In today’s world, it is incredibly convenient to make purchases with smartphones by simply tapping on the screen. However, retailers cannot rely solely on a well-designed app. If customers are unable to reach customer support easily, they will simply switch to a competing option that is just as easily accessible. This guide will provide an overview of the advantages of ecommerce customer support, offer tips for effectively serving customers online, and recommend the top ecommerce customer service tools for retail businesses.
What is ecommerce customer service?
Ecommerce customer service involves supporting individuals who make purchases from online businesses. Modern online shoppers expect to have access to agents through various communication channels such as call centers, live chat, and others. By enhancing their ecommerce customer support, retailers gain advantages over their competitors, including increased customer loyalty, improved conversion rates, and a distinct edge in the market.
Best practices for providing effective ecommerce customer service
One advantage that online retailers have is access to rich data. In order to get the best data and use it effectively, try these best practices:
1. Offer multi-channel support
Customers have a preference for utilizing various channels based on their specific tasks. For instance, they may prefer engaging with a chatbot when seeking support, while relying on social media platforms to receive updates about sales. It is crucial to evaluate and analyze customer usage patterns across different channels in order to improve and optimize your communication strategy.
2. Personalize support and marketing
As an online business, you have the ability to monitor and evaluate customer behavior. Whenever a customer seeks support, an agent will be equipped with details such as purchase history, returns, and buying habits. Utilizing this information, the agent can customize their interaction with the customer and provide them with a personalized experience, demonstrating that they are a valued client.
3. Offer self-service support
Online retailers benefit from providing a help center that includes frequently asked questions (FAQs), return policies, and other information, as many customers prefer to help themselves. Moreover, by offering self-service support options, your customers are empowered to assist themselves, allowing your team additional time to address more complicated support matters.
4. Use the right organizational tools
The capabilities of spreadsheets and emails are limited. An effective customer support system consists of technology tools tailored for various administrative tasks. The absence of such a support platform could lead to prolonged delays in simple tasks like invoice retrieval.
5. Offer an avenue for providing feedback
By allowing customers to provide feedback, you can identify the areas that frustrate them. Additionally, reviews serve as valuable social proof that demonstrate instances where your customer service met its promises.
6. Prepare answers to common questions
In order to ensure consistent support with room for customization, it is advisable to create templates for emails and call scripts containing standardized responses as many customers often have similar questions regarding common issues.
7. Have a comprehensive knowledge base
A knowledge base is a collection of information designed for customers to access on their own. It serves as an option for customers who require assistance with using a product or service but prefer not to engage in a phone conversation with a representative. The content within the knowledge base should be structured effectively for easy searchability, and comprehensible enough for users to understand and apply successfully.
8. Automate where it makes sense
By utilizing automation, your team can enhance their efficiency in tasks that truly count. Numerous administrative tasks can be automated by utilizing appropriate software, resulting in significant time savings for your team.
Advantages of providing good ecommerce customer service
One of the few ways to truly distinguish yourself in a competitive online retail market is by offering a great customer experience. Customers who do not receive the expected level of service easily switch to another business. By delivering exceptional customer service online, your business gains various significant benefits.
By establishing a system of support, the chances of acquiring customers who would have otherwise searched for new options and found a competitor are increased. This leads to an increase in customer acquisition.
To maintain customer loyalty, it is crucial to have a fast and efficient customer support service, leading to higher customer retention. The newest Zendesk CX Trends Report reveals that 65% of consumers would increase their spending with a brand that enables them to initiate a conversation on one channel and continue it on another.
To ensure a positive customer experience, it is crucial to create more positive interactions throughout the customer journey. Losing a valuable customer permanently can result from just one negative interaction.
By employing automations, software management systems, and integrations, significant amounts of time can be saved in managing customer service activities. This allows software tools to handle repetitive tasks, resulting in more time available for offering personalized care to customers.
What features should you look for in live chat software for ecommerce?
Live chat software for ecommerce should have the capacity to perform various tasks, depending on the size and characteristics of one’s store.
- Initiate a conversation proactively at different points in the sales journey
- Create triggers for upselling a product
- Share files to enable sending screenshots, catalogs, or offers between agents and customers
- Include pre-chat forms for stats and lead generation, and post-chat surveys for customer feedback
- Reduce cart abandonment by connecting with customers if they’re having problems
- Use canned responses and sneak peek facility for quicker response
- Transfer chats among agents with internal comments
- Access chat transcripts for personalized attention
- Add tags to chats for context. This helps with analytics by filtering using tags
- Keep track of sales and service team, sales and goal tracking
- Include detailed analytics to give you insight into customer information
- Use chat engaging features like a popup chat window, chat buttons, eye-catchers
- Set up audio and visual notifications of chat or message, so no customer is kept waiting
By combining these features with a strong ticketing system and offline messaging, you will effectively cover all your customer support needs. To enhance workflow, you can integrate these chat software options with ecommerce platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce.
4 best live chat software for ecommerce stores
1. LiveChat
When it comes to customer support, LiveChat is considered one of the leading live chat software for ecommerce, as it covers a wide range of areas.
2. Tidio Chat
If you are in need of AI capabilities to replace agents, Tidio Chat, including a Shopify chatbot, is a great choice with a range of useful features for your ecommerce website.
The forever free plan is suitable for ecommerce websites that are hesitant to invest in live chat services. It provides all the necessary services for small and even some mid-sized businesses. Moreover, it offers most of the essential chat services at competitive prices. Additionally, it allows you to integrate it into multiple websites.
3. Olark
With Olark, it is made convenient for you to communicate with customers, as their chat tools facilitate learning and improvement from every online interaction.
Olark is well-suited for any business looking to grow since it helps to capture leads, increase sales, and provide live chat support. You can use it on any number of domains as well.
4. Freshchat
Freshchat is a CRM that is cloud-based and prioritizes three distinct areas.
- Conversion
- Onboarding
- Customer support
You will have the capability to interact with customers through web, mobile, or social media platforms.
Freshchat offers four different plans to cater to businesses of all sizes, ensuring that no one is excluded. The free plan, despite its lack of cost, is equipped with advanced features including rich messaging, agent groups, bulk actions, 100 campaign contacts, and more. In addition, it provides APIs for customized integrations and has the ability to handle high volume and accommodate large enterprises by leveraging the Freshworks platform’s scalability.
Which is the best live chat software for ecommerce stores?
When considering the best tool for your needs and budget, two excellent starting points are:
- LiveChat if you want a great all-around live chat tool and are willing to pay.
- Tidio Chat if you want a free ecommerce live chat solution.
If you are using WordPress and WooCommerce, you can begin by following our tutorial on how to add LiveChat to WordPress.
