4 Customer Service Habits for Great E-Commerce Order Management

If you’re using an e-commerce order management tool to track orders through a web store, it’s vital you manage the relationships with customers closely. A lax customer service plan in e-commerce will mean less customer loyalty and dwindling profits. We’ve assembled some tips which you might find vital in implementing an exceptional e-commerce order management system.

1. Communicate with customers through every channel: One of the most important things to keep in mind is that multichannel sales is key. If you have a brick and mortar store, your customers should have the ability to purchase and return items both in person and online. If the sale is made in the store, the customer should be able to log a support case online or on the phone.

   If they want to return their item, don’t make them come back to the store location. Provide an easy to use reverse fulfillment option through your website.

   Establish a way for your customers to log support cases through your website. People are reluctant to pick up a phone or travel to a store location so giving them the option to email you through your site will increase the likelihood that you’ll get constructive feedback from your customer base.

   Providing multiple possible touch points for your customers will give them a sense of security and hopefully a desire to bring their business to you in the future.

2. Track all customer interactions: Whether it’s a sale, a support case, or just a phone call with a question, you should be tracking every touch you make with your prospects and customers. E-commerce order management systems should have a viable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) option built in. By tracking interactions with customers, sales and support reps within your company will have access to the entire account history which will help them to make informed decisions on how to best work with a customer. Once again, this puts control of things into your team’s hands rather than leaving yourself in the dark about how sales and service operations within your company are working. This method also leaves your customer’s feeling taken care of and fosters trust in your company and how you do business.
   
3. Provide an FAQ page: This may seem like a no-brainer, but provide answers to your most commonly asked questions on an easy-to-find page on your web site. This achieves a couple of things: First, it will allow your customers to answer their own questions about your products and services without having to call or e-mail you. Customers will thank you for not having to call you just to ask if you ship internationally or not. Second, it relieves some of the pressure on your sales and support staff. By cutting down on time wasted answering the same questions over and over, you will increase the efficiency of your e-commerce order management staff.
4. Use the right metrics to analyze and improve customer service operations: By tracking closed web store sales, resolved support cases, and abandoned cart statistics, you can have greater insight into how your customers are interacting with your e-commerce system and hopefully improve as you go. Keep your staff on top of open support cases and unfulfilled sales orders. If you’re getting a lot of customers abandoning their shopping carts, have a workflow to send out e-mails to remind customers to buy. Keep an eye on products which are frequently abandoned so you can examine their description pages and add or remove detail which may be leading to customers changing their minds about the product.

The age of multichannel e-commerce is upon us so be prepared with the right tools. A comprehensive e-commerce order management system is necessary to integrate your web store with multi-channel operations and track sales and support.

Looking for more information about how to maximize your e-commerce order management system? Contact Business Solution Partners to speak to an expert today!