There are many ingredients to running and maintaining a successful online business. You must have a website that meets all the SEO requirements so that the search engines can index you properly. Your keywords should be concise and reflective of the product or products that you are selling. You need to promote and market your brand through email, newsletters, social networks, article submissions, blogs, etc.
Say you have done all of the above and more and you have garnered traffic and have a decent conversion rate but your analytics show that 90% of your customers are new and only 10% repeat consumers. You are left scratching your head and wondering why. The answer is quite simple - what kind of Customer Service are you giving?
It does not matter whether you have a product that is exclusively yours or if you sell in a very competitive niche. It does not matter if your prices are reasonable. It does not matter if you offer free shipping or a free gift. If you do not offer superior customer service you will not get that most valued ingredient to any online business - the repeat customer.
Repeat customers are satisfied customers. These customers swear by your product and spread the news by word of mouth, social networking with their friends, showing what they purchased to others and buying more from you.
How do you get these loyal repeat customers? To put it very simply:
- Let your customers how very important they are to you.
- Answer every email promptly so your customer knows you are attentive to their needs
- Take the time to listen to their need.
- Give them options to choose from
- Help them come to a decision
- If they are undecided give them some time. Tell them you will be here when they are ready to make a decision. If you have laid the ground work properly they will come back and buy from you.
One of the best lessons I learned growing up is "to get something you have to give something". Weigh the cost of what you are giving against the cost of what your customer will give in return and you might be surprised which will come out on top.
Make your product guarantee work for you!! It is not just a bunch of words thrown together to give your customers confidence when purchasing from you. It must be respected as the valuable asset it is! If you have a customer with a genuine complaint pay attention to what they are saying - don't just brush them off or try to wriggle out of the problem. And always give them a little more than they are asking for if you can. It will come back to you a hundred fold.
My own store, JenaLis Charms, give this assurance to our customers:
We strive for excellence not only in the merchandise we sell but in giving the best customer service we possibly can. We pride ourselves on our attention to detail with all transactions. Showing our customers how very important they are to us is a standard of pride for our company. We treat each customer with respect and courtesy and go out of our way to accommodate them whenever we can. When you order from us you may rest assured that it will be handled in a timely manner.
Customer Testimonials tell the truth. This are two we received recently:
- The Customer Service is Stellar! I feel like they are friends of mine not just an outlet for 'stuff'. I HIGHLY Recommend these wonderful women and their products and I am not finished purchasing yet! I will be building bracelets for my friends and family for years to come. THANK YOU JENALIS!!
- I cannot even begin to tell you what these charms meant to all of my family. I gave everyone in our family a bracelet and one of these charms, specific to them. Jenalis Charms went out of their way to do this EXACTLY how I wanted it. Sent me proofs to check, and tried different ways, just to make sure that I liked it. I don't even think my order was $20.00. But I was treated like I spent a Million Dollars!!!!!!
Always remember - Satisfied customers are your greatest asset!
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