No time or money? Your shop can still ace its customer service

When you had that initial idea to open up your online shop, I bet you never once said to yourself ‘I can’t wait to start responding to all my customers’ problems!’

The thing is, no matter how good we think our shops are, there’s always going to be something we missed. A problem that needs to be solved. And when the questions start rolling in from customers, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed.

So if you’re on a tight budget or haven’t much time, these are some customer service tricks you can implement in your shop right now. They’ll help you make sure your brand’s image remains in tip top shape - even when your customers are having problems.

Always acknowledge the message

When you’re busy running the rest of your online shop, it’s easy to leave things for later. But if you’re a customer with a problem, that problem can feel like the most important thing in the world. Your first step should be to acknowledge that you’ve received your customer’s message.

While you might decide to use an autoresponder to do this, keep in mind that you’ll lose a bit of that human touch that shoppers love about small to medium sized shops. In the end, people like knowing they’re talking to other people.

So, how can you keep the personal touch? A quick reply to the customer lets them know that you’re actually working on their problem and the fact that you’re a human means they’ll be more empathetic as you solve it.

And while you might be thinking that you could also install a chatbot in your shop, chatbots require immediacy, and if you’re reading this article, you probably can’t stop everything at the drop of a hat to respond to customer requests your chatbot can’t solve for you.

But I don’t have time to write a long reply!

Don’t worry. Long paragraphs don’t equal good customer service. Short answers are just as good and can be more efficient, especially if you’re short on time. Your customer doesn’t expect a long explanation anyway, they just want to know you’re working on their problem and what the solution is. Writing a one or two line response is totally OK.

Be transparent with your customers

Another quick win when it comes to good customer service is to be transparent with your customers. If you need more time, just let them know. Again, the most important thing for the customer is to know that their problem is being solved.

Why is this important? Just think about how agonising it is waiting for a bus when you don’t know if it will come around the corner in the next 10 seconds or 10 minutes. Psychology says humans love certainty, so use this knowledge to your advantage.

Try to reduce the number of requests you’re receiving

It’s always a good idea to analyse your shop and see if there are ways for you to reduce the number of customer service requests you’re receiving and save you time further down the line.

Share important information in the right place at the right time

If a customer sees certain information at a moment or in a place where it’s relevant to them, that can reduce the number of customer service requests arriving into your inbox.

This could be something as simple as adding a message about how long shipping takes while going through the checkout process, or adding to the receipt the number of days a customer has if they want to return what they bought.

Many companies slip a piece of paper into the delivery box that explains the returns policy and process. Some even include the actual label you need to stick on the box to send it back. Anticipating your shopper’s needs can reduce the volume of emails you have to deal with further down the line.

Identify incident trends

If you’ve tried all of the above techniques and you’re still receiving a high volume of emails, your next best bet is to sit down and look for trends in these emails.

Keep and eye out for incidents that are related to the same issue. If you start noticing trends, you can focus on fixing that exact problem. You might find a high number of emails are related to a technical issue at checkout, or maybe there’s an issue with some of your stock.

Know your products

Learn about your products in detail so that you can quickly respond to customer service requests without needing to do a lot of research. If you’re up to date on what you’re selling, you can solve the problem quicker and give better support.

Put yourself in your shoppers' shoes

By applying the tips above, you can reduce stress and anxiety when it comes to dealing with your shoppers' problems. The best customer service comes when you recognise your customer's issue, are transparent in everything you do to solve it, and empathetic in your communication.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can take a deep dive into Motive’s customer service strategy over on this Medium post.