Mastering Customer Communications in Ecommerce

The secret to any relationship, as couple’s therapists are all too keen to tell you, is communication.

This philosophy goes beyond interpersonal relationships and can also be applied to the interaction between a customer and a retailer. Retailers need to reach existing and potential customers with their messaging and customers need to be able to contact retailers with customer service queries and other communications.

In days gone by, customers only needed to walk through the doors of a local store to talk with a retailer. However, in the digital age of ecommerce, many retailers don’t even have a door through which to walk and must rely on digital tools to communicate with their audience.

With that in mind, how can contemporary ecommerce brands make sure their customers are able to get in contact with them and have their questions answered in the most straightforward and least frustrating manner possible?

Chatbots

Most customers find chatbots frustrating to interact with. We may regularly wax philosophical about "powerful AI software” but the truth is that chatbots are not presently able to manage anything but the most basic of customer service interactions.

If you are going to use a chatbot, make sure there is a simple method customers can use to switch to a human operator – Amazon’s chatbot, for example, allows you to simple type "connect me to a human” or something similar. Secondly, ask yourself honestly if a chatbot is more convenient and easier to use than a traditional FAQ page on your website.

As chatbot technology is basically only able to answer questions on the same level as an FAQ and can regularly have difficulty deducing what it is the customer actually needs help with, you may find implementing one is just adding technology for the sake of it.

Contact Centre

The classic method for interacting with any brand is through a telephone contact center.

Unfortunately, many modern brands don’t have a means of speaking to them on the phone – that, or their contact details are so effectively buried in a maze of hyperlinks they might as well not have – which can pose problems for delivering effective customer service.

Whilst many of us are more than comfortable using digital technology to reach out to our favorite brands – and the ones we’re annoyed with – it’s easy to forget that not everyone is at the same level of comfort when it comes to these means of communication.

Older generations in particular are often far more comfortable speaking on the phone than using messaging, emails, contact forms, or chatbots, ecommerce brands should still offer these methods as an option. There will likely come a time when digital communication is preferred by pretty much everyone in the world, but that day has not come yet.

Contact Form

Contact forms are perhaps one of the most universally used methods of communicating with ecommerce brands and they serve a couple of useful functions.

Firstly, the customer does not need to wait in a queue, and they don’t need to hand on a call while a customer service representative tries to resolve their query. Secondly, it takes pressure off your CSRs and gives them the ability to seek a resolution before they reply to the message.

This also increases customer confidence as they are not listening to the CSR trying to find a solution and reduces the number of CSRs you need on at any one time as they can simply work through the communications at a steady pace. Just make sure you set realistic expectations as to when customers should expect a response by to avoid frustration.

Live Chat

In this author’s humble opinion, live chat is the gold standard for customer communications we have available right now. Being able to connect quickly to a representative and message one another, without having to take time out of your day, gives a brand a staggering advantage in our view.

Plus, live chat means your CSRs can field multiple contacts at one time. Within reason of course.

Make sure your staff are well trained in the nuances of message-based communication – remembering that it is far easier to misinterpret text messages than with voice communication – and live chat will help your ecommerce brand stand out from the crowd when it comes to customer service.

Final Thoughts

Mastering communication is of critical importance in the modern world of retail. With ecommerce brands dominating the landscape, making sure customers can get answers to their questions with the least amount of hassle possible should be a top priority as we move towards 2023.

Customer communication is certain to be part of the conversation at eTail West 2023, taking place in February 27 – March 02 at the JW Marriott Desert Springs, Palm Springs, CA.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.