty.

Only one-tenth of customers agree with 80 percent of businesses that provide excellent customer service. To exceed customers’ expectations and keep them coming back, e-commerce businesses must up their customer service game.

They are also expected to continuously provide the best possible experience or risk. That will lead to the loss of customers to competitors. To achieve this, you must first build a solid e-commerce customer service strategy.

Why Is Customer Service Crucial?

According to the Microsoft State of Global Service Report, 61% of consumers now consider customer service to be “extremely important.”

A positive customer experience builds trust and encourages repeat purchases. A bad customer experience, on the other hand, can lead to a loss of sales, a ruined reputation, and negative online reviews.

Globally, 60% of customers said they stopped doing business with a brand because of a bad customer experience. This figure rises to 68 percent among those aged 18 to 34.

It is estimated that attracting new customers costs five times more than retaining existing ones. So keeping existing customers happy is critical if you want to be successful in the long run.

What is the definition of E-commerce Customer Service?

E-commerce customer service is a structure. This assists customers through online platforms and throughout their life cycle journey.

It’s all about assisting customers with everything. From making online buying decisions to providing solutions to problems.

Online customer service is important, but it is also a need for success in the world of e-commerce.

By providing excellent customer service, your e-commerce business will always be able to meet and exceed customers’ expectations.

Customer Expectations are Increasing

Customer service expectations are continuing to rise. We live in an age of convenience, where we want everything, and we want it now!

According to a recent HubSpot survey, 90 percent of customers consider an immediate response.

Customer service and experience have emerged as critical differentiators for brands and eCommerce businesses.

Let’s look at some strategies for improving eCommerce customer service. For both new and established businesses.

1. Make a plan

Organizing is one of the most important aspects of a successful customer service department.

Even if you have an efficient process and a highly motivated team, things will likely fall apart if you lack organization. Keeping track of customer conversations and providing your team with collaborative tools keeps everyone on the same page (so nothing slips through the cracks).

Using a shared inbox, saved responses for frequently asked questions, and collision detection, your customer service team will be able to respond to customer requests in an organized and efficient manner.

2. Create a Multichannel Strategy

According to an Aberdeen Group study, companies with a well-defined omnichannel customer experience have a 91 percent customer retention rate.

By creating a multichannel strategy you can know where your customers are. Whether Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Live Chat, and being present.

When you establish your contact channels, inform your customers that you can assist them through these channels. It would help if you strived to consistently provide a high level of customer service across your channel channels.

Your goal as an ecommerce business is to provide excellent customer service and make your customers happy.

3. Keep an eye on your customer satisfaction score

You must measure something if you want to improve it. Measuring customer satisfaction will help you determine whether the interaction with the customer was successful.

There are numerous methods, each with advantages and disadvantages. But the Customer Satisfaction Score, or CSAT, is the most popular due to its simplicity.

Customer satisfaction surveys frequently employ the CSAT to assess consumers’ satisfaction with a product or service. They frequently ask, “How satisfied were you with your experience today?” and provide a scale of 1-10 or 1-5

Obtaining customer feedback can provide you with invaluable insight into what is and is not working. Customers today have more power than ever to make informed decisions. They want to be heard and know what other customers think about certain products and services.

But apart from being one of the most important factors in purchasing decisions, reviews are also a great source of ideas for improving the customer experience.

When brands smartly invite and accept customer feedback, 77 percent of consumers view them favourably. Furthermore, 52 percent of people worldwide believe that businesses must act on customer feedback.

4. Enable self-service

Self-service is one of the most underappreciated aspects of good ecommerce customer service. More than 60% of US consumers prefer automated self-service for simple customer service tasks, such as through a website or mobile app. Furthermore, 77% of customers have used a self-service support portal.

Customers prefer knowledge bases over all other self-service channels, according to Forrester. You can use a knowledge base to create and publish answers for customers, reducing your customer support volume by 20%.

Customers subconsciously attempt the middle path. So they will most likely abandon it if something is overly complicated.

5. Should use Live Chat

According to studies, having Live Chat on your site can result in 3-5 times more conversions.

Customers can get an answer right away with instant messaging software rather than waiting 24 hours or more for someone to respond to an email. Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty are aided by faster response times.

Customer service representatives can have multiple chats open simultaneously. Making it more convenient and less expensive than phone support.

6. Develop a Customer Retention Strategy

Customer retention is one of the most difficult aspects of running an e-commerce business. Brands with a customer-journey management strategy increase their return on marketing investment by 53%.

Customer retention results from excellent customer service and an enjoyable shopping experience. You can easily improve customer retention if you create a good experience that is consistent and predictable.

To expand your business, you must focus on the entire customer lifecycle. Including nurturing, engaging, and retaining customers.

7. Make critical information available online

One of the most frustrating aspects of making an online purchase is being unable to find the information you seek.

To avoid this scenario, make sure your eCommerce website has a FAQ section. And a knowledge base with all of the necessary information for the consumer. Information on exchange and returns, for example, should be easily accessible.

A knowledge base will help reduce customer support requests, but it will also help with SEO, so it’s a win-win situation.

If you have recently started a Shopify website and have no user validation yet, Reputon Customer Reviews a great way to get instant boost to your social proof. Send automated follow-up email Google, Trustpilot, Yelp review requests just in time when your clients receive orders

Summary

The quality of your customer service heavily influences the success of your eCommerce business.

As a result, having a strategy to ensure customers have a positive buying experience with your brand is critical.

Try implementing some or, better yet, all of the practices listed above, and you’ll see positive results in no time.