Why
Customer Service will dominate online marketing?
By Peter Hanami
Digital
online marketing is rapidly disrupting traditional businesses as it employs a
range of highly sophisticated tools and technologies that allow a new two way
interaction with customers. I believe that customer service will rise to
dominate digital online marketing as it is the central hub of all the
communication between a business and its customer. In essence, customer service
is the key to a happy, satisfied and loyal customer. In this article I will
outline five areas where customer service is critical for digital online
businesses.
1. Navigation
When
customers navigate a website, customer service helps them to find the area,
topic or section they want and this can be done through good user design which
is focused on simplicity and usability. Any issues a customer has when
navigating should be able to be easily solved by customer service in the form
of live chat as search boxes and site maps are useful but now obsolete for the
user in a hurry.
2. Product
Information
While
visitors browse through pages for a range of products or services online, it is
customer service they turn to for assistance when they have a question, query
or difficulty. This particularly happens when comparing, looking for product
specifications, uses and suitability to a customers’ need. Customer service at
this stage has the power and the ability to provide more information, sources
or links and is vital, to guide, engage and support the online browser.
3. Purchase
During the
online buying process customers can have a myriad of conflicting ideas
including price, delivery, availability, etc. All of these can help or hinder
the process and can mean a full or empty shopping cart. Customer service at
this stage can unpack these difficulties, one by one with questions, support and
encouragement through the use of past customers who have also purchased. All
this information can now be conveyed to potential customers quickly and simply during
this key phase.
4. Problems
When a
customer has an issue with a product or service, it is customer service they
turn to for help and assistance. At this point customer service if managed well
can quickly reassure, smooth and fix a range of problems that may develop.
Customer service can calmly guide the customer through multiple friction points
to gain true satisfaction.
5. Brand
Status
A customers
evaluation of a company after a transaction or encounter is highly influenced
by the customer service experiences they have they received and they use this
knowledge to rank the status of the brand in their own way using their own
criteria. In digital online marketing this evaluation has a dramatic impact on future
usage and referral.
As
marketers we have to stand back, as what we are doing is brand new and has
never been done before. The steps we are now taking by integrating multiple
devices and technologies, buyer behavior knowledge gleaned from CRM systems are
guiding us to and build a new way to engage, guide and support the customer. We
now have to be 150% focused on the customer service experience we provide from
website navigation to product information, purchase processes, dealing with
problems and the resulting impact it has on our brands status. It is an exciting
period with vast opportunities, are you ready for the ride?
Peter
Hanami is a Digital Marketer and author of “Motorcycle Touring Japan”
#customer
#service #dominate #online #marketing #trends #technology #integration
#navigation #information #engagement #brand #status #purchase #buying #digital
#steps #focus #friction #crm #success #experience #journey #peterhanami www.peterhanami.com
Copyright
Peter Hanami, 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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