Internet Business Blog

Customer service can quite literally make or break a business on the internet. If you have an exceptionally high level of customer service, it may be enough to sway potential and repeat customers to purchase from your site instead of a high profile competitor. On the other hand - If you have a hazardously low level of customer service, you may receive unwanted criticism that will follow your business to all depths of the internet, eventually affecting your sales and reputation as a whole.

What are they saying about you?

1. Google your website. You can find out a lot about what others think of your customer service by simply plugging your web site’s name into any major search engine such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN. I often refer to the term as Googling because I am a Google addict, but bear in mind that any search engine will do the trick. Also, be sure to continue after the first page of results. Go five or more pages deep, and click on random pages after that. You never know where a customer review or opinion is hiding.

2. Ask your customer base. Create a survey and email your former and current customers how they think that you’re doing. I’ve found that as long as you keep the questions short and sweet, they will usually answer them.

3. Ask yourself. Often times, being completely honest with yourself will provide incredible results, after all, who has more insight about how you are truly doing than yourself? If I am lacking in any particular area whether it be customer service related or otherwise, deep down I am always the first to know about such a flaw.

How to help raise your level of customer service:

1. Spend more time serving your customers. We only have so many hours in each business day, so it is crucial how we spend them. I’ve found that setting aside specific blocks of time each day dedicated to serving my customers has really helped to increase sales, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

2. Respond to emails and voice mails promptly. Nothing will cause you to miss a sale or lose a repeat customer by not responding to their phone calls or emails in a timely fashion. The general rule of thumb is 24 hours or one business day for a response, but I would go so far as to say that If you do not respond within 4 business hours the sale is as good as gone. Make it a point to try and check your email and voice mail multiple times per day, every single day.

3. Write down the areas that you need to improve upon. Depending on your personality (and ego) this can be a very difficult and painful process, but I encourage you to be completely honest with yourself. If you do not make note of your flaws as a customer service representative or business owner you will not be able to fix them. As a business owner, customer service is generally only one of many hats that you will wear during the business day. Make note of the problem, or you will likely forget that the problem even exists – until you lose the sale or even worse a valuable customer.

In Conclusion

If you’ve found that your customer service needs some work the good news is that it’s a very fixable situation. Follow the steps that I have outlined for you above and you will notice more repeat sales, good publicity, and most importantly - a very satisfied customer base.

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