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Customer Support: It's All or Nothing
By Laura Rush
August 24, 1999

To complicate matters, I decided that my old analog cellular phone was inadequate for accessing my email on my new Palm Pilot. I needed to move into the digital realm. After speaking with several pimple-faced salespersons working the mall booths that knew less about cell phones than I did, I reconfimed that indeed the Net was the only place to shop.

So last night I spent several hours on Point.com comparing prices, service plans, and phones and decided to go with Sprint PCS.

I could order the phone and service right there on Point.com, but I was still skeptical from the 3Com ordeal, and decided to go to Sprint''s online store instead.

To my delight, SprintPCS.com even had an even bigger selection of digital phones to choose from than Point.com and Sprint''s kiosks in Radio Shack. Plus, their no-contract plans and no middle-man fees couldn''t be passed up. I selected my phone, chose a service plan, and proceeded to checkout. I happily entered my credit card information, shipping address, etc. and just as I hit the submit button, and started to get the "Your order has been received and your confirmation number is 12345.." the Web site froze. And I watched with horror as my PC locked up. "Every new e-consumer''s nightmare," I thought. What happened to my order? Did it go through? Was someone sabotaging my credit card information?

After rebooting my PC and logging back on, I quickly surfed around Sprint''s site in search of online tech support. The best I could find was an FAQ for new customers and a "Contact Me" form to have someone from Sprint contact me within 24 hours. I read the FAQ part that covered "What if I have questions about my online order?" The answer: If you have questions while placing your order, call Sprint PCS at 1-888-253-1315. If you call after placing your order, please have your order number ready.

Impatient and frustrated, I logged off and called Sprint''s toll-free number. "Due to system upgrades, there may be a longer than normal wait. Please hold." Forty-five minutes and three customer service representatives later, I was finally told that they do indeed have an order number that matches mine, but they can''t confirm the name on the order, nor the shipping address until it is processed. So I have to wait and see if my new phone shows up in two to three business days to find out if it worked.

Take My Advice, Please
If you''re looking for a way to increase the number of online sales on your site, simply provide a method for customers to get real-time, in-medium answers to their questions. Here are a few tips to get you started:

  • If you''re going to have an online store, then have online support. Nothing is more frustrating than having to get offline and make a phone call to a customer support center. It defeats the purpose of being e-commerce enabled. A dedicated e-mail account is the easiest way and most common way for a company to set up online customer support. Customers with complaints or comments can contact a specific e-mail address -- for example, support@yourcompany.com. However, it''s critical for someone to check for customer support mail continuously throughout the day. (Reality Check: The customer doesn''t care about your system upgrade problems.) And be especially sure to respond to all customer e-mail messages within a few hours: 24-48 hours is not an acceptable time frame for customers with problems incurred on a Web site. E-commerce is still too new to assume that much customer confidence. Even better - have a live person accessible from your site.
  • Hire knowledgeable staff. No one wants to hear the "I''m sorry, I''m new here" or the "Our computers are really slow at the moment" excuses. It''s the quickest way to lose customers.
  • Want to know how effective your customer support is? Give online customer satisfaction surveys. Who better to ask about treatment received from online service personnel than your customers. Drop them an email. I''m sure a lot of them would be more than happy to respond. (I know I would.)
  • Surf your site often. Ask yourself (and your staff) what types of information your customers are seeking. Is help easy to find? Is your navigation intuitive? Do you provide answers?
  • Reward customers who give you good advice for improving your customer support.
  • Keep your customers happy, and they''ll not only keep coming back, they''ll also tell their friends (or write articles about it).

Bottom Line: When you set up shop, make sure you set up a tech/customer support area that''s worthy of your customer''s business.


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