The dramatic shift to ecommerce since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic means that a positive customer experience is now more important than ever. Customers are looking for a painless shopping experience from the moment they visit your online store until they receive their purchased goods. According to a Salesforce report, 91% of respondents said a positive customer service experience makes them more likely to make another purchase. That’s huge!

So what can small businesses do now to improve their customer service experience? Nadine Martin, Head of Business Operations at Peach Payments, provides 3 ways businesses can improve right now.

• Be authentic and honest in your response

The default response to a customer complaint might be to say “I know how you feel” but this can often have the opposite effect since you haven’t been in the customer’s shoes, and  can’t identify with their experience. Nadine says that the first thing to do is “acknowledge where you’ve gone wrong as a business. Then go back and say that we could have done better and ask for an opportunity to turn it around.”

In this way, the customer doesn’t feel like you’re using cliche examples of customer service and it’s possible for you to retain their business.

• Understand your competitors’ strong points

It’s always good to experience your competitors’ levels of customer service. Most people are reluctant to switch services if they have had a good experience so make sure you know what your competitors do well and try to improve on it.

Differentiating yourself on customer service goes a long way to staying memorable with your customers and improves word of mouth referrals. Excelling at customer service can also lead to positive online reviews which contribute to future traffic to your website and overall brand trust

• Be knowledgeable about payments

Familiarising yourself with the end to end payment process on your website will go a long way to understanding your customers’ pain when transactions fail or they are otherwise unable to purchase.. If a customer is battling to pay, then it makes sense to get in touch with them and ask if they need assistance. Being attentive to the activity on your payment gateway will help you react quickly to an unforeseen problem and save the sale.

In addition, a reputable payment gateway will also offer multiple payment methods for your site so that customers have a level of flexibility in payment.. In addition to credit or debit cards, these alternative payment methods might include Instant EFT, credit or Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), vouchers and QR codes.

“For example, if a customer is making a large purchase on your site and would prefer to pay it off over a certain amount of time, having a buy now, pay later option like Payflex could help you seal the sale and give the customer the flexibility they desire” says Nadine.

Contacting your payment gateway and finding out more about payments is the first step to getting better insights and knowledge about a crucial element of the customer experience.