With the holidays around the corner, you can expect an influx of new customers to visit your store over the next few months. During the stressful holiday season, your shoppers will expect only the best from your customer service team. We’ve put together a few strategies you can use to step up your Shopify store’s customer service in order to leave new shoppers satisfied with their experience.
#1: Implement Self-Service Features
In the past, it was common practice to call a company and have a representative manually change the customer’s payment method or address. Today’s online shopper doesn’t want to spend several minutes on the phone to do fulfill very basic customer service requests, so online self-service has become a popular alternative.
Your customer should have complete control over their account without needing to call your service team for assistance. Implement tools which allow your customer to change their account information as needed to reduce the time they spend on the phone with your support team.
#2: Use SMS and Email to Send Updates
Companies like Amazon and eBay have created systems which send SMS or email alerts to customers when their product has shipped, is back in stock, or an item from their wishlist is on sale. This reduces your customer’s need to call your support team when they need updates on their order.
Email and SMS updates are easy and inexpensive to implement, making them a reasonable option to improve your customer service. Offer the option to receive SMS updates to your customer before they checkout and notice the reduction in calls with regard to shipping and delivery.
#3: Take to Social Media to Provide Customer Support
With billions of active social media accounts across a number of widely used platforms, social media customer service is here to stay. The majority of online shoppers will agree that a positive interaction with a company on social media will improve their opinion of the retailer or brand and make them more likely to shop there again, making it a crucial part of your customer service strategy.
There are many tools online you can use to monitor your brand’s reputation on social media. By finding and responding to both positive and negative comments from customers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you can improve your relationship with your customers and show them you care about their satisfaction. In addition, an active presence on social media will allow you to respond to customer comments and questions very quickly, further improving your customer’s opinion of your brand.
#4: Make the Most of Direct Messages
Social media platforms each feature their own messaging application, which your customers may want to use to reach your company. For example, Facebook tells visitors to your store’s page how quickly your respond to messages. The more quickly you respond to messages on average, the more your page will be organically promoted in Facebook’s search results.
Have a team of customer service representatives dedicated to social media messaging. Encourage your customers to reach out to you on social media, telling them it’s one of the fastest ways to receive support. By running an efficient social media messaging customer service campaign, you can appeal to those who use the platforms on a regular basis. Your customers will appreciate getting a response within minutes using Facebook Messenger as opposed to waiting 24 hours for a response from your email team.
#5: Respond Immediately With Live Chat
Of all the customer service advancements over the past ten years, live chat has to be one of the best. With live chat, your customers can get an immediate response to their request, saving them time during their busy day.
Live chat is very easy to implement thanks to the wide range of add-ons and plug-ins available for your Magento, Shopify, or WooCommerce store. Some are paid and some are free, but even a basic live chat option will drastically improve your customer service ratings and response times if used correctly.
What are your tips for eCommerce customer service? Which other tips would you recommend we implement into our stores? Let us know in the comments below!
