Customer Service with a Virtual Smile By Jennifer Schiff
February 26, 2008
Just about any e-tailer or e-commerce business owner you ask will tell you that the customer is number one. But as surveys of online shoppers have shown (heck, just ask the person in the next cube or your friends and neighbors), that's not always the case.
"Right now, customer service online is kind of a split personality," explained Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, which in January published the results of its 10th Annual Mystery Shopping Study of 100 online retailers. On the one hand, "you have merchants who really put a lot of passion and effort behind taking care of the customer," she said. "And then you have another group of merchants who are thinking about cost savings and self service and ways that they can [provide customer service] cheaper… with less people."
So why should smaller e-tailers care about going the extra mile when it comes to customer service, instead of doing the bare minimum? As the e-tailing group study found, "great service leads to loyalty, and those merchants who make it the differentiator will profit from their investments."
Importance of Going the Extra Mile While the e-tailing group survey targeted larger online retailers, such as Blue Nile, Crutchfield, Pottery Barn and Zappos (all considered top performing B2C sites for online customer service in 2007), Freedman stressed "you don't have to be big to give good service." In fact, she said, "in many instances it's easier to be small," because you can be more nimble and creative and really get to know your customers.
"Providing customers with relevant and timely information is really what customer service is all about — or should be about," stated Zachary McGeary, an associate analyst at JupiterResearch who covers customer service. And like Freedman, McGeary said you don't need to be big — that is have a lot of employees and a big customer service budget — in order to provide great customer service. You just need to adopt what he called a "proactive approach to customer service," meaning understanding what your customers want, anticipating potential problems or questions and addressing those potential problems or questions before they result in a return or an angry phone call.
One small but rapidly growing e-tailer that constantly goes the extra mile for customers is Sweetwater.com, which sells musical instruments and audio equipment. Known for its no-minimum-purchase free shipping and for including a handful of sweets in every shipment, Sweetwater has garnered a large, loyal customer base, no doubt in large part due to its exceptional customer service.
"At Sweetwater, it's all about the customer," said company president Chuck Surack. "Sweetwater offers a number of customer benefits that cost us money to provide but are the reason why Sweetwater customers are so loyal. These include free lifetime service and technical support, which no other retailer in the industry provides." (Sweetwater also makes it ridiculously easy for customers to contact them and provides easy-to-find links to its online shopping guarantee, shipping and delivery information, and privacy policy.)
While you may not be able to afford free shipping or free lifetime service and technical support, there are plenty of other things you can do, even with a limited staff and budget, to make your customer service stand out.
(Continue to Page 2 for Top 10 Tips for Excellent Customer Service, and More)
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