What Do I Need to Do to Provide Good Online Customer Service?

Customer service is hard enough when you are face-to-face with a customer, so you need to go the extra mile to provide good online customer service. The more that you can do to help your customers help themselves, the less day-to-day support you'll need to provide. Here are some steps you can take

Provide contact information. Make sure you provide a link to contact information on every page of your site. People often need additional information, so include an address, phone number, fax number, and email address.

Set up an FAQ page. Providing an FAQ (frequently asked questions) page will help your customers find immediate answers to questions, and it will free up your time to work on more essential tasks. One good way to populate your FAQ page is to base its content on actual questions customers have asked. Also, check out FAQ pages of competitors or popular sites in your industry.

Manage expectations. When customers submit an order, question, or comment, let them know how long it will take you to get back to them. Make sure you list your hours and days of operation, and let customers know when you'll respond or process their order. Consider setting up a program that generates an automatic email reply to anyone who submits a question. This will at least assure your customers that you've received their inquiries.

Collect customer email addresses. Email is an easy and cost-effective way to keep in touch with your customers and let them know the latest promotions and services. If you sell office supplies, for instance, send an email reminder in October to remind customers to buy new calendars.

Pay attention to navigation and search. Web sites too often are organized around the internal structure of the company. Instead, make sure your site is logical to your customer and prices and information are easy to find. Internet users often use search to find things quickly, so make sure your search engine is effective.

Encourage feedback. Enable customers to communicate with you. Many people will provide feedback if given the opportunity. Most businesses do not make use of this great resource.

Online customers don't have to brave traffic to drive to your business or spend a lot of time on the phone getting information. This can certainly work in your favor. However, if you have shoddy customer service or don't provide basic information, they can quickly abandon your site and visit a competitor, because they have no investment.