OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2015. When I purchased an ecommerce business a few years ago, 90 percent of the orders were placed offline. A percentage of these were due to custom sizes not featured on the website. Still, I knew there were better ways to deliver great customer service without flooding your phone lines and email.

Here are 3 ways we improved customer service on our website.

Post Navigation Signs Everywhere

You wouldn’t want to drive around a new city without street names or signs, right? Visiting a website is the same. Each page should act as a guidepost to direct visitors to their next stop. If most of your paid or organic visitors land on a collection page, for example, make sure it’s clear how to navigate to the product pages or ask a question.

Guarantee it

If you have guarantees that separate your company from the rest of the industry, let’s hear about it. It should be easy for a visitor to see this information and understand how it sets you apart.

Checkout Checklist

Go through your checkout process and create a checklist of what is most important. Shipping costs, specific delivery instructions and return policy are just three of the items that should be available to everyone as they move through the order process.

Install Online Chat

When we started to focus on customer service, online chat was our first step. It had an immediate impact in our conversations with customers. However, two edits boosted our chat numbers and increased online conversions:

1. Be proactive

We installed a proactive chat to pop up after visitors clicked through multiple pages or 30 seconds – whichever came first. Originally, I thought it would be an annoyance. Who enjoys pop ups? We discovered that our average consumer has a lot of questions about our products before they buy. It was a positive to have educated people reach out who understood our product lines.

2. Let them know you’re human

Believe it or not, we had to tell visitors that we’re not a robot! After dozens of skeptical replies, we decided to include it in our opening proactive message:

“Hi, thanks for stopping by. I’m a real, live person – no robots here! Can I help you in any way?”

It worked immediately (most of the time).

Start Shooting Video

Newsflash: the average online consumer is not reading product descriptions. They are however, watching videos. Viewers are up to 85% more likely to purchase after watching a product video.

Start Small

The good news: it isn’t difficult to create your own videos in-house. If you’re on a shoestring budget there are a number of ways to save money and make your content look professional. Remember to create a production and editing schedule and stick to it.

Answer Common Questions

The key to creating great video customer service is to use them as guides, rather than just sales tools. Product videos are great, but content that focuses on solving customer problems are going to have a greater impact. Create trust that they’re buying from an expert.

For ecommerce companies, customer service starts on the website. Today, 50 percent of our orders are placed online and we’re a more efficient company because of it.

About the Author

Ben Camerota is the President at MVP Visuals, a supplier of custom branded displays for live events. They work with companies, of all sizes, to make their event marketing experiences pop. You can reach him at ben@mvpvisuals.com

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