5 Ways to Reduce Your E-Commerce Brand's Customer Service Inquiries

It’s no secret that the holidays are traditionally the busiest times for E-Commerce business owners. From the hoards of digital Black Friday crowds to the early Christmas shoppers, your business is most likely seeing an influx of online sales from October through the end of the year.

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However, the sales and revenue peaks you might be experiencing during this time are probably accompanied by an overwhelming flood of customer service inquiries.

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Holiday stress, am I right?

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Want to hear the good news? The holiday shopping season (or any season, for that matter) doesn’t have to feel like the tensest time of the year in your business.

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Here at TalentPop, we’ve come up with a few solutions to help you keep your customers happy, stay on track with your revenue goals, and avoid burnout – all at the same time (yes, you read that right!).

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Anticipate Customer Service Inquiries

As your business grows, you’ll notice different variations of the same questions popping up from your customers regarding topics like shipping timelines, return policies, and product inquiries.

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These patterns of repeat questions are a direct insight into what your customers need to know throughout their purchasing process, so don’t sleep on this valuable data! Use it to build and consistently update an FAQ page that answers the majority of commonly asked questions before they reach your inbox.

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Keep in mind that a successful FAQ page that helps, not hinders, your customer service experience is thorough and concise.

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Therefore, be sure to organize your questions by category, write clear, straightforward answers to each one, and use a drop-down design style for the questions to make the page feel less cluttered and overwhelming to customers.

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Here’s a quick look at how Neeman’s structures its FAQ page:

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Make The Details Known

What’s the best way to avoid unnecessary customer service inquiries about products? Make the details known in the descriptions!

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By writing detailed product descriptions for each item you sell, you’re giving potential customers everything they want to know before making a purchase.

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For example, if you sell clothing and accessories, tell your customers in the descriptions what each product is made from, how they should care for it to keep it looking new, and give them a sizing chart so they can easily find their appropriate size. TOMS does a great job of this, as you can see below:

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Let Your Customers Take The Wheel

We all know what it’s like to make a purchase online and then obsess over its arrival time. Instead of letting questions about order fulfillment and package tracking overwhelm you and your team, let your customers take matters into their own hands with self-service order tracking.

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After purchasing on their website, Native sends its customers a confirmation email that includes a link to an order tracking page (which is also accessible from the footer navigation on the website). Native’s self-service tracking empowers customers to independently check their order status and reduces the number of inquiries the brand receives regarding fulfillment and tracking.

Plus, you can implement remarketing tactics on order tracking pages to encourage past customers to make additional purchases.

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Here are a few resources you can use to start implementing self-service tracking for your E-Commerce brand today:

Route
AfterShip
17Track
ParcelPanel
TrackingMore
Tracktor

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Keep The Returns Process Simple & Hassle-Free

Let’s face it: returns are a reality of owning an E-Commerce business, and most customers don’t particularly enjoy having to send an item back to an online store. So, why not avoid the headaches by making your returns policy & process straightforward to understand?

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Knowing that 67% of shoppers check the returns page before making a purchase, there’s no doubt that a simple self-service returns page on your website will reduce inquiries that might otherwise clog your bandwidth.

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A hassle-free return policy also improves your overall customer service experience, and it’s been shown that 92% of consumers will buy something again if making returns is easy.

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Answer Questions Automatically With Live Chatbots

With 74% of online shoppers preferring chatbots for help with simple inquiries, more customers are turning to this self-service option before picking up the phone or writing an email to a customer service team.

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Therefore, optimizing your online chat experience with a service like Gorgias is crucial for answering your customers’ questions and resolving their issues quickly.

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Here are a few ways that chatbots can improve your customer service experience:

• Include hours of operation to immediately let customers know when they can expect a response from your business.
• Set up automatic responses that the chatbots can use to answer frequently asked questions.
• Create canned responses that send helpful links to customers looking for info that’s already available on your FAQ, order tracking, or return policy page.

Outsource Your Customer Support With TalentPop

When it comes to scaling your business this holiday season without letting burnout take over, there’s nothing like getting the support you need from a reliable, trusted partner like TalentPop.

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Here at TalentPop, we’re no strangers to the challenges of the E-Commerce space – our founders are E-Commerce business owners themselves!

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That’s why every customer service agent we pair up with our clients is expertly trained in the tools and software you use to run your business, making them well-equipped to handle your customers’ needs.

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Plus, we make sure each of our agents has the personality traits and characteristics they need to fit in well with your brand and create positive experiences for your customers.

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Join over 500 top E-Commerce brands like JAXXON, Beyond Meat, and Orgain that have experienced reduced response and resolution times, more conversions, and more sales and revenue made online by outsourcing customer service with TalentPop.

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Start today by scheduling a call with our team to discuss how we can support your business.