Your web-based business won’t flourish if your customers aren’t confident that their purchase will be safe and secure.

Unlike a brick-and-mortar shop where customers can track who touches their credit cards or gauge how careful you are with their purchase, online services require that customers place a high level of trust in your business.

High quality service and support will make your company’s products and services stand out from the crowd — and instill loyalty in your customers, says Edward Hopkins, an online marketing expert.

Make sure your company’s service team exceeds customers’ expectations in these key areas to turn them into life-time customers, Hopkins suggests:

• Offer personal service. All too often, a customer runs into a roadblock online and reaches for the telephone to get help — only to wind up dealing with an electronic support system. Better: Staff at least one call center so that people can speak with a real, live service agent when they run into problems. This makes customers feel personally invested in your business, Hopkins explains.
• Accept customers’ feedback. No website is beyond improvement. You can create a more user-friendly and informative web presence simply by being open to customers’ suggestions and using their comments as guidelines for improving your website. Try this: Give your customers a few different avenues for providing feedback. For instance, you can solicit their suggestions directly on your website or train customer service reps to ask callers what services or features they’d like you to offer online.
• Give multiple contact methods. Some of your customers like to make phone calls while others prefer sending email. You must offer customers different options for contacting you with their issues or concerns, Hopkins says. Get started: List at least one toll-free telephone number and one email address for customers to use. Then consider other options, such as automatic customer-call-back or live chat.

Filed under: Customer Service Corner