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With eCommerce sales predicted to hit $4.5 trillion in 2021, the retail landscape is constantly changing. This increase in online shopping has made eCommerce customer service a top priority for online businesses.
Research from PwC found that 73% of all people value customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, so subpar customer service can really hurt eCommerce brands.
We’ll discuss seven ways to improve your eCommerce customer experience by optimizing the service experience and the way customers can contact you.
I. Invest in Customer Relationships
Your relationship with your customers forms the foundation of your eCommerce business. By prioritizing your customer relations, you can improve retention and increase brand loyalty.
More than ever before, customer service is a key part of the customer experience. It’s estimated that it costs five times more to attract new customers than to retain existing customers, so your brand’s relationship with your customers has a real impact on your business’s bottom line. If you can resolve a customer’s problem and keep their business in the future, you’ll save time and money while preserving your brand’s reputation.
II. Be Available 24/7
One of the main advantages of online shopping is that customers are free to browse and make purchases at any time of day. But this also means that many customers expect support whenever they need it.
To improve their customer experience, many online businesses offer a 24/7 customer service line, whether it’s a phone number or a live chat option that connects customers with a customer service representative.
To make this service more effective and less time-consuming, brands can use chatbots to automate conversations.
III. Automate, Automate, Automate
While many customers want a quick, convenient eCommerce customer service experience, they also often prefer to ask questions and resolve problems in real-time during a conversation. But the expectation of 24/7 customer service means it’s not always possible for a brand to offer live customer service representatives whenever customers need help.
Enter chatbots, which are so customizable, brands can program them to instantly answer common questions and respond to customer inquiries outside typical business hours. This allows customers to complete purchases more quickly rather than abandoning their online shopping carts.
AI chatbots can further improve the experience, really helping your customers complete tasks. You can connect the database to your existing resources, like FAQs or knowledge base articles, to answer customer questions and resolve issues around the clock. Businesses can even train AI chatbots to learn a specific voice and tone that supports their brand image. With Conversational AI Cloud, you can create chatbots and voicebots to handle the first requests via chat, phone, or any other channel. All based on the same data and technologies.
By automating customer service requests with an AI chatbot, businesses can let chatbots resolve simple questions, allowing their customer service representatives to focus on more complex queries and build a lean eCommerce customer service team.
IV. Track Relevant Customer Service KPIs
For eCommerce businesses looking to seriously improve their customer service, it’s critical to track key performance indicators (KPIs), like your average handle time and customer retention rate.
By measuring your customer service experience with objective metrics, you can identify trends and pain points, allowing you to create a data-driven plan to improve your customer experience.
For example, tracking your customer satisfaction score (CSAT) can be as simple as asking customers to provide feedback after a support call or sending them a brief online survey asking them to rate their experience.
V. Go Multichannel
High-quality customer service is rarely possible with only a single customer support hotline. By developing a multichannel eCommerce customer service strategy, eCommerce businesses can be wherever their customers need them, whether it’s on Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, live chat on the webshop, or even in direct messages on Twitter.
In fact, a study found that companies with the strongest multichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, compared to an average of 63% in retail.
Chat with your customers where they're already spending time. More than just a way to keep in touch with friends and family, popular Instant Messaging channels such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are also great tools for customer service. Customers expect they can reach companies via these channels too, instantly.
Pro-tip: Use one customer service tool to manage conversations across channels.
VI. Get Personal
A personalized shopping experience has become the standard in eCommerce. Data from Accenture shows that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provided personalized offers and recommendations. The most successful eCommerce businesses collect customer data to build smart customer profiles to improve future customer service interactions.
For example, Mobile Service Cloud enables online businesses to integrate customer service conversations with their existing CRM or CDP to build comprehensive customer profiles. With this data, you can offer personalized product recommendations and special offers - in your conversation. This can build customer loyalty and even drive purchases while reducing returns.
VII. Offer Proactive Ecommerce Customer Support
An exceptional customer service experience is almost always a proactive one, where a brand anticipates potential issues and resolves them before they happen. For eCommerce brands, which are typically limited to virtual interactions with customers, proactive support can help build a more positive relationship between an online store and its customer base.
For example, send proactive messages to invite website visitors to start a live chat, or help them navigate while co-browsing.
Elevate Your Customer Service Experience With Mobile Service Cloud
Ready to improve your customer experience? Start by improving your customer service experience. Discover Mobile Service Cloud, an all-in-one customer service software that enables you to engage customers where they’re already spending their time.
Mobile Service Cloud leverages smart data segments and automation to ease the burden on your staff while increasing customer satisfaction. With an Agent Inbox to manage all customer conversations via any channel such as WhatsApp, telephony and many more, a chatbot to provide instant answers 24/7, and the ability to collaborate with internal and external teams, businesses can optimize their customer service with a single user-friendly solution.
Contact us to learn more about Mobile Service Cloud.
