Customer Service--Profit from it

As the holiday season is only a few months away, it is likely more stories describing consumers customer service woes when purchasing from e-tailers will surface. According to a new study by Electron Economy, a provider of commerce-enabling technology platforms, it seems that unifying the digital world of taking orders online with the physical world of actually delivering them is still eluding many e-tailers. A few highlights from their study:

· Nearly half of customer sales representatives lack immediate order visibility.
· Only 39% of the sites shopped sent both order and shipping confirmations.
· Only 22% of sites offer multiple shipping addresses within a single order.

These findings are particularly interesting when considering how important customer service can be to the overall e-commerce experience for both consumers and businesses. From a 1999 Post Holiday Report by Harris Interactive:

· Those who contact customer service spend, on average, more than three times (3X+) as much as those who do not.
· Among those who seriously considered buying or actually purchased online in Q4, those who contacted customer service spent an average of
$232 in a given month, compared with $67 for those who did not use customer service.
· Customer service is valuable among those who are relatively new to the Internet and online shopping. 49% of online buyers who contacted customer service had made their first purchase in the previous year.

The moral of the story is obvious, the looked as a cost center, customer service should be recast in the role as a path to improving profitability.

About the Author.

Kevin Burke

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