April 2002   

"E" Should Stand for Easy

One of the best ways to prepare yourself to handle dissatisfied e-tail customers is to remember that the "E" in e-tailing should really stand for "easy" instead of "electronic." The whole point of online shopping is to make life easy for the consumer, so that instant gratification is only a click away. Convenience is what motivates most Internet shoppers. They don't just want products, they want fast, efficient service while they shop. They want minimal problems with their purchases, and -- if they do encounter a problem -- they want to have resolving that problem made easy as well. Lack of service is a key factor in most e-tailing complaints.

Complaints Are an Opportunity, Not a Holiday Phenomenon

Although the most widely publicized e-tailing complaints center around the holiday buying season, service problems don't necessarily dry up and disappear on January 2 when everything else settles down to normal. Anyone in any type of business can make mistakes any time of year. With the pace of e-business, it's all too easy to ship the wrong order, ship it more than once, ship it to the wrong address, incorrectly billing a customer, and so forth. Goods can also arrive late or damaged or both. Most customers are even willing to overlook such problems, and wise businesses turn these situations into opportunities. Handling complaints well is the key to customer satisfaction and repeat business.

According to business consultant Albert Mayer, president of Mayzello Corporation in Burlingame, California, the key to e-tailing, just as in any other business, is how you treat your customers. If they have complaints, find out why. Generally complaints fall into one of a few general areas:

• The item wasn't what it appeared to be.
• The item never arrived or it arrived late.
• The item arrived broken or damaged.
• Cost and/or other charges were unexpectedly high.

No matter what the complaint, a speedy resolution is the next step. 

"If anything, people expect greater speed and better service dealing on-line," Mayer says. "They expect their complaints to be dealt with promptly, if not instantly. In the old days, people might send a complaint letter and patiently wait days, or weeks, for a written reply. Now, they expect an email reply almost instantly. Many of them are buying through the Internet because they want to save time. They don't like waiting around for a response."

"If the problem is not your fault, then point this out to the customer and be prepared to prove it," says Mayer. One example of this would be a problem that was caused by the carrier you used for shipping. "Keep computerized, easily accessible records of the contents of each order, the shipping date, tracking numbers, the amount paid and the method of payment, and be prepared to give customers all relevant information on demand." But even if the problem wasn't caused at your end, it's smart business and good customer relations to assist the disgruntled customer as much as possible.

Mayer also offers the following suggestions:

• Answer all complaints promptly, preferably in 24 hours or less.
• Follow up to make sure the problem has been resolved, not just acknowledged, and that the customer is satisfied with the resolution.
• If the problem was your fault, acknowledge this and apologize for any inconvenience.
• Be gracious. Accept all unused, undamaged merchandise for return or exchange.
• Try to include a free gift as a "Thank You" with all exchanges, especially if the mixup was your fault.
• If the problem is your responsibility, absorb all costs in fixing it. Don't expect the customer to pay the shipping to return something.
• Don't worry about making or losing money on that sale. Treat it as a marketing/advertising expense and make the customer happy at all reasonable cost.

Technology Cannot Do It All

Michael Harings of Delta Force Consultants deals with the technical side of the Internet. He feels that Web technology can definitely help if it's properly used, but that customer service, the human side of the Internet, is the key to dealing with complaints. "For example," he points out, "voice mail can automatically log in people's complaints, complete with date and time, even when no one is available to deal with them in person. Auto-responders can generate a form reply to complaints, just to let people know that their complaint has been received and is being acted on. However, in most cases, you will need a real person to follow up by phone or by email if you want to keep customers satisfied. Technology can only go so far."

Counting on technology to do too much, and downplaying the human side of customer service, can backfire and turn unhappy or vaguely dissatisfied customers into downright angry ones. Say you're the customer. Knowing that your message has been received is nice; a lot nicer than getting no answer if you call outside regular business hours or when no one is available. But it sets up the expectation that you will get a return call within a reasonable period of time. If you don't, then you want to know why. The same principle applies to an auto-response email that provides a form letter reply. It lets you know that your complaint was received, but it's not an adequate response by itself. It demands a more personal follow-up.

Don't Let Solving the Problem Become a Problem

Probably the biggest complaint that e-tail customers have, says attorney and Internet consultant Barry Jorgensen of Riverside, California, has to do with poor communication. People are willing to put up with mistakes, but they are unhappy if they feel that those mistakes occurred because they received poor and/or sketchy information about the product or service they ordered.

This extends to all aspects of shipping and delivery, including the shipping costs and any other charges or costs involved, the estimated date of delivery, and the policies on refunds, returns, and exchanges. Shoppers -- particularly e-tail shoppers -- don't like unpleasant surprises. This is a major cause of customer dissatisfaction and even legal action. Therefore, Jorgensen offers the following recommendations to e-tailers:

• Make sure all product or service information clear, in simple, plain language, and not in legalese.
• Give realistic estimates for shipping and delivery time.
• Clearly state all costs, including shipping and return or restocking fees, to avoid confusion.
• Don't make customers feel they're getting a runaround or dealing with someone who is not knowledgeable or just doesn't understand their problem.
• Don't expect complaints to go away on their own or rely on form letters to respond to customer complaints. Either follow up with a phone call or email, or give customers a phone/fax number or email address to get in touch with you to discuss specifics of their complaint.

Whether you're running an e-business or an old-fashioned brick-and-mortar business, the principles are the same. You're dealing with people. If you treat them well, the word will spread. If you don't treat them well, the word will also spread, in many cases even more quickly. The main difference is that with e-tailing today, the word can spread much further and much faster than ever before.

The Internet is a fantastic tool for low-cost advertising and communications. People around the world can be reading about you and your business in an instant, which is how fast your customers will expect you to respond to a complaint. What they will be reading, and whether it will help or hurt your business, depends on whether you treat that complaint as an annoyance or an opportunity.