Why Phone Customer Service Matters to Online Retailers

E-commerce's growth has been well documented. With competition over pricing and public awareness, having excellent customer service can set your e-commerce site apart from your competition. While online retailers may get customer service questions via email, consumers still prefer to pick up the phone to ask questions. Whether you choose to keep your customer service team in-house, use call-center software or outsource, make sure those on the phone understand service is the top priority.

The Numbers
You may be more focused on fast response times via email than voicemail, but paying attention to your phone calls is equally important. There are a number of studies that show how impactful good and poor customer service can be. Improving customer service often means an increase in new customers, customer loyalty and overall sales. Consider the following:

• 89 percent of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience (RightNow);
• 90 percent of U.S. consumers prefer to resolve their customer service issues via telephone (American Express);
• poor customer experiences result in an estimated $83 billion loss by U.S. enterprises each year because of defections and abandoned purchases (Parature);
• 50 percent of consumers give a brand only one week to respond to a question before they stop doing business with it (RightNow);
• the industries with the lowest percentage of calls that are complaints are entertainment/leisure (1.7 percent) and manufacturing (2 percent) (The US Contact Center); and
• 71 percent of survey respondents were "tremendously annoyed" when they couldn't reach a human on the phone (Better Business Bureau).

How to Improve
Customer service is about providing the right answer to questions quickly. It also means providing recommendations, both when products are out of stock or a customer is making an over-the-phone purchase. If you think your website and customer service reps (CSRs) may not be up to par, here are a few tips to improve your company's phone customer service:

• Assign personalized CSRs. Similar to a single account executive, keep customers with individual reps. They may begin to develop a more personal and deeper connection with your rep and your brand.
• Upgrade shipping for select customers who call in. Not only will a customer be likely to recommend your site to someone else, you may also save a sale that could have been an abandoned cart.
• Answer calls quicker. This is a no-brainer, though many companies come across problems when figuring out how to do so. An auto attendant or answering service can help your current staff manage calls better.
• Improve customer service training. Make sure your reps are ready for a majority of the calls that are likely to come in. If they can address a problem and provide a solution quicker, you can reduce the time spent on the phone per call.
• If your business employs an after-hours call center that's off-site, make sure you regularly monitor the quality of service it's providing customers. You need CSRs that are knowledgeable about your products/business and serve your customers as effectively as possible.
• Make follow-up calls. After a customer makes an over-the-phone purchase, calls in with a question or speaks with a CSR, make a personalized follow-up call to them. You can foster loyalty and get feedback with one call.

Online retailers need to pay attention to their phone customer service, especially if they see sales numbers starting to slide. With the majority of U.S. consumers preferring to handle customer service questions over the phone, your business needs to make sure its efforts are beyond stellar. Train your customer service team on the products and protocol so it can provide correct answers and recommendations quickly. Make sure your team is taking notes in the CRM or sales software it uses so you can monitor what's working and what isn't. This can often mean the difference in wait times and high-quality customer service.

Erica Bell is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as call-center and CRM software as well as customer service. She's a web content writer for www.business.com.