Discuss the role played by e-commerce in providing customer service at the various stages
Answers
Today internet has became a very important part of humans' life and we spend maximum of our time on the internet like on social media platforms.
So this gives the companies and brands to capture attention of potential customers. Also in the competitive market customer satisfaction is the prime factor for brand loyality and top preference.
Through E-commerce customer services has been improved over past decades. Today we have online shopping websites, online payment options and online money transfer system to make work easier through internet.
Also customer services at various stages on e-commerce includes sales services on mails, easy payment through installments, bonus points for discounts and so on. Shopping or banking through e-commerce has been a revolution in the history of economy.
Answer:
Explanation:
If you wish to win, first do what everyone else is already doing. Then move to something that many can’t do. Then work on something that would give you an edge over the others. To succeed as a company doing business online, you need an effective e-commerce service strategy to guide your engagement with customers throughout their many interactions with you.
We developed this step-by-step guide as a starting point to help you understand the basics of what other companies are doing so you can identify the table-stakes for doing business and identify where your strategic opportunities are for competitive advantage.
Understand the Scope of Customer Interactions
Engaging in electronic commerce is a lot different from traditional brick-and-mortar retail and services delivered in-person. There is no such thing as “business hours” when you are doing business online. Your business is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and your customers expect you to interact with them whatever time is convenient for them. Digital businesses are also global businesses that often cross political, cultural and language boundaries. Your customers expect you to understand and be sensitive to their unique needs in the way you interact with them.
Modern e-commerce is a lot more than sales and taking orders on a website—it is the holistic set of interactions you have with your customers. The best way to figure out the scope of your customer interactions is by asking a set of questions about the various times that a customer might need to engage with you.
How do your customers learn about your company and your products and services?
How do they engage with you to ask questions and then to place an order?
What happens after the order is placed (how do they receive products and services)?
How do they interact with you if they have a problem or question after the sale?
What is their billing experience?
These are all the types of interactions that your e-commerce service strategy needs to support. You may enable these interactions through self-help capabilities and automation or you may use technology to enable customers to interact with your employees. Those are decisions that should be based on your unique company culture and business strategy as you seek to both meet customer needs and gain the edge over your competitors.
Develop a Multi-channel Engagement Strategy
E-Commerce doesn’t just mean having customers to do things on a website—it means using technology to help you interact and engage with them in a variety of different ways. Technology may take many forms including: websites, email, phone, chat, mobile apps, online marketplaces and social media. Each of these enables you to interact with customers in a different way and it is important to choose the right tools and techniques to match your communication needs
One-way vs. 2-way interaction—Are you trying to share information with customers? Do they need to communicate with you? The nature of the interaction is important to determine whether you need a capability for sending/receiving information or whether you need a capability to carry on a conversation with the customer.
Real-time or delayed responses—When your customer asks you a question, do they need a response right now or can they wait to get an answer? Increasingly, customers are seeking real-time interactions with companies they do business with, meaning you will need both technical capabilities and staffing to engage with them effectively.
Voice, text or picture-based communication—how do your customers want to interact with you? Do the questions involve a set of complex steps or a lot of details that is best accomplished in writing? Do you need to express empathy for customer frustrations that are best done with words? Do you need to show the customer how to do something where pictures and video are appropriate? Using the right communication tools for communication not only helps you engage effectively, it can improve customer perceptions of the ease of doing business with you.
One-to-one vs. interacting with a group—Do you need to communicate with a single customer, or are you trying to communicate with a group? Group communication may include things like email marketing, announcing new offering, answering common questions and engaging in discussions on social media. Group communication is often less personal and more suited for one-way communication or common topics that others might be interested in.