Bogie E-Commerce - E-Commerce Design & Consulting

Sometimes you need to give your customers a discount, freebie, gift, exclusive offer, coupon, gift certificate, subscription, or beach towel for no reason whatsoever. No holidays, no birthdays, no special events. Just a surprise out of nowhere to remind them that you truly value their business.

Turn a "Whoops" into Customer Service Gold

It's going to happen. 

No matter how tight a ship you run, there is going to be those times where you or one of your staff members are going to goof up and do something wrong to a customer or a customer's order. Shipping the wrong item, swapping labels, forgetting to include items--all these things are quite common regardless of the technology in place. When humans are involved--errors happen.

Now, don't think me crazy, but it has been my experience that this is a good thing to happen once in awhile. Totally serious. Yes, it costs money to fix the problem. Yes, it sucks having to deal with an angry customer. Yes, it can strain the "flow" of your order processing procedures. But, it can all be worth it.

When a customer calls (or emails, txts, whatever) with nostrils-a-steamin' in anger regarding a screwed up order, they don't care about your excuses or double-talk. All they want is for this to be fixed quickly and without an ounce more effort on their part. And rightfully so, considering they have trusted you with their personal information, their private financial information and your ability to give them what they want quickly and efficiently. There is a right way and a wrong way to handle this. Here are some examples of the wrong way to handle this (real life occurrences):

"Let's see if this was our mistake or yours."

"Oh, that was a mistake in a different department. Let me transfer you."

"Are you sure you got the wrong thing?"

"Well, we can send a replacement, but it will take 2-3 weeks."

"Fine. Ship the wrong product back to us and we'll send you the right one."

There is only one way to handle a situation where the fault is 100% with the business.

"We apologize for the error with your order, Sir (or Miss), and we will get the correct product out to you TODAY along with a postage paid label (or box) for the return of the incorrect item. We will also be sending you out a small gift with our apologies to thank you for being so patient with us. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you."

That's it. Nothing more or less. Three sentences that will, in most cases, not only placate your customer, but in my experience, earn you a customer for life for showing that your business truly gives a hoot about fixing a mistake. Word of mouth is stronger than ANY advertising system in the online or offline market today, and with this, you just earned a piece of it when your customer tells a friend..."Y'know, XYZ company send me the wrong item, but with one call they were so efficient about making good on it that I will DEFINATELY deal with them again. No hassle at all."

Just remember though...while this can be good for business once in awhile, getting word out there that you consistently goof up orders will have the complete opposite effect, so keep those organizational procedures nice and tight. Oh, and if you goof up that same customer's order a second time (even years later) then you've lost them for life.

Available time slots for e-commerce consulting during Q3 and Q4. Soonest available date is July 1st, 2011. Also looking for freelance programmer for regular work with Bogie E-Commerce. Just putting it out there.

Don't Let A "Down" Economy Derail Your E-Commerce Strategy

"When life hands you lemons, make lemonade" is the tired old saying that is fortunately quite true in many aspects of life, including the business of e-commerce. While it is hard to accept a "make due with what you've got" frame of mind when orders are plummeting, you can, however, take several steps back and watch the trends of your business change depending on the tightening budges of the everyman.

What the hell am I saying? I'm saying that instead of pouring over pages and pages of analytics to see what improvements or changes or A/B tests you can run on your site, try first to look at what you are offering. When people are worried about putting gas in the car so they can get to work, they are not going to think about big ticket items. This is the time you can use to start pushing small or lower priced items in a big way. 

Catering to the masses of e-commerce is not about offering the latest trends or trying to compete with Amazon on the big box items. It's about offering the accessories to whatever they already have. The replacement part for last years big ticket item. The refill for the doohickey they got for Father's day two years ago. This is how the average masses of people shop.

Sometimes it's not about the stats to explain where the sales have gone. Sometimes it's just about what's really selling during times of wallet tightening.

E-Commerce Consultants are Overpaid

Or so says my last client about eight months ago as they reluctantly forked over a multi-thousand dollar check along with their prayers that my advice and restructuring of their order system could somehow swing a ten-to-one ratio increase in online sales. The result eight months later? A five-to-one ratio. Not bad considering it has not been a year yet and they only went fully with the changes about three months ago.

Why does your business need an overpaid E-commerce consultant? Well, if you can find the right one then you can (and should) look at it this way: Consultants exist to make you money. That's the whole kit and kaboodle. If you do not make double-back the investment paid to the consultant within a reasonable amount of time then they have not done their job to the limits of their powers. That is, of course, that you have followed the advice and the plan set forth for you and implemented the changes along with your consultant--adjusting the plan as necessary (stuff happens).

How do you know if a consultant is worth his or her salt? Speak personally to the last 2 clients they have worked for. If they tell you that the consultant was a pushy, demanding, argumentative pain-in-the-ass, then hire them immediately. The last thing you want is a buttery yes-man as your consultant.

Shavers.com - Exceptional Customer Service

Just wanted to give my most heartfelt congratulations to Shavers.com for the accolades of "exceptional customer service and expedient shipping". They have also been awarded similar positives from Ebay and Amazon.com for their truly exceptional service. Many kudos to them!

Always suffer the sin of pride when I see such a client achieve that level of prowess in what they do. In this case--shaving and shaving products. 

Membership in the CJRPC becomes official tonight. I start going through ammo in a big way starting tomorrow.

Recent shipping study with a Bogie E-Commerce client reveals that almost $10.00 can be saved with each and every order shipped with only minor, inexpensive changes to box types and packing materials used. This translates to huge savings per year. HUGE! Shipping studies are REALLY worth the time and effort.

Customer Service Is A Circus Show - Part 2

This is part 2 of a 3-part customer service series of articles focused on the e-commerce industry, but can easily be applied to any business, both online or storefront. You can read part 1 here.

Having stated some of the more obvious good vs. bad customer service points in the first article, let's now take a look at some of the more subtle points that can heap some of the "make or break" weight upon your business when dealing with customers, or more importantly, of your customers dealing with your business.

Following my references to the "dark areas" of the behind the scenes circus shows where all the work happens while your attention is drawn to the main stage, I often find that I learn the most about a businesses customer services while wandering around in the background and listening to phone calls with customers. This can also be achieved with the use of recording technology ("to ensure customer quality, this call may be recorded"), but not every business has the luxury of such tech. Watching and listening to customer interactions can dig up a wealth of information and potential issues as well.

Some of the most common problems found:

1. Assumptions: Let's face it--you and your CS reps have been dealing with your particular info/product/service for quite awhile now. You know this stuff like the back of your hand. Sometimes it feels like you have repeated the same information hundreds of times in a day. Repetition equals tedium. Tedium equals boredom. Boredom equals irritability. And while you strive to keep an even tone while dealing with your customers, even difficult customers, it is easy to unknowingly begin to assume that your customers know more than they actually do. Don't fall into this trap. From the customer point of view, it makes them feel stupid, inadequate and much less willing to ask the questions that will help them make a purchase from you.
2. Leaving it to the website: Yes, our websites can be a wealth of information. True, it can be very easy to order online. Uh huh, you spent a lot of money to make your site the pinnacle of helpful technology. And No--despite all this, there are customers who dont get it, can't find it or simply do not want to order online. The answer to a customer's question should NEVER be "you can find that on our website" or "our website clearly states that...". No, no and no... your customer is on the phone for a reason and you or your CS rep will ALWAYS be better at sales conversions than your website will be. You've got them now close the deal and make a sale. If they were going to buy anyway then upsell them with something they didn't even know that that wanted or needed. Websites were designed to emulate the phone and face to face customer experience, not the other way around.
3. And the biggest "No No" of them all, fighting: You are going to have problem customers. No business is exempt. And I will spare you the "customer is always right" speech because we all know that sometimes the customer is absolutely, 100% wrong and you feel very much like reaching through the phone and strangling their lives away while everyone watches to tumultuous applause.  Don't do it (fight with them, the technology has not yet been invented to reach through a phone to strangle someone). You should always have a well rehersed plan in effect to help diffuse an angry customer and calm them down. You cannot help them while they are angry. The formula is-- listen without interrupting, diffuse the situation to assure the customer that you are there to help them and not just to represent your company's point of view, and then provide a solution to the problem that will meet both your needs and the customer's need halfway. A hard stance and a screaming match will do nothing but lose you a customer. Not every customer can be won back, but you will be amazed at how many can be while following this formula.

Never forget that your CS department is your representation to the outside world. Well choreographed is the ONLY way to provide the kind of service that you would expect yourself. keep your people rotating through positions in CS throughout the day so that no one gets burned out or angry enough to break policy--even by accident. It's amazing how even a 15 minute break for a cup of water and a bathroom visit can settle one's nerves and present a much more pleasant attitude.

The next post on this topic will deal with the rotation of your reps and the many levels of service provided by both phone service reps and just how CS stems into all aspects of e-ecommerce. Even your shipping department.

Bogie E-Commerce

Busy, busy days here at Bogie E-Commerce. I will be back on track with posts and articles later today...honest.