Grabbing your space against behemoths like Amazon and Walmart isn't an easy task. Moreover, you can get outclassed, outgunned, and out-funded. However, you shouldn't lose hope. E-commerce customer service is one of the last bastions where small teams get crushed. In the E-commerce world, the competition is fierce. In the US, ten companies have control over 60.3 of online retail stores. Somewhere between half and two-thirds of product searches happen on Amazon.
So, are these behemoths really that good? Do they offer personal support at scale? Are they innovating with the customer in mind? The answer is simple, no. In fact, there has been no improvement in the online shopping experience. Surprisingly, every major online retailer tracked year over year declined.
The truth here is, going up against big names can be a massive advantage for your business. Call center outsourcing can help you with that. Remember, the right tools with the right expertise can give you an edge over your competitors.
E-commerce customer service functionalities
Ecommerce customer service provides the framework for supporting shoppers via E-commerce platforms. Support for online businesses must be ready to face unique challenges. These include
- High volumes of service and support requests
- Common questions related to products, fulfillment, and returns
- The need to monitor multiple channels with fast response times
The agents are tasked with being the voice of the brand. Remember, people talking to customers are the same people who are here to build your business. And that's what customers love about small businesses.
Best practices
Best practices tend to veer into hypotheticals. So here, we'll focus on the best practices when moving forward.
Pick an inbox that integrates with the E-commerce platform
Choose the best customer support service software for your online store. For E-commerce specifically, you need to make sure your inbox offers an integration with the store's platform to streamline the workflow. In addition, tracking and collecting all the interactions a customer has with your brand in one place will pay dividends.
Call center outsourcing allows representatives to see a total customer breakdown, i.e., recent purchases, previous chats or calls, links to social media accounts.
Make self-service the E-commerce frontline
A knowledge base empowers prospective customers to make informed purchases. It's all about providing detailed answers to common issues. Once they make a purchase, self-services reduce support volumes and enhance customer satisfaction. Having a solid knowledge base saves both the customer and the customer service team's time. You need to have all relevant information for your customers.
Measure and optimize what matters
From a business-wide perspective, there's plenty to measure in E-commerce. For E-commerce, you'll want to track metrics like customer happiness, honest conversations per day, and tag insights. Running a personalized response is the key to your business transformation. Ecommerce customer service encourages the team by tagging trending topics. Besides, you can alter the products to create a new knowledge base article.
Power or automation
Automation is the secret sauce to good customer support. When done correctly, it enables the team to engage at a more personal level. For example, the call center outsourcing team will most likely automate a host of transaction messages, i.e., order confirmations, receipts, and shipping notifications.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, excellent customer service offers a competitive advantage. It's one of the few present and future trends that endures no matter how challenging the marketplace becomes. A strong foundation is all about the right skill and advanced technology. The most important of those resources is the brand's unique voice and developing personal connections. An innovative team wows your customers, helping enhance the brand value.