As companies go online to expand business and reach customers, customer requirements, on other hand,  have become more demanding.

There is now a competition between which company is timely at giving feedback to customers. Social media has made that possible. This is in fact good for customers.

So, Business2Community, an independent online community focused on sharing the latest news surrounding social media among other things, comes up with seven virtual customer service tips.

Over communication. Just like with your virtual workers, your clients cannot look over their cubicle wall to see if you are busy at work.  Once you accept an assignment let them know. This can be through an automated message or a personal one. Another form of this is “thank you for your order” confirmation emails.

Timely Response. In addition to letting clients know that you have accepted their order be sure to ask any questions or return items in an appropriate time span. For example, as a content writing service we ask clients questions during the first 24 hours of accepting a project. That way a client knows we have not only accepted the project but are actively working on it. Imagine having a 5 day turnaround and then asking questions 3 hours before the deadline. That speaks volumes to your client.

Read more…

If you are in the business of sending files—big files—over the Internet, then most likely you have heard about YouSendIt. Its site, yousendit.com, has been so successful that many people I know use their services.

If you are in a similar online business, then you need to learn from YouSendIt and find out how they convert their visitors into customers.

The first step was to add promotional elements when people sent files. “We used to do zero promotion as you sent a file,” says Koon. “Now at a critical moment, like you’re trying to attach a second file, we’ll say a multi-file [transmission] is a premium service and click here to upgrade.”

Lesson 1: Hit people up for paid conversion when they need a service you charge for.

Continue reading…

How many of us make that call only to be more frustrated than we were?

We hear a lot of stories about rude customer service reps or CSRs who were not much of a help in the first place. Well, there’s hope for the flowers after all. A software has been developed that matches a CSR with a customer.  It is a call-matching technology called Real-Time Analytics Matching Platform (RAMP). The matching is based on granular characters where a CSR is matched with a customer in terms of “customers’ customers’ persistency, the CSRs’ tenure and ability to save a customer, and the financial metrics around the customers” among other things.

IBM acquired RAMP last year. Find out more about this call-matching technology.  Read on…

My friend J Dresdow shared:

I recently ran across an article in Inc. magazine that really highlights how Google and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can make or break a company.  Imagine your company dropping off the top of the list overnight.   Well it happened with this company and made them better for it.

This article isn’t online yet because it’s in the current issue of Inc.   But I have taken a photo of it for those that are interested.

Click here for a bigger version.

It’s true that businesses these days are doing marketing online and are using SEO strategies to rank high in the search engine results. Thus, it is no longer a case of your business appearing in searches because customers search for the business specifically, but more of leveraging keywords and feed the choice to the customers.

You can say that online marketing in a way debunks the WOMMA phenomenon. If you hire good SEO experts, chances are your business will rank in the search engine results and that means more customers your way.

But what about the customer service aspect of your business? Isn’t it that customers go to you and search for your business because they have had a good customer experience with you? Or people have been talking about your exceptional customer service that they spread the good word about you, and so more people find themselves on your landing page?

Where is the customer service in the equation: e-commerce + SEO = good business?