Shift4Shop eCommerce Blog | Customer Service (2)

Customer feedback is truly the backbone of a thriving business.

A customer review alone is not sufficient – but a positive customer review has become vital in the decision-making process. In fact, a majority of customers are looking for 4 out of 5 stars, because negative reviews are driving factors.

The writing is on the wall: Customer reviews not only instill trust among users but can also positively impact your business's bottom line.

The automation revolution is already changing the face of business. From retail to manufacturing and from healthcare to finance, few sectors have been left untouched. With the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the possibilities for the years ahead are almost endless.

What you might not have realized is that you can also automate many customer service tasks. The progress of automation in customer service has perhaps been slower than in some other sectors. Retailers –[...]

At some point, every company faces the headache that is buyer’s remorse. It stands as an obstacle when we seek to build strong relationships between customers and our businesses. Buyer’s remorse lets you believe you have made a successful sale, only to find that your customer has flipped and is wanting a refund.

Every business understands that, without its customers, it would fail. Of course, that understanding doesn’t always translate into action, which is why so many businesses, both small and large, fail to prioritize customer service and the overall customer experience. When this happens, even huge marketing budgets and fantastic products can’t keep customers lining up for more. 

Keeping your competitive edge in this digital era takes careful planning and preparation to stay ahead. Consumers are continuously bombarded with advertisements and marketing schemes cleverly disguised to try and coerce them to leave their current company and choose a new option. 

When you think about customer service, you probably picture a help desk at a big-box retailer. But as more commerce is conducted online, it looks more like chat windows and widgets.

Customer satisfaction is closely correlated with customer retention and revenue. Any business that wishes to continuously improve its sales and achieve new sales KPIs needs to adopt a customer-centric culture within its organization.

There are many solutions out there that offer you a way to integrate Live Chat support onto your website. However, none of them are really designed for small or medium-sized businesses.

If you’re running a business, you’ve likely compiled a list of overall goals that mean success to you. For most businesses, one of the most prominent goals is to increase your sales. While there’s several ways to do this, one of the most surefire ways to both boost your sales and make your customers happy in the long run is by implementing CRM software. This is especially crucial if you’re running an eCommerce business, which lacks the important face-to-face interaction that brick-and-mortar[...]

At the core of every online business is its customers. Because the nature of eCommerce is entirely virtual, it’s vital that you go above and beyond to cater to every customer on as personal a basis as possible to make up for the lack of physical interaction. This is where customer relationship management comes in: by combining your customer’s behavioral data with their order history, you can put a face to every transaction and communicate to them with that advanced knowledge.

Have you ever wondered what your customers think about your business, products, or services? Gaining this valuable information isn’t as simple as asking every customer one-by-one what they thought of your business – especially if you’re running a larger eCommerce operation.

No matter how careful you are to provide the highest-quality products and the best customer experience, returns are a fact of life in eCommerce. Even if your store policy completely forbids the return of any orders, you're still going to have situations where customers at least want to make a return and inquire about it. You're going to need a system in place to handle returns no matter what.

Designing your website to be fully accessible to any customer, regardless of ability, is vital for providing the best customer experience possible. Not only does your online store have to be fully ADA compliant, but your checkout process must also be optimized with accessibility in mind. Many disabled web users rely on accessibility tools, like screen readers, to more easily navigate the web. By keeping these customers in mind, you’ll stay compliant with ADA standards and include all customers[...]

Call it a revolution or an intrusion, chatbots are here to stay. From top tier companies like Google and Amazon to smaller eCommerce companies, all have been actively deploying chatbots. Whether it is the customer support desk or the team communication process, chatbots have the potential to help with any department.

The nature of how we do business has changed a great deal throughout history, especially with the advent of eCommerce, but one thing has always remained most important: building long-lasting customer relationships. Happy customers provide repeat sales, positive word of mouth, and countless other benefits without which a business can't survive.

New customers are the lifeblood of successful businesses. At least, that is a belief that many business owners have internalized. You can see it in their actions. For example, SocialMediaToday reports that 7 million advertisers spent $10.1 billion on pay-per-click online ads in the year 2017 alone.

For more experienced business owners, though, a different goal reigns supreme: turning one-time shoppers into lifetime buyers. Early on, businesses focus on generating leads. Established businesses,[...]

If you’ve got the best customer service and support team on the planet, even they won’t be able to help customers effectively without the right tools at their disposal. For great customer service, you’ll need tools that your whole team can use to accomplish everything needed to treat customers great and delivery them exactly what they need, whether it’s fast answers to a question or a quick resolution to their issues. Today, we’re going to go through some of the top eCommerce customer service[...]

Today, every marketer is looking to create meaningful connections with consumers for a lasting bond that, over time, converts them into loyal customers. With the rise of direct-to-consumer brands, it is clear that shoppers today want to interact with your company and feel like they are part of a tribe. In fact,  65 percent of people say they feel an emotional connection with a brand or business because they think that the brand cares about them. By optimizing your customer engagement across the[...]

You’ve purchased a radio, but for some reason you just can’t get it to work. It’s still under warranty, so the logical thing to do is call the manufacturer.

After an hour on hold, listening to elevator music, you give up. You then decide to email the company but the email bounces.

As a last-ditch attempt you reach out via their Facebook page, only to be met with silence. Not even an automated acknowledgement of your message.

Infuriated, you vow to never, ever buy anything from this brand again.

Your European customers may have a right to be forgotten, making your business responsible for capturing, tracking, and logging any valid removal requests.

The European Union's recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires businesses to erase an individual's personal data upon request when certain circumstances apply.

This right to erasure or right to be forgotten is found in Article 17 of the GDPR. While there are some exceptions — for the completion of a contract,[...]