Think of the time when you were stuck in an impersonal, robotic queue of customer support, ending with an agent who can’t answer any of your questions? Or the time you were endlessly searching for the business contact details never to find it anywhere on their website?
The chances are either you vowed never to shop with the brand again, or you composed a bad review putting down the brand across social media. Those are the perils of poor to no customer support for a business.
The Importance of Customer Support Service in eCommerce
We can’t emphasize enough on the value of customer support service to your eCommerce business. It is the difference between a satisfied customer who wants to spend more on your website; or a customer who riles up to rip your reputation to shreds.
Ultimately, the quality of the support service you provide can make or break your brand reputation. In addition, it has the potential to affect your business bottom line.
Moreover, acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer
When reducing costs remains your top priority – the good news is that stellar customer service can increase customer retention while reducing acquisition costs.
And 77% of customers recommend your eCommerce site to their friend after a positive customer service experience.
What’s more? In a snowball effect, customers who have been referred are more likely to in-turn, refer others.
Every good customer interaction is an asset to your business. In addition, it can bring new customers to your site and set you apart in today’s increasingly saturated eCommerce market.
The Importance of Multi-Platform Customer Support for Modern Business
Here is a question for you –
Are you reading this article on a desktop? Your phone or laptop? and did you find it via Google search? Twitter, or Facebook?
The fact that there are many answers to the question highlights the need to communicate with audiences across various channels.
At its core, multi-platform customer support service means providing customers the choice to route the issues and contact support teams through various channels that include – live chat, emails, call support, and, self-help options.
For instance, if a customer initiates a live chat query. Still, there is a good chance that the question needs an in-depth conversation via phone, and documents to be sent over the email. This is a typical example of customer communication in this modern business era.
It is no longer enough to be readily available on one or two channels and provides support during limited business hours. The customer expectation is for 24/7 low-effort support on their channel of choice.
The Need for Multi-Platform Customer Support in Online Retail Business
Engaging in eCommerce customer support is different from traditional retail business or any business for that matter.
Unlike physical stores, there is no such thing as “business hours” in eCommerce. Also, there are no in-person support assistants to help customers on every aisle.
Your customers would expect you to guide them online through their purchase at any time of the day, in a language they prefer and still expect you to be sensitive to their unique needs when you interact with them.
This creates a need to adopt multi-platform customer support and provide the best customer support services on the customer’s preferred platform.
Here we dive deeper into the reasons why multi-platform customer support is essential for your eCommerce business –
Self-Service Options –
90% of consumers expect a business to offer a self-service support portal or an FAQ page to cater to their simple concerns
A self-service customer support option beyond the conventional ways can provide the assistance your customer needs without appointing an operator. It is not only beneficial for your business but also for your customers who want to save time while fixing their issues.
Proactive Social Media Support –
While it may take your marketing team months of effort to build your social media pages. A review from a dissatisfied customer can harm your business reputation. Thus, there is a need to provide proactive social media customer support services via multiple touchpoints to avoid such circumstances.
A Competitive Advantage-
Denying your customer support across various touchpoints and on their preferred channel will frustrate them. Moreover, it will create a need to seek out your competitors likely. Only those who have a multi-platform eCommerce customer support strategy will gain a competitive edge.
In products and services where it’s hard to differentiate your brand with pricing. So, your customer support service will set the difference from other brands in the market.
Consistent Customer Support –
Customers can reach out to your business through varied channels, for example, email, web, mobile, social media, live chat, or phone call. It is your part in providing them an organized and connected customer experience throughout their purchase journey.
Top eCommerce players are embracing Omni-channel eCommerce customer support to maximize their sales.
keeping a consistent tab of customer history and preferences to harness the data from every interaction help build meaningful customer relationships in the future.
The Need of the Hour –
The pandemic is rewriting the rules of the retail business. Therefore, the current situation has accelerated the need for digitalization at all levels.
Drastically altered customer buying preference probes a seamless movement of customer communication offline to online, compelling eStores to open multiple channels to support customers effectively.
Let’s talk about the Challenge –
With ever-growing customer demands, providing combined multi-platform customer support service is still a massive challenge for many small and medium businesses. Managing specific teams for each platform is expensive.
The silo-based customer support is difficult to integrate for a seamless experience on every level. Moreover, It isn’t easy to collect and unify customer data from various channels into centralized storage for easy retrieval.
Challenges faced by Businesses in providing Multi-Platform Customer Support
If your business is facing any of these challenges in delivering multi-platform eCommerce customer services, Look no more.
Vserve eBusiness Solution is a full-service eCommerce agency and an eCommerce customer support company with decades of experience in providing top-quality 24/7 customer support service to global customers. With a combination of human expertise and the latest AI-driven technology, we help provide a seamless multi-platform customer experience across every online platform you have your presence.
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