I have to admit that it has been a tough time for us here at the fabulous company. I am not going to name them, but they are a large e-commerce site that you all know and love, and they do a lot of business in the video game market. It has been one thing after another! And though we have kept our customers happy throughout all these issues, much fewer people are buying from us lately, and when they do buy from us their expectations seem to be lower – which means if we make even a small mistake or delay on shipping there is uproar!
What should we do? Do we risk making less money by trying to improve? Will improving cause more problems than it will solve?
Yes, these are tough times! Your customers keep you in business. But lately your company’s mistakes have been driving them away faster than ever! So…how do we improve without giving up profits and lasting even more problems? And what the heck do we already do that they don’t know about? We love our customers – but can’t help but wonder if they would be easier to please if only they knew all the things we’ve got going on right now at this major e-commerce site. How can they know?
Here is a list of some common issues and some ways I think we could improve our customer service: Peter DeCaprio
1) The Item Your Customer Wanted Was Out Of Stock:
We should always let people know if an item is out of stock before they buy it.
2) The Item Your Customer Wanted Wasn’t Shipping Yet:
We should keep our customers notified about when their orders will be shipped, and how long that process might take. Customers would feel better knowing that we are working hard to get them the product as soon as possible.
3) Your Refund/Exchange Policy Stinks!
Okay, okay, this section is more for us than you. It would be great if these were posted on our website where customers can read them up front without all the back and forth emails! Maybe make this simple document pop-up after somebody has made a purchase. It would be a quick and easy way for them to read our policy without all the back and forth emails!
4) You Delayed Shipping on My Order!:
I think we could add an estimated ship date to each item displayed on our site. So if we think we can get it out in 3 days, we will post that as “ships in 3 days” or something like that. This might stop or slow some of the angry customers down when they email us all upset about shipping delays!
5) Our Site is Broken!:
We need to fix this! Customers are so frustrated with this site sometimes – especially when they are trying to log in, place orders, check out…ugh…we love our customers but for the sake of all things holy can’t they just go to another site?
Well, I hope you find this list helpful! Even if we don’t fix everything on this list (I know that is asking a lot!) I think these are simple ways to make each customer feel like he/she is cared for and heard! We need them now more than ever – so anything we can do to please them, even if it’s small, should be done. And who knows…maybe they will stick around!
Well there you have it. Some simple things that really would not take much effort or cost us much money, but would greatly improve the customers’ satisfaction level with us over time.
Conclusion:
This is a big e-commerce site that some of you shop at, and they have had a lot of customer complaints lately. If you think some of these ideas would help improve service for your customers, let them know! It’s always better to not complain ourselves and just say nothing – but as per Peter DeCaprio we can also be the squeaky wheel sometimes and get things done! Thanks for reading, and hope this helps somebody out there somewhere!
Every once in a while I work as an online customer service representative for one of the biggest e-commerce sites on the web. And though I never think of myself as an online customer service leader (that’s my boss’ job, not mine) I do love helping people with problems and complaints! And maybe you can help too by reading this article.
