Customer service is a key

Customer service is a key I wrote on customer service before, but I want to address the issue again, because it is an important issue. In fact, get the customer service online (or offline), commercial law could make the difference between success and failure .... I am not what you sell, you sell, providing the service or who is your target market, if not make the effort to provide the highest quality of customer service, we certainly missed somewhere along the line sale is subject . The fresh in my mind right now, because I had the opportunity to make more purchases online during the last week or more levels of service I received varied considerably. At one end of the scale, I had excellent service and conversely, some companies have completely ignored my requests for help! Not surprisingly, I think (though there is no excuse for ignoring the paying customers), but the companies that really for me are those who have made an effort to communicate on a "personal" level. Ie the time to answer my e-mail rather than ignore them in the hope that their level of e-mail generated automatically do the trick. Those companies that have the extra miles to make me feel like a valuable customer are those who reap the rewards in the future, because I will come back to buy again. It 'so simple that really surprises me when companies and individuals effort.So not bother to take what you can do to ensure that your online business offers the right level of customer service? Well, here are some ideas to start .... 1. Make sure your site is a "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. This will help your customers find answers to their questions immediately, without the need to send an e-mail or make a call. How many of you know, I have established a Support Center earlier this year, which includes a knowledge base of frequently asked questions. Not only that, but to help customers, it also reduced my email considerably.2. Make sure that your data is easily found. In general, companies can get away with not publish a phone number (but if you want to do is even better), but it is vital to a working e-mail is available to customers. Note that I said "work" email address - if your ISP is filtering for spam and your e-mail spam, and will not work because it is very easy for a real e-mail sent to the trash in error.3. You should put the store site so that when the purchase was made, a confirmation email is sent automatically to the buyer. This lets them know that their order has been received and confirms that it is being processed. I can not spend money when offline and also receive a confirmation e-mail! 4th E-mail or respond to all queries within 24 hours. That said, I think 24 hours is too long to wait for a response from your company. I have always shown for my site that will respond within 24 hours, most emails answered within 8 hours absolute maximum. If an online business can not or will not be for me to respond within 24 hours, so do not deal with them. 'Afraid I have little time for anyone running a business that says it can not respond to e-mail in 24 hours. Even when I was a full-time job, I checked my e-mail first thing in the moing and then again in the evening so that customers are not left waiting. I even check my e-mail every day when I am on vacation, if I can do it, why not others? Ok, you want to have free time during the weekend - which is fair enough, but make sure your website tells your customers that your office is required only for Monday Friday.Mind you, every online entrepreneur who does not check the e-mail over the weekend, something is missing. These are just some of the sales on Saturday / Sunday and I know that sometimes it is because I find it difficult to respond to a message sent to one of these days, in a few hours. If I had left until Monday, it is likely that one of my competitors have obtained sale.I met some entrepreneurs who went on holiday for two to three weeks and only left their e-mail pile up. I find it hard to believe that everyone takes seriously their will, but I saw that happen. If you want to take a vacation and do not want to check your e-mail, fine, but be sure to find someone else to do while you're away. Send an automated message saying "We will respond to your email address in two weeks ..." is not enough. If you want to be able to clear for a break and forget your work, you need a job, not your business.5. Finally, deal with complaints quickly and fairly. Whatever type of business you run, you get complaints from time to time - you can not please everyone all the time. Many times you probably feel that the complaint is not justified and, in many cases - may be a strange breed! However, while the handle and move forward - do not bother to hang on.Spending time customer service is time well spent - it is selling and most important, which brings customers back again and again. To quote an old adage, it's much easier / cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one.Copyright 2005 Richard Grady GradyRichard is helping people ea online since 1998. looking for wholesalers to (UK) and (U.S.).