8 Ways to Optimize Your eCommerce Customer Support

In the beginning, a large number of customer questions is a nice problem to have.

A lot of customer questions ≈ a lot of sales.

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But, over time you start to receive the same questions again and again. This can quickly become a time-consuming, tedious daily task that may hinder the growth of your company.

A one person army is a lovely concept, and people do run 7-figure one-person businesses. But you will soon realize that you can't handle it all on your own.

Sourcing your customer conversations to a virtual assistant is not a good solution but support optimization is, and that's what successful businesses do.

You will not only have more time for your business, but your customers will be much happier as well.

Below are 8 ways to reduce your number of customer support emails without harming the quality of your customer service.

1. Set Clear Expectations

There’s nothing worse than being ignored.

We have all had customers who go crazy if they have been ignored. They multiply their ASAP emails and write reviews all over the internet about how careless you are.

This results in lost customers and potential prospects, and your business image is harmed.

If you let people know when they should expect the answer from you, this will make the waiting easier for them.

Note: If you can’t answer your emails the same day, let them know that all emails are answered within 48 hours. It’s better to allow more time than necessary, and if you answer sooner, that just makes your company look very efficient.

2. Don't Hide Relevant Information

This is especially related to the dropshipping businesses.

Store owners wants to position themselves as a traditional business or popular superstores and tell dozens of white lies.

While dropshipping from China, people hide that their packages are shipped from Asia; that their product's origin is Chinese; or that the shipping terms are longer than usual.

Don't do that. Display relevant information multiple times where customers will likely read it.

Be Transparent. Trust requires honesty.

3. Create a FAQs Page

Customers want to help themselves. A whopping 91% say they would look for an answer in the FAQs page if it met their needs.

Let your customers look for answers to their questions themselves. Create an informative and searchable FAQs page. Invest in it.

It provides instant answers and drastically improves your inbox health.

Note: It's not only a customer service tool. It’s the place where people show a clear deep interest in your product or service. Make it sell!

Tools for easy FAQs page management include Shopify, WordPress or HelpScout / GrooveHQ for every platform.

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by Tomas Šlimas via SitePoint