11 Jan 2000
Ramon Ray, [http://www.smallbiztechnology.com]
For small businesses on Main Street, Park Avenue, 42nd Street, etc (real businesses) - it's VERY EASY to have great customer service and interaction. You really can't help it!
As long as you've got a ready smile, firm hand shake and can resolve customer problems satisfactorily - you'll probably do just fine.
However, online - you are dealing with nameless and faceless customers - bits and bytes.
How in the world can your Web site be a bastion of customer service and interaction?
There's several things you can do - some are free, some are fee (some are really fee $$$$$$$$!), some easy to implement, while others are more difficult to do.
From personal experience in building http://www.smallbiztechnology..com I've learned that email is crucial to any aspect of customer service.
1. Respond to email right away. Some people will tell you to respond in about 24 hours but that's way too long.
If someone emails you during normal business hours you should reply in an hour or less. If you are SELLING something and have thousands of customers, spread across a lot of time zones, you'd better be prepared to respond to email from those in Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and New York City!
If you're Web site is information rich and designed well - you can cut down on routine emails. Your audience / customers can find information on their own.
See the solutions to the right for companies who can help you with this
2. The other thing I've learned is the importance of a search engine. You can get a free one from Atomz http://www.atomz.com and search up to 500 pages or so. For a fee, you can search an unlimited amount
A search engine makes it easy for your customers to find the information they are looking for.
3. Let your customers/audience communicate with you via telephone as appropriate. If you've got a content only Web site and are dispensing information, there's no need for your "audience" to call you - email is just fine. But if you are selling hair brushes or other "things" - you'd better have a way for customers with problems to call you (or fax you, or write you).
I like what Sketchers.com does - they have their telephone number on every page of their Web site. Right up top!
4. I've visited the Web site of mobile e-retailer Igo http://www.igo.com to buy items on a few occasions and the main thing I like about IGo is that if I need help I can get a live person to help me - via their Web site. The costs for this technology are much more expensive than simple email based customer service. But if you are serious about selling products on line and want to give your customers the best support then live support can't be beat!
You also have got to have the staff to operate the live support feature. Don't have live support if it's always "unavailable".
See the solutions to the right for companies who can help you with this. There companies that just give you the technology - you provide the people, or they can provide you with the people and technology to have 24/7 online, live support for your online business.
5. Remembering who your customers are, is a very important aspect of developing a customer service and relations component to your Web site. When you visit Amazon.com and by various books or just browse through various selections Amazon.com is able to build up a profile about what you like and do not like. This is called CRM "customer relationship management" Amazon.com's system probably cost them hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. But there's other solutions that cost much less - or even let you pay a monthly fee.
These services will let you build a profile of your customers and make their interaction with your Web site so much easier. If Jane keeps buying men's hats at your online clothing store, your CRM software will stop advertising ladies hats to her, but will give her the latest sales information on men's hats!
See the solutions to the right for companies who can help you with this
6. A discussion board (or bulletin board) can be a very good customer relationship building tool. Instead of your staff receiving emails, you can encourage your customers to post their queries to your online bulletin board system (BBS). Many companies use BBS' as a very effective means to help customers - the successful ones.
I use Ultimate [http://www.ultimatebbs.com/Ultimate] Bulletin Board System [http://www.ultimatebbs.com] for Smallbiztechnology.com and like it a lot.
Featured Editorialist - Ramon Ray
Ramon Ray, of smallbiztechnology.com. a resource for small businesses to learn how to strategically use technology in their small businesses. News, articles, analysis - it's all there at smallbiztechnology.com.
For over 10 years, both offline and online, Ramon has been helping hundreds of small businesses use technology to save time, save money or be more efficient