Customers now expect to contact the brands they buy from on their own terms. Gone are the days when a single email address or 800 number provided sufficient support coverage. It is more important than ever for eCommerce brands to have adequate support options for customers. A key part of providing great customers support comes in the availability of ways for customers to contact your business. Below are the most common customer support channels for eCommerce brands and how they play a role in keeping customers excited about your company.
The Role of Support in eCommerce
Not only does great support help your customers when they need it, but it also helps your business grow. Having multiple contact channels provides opportunities to stand out from competitors by offering better service. Providing support also allows you to keep in touch with your customers when they aren’t shopping, which helps build trust and loyalty over time.
Support Channels in eCommerce
Email has been the most common form of contact for customer service for many years. It lets you easily answer more general questions and simplify the process of getting information. Through email, businesses can reply to a customer’s question with pre-written answers that need little customization.
Customers prefer using email because it’s private, easy to use, and responses are typically provided in a timely manner. These conversations can be searched through as well which allows service agents to respond with relevant answers on previous conversations.
One issue with email support is that it doesn’t work well when you are dealing with a large volume of inquiries or need quick responses. It can also be challenging to know if an email was received and how long a response will take. Lastly, emails do not work well as a live support channel. Communication can be slow, which can lead to a slower resolution to a time-sensitive issue.
Telephone
Phoning into a call center allows support teams to conduct more complex interactions over the phone when compared to email. Phone support is often the most effective channel at quickly diagnosing customer concerns and resolving them.
The advantage of phones is that it allows customers to reach you fast to talk through an issue. In some cases, long-winded explanations don’t work well in writing. On the phone, however, a detailed explanation can provide clarity on the spot.
While many people find talking on the phone stressful, customer service reps are trained to handle these conversations. This training helps agents keep conversations from going too far off track when solving problems for the customer. Additionally, the majority of phone service centers offer a large number of support lines to ensure a customer can always get help when they need it.
A big drawback with phone support is that proper staffing levels can be expensive. Too many agents and no support tickets can be as costly as too many tickets and too few agents. A good solution to this is to outsource support functions to a company such as wrrk which can be easier on the budget than hiring a staff directly.
Chat
Chat is the fastest way to communicate between companies and customers. You essentially get the live interaction with the convenience & privacy of email. This makes it an invaluable tool for businesses because support agents can answer questions with pace and resolve problems fast. Chat allows companies to solve issues while they are still fresh in a customer’s mind, potentially saving a sale or increasing the value of a cart at checkout.
Chats also allow companies some level of customization based on who they’re talking to. For example, a customer shopping for clothing and wanting sizing advice can be directed to the right section on your website or provided with links to size charts.
As for disadvantages, chat will always require more training than email since it is a more complex service channel. Additionally, chat support agents often need to handle many customers. This means that customers may need to wait longer for their questions to be answered accordingly.
A Few Words About Chatbots
Chatbots are a new technology that allows brands to provide a 24-hour chat service for their customers. The advantage of using a chatbot is that you can customize it to your company’s needs and train it on virtually any query or problem that should be resolved. This makes chats particularly useful during emergencies where customers need fast help from customer support agents.
However, this is also where most of the drawbacks happen. Chatbots require extensive training before they can handle anything but the simplest of issues. Customers may also feel confused or frustrated if the chatbot is unable to address their specific challenge or question. When implementing chatbots, be sure to have them properly configured for your brand.
SMS / Text Message
Text message support (SMS) is a great way for customers to contact you quickly when they have a question. SMS support can include integrations to route inbound messages back to the correct representative or store location.
However, offering text-based support does come with a few challenges. Mainly, that it is difficult for businesses to monitor all conversations going on at all times. Instead, support teams will need to implement a queuing system to handle any surge in support requests.
Support Community or Forum
A support community is another form of customer service that you can offer to your customers. This often takes the form of a knowledge base section of your site where customers can browse for answers before reaching out to customer service.
Unlike chat, email, and phone support, this type of platform does not allow the business to set the tone for how they interact with customers. Instead, it becomes an open discussion between customers who are looking for help and other like-minded people who may be able to answer their questions. A good support community gives businesses the opportunity to engage in conversations with existing users.
There can be some downsides. Customers may only contact service when they don’t find what they are looking for in the community. This means fewer touches for your brand to build trust. It can also be difficult to handle conversations that involve multiple customers at once or complex issues. A business using this type of support platform will usually do so alongside other channels like email, phone, or chat.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions, or “FAQs” are an effective way to communicate with customers about your products and services. FAQ pages offer an opportunity for businesses to encourage their customers to research the information they need before going through a process of contacting customer service.
However, FAQ pages aren’t an option that works for all businesses. It requires that you have enough content available on your site or blog that people will want to visit regularly. Content updates should be part of your business plan if you use this type of platform as your main approach for customer service.
Social Media
Social media is an excellent way for businesses to provide customer service and support. Because it is a platform where customers regularly interact with brands, social media offers opportunities for businesses that may not exist on other channels.
Social media support can allow your business to engage in conversations by contacting the original poster of a customer comment or question. Further, other customers can often view these support interactions as they happen and take note of the care you offer to customers. This can have a positive impact on their future consideration to buy from your business.
Absent the resources to provide phone or chat support, both email and social media support can be low/no-cost ways to give your customers at least some way to contact your business for support.
Choosing Your Support Channels for eCommerce Businesses
As you can see, there are many different ways for your customers to contact your business. When choosing customer support channels for eCommerce business, it’s important to choose based on what fits your niche. If most online retailers in your sector offer live support, these may be a good option for you as well.
Additionally, more consumers are shifting towards using their mobile devices instead of desktop computers. Adding SMS messaging or social media into your mix can help you keep up with where customers are browsing.
The right support channels can make a large difference for your business. To learn more about how wrrk can help bridge the gap in your support offering, contact us HERE. With years of experience providing support solutions to new and growing eCommerce businesses, we certainly have a solution that fits the needs of your business and your customers.
