When we think of ‘Customer service’ the first image pops in our mind is someone talking on a headset while looking at their computer screen and helping the customer with a smile on the face. One thing for sure, this isn’t always the real life situation.
If you are selling a service online, its relatively easier to deal with customers (perhaps the way we imagined earlier!) as you can rectify many things from behind the desk. But if you are selling tangible goods which need shipping, then there will be no magic solution. Usually you will hear from customers complaining about deliveries (missed delivery, delayed delivery, goods not received, goods being damaged in transit etc) , quality, performance, usefulness and many other things. Most of this will need to be verified with third parties such as the courier company, manufacturer and so on. This also means you will have to do a bit of paperwork, keep notes, make phone calls and even travel to places. This also involves you getting back to the customer with the solution when one comes . So, be prepared for all of these and possibly more!
Once the customer gets in touch with a complain they kind of turn on a clock which ticks in the back of their mind and every minute afterward counts. They want to get a solution as quickly as possible and usually will not understand no matter how hard you are trying to resolve the issue. To them, the solution matters, not how its arranged for! Like a matchbox, you don’t want to know how it works, you want the it to light up and off you go!
This sounds unfair, right? Well, aren’t we promising the customers a great shopping experience when they buy from our online stores? So, if things go wrong we have to make it right; as simple as it is!
Now, there will be cases when it will be down to the customers fault that the delivery failed (incorrect address, incomplete address etc) and we will have to deal with them. We will talk about all those at another time.
In real life you will get calls when you don’t even have a free hand to pick the phone up or when you are already on another call or even worse when you are headed to a serious family event. Since you are running a business online you will probably have more ways to get in touch with you than only phone calls. There will be live chats, email communications etc too. Staying on top of all those things are not an easy task. It takes time and effort to deal with these but if done properly its all quite well rewarding.
People expect things to be perfect every time and your goal is to deliver that. As a business thats a lot to commit for. This is one of the advantages of online trading (over conventional selling) that is also a disadvantage. People buy things online because they do not have to make the effort of going out and about to get the item. So, when it comes to any after sales issues they want to have the same benefit of not to worry about doing much.
Rules of thumb; it’s the party which is at fault, has the obligation of sorting it. If it was down to your error that the customer is having an issue, you have to solve it. If if was the customer (ordered wrong sized clothing etc.) who made the mistake, they have to arrange for the return of the item.
Now, if you are planning to start a new business you should set out your policies of services first. These are usually called ‘Terms & Conditions’ and you make the customers ‘Agree’ on them when they buy something from you. This is your business rule book which you are going to follow and this will give your buyers confidence and assurance when they consider buying something from you. So, feel free to include every detail you can think of.
You can’t expect everyone to appreciate all your efforts to make their shopping experience a nice one. What you can expect is they will spread the word for you once they had a good experience. As a store owner you couldn’t have asked for more!
Author:
Hasan Khan, currently manager of a hardware store in north London where we sell a wide variety of products ranging from small nails to big power tools. I transformed the business by selling products online. I love to read, follow Manchester United & trends in technology. My favorite time of the day is when i put my daughter to sleep!
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