Although more and more retailers are offering their products and services online, few are doing so successfully, especially in regards to online customer service. Despite customer service being one of the few points of long-term differentiation for a company, many retailers are failing to deliver good customer service online.
A recent benchmark study from eGain shows that retailers are behind in the delivery of online customer service, with 65 percent of sites offering a less than average service. This is an alarming statistic given the clear benefits that come from online customer service, such as increased sales, conversion rates, reduced abandonment rates and reduced costs. A majority of UK retailers are still failing to realise the full potential for customer retention and revenue growth by falling short in customer self-service via the web.In the past, companies were able to get away with simply having a basic website with little or no customer service, but today’s consumers expect a lot more from companies online. Customers want convenience in access (24x7), the right answers and prompt and accurate responses every time. Customers are more likely to use the Internet when they want a quick answer and believe these can be easily found using the web at any time. Often consumers who choose to utilise online customer service are PC literate, high value customers who are simply trying to avoid the call centre. In order to cater for these customers, companies need to ensure that they are providing the best web self-service available.
However, many retailers are moving their customer service online before considering their broader corporate objectives such as, improving customer retention, increasing sales and growing revenue. This movement has led to many retailers offering inadequate web self-service to their current and potential customers.This is frequently due to an inability to combine the website with existing marketing, sales and customer service channels, instead delivering a fragmented customer experience. Most consumers use a combination of contact channels when purchasing major items, to include: web, in-store, editorial and telesales. As such, it is essential for retailers to have a focused, yet integrated, strategy for each channel and to fully understand the way the consumer uses each of these, if they want to compete effectively in the retail marketplace. Here are some of the areas that need to be addressed by retailers to ensure they provide adequate online customer service:
Customer service across all channels. If retailers wish to harness the benefits of online shopping they must ensure a very positive and beneficial experience for customers across all channels, regardless of whether it is face-to-face or over the internet. A large number of customers abandon their purchase in the final stages of the transaction, due to inadequate information on the website or the lack of customer support. This may result in the business not only losing the purchase, but permanently losing the customer.
Response time. In this ever-demanding consumer society, it is not just phones which need to be answered quickly. Organisations need to ensure that they are able to respond and process customer enquiries made via email or web in reasonable time, or risk losing the sale. A recent research report from ICM revealed that 50 per cent of British adults are addicted to email, and 41 percent of teenagers said they are reliant on their email. Despite the importance consumers are placing on emails, it is worrisome how little attention it is receiving from retailers. eGain’s benchmark research showed that over a third of UK companies are losing revenue by ignoring customer e-mails, with research showing that 67 per cent of UK companies are failing to deliver an acceptable response to incoming e-mails.
Neglecting customer needs. Many retailers are focusing their energies on the product or service to the expense of the customer. Factors such as web layout, accessibility and ease of use are too frequently overlooked.
Appearance does matter. Similar to a shop front retailers need to make sure the online appearance of their self-service on a web site must be clearly marked and easy to find. It must be designed to appear approachable and attractive to potential users. Also retailers need to make the start of the help page as interesting as possible to slow customers down to a reading pace. The goal of web self-service is for visitors to consume information and become repeat customers. If customers can be drawn into buying additional services or products whilst experiencing web self-service, this is an added bonus.
Location, location, location. Whilst retail outlets want to encourage people to buy additional items, customers will probably not become regular visitors if they can’t find the things they went in for. The same is true for web self-service, so developers need to offer a variety of ways to find information to suit different types of users, as well as making sure that content is up-to-date and relevant.
In building effective web self-service solutions, retailers need to do it well, or not do it at all. Customers find it more frustrating if they search for answers or pose a query and can not find the answer or get a slow or poor quality response, than if you had offered no facility to search or pose that query in the first place. Retailers who are recognising the importance of web self-service will be able to provide their customers with effective online customer service. By using new technology available in the market place, companies will not only be able to cope with the changing information demands of customers, but will harness these changes to continuously drive modification in content, layout and presentation, ensuring that they stay ahead of customer demand. And with fewer physical limitations than retail outlets, companies may soon see the web become the most popular point of contact for the customer.
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