Ensuring eBusiness Success in 2001
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by
Pete Cooper
Increase
Sales and Loyalty with Presentation and Service
The main
problem with eCommerce has been that people believe it exists in a totally different
world to 'real business' and that the 'old rules of business are dead'. In hindsight,
quotes proclaiming such things look idiotic now. In 2001, we're going to finally
realize that the most important part of eBusiness is not the 'e', but the actual
business. Two important aspects of business are presentation and service.
Poor
grammar and spelling and out of date phone numbers were marked as particularly
disastrous to a company's sales effort. The same goes for poor grammar and
spelling on your Web site too. These seem like really trivial things, but they
make all the difference! You might not be a copywriting agency, but wouldn't you
doubt the professionalism of someone who sent you a letter with spellings such
as 'prodject' or 'totel cost'? The Royal Mail thinks so, and blames the loss of
millions of dollars worth of business on companies who fail to check their outgoing
communications.
Bad
on-line customer service could kill your business. Act quickly. Several major
surveys during 2000 found a common complaint amongst most online shoppers. Poor
service. In fact, one site actually sent an email to a number of eCommerce sites
requesting information about each company in three different languages. Of these,
a pitiful percentage even bothered to reply and many of these were autoresponders!
When people email you, that's a good sign. It shows they want to get in touch.
Don't ignore them! When people are emailing you with questions, that's a good
time to charm them and lead them into actually purchasing from your site.
If
you offer a method of contact, keep it open! If you only offer customer service
over the Internet, then say so. Don't volunteer phone numbers and snail mail addresses
if you don't have the resources to be able to respond at all times. People make
impulse decisions when purchasing from or just dealing with a company. First impressions
count. If a customer tries to phone you and receives bad service (or none at all!)
they'll move onto their next choice, simple as that.
