“The United States’ e-Commerce market has been basking in the spotlight over the past year due to its fast-driving eCommerce sales momentum despite the COVID-19 pandemic and is about to reach a long-awaited-for trillion dollar milestone next year (2022); this means grand opportunities for global eCommerce sellers (i.e. eBay Sellers, Lazada Sellers, Shopee Sellers, Online e-Commerce Store Sellers, etcetera) that utilize live web chat with or without integrated conversational AI [artificial intelligence] to connect with U.S. eCommerce consumers since approximately 79% of all e-Commerce consumers prefer live chat due to its advantage in providing instant responses. To successfully take advantage of the e-Commerce sales benefits associated with the U.S.’ eCommerce market sales drive, it is vitally important that cross-border e-Commerce sellers understand how to properly provide exceptional customer service that upholds the standards of U.S. live chat etiquette. Callnovo Contact Center can help global eSellers to uphold these standards with effective outsourced customer service that builds mutual trust between sellers and their eCommerce customers, promoting strong customer service experiences that magnify e-Commerce sales opportunities, increase customer retention rates, and promote a strong competitive edge in the global e-Commerce market.”
The United States: An Unprecedented Opportunity for Cross-border eSellers
The United States of America’s eCommerce market – the second most profitable in the world – has been showing its resiliency and strong drive for sales success over the past year as a grand survivor despite the coronavirus pandemic; last year, the market successfully reached an eCommerce sales revenue benchmark of USD$ 432 billion dollars, contributing to a worldwide economic growth rate of 26%. Now – in the year of 2021 – that economic sales growth is expected to become even more significant as the United States is now on its way to reaching a surprising milestone never thought possible despite the worldly circumstances: a booming 1 trillion U.S. dollars in eCommerce sales by 2022 – tied specifically to U.S.-based eCommerce consumers alone; this milestone marks a grand opportunity for cross-border eSellers that utilize communication channels such as live web chat to augment their customer acquisition and customer retention rates since it has been reported that approximately 79% of all e-Commerce consumers prefer live chat due to its provision of instant responses and since approximately 63% of all eCommerce customers who receive excellent customer service (CS) via web chat are likely to return to the same eCommerce sites.
US Live Chat Etiquette
The Importance of Adhering to Web Chat Etiquette CS Standards
Global eSellers wanting to take this opportunity by the horns to provide exceptional customer service through live web chat that builds mutual trust between sellers and their U.S. consumers should vitally consider how to maximize on the provision of their customer service so that they can best build customer satisfaction experiences that motivate U.S. consumers to remain loyal to their eCommerce brands and to also influence eCommerce new customers to purchase eCommerce products from the same brands and possibly become loyal shoppers. To accomplish this, global eSellers selling within the United States should have a good understanding of U.S. live chat etiquette in order to successfully reach the majority of U.S. eCommerce customers through live chat and in-turn increase their e-Commerce sales, finding a strong brand loyalty that sustains sales success into the future and creates a secure competitive edge in the global eCommerce market.
A Look into Live Chat Etiquette Standards of Customer Service
As live chat has the highest customer satisfaction rate out of all multichannel communication and Telecom platforms (phone calls, SMS messaging, e-mail, live web chat with integrated conversational AI, social networking, etcetera) with a 92% satisfaction rate, and since it estimated that – in contrary – 1-in-3 eCommerce consumers completely break interactions with e-Commerce businesses due to bad experiences with a customer service team, it cannot be stressed enough that adhering to live web chat etiquette can turn an average eSeller into a highly trusted e-Commerce brand. Let’s take a detailed look at some U.S. live chat etiquette CS standards and best practices.
Selfless Customer Service
A customer that is treated as valuable is a long-lasting customer – especially in the United States; being cheerful, respectful, and polite, and setting and maintaining a positive tone can guarantee customers that brands’ customer support teams will be always be there to offer the help that they desperately need, and such customers will even keep in mind their status as highly-valued consumers, attracting them to recurrent purchases and ensuring that they even motivate others by word-of-mouth to purchase from the same brands. To accomplish this, some of the things that customer support representatives should do are:
- put customers first – meeting their needs while still following company policy so that customers can see that they’re valued and can enjoy their products and services to the fullest and with the least hassle,
- attentively and proactively listen to customers – providing emotional support if necessary which affectively enhances customer relationships and shows that customers can confide in their brands’ customer support teams, and
- remain calm and collected – since patience goes a long way in assuring that customer issues and their associated feelings don’t escalate, keeping each situation in a positive light and guaranteeing that customers influence a reputable brand image.
Simple – but Correct – Language Skills
This is actually quite the give-in; not only does avoiding jargon and technical terms make for a more human experience – but, using correct grammar and clear language also assures that eCustomers – especially U.S. eCommerce customers that are genuinely serious about their brands – consider their brands as professional and genuinely worth investing in. Some fast tips for customer service representatives (CSRs) are:
- avoid ALL CAPS, and
- avoid an excess in abbreviation usage.
Accurate Solutions
Within the United States alone, the general consensus amongst e-Commerce customers is that an inaccurate response is a waste of time and energy; this is especially true when it comes to the provision of post-sales solutions for after-sales issues (such as order status updates and shipment tracking) – because they have already tasted of the sweetness of their brands’ products via research and the nostalgia of making the purchase and are looking to fulfill that experience with a long-term enjoyment of such products. Providing accurate solutions can effectively increase CSRs’ eCustomers’ customer satisfaction, create mutual trust since U.S. eCustomers will learn to confide in brands’ customer service teams, cause brands’ images to become increasingly more positive, and increment repeat sales since such United States eCustomers will consider themselves as valuable.
Customer Service Agent Response Time
As mentioned above, United States consumers primarily utilize live web chat for efficiency – meaning that they have certain expectations when it comes to the amount of time it takes for CSRs to provide a 1st response to a chat – called first response time; practically, U.S.-based eCommerce consumers prefer a 1st response time of between 6-15 seconds – though, as a non-written rule, the live chat first response time should be technically under 60 seconds. By providing rapid responses to United-States-based eCommerce customers – preferably in seconds – CSRs can guarantee a wonderful first impression and could even be on their way to ensuring that customers receive high-quality customer service experiences that bring in grand sales dividends and that create long-term brand loyalty.
Ask for Customer Feedback
By asking customers for feedback regarding their customer service experiences, customer service (CS) support teams can ensure the reception of key insights into how they’re doing as a CS team; in addition to this, CSRs may also receive some insights into how to transform products and services so that they mesh with customers’ specific needs. Feedback should be asked for either: (1) at the end of each live chat session, (2) when customer service requests end, (3) after a demo is offered, or (4) once a transaction is completed.
Callnovo Contact Center: a Viable Solution for Cross-border eSellers to Meet U.S. e-Commerce Consumer Expectations via Live Web Chat
For global e-Commerce sellers, meeting customer expectations via a proper adherence to live web chat etiquette is vitally important to ensuring that United-States-based e-Commerce consumers find a trust in brands that successfully build a strong brand reputation, leading to fierce competition in the global e-Commerce market and even a greater advantage against competitors; eCommerce sellers must highly consider that their customer service teams are only impression that brands project on customers, and making a sub-par impression can turn customers away and cause them to find other brands. We at Callnovo Contact Center – your global customer service experts that have been providing exceptional customer service outsourcing solutions to a plethora of eSellers for more than 16 years and in more than 40 different industries – have a valuable solution for your eCommerce company so that it may provide outsourced customer service through live web chat that creates strong customer satisfaction experiences that increases customer loyalty. Not only does our team ensure the hiring of only the most qualified CSRs via a thorough 6-step recruitment process that selects candidates based on factors such as: native language proficiency (35+ languages – such as: English, Malaysian, Spanish, Mandarin / Cantonese, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, Turkish, Arabic, Portuguese – amongst others), communication skills, service attitude and enthusiasm, logical thinking skills, and product / troubleshooting service experience – amongst others – but, we also have an advanced Global Omnichannel SaaS Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Platform that offers key features for global eSellers that aid in the enhancement of a streamlined and rapid provision of customer service – including and not limited to:
- 35+ UI Languages and Global Time Zones – ensuring that customers get answers to their pre-sales / post-sales inquiries right away with chatbot assistance and conversational AI integration
- Activation and Hosting – provided for the easy facilitation of active communication between eCommerce companies and cross-border consumers
- KPI Monitoring and SLA Monitoring – protecting businesses and their customers from issues and providing operations teams detailed data on how to improve customer service experiences
- Other Features:
- Role-based Ticket Assigning and Monitoring
- SCAT and Q&A
- Team-based Manual and Smart Notifications
- Knowledge Base
- Micro-learning and Quizzing
- Multi-client Shared Agents
- Amazon Seller Central Integration
- Shopify Back-end Integration
- amongst others
It is apparent that the United States provides an awesome opportunity for cross-border eSellers to augment e-Commerce customer acquisition and customer retention rates in order to find grand sales success; as live chat has practically become the most preferred means of contact between eSellers and their U.S. consumers, eSellers must consider how to take advantage of this to ensure their customers’ brand satisfaction. We at Callnovo are fully committed to providing for your e-Commerce business a strong customer service team in fine-form that can help your brand adhere to the U.S. standards of live chat etiquette so that U.S. consumers may find your brand valuable and worthy of its long-term loyalty.