In e-commerce is equally important what happens before as what happens after the purchase. Before the consumer makes the final click that will cause the product they want to become a purchase, the brands have to pay special attention to a large list of items. The design of the web, the photos of the product, the comments of other consumers, how the prices of different products or services are presented. All these elements are crucial to convince the consumer and all of them have become the elements of manual that all the brands and all the companies take care of.
But the truth is that these are not all crucial elements and are not the only ones that brands should watch with falcon eyes. One of the trends in e-commerce is that of thinking that once the sale has been closed the work is already done. The consumer has bought, the product has been shipped and everything the seller has to do or should do is done. However, this reasoning is a mistake and only causes problems and failures in the relationship between consumers and brands. A good relationship between seller and buyer has to go further and has to cover many more aspects.
The customer service has to be good and has to be taken care of well beyond the time when the sale is closed and the concern of the brands has to focus on what happens also when the product is sold. Customer service has to be as effective before and after the sale, because that is the only way to gain consumer confidence and get it to repeat. If you want the sale not to be a matter of a lucky day, the brands have to be able to maintain quality standards that go beyond the moment they have made the money.
It doesn’t matter that isn’t the brand itself who delivers the product
One of the most frustrating experiences in terms of customer service in e-commerce is having problems with the delivery of the product and that the deliver company refers the consumer to talk with the logistics firm. The calls to the post office can be a response very close to reality (if the package does not arrive it is likely to be because of a problem with the logistics firm) but a blunder in terms of image issues and positive customer care is concerned. The customer service does not end because the product leaves the the brand and should not be considered finished until the consumer has it at home and is happy with their purchase. A good degree of satisfaction means that the company is also an intermediary in the delivery process and that it is concerned with the arriving of the products.
Likewise, the brand has to worry about the products arriving on time. Not only is it being there to solve the problems or to listen to the consumer who needs it, but also to ensure that the service will be as good as expected.
