If you can delight your customers and website visitors with great customer service, you will earn their loyalty and respect. Here are a few tips for meeting and exceeding your customers expectations for great service.

Fast Response to E-mails
In November of last year, a Jupiter Consumer Survey, showed that a majority of consumers (57%) said the speed of a response to e-mail inquiries would affect their decision to make future purchases from that website. Last December, data from Jupiter Media Metrix in showed that only 30% of retailers resolved basic customer service requests online within 6 hours. Furthermore, 33% of retailers took more than 3 days to respond or did not respond at all. (http://www.jmm.com/xp/jmm/press/2002/pr_010302.xml)

When customers are at the mall or in a physical store, they receive immediate feedback from sales personnel (at least on good days!). As evidenced by the above statistics, many online retailers don't even come close to giving visitors a fast response. Make fast, personal responses to e-mail a high priority and you will win points with your customers. I cannot tell you how many times I have received thank yous for simply replying within an hour of when a website visitor sent us an e-mail.

Addressing Customer Concerns
Many times customers will contact you with a complaint or a concern. The skill with which you handle these situations will determine their willingness to work with you in the future. Make sure you carefully read their e-mail and try and understand their problem. Then, go out of your way to assist them. When you write your e-mail response be sure the first thing you say is something positive (i.e. "Thank you for contacting us with your concern..") If you cannot assist them, or there is no way to repair the inconvenience that can be caused to them -- offer them something for free or try to assist them in some other way. We have found that by going out of our way to address customer concerns, we have turned many frustrated customers into loyal customers who tell others about our great service.

Easy Online Methods of Contact
Make sure that it is easy for visitors to contact you via your website. This doesn't simply mean placing your e-mail address on your site (although that is a good start). Make sure it is easy to find your phone number and e-mail address. Also, make sure you have a web form that e-mails you with their contact information. This can assist visitors in contacting you who may not have an e-mail program setup on the machine they are using. You can see an example of an online contact form here: http://www.bwedd.com/couples/contactus.asp

Put It To Use
Start replying to e-mails quickly and with a great attitude. Ask your web designer about making it easier for visitors to contact you via your website or call Brilliance Web Design at 414-425-4069.