E-Commerce Calling
Voice over the Internet, live chat, Net phone, Web meetings, etc. These and other new forms of communication technology often cause us to overlook a little invention that we've been using for more than one hundred years – the telephone.
Internet communication technology is revolutionary and does have a rightful place but sometimes a customer doesn't need to be "dazzled," just contacted.
So, surprise your customers occasionally by picking up the phone and calling them. Whether you personally make the call or a representative from your company does the dialing, it is sure to be unexpected and appreciated.
Avoid making these calls into heavy sales pitches; they should be for information-gathering and customer service purposes only. Some activities that may inspire a phone call to a customer could be:
- A returned order – find out what prompted the return and what could be done to appease the customer.
- A recent purchase – check that the merchandise was received and met with the customer's satisfaction.
- A sale or special promotion on a previously ordered item – personally let a customer know that this is a good time to stock up on something they like.
Use the same discretion with phone calls as you would with e-mail – don't barrage a customer. Hopefully, your client base is so large that you won't be able to call a customer more than once a year unless there is an atypical reason.
Invite all levels of staff to get involved by setting up a calling schedule or by circulating a list of customers. Even the busiest employee can spare a moment to let a customer know that their patronage is valued.
Reprinted from ECommerce Guide
Robyn Greenspan, an independent researcher and speaker, is interested in innovation, market trends and information technology. She was a participant in the AI Summit and also took part in the IEEE International Conference on Edge Computing, International SOA Symposium series and the International Cloud Symposium series. She graduated from Temple University. She was previously the communications and research manager for the AMS, an internationally recognized professional association that advances knowledge in the IT and business management areas.
