Customer Service??

[Sharkbiz]

Hey Im New here and my question is how do you provide customer service over the phone lets say i have a full time job i cant really stay home and answer phone calls or i cant hire anyone because im barely starting. Many people dont buy stuff from e-stores without a Phone number because they think it mighht be a scam. Any Ideas?

[The Old Sarge]

You could:

1. Forward calls to your cell phone. Not always a good idea.

2. Get an answering service. Can be a budget buster.

3. Get one of these
(Not recommending for or against this particular product. Only offering it as an example.)

[JPnyc]

Or, just offer support by e-mail.

[JEccles]

I have a cell phone for the business. Like you , I have a full-time job and only check the phone on breaks and lunch. I also offer e-mail support - which I hope they use

[TipPro]

You may also want to consider duplicating an Amazon like help system. What it does, is that it forces customers through all of your FAQ and if none of them satisfy your customer's inquiry then they are finally displayed a page with your contact information.

[JPnyc]

Yes, but it can also anger users. Does me, particularly when I can't find the actual e-mail page.

[TipPro]

The help system I have created for my new site tries to deal w/ short fused customers (about 98% of all customers). It's a combination of both a quick way to contact customer support but still go through the FAQs.

Basically a customer will first choose what department they want to contact (which is really the first step in narrowing down the FAQs). The second step will give the customer a few common FAQs relating to that department and a contact form. So a customer may see their question in the short list or they can go right ahead and use the contact form.

- - - - another point

Currently we do have a phone number on the Web site but it is very overwhelming the number of calls that come in. So we titled the phone number for emergences only and if you call to place an order a $5 phone processing fee will be added to your order. It is amazing how many people would rather pay $5 than place their billing information of the Internet.

If someone tries to call with a product question (pre-sale) they are told to email us. We purposely do not lend any support over the phone, not just because it can be costly but because customers try to hold you to it if you mention anything about a product (even if they misunderstood what you meant). It is much better to have all product questions and answers in writing.

[The Old Sarge]

Have any of you ever used the help system at Norton ... the anti-virus people?

I NEVER get an answer to the question I have and the system, more often than not, sends me to four or five links only to end up right where I started. And every step of the way they ask, "Did this anwer your question?" with buttons for "yes' and "no" but no place to go except "back" if I click "no."

Then when I finally use the "Contact" link to get an e-mail to a real live person, I get one of those "Do not respond" type e-mails informing me to "Try our Online Help system." Talk about angry ... lol

Tip Pro, could you post a link to the system you mention? I'd like to see what you've done.

[TipPro]

I would post a link to the help system I am referring to but it is on a unaccessible beta Web site. The new Web site is finished and ready to go live but I decided to change the eCommerce platform at the last second and everything has to be redeveloped for a new eCommerce platform. So it may be another month or two until I can start showing off the new Web site.

I have not used the Norton Anti-virus help but I could imagine what you mean. I have seen similar help systems that are not helpful and will never lead you to any real person contact.

My least favorite help system is the fake live chat. It looks like your about to chat with a live person but it turns about to be a robot that tries to figure out what your question is and show you a list of answers that may be related to your question.

[The Old Sarge]

lol I had forgotten the robotic helper lol

[rfresh]

I think your best best is to just have a good voice mail system on your cell phone and then check for messages when you can (lunch, breaks, etc.). As long as you're returning calls within a few hours most people won't get upset at you.

Another option is to be accessible to email so you can answer them quickly - if you don't have access to email all the time at your day job, then you might want to consider getting a PDA with email capability so you always have access to your emails. You can post your sales and support email addresses on your Contact Us web page or Support web page and list your company phone number on your About Us web page.