Last night, a good friend and I decided to head out for a nice, quiet dinner at a popular local restaurant. Because it was a Wednesday evening, the restaurant was fairly empty. We were shown to our table by a polite hostess and were sitting, enjoying the atmosphere when “she” arrived. Our waitress.

She flew by our table at about 125mph, tossing our menus at us without so much as a glance or a “hello”. My friend and I were a little put off, but we figured that there must be some good reason for her rude behavior. Maybe there was a fire in the kitchen? Maybe she kindly figured she should give us our menus before she put it out?

My friend and I were chatting when she darted up to our table again. This time she stopped. Without any kind of greeting, she briskly requested our drink orders. As she turned to leave, I asked my friend if she was ready to order. The waitress paused as she heard this, decided without asking that we couldn’t be ready to order yet, rolled her eyes in annoyance, and rushed away. When she finally graced us with her presence again, our drinks were sloppily shoved across the table, and our orders demanded without any of the usual niceties – we were afraid to ask her for the specials.

We were right to be afraid. She blasted by our table yet again, never once looking our way as she threw our knives and forks at us.

I’m sure you get the picture! While the food was good, it was hard to really enjoy the meal! The waitress had completely ruined the experience for us because of her poor customer service. At the end of the meal, she did pause to smile as she asked us if we’d enjoyed our food. But by then it was too little, too late. We will never eat in that restaurant again!

That waitress broke every rule in the customer service handbook – and then some! And unfortunately, while the food was good, her behavior and attitude reflected poorly on the entire establishment.

I’m sure that most of you have similar customer service horror stories that you could tell! Think about those experiences for a moment. Now think about the customer service that you are providing your online customers with. Is there any reason that they might have horror stories to tell about you?

This is an important question! You see, if providing quality customer service is important offline (And it is!), then it is doubly so online!

Think about this for a moment – If I really wanted to, I could storm back to that restaurant right now, demand to speak with the manager, and complain to my hearts content about the horrendous service I received that evening. I know where to go, I know who to speak to, and I know that I can make an impact with a face-to-face conversation.

What recourse does your online clientele have? Can they fly halfway across the country, even halfway across the world, to have a personal discussion with you about a question or grievance they might have? Probably not.

The barrier that every netrepreneur struggles to break through when developing an online business is the faceless nature of e-commerce. Customers rarely catch a glimpse of who they are giving their personal information and hard earned cash to, so online relationships are very dependant on trust and good faith. This is why it is absolutely essential that you make customer service one of your top priorities!

Let me give you another example:

I recently purchased a couple of birthday gifts for a friend online. While filling out the order form, I was asked whether I wanted the items shipped together, or separately. This option was provided in case part of my order was not in stock at that time. I selected the “ship items together” option, paid for my purchase, and left the site without giving it a second thought.

Two weeks later, my package arrived. However, I was baffled to discover that only one of the items had been shipped. So the search began…

First of all, locating the phone number for customer service was a challenge in itself. The invoice that I received was clearly intended to be read by the company, not by the average consumer. Fine print and far too much information that was not relevant to me!

When I did finally manage to find the number and call the company, I was put on hold for what seemed like an eternity. Then, the customer service representative that I wasable to speak with could not help me. He had no idea where my other item might be. Period. After some prying, he finally agreed to contact the folks in shipping. Meanwhile, I’m back on hold for another 15 minutes.

In the end, it turned out that the other item I’d purchased was out of stock so, despite my request, they had decided to go ahead and ship the items separately. Not only did this company completely disregard my instructions, they wasted my valuable time, showing a complete lack of respect.

Would I ever buy from this company again? Not on your life! I trusted these folks to deliver my purchase in a timely fashion, in the manner that I had specified. They broke our agreement and left me feeling helpless and cheated. Where was my purchase? Who could I call? Who could I contact if the Customer Service Representative was not able to assist me?

This is why quality customer service is so important when doing business online. The faceless nature of e-commerce means that customers doubly value a merchant/customer relationship that is built on professional, personalized service.

So what does quality customer service involve? The following ten points illustrate the basics of developing good relations with your customers:

1. Make sure that your customers feel valued! Let your customers know that you appreciate their business by thanking them. For smaller businesses, a personal phone call is great and it gives you a chance to make sure that the customer is completely satisfied. If phone calls are not possible, you could e-mail them a simple thank you note; or give them a free gift that is of worth to them. Remember: a customer who feels valued is more likely to come back for seconds!
2. Manners are nice – but expertise is better! While it is very important that your Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are polite and cheerful, a positive attitude is worth nothing without product (or service) expertise. Ensure that your CSRs have the knowledge and authority to deal with customer inquiries and complaints in a fast and effective manner. A response of “I know exactly how to assist you” will have a far greater impact than a polite “I don’t know anything about that”.
3. Ensure a timely delivery of your product or service! Did you know that one of the most common causes of customer dissatisfaction is delayed fulfillment? Check and be sure that your packages are arriving within the promised time frame.
4. Don’t make promises you can’t keep! Customers appreciate honesty. If you promise something, you had better be able to deliver on it. Otherwise, you will be doing your business a great disservice. People are far more likely to repeat stories about poor customer service than top notch customer service. It’s human nature — we expect the best!
5. Don’t pass the buck; take responsibility! If a mistake has been made or a customer is dissatisfied with the product or service they have received, take ownership of the problem and assure the customer that their concerns are valid. Show them that you are willing to work with them to solve the problem. This will help them to realize that no deliberate deception took place. In fact, when their problems are handled in an efficient and timely manner, these folks will often become some of your best customers!
6. Reward customer loyalty! Do you have customers who regularly purchase from you? Have you taken time lately to thank them for their patronage? This is a very important strategy that many online business owners neglect as they focus entirely on attracting new customers. You need to acknowledge the value of these loyal customers because they truly are your bread and butter.
7. Be available! Be sure that your customers can easily contact you 24 hours a day, seven days a week by phone, fax, or e-mail. Although smaller businesses may not be able to afford an after hours answering service, be sure that you always let people know when they can expect a response by.

Important Note: An inexpensive way to take your customer service to the next level is through the use of such software as Mailloop. Thanks to Mailloop, you can now automatically confirm that you have received questions, orders, requests, etc – with an e-mail that lets your customers know when you will be getting back to them. This kind of automation is extremely powerfulbecause you can also set it up to reply to requests for specific information (i.e. FAQs) by immediately e-mailing the documents requested! How’s that for a great response time? It all happens instantly, and you never need to lift a finger! (To learn more about this fantastic piece of software that will make providing high quality customer service a breeze, click here.)

8. Respond to inquiries and complaints in a timely fashion! A quick response to a casual inquiry will appear professional and therefore establish credibility. As for responding to customer complaints, think of it as damage control! The faster you respond, the more likely it is that you will be able to both repair the mistake and restore the customer’s faith in you.
9. Personal touches are the icing on the cake. Customers who know that you have gone the extra mile to help them meet (or exceed!) their goals are the ones who become loyal customers for life. Every little bit counts! From personalizing e-mail by using their name to providing free shipping on a rush order, it all adds up to money in the bank.
10. Attitude matters! I think that evil waitress made this point abundantly clear. If you’re rude and disrespectful to people, then you certainly can’t expect them to buy from you. How can they trust you? A friendly, positive, helpful attitude is going to get you much further in the end.

Overall, your goal should be to create a quality service experience. And the great thing is, while improving your customer service doesn’t have to cost you a penny, it will be what sets you apart from the pack.