As the demand for online shopping increases in 2020 and 2021, customer service has become a key aspect of ecommerce. A great customer experience is crucial to differentiating your business in a competitive market, but not every company realizes this. As a result, there is a growing gap between what customers expect and what brands can deliver.
What do you have to do to prevent your business from unsatisfied customers? What should your brand do to create the best customer experience? Let’s take a look at the top insights from the Simplr report on the State of Ecommerce Customer Service to find out the answers!
For customer service inquiries, email remains the most popular digital channel. It’s a tried-and-true channel for customers and online businesses despite text messaging, social media direct messages, and live chat. Yet, this type of communication must be quick, accessible, and full of empathy.
However, 21% of the surveyed online retailers did not have an email support channel readily available.
It’s because of the:
- Poor user experience
The shoppers were instructed to search for an email for at least two minutes. If your website visitor cannot find your email within two minutes, you need to update your UX.
- Channel deflection
Some companies may utilize other customer support channels such as text messages, direct social messages, or live chat. Of course, it’s always best to have multiple CX channels, but email shouldn’t be excluded.
You can use email as part of your digital strategy in a number of ways, but ensure your email address is highly visible as the first step!
Further, the email CX strategy relies heavily on response time. Rapid-fire responses dazzle customers; two-day answers drive them away.
Source: State of Ecommerce Customer Service
The study also shows how rare it is for the NOW Customer to get exactly what they want: a quick email response with a genuine human touch. For example, if a customer expressed frustration over a delayed order, an effective response would acknowledge this, define a sincere apology for the situation, and promise to deliver as soon as possible.
Yet, only 4.5% of companies answered emails in under 15 minutes and showed empathy toward the problem.
Chat, Live Chat, and Chatbot
This report also analyzed another critical component of the customer experience: unresolved chats. In today’s world, customers take full advantage of chats, so it’s good to know that time is also of the essence in this type of communication.
Source: State of Ecommerce Customer Service
There is a stronger correlation between customer satisfaction and first response times. For example, for exceptional interactions, the average first response time for unusual interactions was 19 seconds, whereas, for poor interactions, it was 47 seconds.
Even though customers value speed, businesses shouldn’t make processes faster by automating everything. “Exceptional” chat experiences feature long, personalized interactions. What’s more, people will commit time and loyalty to your brand if you present them with a human connection.
In addition, most of the 1,500 researched brands did not offer at least one critical component of an exceptional customer experience, whether it was email response time, ability to resolve a chat interaction, or even not having a chat or email at all.
Source: State of Ecommerce Customer Service
Winners of Ecommerce Customer Service
They are some companies that scored ‘Exceptional’ experience ratings, ‘Very Easy’ effort ratings, and high repurchase intent scores. The list is as follows:
Source: State of Ecommerce Customer Service
Most companies that are winning in online customer experience have some common traits. The following four hallmarks of exceptional chat experiences can be applied to your company’s strategy:
- First, chat is designed to be a revenue-driving CX channel.
- Second, email response time can be a tool to delight.
- Third, chat includes an intelligent blend of humans and technology.
- Fourth, chat is a component of a NOW CX approach to customer service.
Over to you
The pandemic has undoubtedly increased the demands of customers. Therefore, if you want to keep your audience with your brand, you must look after their needs and fulfill them. So keep an eye on email and chat in particular, no matter if you use regular chat, live chat, or chatbots.
