subject: The Significance Of Customer Service For Your Online Business [print this page] The importance of customer service to your online business can never be overemphasized, as a result of this, you must toe the line of successful companies who lay so much emphasis on customer service. Whether you are an established company or you are just starting up, there is an immense pressure on you to deliver as a marketer. In fact, you may even be running on low budget and every dollar you spend is queried for ROI at every meeting you attend including progress reports on social networking, customer service and online reputation management because the press has heard about it which makes it a potential for high return at low cost.
It is common these days to find reviews of products and companies on the internet especially social media sites, and if you don't manage your reputation online properly, your business will miss a lot of sales. Consequently, you must respond properly to complaints or else your competitors will use that against you. If you leverage consumer reviews in your favor, you will discover that you will be impacting more on consumers than the best TV commercial or online banner.
In order to improve your customer service and online reputation, you can ask your top customers to drop reviews for you on third party sites. You can reward them for doing so and if you are able to generate a lot of positive comments which will negate most bad reviews. Take note that your objective should not be to have only positive reviews but to have a balance and to demonstrate through involvement that your brand is focused on improving customer service.
People are talking about your products and services online everyday whether you like it or not, hence, you must join the conversation in order to be relevant. If you don't have enough time for this, delegate one of your staff to spend about 5 hours a week searching for uncomplimentary reviews or mentions about your company or write-ups that are relevant to your business and then write some intelligent and helpful comment in response.
However, your company representative should not be disguised as a consumer but must state that he/she is representing the company. This will show the public that you care about your reputation and appreciate the support of customers. If you disguise and it is later found out, it will create a lot uncomplimentary remarks about your company and don't forget to leave a "Thank You" comment for positive reviews.
