{"id":1979,"date":"2013-09-17T19:02:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T03:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/?p=1979"},"modified":"2019-10-31T17:45:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T00:45:23","slug":"5-tips-to-improve-customer-communication-in-a-virtual-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.numinix.com\/blog\/5-tips-to-improve-customer-communication-in-a-virtual-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips to Improve Customer Communication in a Virtual Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Customer\"<\/a>What is the foundation of every successful relationship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you said, \u201ccommunication,\u201d you got it exactly right.<\/p>\n

Communication is the key to success for any type of relationship, whether friends, spouses, or parent and child\u2014and the customer-vendor relationship is no different.<\/p>\n

If you want to boost your success, you must examine your communication with your customers and find ways to improve it.<\/p>\n

Here are some top tips to get you started:<\/p>\n

1. Are you online when your customers are?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The web is alive 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As a result, your customers will expect communication during the hours they are online.<\/p>\n

Does this mean that your gifts store will need to be open until the late hours of the morning? Not necessarily. It\u2019s important to listen to your customers. A survey may be the next step to determining your customer\u2019s needs as it relates to service and communication. However, if you are receiving complaints due to a lack of support, it\u2019s time to research a solution, and in this case, additional hours may be necessary.<\/p>\n

2. Trust is Key!<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s common for customers to feel a lack of trust when approaching businesses. They will feel skeptical first before they develop a sense of trust. Don\u2019t give customers any chance to corroborate their suspicions. In all of your communication, do what you say. If you say your service lines are open until 5:00 pm, make sure you answer phones until 5:00 sharp. If you tell a customer a rep will reply to an inquiry within 24 hours, reply before the 24 hours is up. Go above and beyond your customers’ expectations and you will gain their trust in a short period of time.<\/p>\n

3. Fast Response<\/strong><\/p>\n

I prefer same-day response times with no more than 24 hours delay, if possible. This time window seems to be preferred among customers. The sooner, the better! And, remember to send out a notification email the second an inquiry comes in from a customer. An automated email response system can take care of this automatically without any hands-on work.<\/p>\n

4. Live Chat<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am one of the biggest proponents of live chat. Why? Mainly because I am one of those people who have no patience for email but hate talking on the phone and pressing \u201c1\u201d for service and hearing background music while I wait. For customers who share my personality, live chat is the best thing ever! It is the quickest way for customers to reach your service line without even leaving your website. If you can use live chat, don\u2019t hesitate!<\/p>\n

5. Use Automated Solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Handling customer communication strategies manually will eat up your time and resources. Automatic solutions such as osTicket<\/a> are designed to make the Ecommerce customer service\/communication process easy and affordable. A service like osTicket can save you money on additional employees\/contractors because much of your work will be automated.<\/p>\n

Some of the features osTicket offers:<\/p>\n