… about serving the customer, creating relationships… being helpful, kind, fair… and always think about your customer has the only one you have got. he is the main focus of your work.
as an {etsy seller} i try to provide my customers with the best customer service possible. and in an online business it is even more important because the customers are not able to meet the seller, nor to speak with them in person. they just read between the lines, among convos, emails, cards, thank you notes, freebies… wrapping… and with this i take it very seriously, as i want my customers to be happy, fully satisfied, if possible with their expectations beyond met, and of course, i wish them to be back.
well, to make my prints i have searched for several labs until i found the best one. the best in quality, efficiency… and kindness. it is not the cheaper one, but definitely sometimes the cheaper places are not the better choices! but even in this place not everything works perfectly. specially because one of the ladies that works there… well, maybe this thing called {customer service}… is not something that she is familiar with. maybe no one taught her. or maybe she does not realize that in the smallest gestures you can make the difference. really!
so, in order to be more explicit, i shall write a list on simple things that really matter to a customer!
#1 pay attention to your customer, look at him/her and say “hi!”
#2 smile! (yes, even if you have no reason, it will make a difference!)
#3 ask if you can help! but do not control all his/her moves! no one likes that!
#4 be kind and present, do not make the customer think that he is bothering you if he/she wants to ask something!
#5 pay attention to his/her needs, maybe you can give him/her a better answer than the one he/she just chose! he/she is the one right now!
#6 be honest & clear with the payment! be sure to give any information that might not be that explicit!
#7 take every chance to make your customer happy! if there is a customer card he/she can sign for discounts, do not just ask if he/she has one! offer him/her the card or the paper to fill out the information needed!
#8 ask if there is anything else you can help!
#9 if something goes wrong, do not make it personal, nor give the customer personal information about you, the shop or your boss. really… as customers we do not care! we care more about someone that is proud of what he/she does, and not giving away the boss in every chance!
#10 never raise your voice to your customer, always be polite and try to put yourself in his/her place!
#11 say goodbye and hope to see him/her back!
all this is because i have been presented with some lousy customer service in some of the places i go. this lady from the lab did one fabulous thing and then ruined it in a matter of seconds. i ordered 5 prints with borders. two of them had that white border a little dirty from the printer. one of them was not a problem, really. the other one was a little. i asked for another print. she did them both. of course i was not going to pay for the second version. when i saw them both, i chose the new one i wanted, the other one was not that different. what could have she done in this moment? offered me that one. it was already printed. i would be a happy happy customer. she could at least ask if i wanted it. what did she do? she tore my print in front of me! really. and so i just left still having some difficulty in understanding why do people choose to harm their businesses on purpose. because that does not make any sense at all! and this leads me to another question…
what do you do to improve your customer service?
images: all available on my {etsy shop}
Laura Evans says
this is a wonderful, insightful post. every day we deal with customer service & the majority of people will spread the word about bad customer service as opposed to good. thanks for sharing your tips with us.
SofiAlgarvia says
I couldn’t agree more with you. It’s terrible for any kind of business when we, as customers, come across this kind of customer service. I believe that if you had another lab with similar print quality, you would never return to this one. At lest is what I usually do, I reject bad customer service’s shops.
I also sell some of the things that I make (sew), and I’m considering in opening an etsy-shop, but what is keeping me from taking this (big) step is the process: the effort to create good customer service, consider the wrapping, the cards, the gifts, and so on. That can make a difference when we deal with on-line business, non face-to-face transactions.
Let me just add, that I enjoy coming here and learning from you.