You just ordered a new product online.
You’re excited. And you’re a little bit apprehensive. The company is unknown to you. Will the product live up to its promises? If it does, it will be worth every dollar.
It’s been 5 days now, and there is no box on your doorstep. It should have been here by now. You check online to see what’s going on.
The live chat closed half an hour ago. They’ll open again when you’re already at work in the morning. There is no phone number. You begin to think you’ve made a mistake.
Some vendors out there are shaking their heads. They know that “antsy” customer. But in reality, they don’t know that customer if they’re shaking their heads. They don’t understand the fears and concerns that buyer has.
For a lot of people, the world isn’t the friendliest place. Maybe they’ve experienced identity theft or had deliveries stolen before. If your product is important to a buyer, their fears and concerns better be important to you.
User experience is a hot topic in the business world today, and it should be. The immediate meaning is the experience a customer has on a website, but let’s take it further. User experience is really any experience a customer has with your business.
If a customer calls in. That call is UX.
If they’ve tried to resolve an issue online and failed, they’re already frustrated. It will make the phone experience even more important.
So how is the user experience you offer?
If a customer goes to your website, are they able to accomplish what they want to do? Are there clear instructions to make transactions easy?
A customer does not want to go to a site just to spend 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do. The adage that time is money still applies today. Unless your service is so specialized that you’re the only one, most prospects won’t give you 20 minutes.
Businesses use computer apps because people like the convenience. They can complete transactions anywhere using an electronic device. Until it goes wrong…
When something goes wrong and it has to do with money, your customer will want it corrected NOW. Will you be able to make that happen?
Some customers will immediately try the chat function if you have one. How long will they have to wait, and will the representative be able to resolve the situation? Nothing is more frustrating than waiting for assistance just to find out there is no assistance.
From the chat, if the issue is not resolved, the customer may call in. Again, will your representative be able to assist? Will there be long hold times, connection issues, or language concerns?
The customer’s ability to resolve an issue quickly and easily will directly affect their relationship with you.
A positive experience will get you one or two comments to friends about how quickly you resolved their problem.
A negative experience will easily get you ten or more bad comments to multiple people and even negative comments online.
But there is a better way. Done right, your customer will never become “antsy.”
The customer order should have triggered an immediate confirmation and thank you email. The email should include contact information for your business. It should include accurate shipping information or information about what will happen next and explain that you will keep them informed.
If the first email didn’t include tracking information, send a second email as soon as that information is available. This email should state the carrier, expected delivery date, and tracking number.
Finally, you should send a checkup/how did we do email when the product should have arrived.
Keeping the customer in the loop prevents unnecessary concern. It allows the excitement and anticipation for the solution to their problem to build. It also reduces customer service requests. And that reduction in customer service requests saves you money.
If you need to have your site evaluated for UX, I can help. I can also write the emails that let customers know you’re happy to serve them. If you deliver the service your customers want, they’ll be repeat customers.
Synthia@dovecopywriting.com