How to Improve Customer Service & Increase Conversion Rate
Even though Amazon sellers usually aren’t the first contact point when customers have inquiries, no one should ignore customer service, especially not Amazon sellers.
Amazon is excellent at providing customer service and when your customers have inquiries, it’s Amazon who will be providing the customer service first. And that’s great, isn’t it? However, if things escalate, you as a brand or manufacturer will have to get involved to provide positive customer service along with Amazon.
Many Amazon sellers heavily focus on sales related tasks when it comes to running an online business. Because the sales performance often dictates how well an Amazon store is doing, this has caused a good number of Amazon sellers to lose sight of the importance of customer service and stop them from realizing that consumers also judge a brand by the quality of its support. More often than not, when a customer compares two stores selling the same products, the store with better customer service usually comes out on top.
Providing good customer service is important, but we all can agree it can be challenging. Every customer has the right to after-sale support and it is an Amazon seller’s prerogative to constantly improve the customer service quality.
The Importance of Customer Service for Amazon Sellers
By now, you probably understand the importance of customer service and the responsibility as an Amazon seller. If you’re not quite sure how to improve, that’s totally okay because you’re at the right place to learn.
Great customer service is directly connected with many benefits and advantages. On the other hand, experienced Amazon buyers constantly expect a higher standard of customer service from Amazon sellers.
If you happen to stand out from the crowd, not only you’ll beat your competition (something you’re probably trying to do), but you’ll also attract more customers and most important, get referrals!
Now, you might be wondering, how will other customers know the quality of customer support? Have you ever saw a product review such as this one?
“Product was broken at arrival but what’s great is that the company was extremely generous and sent me a replacement for absolutely free! The product is working ever since and I recommend everyone to get it.”
If this customer has written such a beautiful product review, do you think this customer has told friends and family about the shopping experience and the product? Most likely!
Quality customer support can improve your marketing through word-of-mouth, and even though such marketing channels can’t be precisely measured and statistically analyzed, it’s still an effective strategy deployed by successful sellers.
Having positive product reviews and feedback is still valuable, even nowadays, where you have a sea of information on the internet. And that’s just one of many benefits as a result of great customer service.
Customer Service Challenges for Amazon Sellers
Excellent customer support results in many positive feedback and reviews that are as important as owning good products. Although feedback or product reviews can sometimes “make or
break” your sales on Amazon, so it is a common practice for Amazon sellers try to resolve negative reviews or feedback to minimize the chance of their brand reputation being tainted.
Customers can have high expectations and even be hard-to-please sometimes, but they have every right to be. And no matter how challenging customer service can get, it needs to be done properly, every step of the process.
One happy customer will tell at least 6 other people about it. But guess how many people they will tell if the customer service isn’t satisfying?
Here is the list of the most common challenges Amazon sellers face when providing customer service:
- Not having an answer to the buyer’s question
- Having a hard time understanding what customers want
- Not responding to customers professionally and positively
- Fail to meet customers’ expectations
- Facing angry customers
If you combine a few of these together, you can get customer support that will look awful on the customer’s end. For example, combine facing an angry customer and not having an answer to the buyer’s question. You get the idea of a problem here.
Good news is that it’s not impossible to resolve and overcome such challenges & obstacles and the end result of improving after-sale service can be really rewarding.
Ways to Resolve Challenges and Improve After-Sale Service
Successful, quality and satisfying after-sale service can lead to an increase in conversion rate, and as mentioned earlier – customer service can sometimes make or break your sales.
It’s important to resolve any issues in a timely manner, but also make sure to get a better system in place that will lead to satisfying customer service.
Now when you know the most common problems and the cost of bad customer support – you’re ready for a change.
There are two most important keys to customer service on Amazon and they are generosity and initiative.
Generosity
Sometimes you won’t be able to satisfy the customer and break even financially, but that’s a situation you should prepare yourself for. It’s a situation every Amazon seller has faced at least a couple of times now.
If a customer is experiencing a problem with your product right from a start, you should definitely offer a replacement at no additional cost (unless you’re selling a very expensive product – it will be uneconomical). This basically means you should put customers over your financial burden.
Not everyone loves to think about it, but imagine what could happen if you don’t replace the product.
Initiative
You should always make it super easy for customers to contact you. Yet, you should also go and look out for customers who potentially have issues with your products, rather than waiting for them to come to you.
One of the ways to deal with this as an Amazon seller is emailing customers who have left a negative review.
Great customer service doesn’t come free, and it involves a lot of hard work. After all, it’s a commitment to your customers, and no matter how hard or time consuming it is, it’s always going to pay off in a long run.
The key is to stay organized and having an Amazon seller tool will keep everything ready for excellent customer support in a timely manner.
BigCentral is an Amazon feedback tool built for Amazon sellers that can automate your customer service and feedback & reviews request emails! Start boosting your sales with more feedback and reviews.
Conclusion
Buyer’s are expecting more from customer service than ever before, and if you make sure to provide the best support possible, the long-term results will pay off.
It usually takes very little to separate yourself from the competition, and by implementing generosity and initiative keys to your customer service – it’ll set you ahead of other sellers, and most importantly, build a better brand trust from your potential customers.
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