4 Ecommerce Tips for Cyber Monday Customer Service

So, you’ve followed our checklist for preparing your ecommerce site for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but are you really ready? Even if you’ve got the inventory ready to go, the staff on alert, the email reminders and follow-ups prepared, and the shipping supplies in line, you could still be missing one vital component:

Customer service.

We’re not talking about a “Contact Us” page with a form for customers to fill out. We’re not even talking about an email address in plain sight for all shoppers to find. These tactics don’t offer immediate results, and consumers want immediate results. As you can see from the chart below, 72% of consumers say this fast response is crucial when buying online. Perhaps even more important, 45% of online shoppers say they have gone elsewhere when they received poor customer service on ecommerce sites.

So, now that you know just how important a quick response is, especially on the busiest online shopping days of the year, how can you provide that immediacy for your customers? We’ve got a few options for you.

1) Obvious Guarantees

Sometimes buyers just want to know they can send something back if the purchase doesn’t work for some reason. Save them the time and effort of sending an email or making a phone call by posting your guarantees in obvious places. Be sure the font is large and easy to read, that the post stands out from surrounding text, and that the message is entirely clear. You might be surprised how many customers this comforts without you ever having to lift a finger.

2) Various Contact Options

In some cases, an email response within 24 hours is good enough, but when shoppers have several ecommerce sites open and their credit card in hand, they want the answers right away. By offering several options, you give the buyer the power. Make sure these options are all grouped together in one place and not scattered all over your site. One button that accesses the various contact methods is the best idea.

3) Live Chat

When shoppers purchase online, they likely do so because they prefer the silent buying process. A phone call from or to a customer service representative breaks that silence and probably makes tending to various other tasks while shopping impossible. A live chat option lets the buyer continue to multitask while also getting answers right away. Just be sure an actual person is manning the chat, as buyers can tell if they’ve reached an automated service.

4) Social Media

Twitter and Facebook shouldn’t be all fun and games. If you don’t have the ability to add customer service options to your ecommerce site before Cyber Monday gets here, take to social media to solve the problems. Regular monitoring is key to catch all those questions and concerns, so someone should be manning the different platforms at all times. You can either use your regular social media accounts to field comments or create a new account specifically for customer support.

Take notes from some of the most successful ecommerce sites around and put some effort into quick response for customer questions. You don’t want to lose any of that 45% who will shop your competitors when you can’t provide a positive online experience for them.

How else could you provide customer service quickly for your ecommerce shoppers? Has another method worked well for you in the past? We want to hear all about it.