How to Improve Customer Service for Dropshipping

No online business can survive without good customer service, especially for dropshipping. Today's siever competition in the market evidently bundles the importance of growing brand loyalty more. Providing careful customer support is one of the key points to keep customers loyal.

Poor customer service may not directly impact your dropshipping profit margin. Still, it can damage your ability to make sales as excellent customer service can always help you retain more existing customers and win more potential customers.

Have trouble handling customer service? This article can give you a big hand! Besides emphasizing the importance of quality customer service for ecommerce, we also summarize customer service tips for dropshipping and the best tools that help you develop your business.

 

Why is Customer Service Important for Dropshipping?

 

Ecommerce customer service encompasses all assistance provided to consumers throughout the whole order process--from social media to after-sale support and everything. An enjoyable purchasing experience usually makes more customers stay. 66% of people will stop purchasing products from the same brand again if they had a bad experience before. People today tend to pay for better services when facing the same products from different brands or stores. 61% are willing to pay 5% more if they can receive a better shopping experience.

 

What's more, making a new customer is far more difficult and challenging than retaining the existing ones. It can cost several times more to acquire new customers than to retain current ones. That is the key to success and making long-term profits in the field of dropshipping. 

Improving customer service is the major path to increasing customer loyalty. With this, you will even get fewer refund requests and win more trustful good reviews. It can help construct your online business's reputation and convince more people to make a purchase in your store.

 

Customer Service Tips for Dropshipping

 

❶ Provide Multiple Communication Channels

 

Providing multiple channels for communication shows your consideration and determination to treat the customers well. People are usually familiar with email, phone, live chat, and messenger options. Social media also become a hot platform to communicate with potential customers. Besides promoting the products or brands, you can get direct demand or feedback from comments or DM on social media. 

Automated tools such as chatbots, email templates, and FAQs can help you save more time and effort by providing instant and constant for some issues. To make it convenient for your customers, remember to clearly and concisely label communication channels on your website or social media profiles.

 

❷ Keep Response Times Short and Correct

 

Resolving customer issues timely and effectively can reduce bad reviews and refunds at the root as well as increase store credibility. 93% of people would like a corresponding response in 24 hours while 65% have needed to follow up more than once to get their questions resolved. Wherever the inquiries come from, you should give reasonable replies. Quick and reliable customer support is essential for conversions and repeat sales.

 

Ideally, you should have customer service representatives on call 24/7. Considering the cost and time, you may turn to a chatbot or other AI tools for help. They will help avoid long waiting times and keep your customers satisfied while you focus on sales.

 

At the same time, try to remain calm and patient, and take every customer seriously. Polite and targeted responses will leave customers a good impression on your customers and increase their trust in your store.

 

❸ Set Clear Policies and Descriptions

 

Make all policies transparent and clear on your website. Set a detailed FAQ page, a shipping and delivery page, a comprehensive description of the return and refund policy, and a privacy policy--these all can help improve customer retention. Additionally, make the product description as all-inclusive as possible, since it also plays an important role in a higher conversion rate. If your customers can get all the things they want without asking, then they may have more fondness for your store.

 

One thing to notice is that delivery and returns services are key factors impacting customers' buying decisions. Up to 75% of global shoppers want to be able to change their delivery instructions at the last minute. Make sure the delivery supplier you cooperate with can provide such services. 

 

Or you can find a fulfillment agent like SourcinBox long been working with almost all professional shipping companies in China. We provide multiple shipment options at reasonable prices and our shipping price is more reasonable and saves you more costs.

 

❹ Collect Feedback and Reviews

 

Customer feedback is priceless for any online business.  Feedback and reviews from customers show perspective on your products and services, which may indicate the problems and drawbacks or show what's working well. Customer reviews can really be valuable assets for dropshipping sellers to help improve stores and services. You can invite customers to leave more comments about the products and services by offering discounts, loyalty points, or exclusive promotions. 

 

According to the DHL eCommerce: Global Online Shopper Survey 2023, 89% of customers worldwide check out product reviews before making an online purchase, and 98% of those who read reviews say they influence their buying decisions. To increase the purchasing rate, you can leverage the positive feedback to present the satisfaction of the existing customers and strengthen your brand reputation.

 

Best Customer Service Tools to Grow Your Business

 

1. Zendesk

 

 

Zendesk is a powerful customer service solution with high popularity. This software's multichannel support makes it easy to keep in touch with your customers--chat, phone, email, set up self-service options, answer tickets, and more. Its AI assists in managing and resolving customer issues with speed and consistency. Also, Zendesk does well in collecting and summarizing customer data, giving you feasible insights, and pointing out where to improve. Zendesk offers three different plans with different features and a free trial with access to all features on the Support Professional plan.

 

2. Freshdesk

 

 

Freshdesk is another powerful tool providing customer support services. It's highly adaptable in helping businesses of all sizes keep customer interactions streamlined. It can keep all communication channels in one place for more efficient and accurate management. Freshdesk's built-in capabilities automate repetitive helpdesk tasks and realize a self-service experience for the shoppers. Also, Freshdesk can provide a lot of data and reports to make your service a higher level. It offers a 14-day trial for new sign-ups and three plans equipped with different levels of features.

 

3. Help Scout

 

Help Scout is a robust customer service software with easy operation. With Help Scout, you can customize workflows to speed up the processing and streamline all the tasks. Use AI to boost productivity and communicate on multiple customer support channels. You can use Help Scout to set up your own self-service help center. This can not only save team working time but also help customers solve problems promptly and accurately. This all-in-one software provides a team inbox that ensures anyone on your team can quickly jump in and process a problem. It provides three premium options after experiencing a 15-day free trial.

 

4. Happy Customer Care

 

 

Happy Customer Care(HCC) specializes in providing the best customer care experience for businesses of all sizes. Its team of multilingual customer care experts is rigorously trained and certified to deliver prime and reliable service for your customers. They are capable of timely processing customer service emails, social media comments, public reviews, etc. Besides, HCC is professional in handling payment processor disputes and saves you more profits. Taking advantage of its existing features, you can easily scale your support operations and make your business operations more cost-effective.

 

5. HelpCenter

 

 

HelpCenter is a user-friendly customer service software for online sellers to create better customer interactions. With its FAQ builder, you can set up a comprehensive FAQ page within a few minutes. It also allows you to organize your product descriptions with product tabs. Besides, its all-in-one HelpDesk ticketing system unites different communication channels in one platform for better processing. If you own multiple Shopify stores, this app can assist in synchronizing data. You can enjoy its services under 4 different pricing plans including a free one.

 

6. Tido

 

 

Tidio is a great chat with easy operations and multiple functions. Its live chat combines it with chatbots and AI to automate your conversations, sales, and processes. It is also specially equipped with in-build order management available for Shopify actions for better customer service. You are also allowed to adjust the look and feel of the widget to your branding to make it more eye-catching and impressive. It offers four standard plans including a free one with functions enough for a dropshipping business.

Conclusion

Did you know that customer service was so important for your dropshipping business?

 

Customer satisfaction is a key factor in telling whether a business is successful. Though dropshippers can hardly meet customers face-to-face, serving customers nicely and patiently online can also help increase customer loyalty.

To achieve excellent customer service, you must be in customers' shoes. Make every customer feel warmly welcomed by following the tips mentioned above. Choose appropriate customer service tools for your online business and turn conversations into sales opportunities!