At retail brick-and-mortar locations, sales associates and managers have the chance to approach customers and see if they need help with their purchases. This helps to give shopping at physical storefronts a more personalized touch, as consumers feel more valued and appreciated. However, when merchants also operate ecommerce websites, they are not able to offer this kind of service. Fortunately, there are certain components that internet retailers can use to ensure effective service is provided, such as live web chat and click-to-call options. Failing to include these aspects can cost businesses significant amounts of revenue as well as decreases in customer retention and loyalty.

Consumers expect efficient online service
According to a recently released study by LivePerson, 83 percent of consumers surveyed stated they need support options when they are shopping online. Among the most popular forms of online service are live chat, with 57 percent of respondents preferring this offering, click-to-call at 34 percent and video chat with 7 percent.

In addition, the research revealed there are three key factors that shoppers are looking for online. Being able to have their issues resolved quickly was the main component with 82 percent of responses, while 56 percent said resolving service problems with one interaction was most important. Having friendly and engaging conversations garnered 45 percent, the study found.

“With consumers becoming more adept and familiar with digital channels, they have come to expect the same levels of help and customer service as they would in a physical store,” stated Jeremy Sokolic, senior vice president of marketing for LivePerson “To drive conversions and really impact customer loyalty, online businesses need to be able to derive insights from consumer behavior, identify the type and level of engagement that consumers require, and respond accordingly.”

Improvement also requires customer-centricity
Besides offering online service options such as the ones listed above, Ecommerce Bytes writes that internet retailers must also put more focus on customers and incorporate their feedback frequently into websites. In addition, the source recommends that developing easy-to-use processes for internet shoppers helps streamline the browsing and purchasing transactions. Having too many confusing elements can lead to consumers turning to other sites to find the products they want. The source writes that providing the most effective service through the internet will require hard work, and web retailers need to be willing to put in the effort to see the best results.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 at 9:42 am .