Turn good customer service into great customer service…

By Sharon Fussell, March 28, 2014

I know I have covered the importance of good customer service in past ezines, but I am not sorry to discuss this vital topic again.

Amazon and other online sites rely so much on good customer service, they not only provide it themselves, but they also insist merchant sellers do the same.

They put policies in place that lean heavily towards buyers, not to annoy sellers, but so as not to aggravate, frustrate, and most importantly, put buyers off from returning to the site to buy again.

The aim is to make the buying experience safe and enjoyable, so that buyers are happy to return and purchase further products.

Most sites provide a ‘feedback’ forum, so buyers can relate their buying experiences from sellers.

Amazon also has a very robust refund policy, which leans very, very heavily towards the buyer.

All sellers have to abide by return/refund policies – it is almost impossible not to give a refund in response to a customer’s complaint. Even if the buyer does not return the item they are complaining about and even if their complaint is unjustified in your opinion, the old adage ‘the customer is always right’ is certainly true with sites such as Amazon.

I am happy to provide a good customer service: I go along with Amazon’s rules, but I try to go a step further, and provide not just a good customer service, but a great one.

I find that even if you are in the wrong, many customers will respond happily to a bad situation, as long as you respond quickly to any query and in a positive way.

Thus, should a customer tell me their item has not arrived – I will give an instant replacement or refund if I do not have a replacement of the item.

If I have inadvertently sent the wrong item, or an item is not as described on the system (according to the customer expectations), I will always respond in their favour.

For example, I inadvertently sent out a car manual for a car that was the wrong age: it was not all my fault – the ISBN is the same for the date on the system and for an older copy of the same book title – however, because a scanner was used, the barcode was incorrect and the discrepancy was not picked up during the dispatch process.

As soon as the customer informed me about this mistake, I immediately set out to replace the wrong book with the correct version.

The customer thanked me for taking the time to respond positively, and even offered to pay for the replacement copy to be sent out, despite the buck stopping with me as the seller. I was totally responsible, so I declined the offer.

Hopefully the buyer will leave great feedback, despite the failure to send out the correct item in the first place.

When I look at sellers with very low feedback ratings, most of the complaints against them will be that the seller did not get back to customers – they simply ignored all emails.

Usually, I find you can turn a difficult situation around if you just communicate with buyers.

I ensure my mobile phone receives emails from all seller accounts on the various platforms I use: that way I don’t miss communications and can respond very quickly.

If you have seen my new system Copy Paste Profit, great customer service is imperative, due to the fact you provide a service as a ‘middle man’…

You do not handle any products; you reply on others to send out your orders to your customers.

Despite this, the buck stops with you if an error is made: you cannot blame anyone else and you have to carry the can for any errors.

Luckily, it’s very rare for me, and every occasion that an error has occurred, the buyer has left happy and even bought from me again!

Repeat custom is very nice: that is one of the reasons to give great customer service and why it is so vital.

So, though in some circumstances it might pain you to do so, always go the extra mile with your customer service.