What do you think are the common customer service mistakes people/businesses make on their websites?

Hi there.

I just thought I would let you know I agree with you 100%.

Good customer service is the key to Good business.
Without it you have nothing. If customers feel they are
not valued, then why should they provide you with any value?

Examples of bad customer service I have come across include:

* Lack of personal care, This is a real issue. A good point you
made in your post was about automated responses not relating
to your exact problem.

A lot of them just don't satisfy or solve a problem, or narrow
it down enough. I can't remember the amount of times I have
been in this situation, and boy is it frustrating.

* Other things in my opinion are: Showing disinterest or lack
of personal concern to a customer's needs, ignoring customer
input or not listening to them properly, being ambiguous or
vague, criticising or arguing with customers (VERY BAD).

I'm sure most people have at some stage or another been
on the receving end of this kind of treatment. If you can take
these examples and learn from them, you can turn other's
mistakes into your success.

Take care of your customers and they will take care of you.

Kind regards,

Mike.

Hey Guys

No-one's going to disagree with the "customer is king" mantra and it's very easy to achieve when starting out.

The real challenge is in working out how you are going to scale that up when your business takes off.

Because there comes a time when you simply can't answer every email yourself and you personally cannot see to it that every customer's expectations are being surpassed.

It's not because you don't want to, it's because there are simply not enough hours in the day for you to do it yourself.

Set reasonable and achievable expectations from the outset to avoid having to lower your own standards later, creating the perception of falling service.

Cheers,

Neil

Hi daryamconsult_aust:

Hope all is well today.

There are a plethora of customer dis-service mistakes that have become the norm the last few decades. From experience how about when you see on a website or blog "Don't worry after the sale we will be there for you" and you send an email before you buy to ask a question and never receive a response?

What about the famous send us an email and you'll get a timely response? You wait and 3 days later a canned answer that doesn't help is waiting for you?

Especially in a recessionary market it never hurts to be appreciative of the customer or potential buyer and work with them so you cultivate a lasting business relationship and not a one shot sale!

Be well!

Hi guys, I recently wanted to buy a product from a person who is very well known in Internet Marketing. I wanted to ask a question first, though, and I couldn't find an answer in the FAQ section of the site.

So, I clicked on the "contact us" link and guess what? Seems I couldn't ask a question until I'd purchased something from this person. Needless to say, he didn't make any money from me.

The moral of this is that people need to understand that customer service has to start BEFORE the sale. The more helpful a business can be, the more money they will make.

Automated responses. These just take annoying to the next level. I can seriously say if a business is using automated responses then they sure don't have time for you

The #1 thing that websites are doing
wrong?

They focus on themselves and their
business, not on what that business
will do for their client.

How many times have you logged on
to a site and had to sit through a flash
presentation, or waded through some
kind of About Us drivel before you get
what you're looking for?

Not giving the customer want they
want immediately is maybe the biggest
customer service mistake possible.

-David Raybould

I understand the OP's frustration, but sometimes you have to look at this from the other end.
I run a membership site w/ over 10k members, and you wouldn't believe the kind of support emails that are received...
Things like...members signup and email you 2 minutes later saying they don't remember their username.

And of course the old 'I forgot my password' question. Any reputable membership site that respects their members privacy will double encrypt all passwords. I can't lookup member passwords and thats for a good reason - and that's also why there is a very clear 'forgot password?' link directly on the member login page.

I agree that customer service on many sites is often below par, but in certain cases thats just how it has to be. Sometimes its just not profitable to give all the immediate and personal attention that some members desire.

I actually am surprised that I have gotten everything I have paid for. We are dealing in a market full of new and up and coming entrepreneurs. Also, I agree that it is sometimes hard to find the right place to ask questions, but once you do they usually get answered within a fair amount of time. So, the world is not a perfect place, and neither is internet marketing. You just have to be persistent in getting where you want to go.