The recent shift in customer behavior has enabled the e-commerce industry to surpass $500 billion in revenue in 2021. Online shopping has become increasingly popular because of its convenience, and consumers also demand proactive customer service support. Going big on e-commerce customer service is the smartest way to drive growth for your business.
Leveraging advanced call center software features, businesses can provide greater accessibility and improved service quality for customers to drive revenue growth.
This article will explore how call center software can enhance eCommerce customer service.
What Is E-commerce Customer Service?
Before, during, and after online sales, e-commerce customer service addresses customers’ questions, needs, and concerns. It entails responding to messages on e-commerce marketplaces or social media channels (via email, text, or phone) to convert leads, respond to queries, and provide guidance in buying.
E-commerce customer service focuses on stitching together multiple touchpoints for tailoring a seamless customer journey. It establishes the framework for assisting customers at different stages of the customer lifecycle. The following customer interactions are included:
- Queries related to products
- Order status tracking
- Refund/replacement concerns
- Feedback collection
- Market survey
- Telemarketing
- Technical support
E-commerce call center software streamlines and optimizes these processes to enable businesses to deliver exceptional customer service.
Seven Ways to Leverage E-commerce Customer Service Software
Setting up an e-commerce call center system becomes easier when empowered with the right technology tool. Here are some examples of how call center software can improve e-commerce customer service, boosting revenue generation:
1) Implementing Workflow Automation
Repetitive tasks in business operations waste a lot of time and resources. Call center software implements workflow automation to unburden your employees from these tasks. For instance, data entry can be easily automated through this software. Another perk of automating such tasks is that it minimizes human error and enhances accuracy.
2) Adapting the Omnichannel Approach
Today, just providing a calling number to your customer isn’t enough. You have to be proactive in providing customer support through multiple channels such as email, social media messaging, live chat, etc. Handling so many channels through different platforms can hold you back from providing quick and appropriate responses. Here’s where an omnichannel e-commerce call center software comes to your aid.
It integrates all communication channels into a unified platform for delivering consistent customer service. This feature indeed helps businesses take their customer support experience to the next level.
3) Providing Self-Service Options
With the emerging demand for quick customer service, businesses are leveraging new-age technologies like AI and ML to implement self-service options. It effectively reduces delays in customer service and enhances the overall customer experience. Some of the most used self-service options are IVR and chatbots. When you invest in call center software, most service providers include an IVR system in the package.
Businesses can further enhance self-service capability by making useful content available on websites. In this case, call center software can help businesses figure out customer pain points and common queries by identifying frequently used phrases through speech analytics.
4) Personalizing Customer Experience
The concept of e-commerce personalization implies treating every customer differently. With the proliferation of online commerce, these businesses must tailor their customers’ recommendations according to their tastes, preferences, personalities, etc. But how can businesses gain access to all these insights? Through call center data analytics and reporting. It gathers data through conversations and analyzes them to build customer profiles. Customer profiling serves the above-mentioned purpose easily.
Another way to improve the efforts of personalized experience is by integrating your CRM software into the call center software. It assists agents with essential customer information for leading the conversation and finally making sales.
5) Establishing the Most Suitable Call Routing Strategy
Keeping your customers on hold makes them feel frustrated. To avoid prolonged call queues, your call routing strategy must be in place. Call center software enables you to set different call routing strategies such as direct routing, self-service routing, time-based routing, skill-based routing, least cost routing, data-directed routing, etc. It not only enhances the customer service experience but also reduces call drop-offs. The software also offers an interactive voice response (IVR) system for identifying simple problems and resolving them. Alternatively, it also routes the calls to the right department. It increases customer service efficiency and improves call center KPIs.
6) Using Call Recording as Training Material
Call recording is an invaluable resource that assists in determining the customer’s strengths and weaknesses. It helps you to gain valuable insights and improve your customer engagement strategy. These recordings can also be used to train new agents and practice sales pitches. Call recording provides the applicable knowledge that agents can learn to acquire several techniques and strategies to handle difficult customer problems.
7) Evaluating Agent Performance Regularly
Agent performance serves as a dominant factor in determining your customer service. Therefore, assessing agent capabilities is a must to ensure a positive e-commerce service experience. Key performance indicators (KPIs) come in handy here. KPIs are metrics that allow a business to track the success of its operations. These parameters help in evaluating whether agents are on track to meet their goals. Features like agent dashboards and data analytics enable you to get complete visibility of agent performance. Moreover, reporting also uncovers the training needs of your agents.
Five Best Practices for Flawless E-commerce Customer Support
Here are some key points you must keep in mind to elevate your eCommerce customer service:
1) Mapping Out the Customer Journey
A customer’s journey usually includes several touchpoints where they interact with the company. These touchpoints must be mapped out for delivering an impactful customer service experience. You should collaborate with the sales team to identify ways to assist them in closing sales while supporting leads at a decision-making level. Additionally, personalized treatment should be provided for specific customers based on where they are in the sales pipeline. The process of mapping consumer interactions with your brand across all channels is known as omnichannel touchpoint mapping. It provides brands with insight into the customer journey and allows them to tailor a satisfactory customer experience for them.
2) Tracking the Right Metrics/KPI
There are numerous customer service metrics you can use to assess the success of your e-commerce customer service. Average response time, support quality level, average resolution time, negative social media comments, and converted tickets created by the channel are among the top metrics. Set monthly benchmarks for these metrics in addition to tracking them so that you can identify any dips or peaks and resolve issues. Leverage call center data analytics to get ahold of quick and accurate insights on agent capabilities.
3) Gathering Customer Feedback
Customer reviews can greatly impact how many people buy your products. Customers are pleased when their candid feedback is considered. Customer feedback can help you understand how well your product or service performs. Furthermore, you can improve your service based on their feedback.
4) Offering Call Back Option
In today’s fast-paced world, the time has become precious. When your customer reaches out to customers, they may not have a few minutes to spare. Do you accept it as a dead end? If you can offer a call-back option, that dead lead may actually convert into your loyal customer. Therefore, implement this call center feature to allow customers to connect with your brand on their terms without disrupting their lives. They no longer have to wait on hold for help or end the call in a hurry.
5) Ensuring Transparency
Customers don’t like sharing their personal information with any business until they trust it. Therefore, it’s your sole responsibility to earn their trust by ensuring security and privacy. E-commerce call center software must have adequate security compliances to protect your business data from different types of cyber attacks. It also provides several features, such as fraud prevention and end-to-end encryption, to prevent data breaches. When customers become aware of all these securities, it will automatically build brand loyalty.
Conclusion
Good e-commerce customer support software positions your support teams to be as effective as possible. It helps create not only meaningful dialogue with customers but also optimizes call center operations. As a result, it boosts quicker customer issue resolution and provides a five-star customer service experience.
