Picture this – you’re a busy entrepreneur, and you get back from your first vacation in five years. You sit down at your desk, power up the computer, and open your mail application. Not even two seconds later, and BAM! Your email opened the floodgates to thousands of customer service emails pouring in.
Not really an ideal picture, eh? Exactly our thoughts too. Instead, wouldn’t you rather the freedom to live life without being bound to every little question a customer has to ask? Wouldn’t you prefer to invest time into upgrading your business than answering, “How do I refund my item?” 500-times? If you said yes to all of that, then you need to keep reading.
Introducing – 3 Tactics to Trim Back Customer Service Emails
- Outline your policies clearly and make it easy to find
90% of customer service questions come from unclear and/or impossible to locate policies on your website. Often, a reoccurring dilemma businesses typically run into is that their instructions are not extensive enough. They try to minimize the number of links created and fit it all in on one page on their website. This creates two problems… 1) The customer gets overwhelmed by too much information on one page, and 2) The customer gets frustrated without a clear path that ONLY ADDRESSES their specific question – leaving them to find a different website or reach for the contact us page to get a direct answer.
A great way to fix this is to clearly label each policy in your website’s footer and provide sub-links within those pages that will take the customer directly to a question similar to their own. For example, take one of our favorite stores, Anthropologie! Anthropologie does a great job of labeling their help section in the footer and providing links for each policy, such as return policies, shipping policies, exchange policies, and more! They further this by delivering a sidebar of links that address the specifics of each section of that topic and ensure all details are thorough and thought through. Thus – whenever a customer has a question, they can refer there first instead of immediately reaching the chat-bot.
- Install an automated chat-bot
Speaking of chat-bots… These little applications have revolutionized websites and online shopping experiences beyond what was once comprehensible. Not only will a chat-box allow you to program automated responses for quick answers… but it also enables a customer to find the correct answer without you ever having to get involved! If you have used one of these, we’re sure you’ll understand what we mean… If you haven’t, we recommend watching the videos below that will explain how this invention works:
And like these videos point out… if the chat-bot reaches the end of its answer-capacity, it will finally redirect you to a human contact method so your customers can get their questions resolved.
- Provide an extensive FAQ
Let’s get the first FAQ out of the way – FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions, and it’s a must-have on your website! Not only is it a must-have, but it needs to be extensive and should not skip out on any information… no matter how unnecessary it may seem. Without comparing customers to kindergarteners, the best way to prepare a substantial FAQ page is to spell out every step and process you could ask about. If a customer asks how to return an item? List every piece of information they need to know, right down to the fine-print details that can make or break a proper return.
A general rule of thumb for creating a killer FAQ section is that you answer:
- The common questions
- Follow up to common questions
- Add answers to almost every question you’ve previously been asked and will be asked in the future
Attention to detail is vital. And you’ll know when you’ve achieved the perfect FAQ guide once the emails have slowed down.
So, there you have it – our foolproof guide to cutting-back on your customer services inquiries. We hope this helps and will free up more time for new business tasks and your personal life. However, if you have any questions for us? Just contact us the old fashion way 😉
