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Online Customer Service

Online Customer Service. Fahri Karakaya, Ph. D. Professor of Marketing Director, S. E. Mass. e Commerce Network University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

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Online Customer Service

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  1. Online Customer Service Fahri Karakaya, Ph. D. Professor of Marketing Director, S. E. Mass. eCommerce Network University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

  2. SOURCE: Schaupp L. Christian and Belanger France, 2005, “A Conjoint Analysis of Online Consumer Satisfaction”, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Vol. 6, No. 2

  3. Previous Research • There is relationship between service quality and firm profitability. • Perceived high levels of service quality increases customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. • Satisfied customers are less sensitive to price increases. • Components of online service quality include:--Customized service--Descriptive information --Ease of contact--Delivery / Shipping / tracking

  4. Source: Zee-Sun Yun, Linda K. Good. (2007). Developing customer loyalty from e-tail store image attributes. Managing Service Quality, 17(1), 1-22.

  5. Types of Online Customer Service • FAQ’s – customers may find answers! Updating the information is important • e-mail • Online messenger – video, voice or just text chat • Which method is most effective?--Depends on individual customer preferences!

  6. Cognitive Lock-In • Internet has reduced customer switching costs! • In general, customer remain loyal to web sites they have used before. WHY? • COGNITIVE LOCK-IN (Johnson, Bellman, and Lohse (2003), Journal of Marketing. • People learn how to use a web site and trust the web site they have used before. • There is cost of switching from one web site to another! • This cost is mainly the time involved in learning about the new web site and the trust!

  7. Cognitive Lock-In • Expedia.com vs. Travelocity.com • Online banking – set up of payments and your preferences! • Information stored on the web site you have used influences you to use the same web site again! – Web site loyalty!

  8. Designing Web sites with customers in mind Usability and customer experience – • Download speed! Online shoppers are not the most patient people! • High speed Internet is here, but many people still use dialup Internet access. • In most cases, if a page is not loaded in 5-10 seconds, customers move on to a competitor’s site. • Pictures need to be optimized to minimize download speed

  9. Designing Web sites with customers in mind • Web site navigation - pages need to be clean and simple - not busy and easy to move from one page to another • Search (FIND) function in web sites is important for people who are busy! • Update your web site regularly - Use a content management system to add new products, change prices, upload pictures, and provide other information.

  10. Designing Web sites with customers in mind • Payment system - need a merchant banking account and make sure it is secure - • more importantly, customers need to feel their transactions are safe - Most customers now know what is a secure site (Http vs. Https and security lock sign) • Allow customers to check out without registering with your web site

  11. Designing Web sites with customers in mind • Allow customers to get answers to their questionsthrough FQA, • Provide detailed product information, • E-mail to customer service option, • Chat with customer service representatives option, • and 1-800 telephone numbers (specify the number - do not use letters instead of numbers)

  12. Designing Web sites with customers in mind • Have phone numbers and contact details on every page or have a special page for contact information on sidebar. • Order Fulfillment & follow-through - --confirmation e-mails, --an automated shipping/tracking system, --prompt delivery, and --e-mail satisfaction surveys build customer loyalty and trust

  13. Designing Web sites with customers in mind Tracking visitors:--How many hits per day? --How many repeat visitors?--Busiest time and days? --where they come from?--pages visited? --how much time they spend on each page? --how many people actually leave their shopping cartswithout purchasing?

  14. Designing Web sites with customers in mind Test your web site's usability! • How long does it take for a page to load? • Can the users navigate easily back and forth from one page to another? • Can the users easily find a previous page they were looking at? Use different speeds, different computers, and different web browsers, and different operation systems (PC vs. Apple - Internet explorer vs. Firefox vs. Safari, Windows vs. Vista vs. Mac OSX)

  15. Visit customer venting sites and read what unsatisfied customers say about you. • Victims of Expedia.com http://www.victimsofexpedia.com/ Travelwatchdog.com http://www.travelwatchdog.com/ http://mashable.com/2008/03/09/vent-your-anger/

  16. Designing Web sites with customers in mind Here are some web links about good web sites and online customer service • The Forbes link consists of top websites in different categories like top 12 websites for holiday shoppers. http://www.forbes.com/bow/ • Time.com - 25 Sites We Can't Live Without http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1222769,00.html • The link below from BestBuy provides different options to customers, for knowing the opinions (of other customers) before buying the product, and after-sales customer service (online customer service). http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat87800050001&type=category • A web site providing information on 12 Internet Customer Retention Tactics http://www.wdfm.com/marketing-tips/customer-retention-tactics.php • Best Practices – Online Customer Service http://www.globalbusinessinsights.com/rbi/content/rbtc0032t.pdf

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