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Have you ever faced hassle while managing customer queries in your e-commerce store? 

We know that is one of the issues focused on when running an online store. Choosing the right outsourced customer service team is a difficult and analytical process because these tasks include multiple factors. Some of the common factors are –

  • Proper product data entry.
  • Efficiently call center management.
  • Accurately operate e-commerce accounting processes.

In this article, we will give you in-depth knowledge about it. So, let’s jump in!

What is E-commerce Customer Service?

E-commerce customer service means supporting the customer group of an online store regarding their issues with product information, delivery, shipping, payment system, etc. For example, you have purchased a product from Amazon or eBay.

Now you have a query about the shipping and delivery time of the product. So, you will go to their customer support portal and ask your queries.

These are some key factors of e-commerce customer service -

  • Dynamic Support – Customer service agents often analyze and go through support proactively, such as personalized product recommendations, order tracking updates, shipping notifications, etc.
  • Multi-channel Support – Customer support agents often use multiple communication channels for support, such as email, live chat, social media, and website.

It's vital to have a strong customer support team to ensure these tasks are completed because they involve customer satisfaction.

According to PwC's research data, 73% of customers focused on the experience while making the decision to purchase any products rather than quality and prices.

What is Included in ecommerce Customer Service?

Various factors are integrated with the overall e-commerce customer service management system. You know the growth of e-commerce depends on the customer satisfaction score. It includes management of customer inquiries, return management, tracking shipments, etc. To ensure customer retention, you must focus on customer satisfaction.

What is included in e-commerce customer service

E-commerce Order Processing

An outsourced e-commerce customer service team manages the order processing system for a better customer journey in the purchasing process. They often focus on order-related core operations and execute them with excellent service and skilled agents. Here, they train their agents with adequate training based on the client company's business model. Let's see how they process their work.

  • Order Taking – After the order placement, the support team will clarify the order details and go through further tasks such as order confirmation, payment verification, and shipping updates. Not only that, the support agents assist the customers in selecting the products they desire, identifying their queries about orders, and providing accurate delivery information.
  • Customer Database Management – The outsourced support team strategically manages a large volume of customer order-related data. They often use advanced order management tools like – Katana, NetSuite, Zoho Inventory, ShipStation, etc. Also, they focused on proper data validation, such as accurate customer information, to reduce data errors.
  • Multiple Shipping and Payment Options – They manage the shipping and payment options by focusing on factors like payment details processing, shipping costs, and timelines based on customer demands, as well as updating the order status. They also carefully deal with issues like declined transactions and failed payments. For these tasks, they use advanced shipping management systems and payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Square, Amazon Pay,
  • Order Fulfillment and Status Checks – The order fulfillment focuses entirely on processing the customer order. It includes order picking, packing, and shipping the item to the customer’s address. Also, the service agents track the order status and delivery progress before reaching customers. They ensure a system where customers can easily monitor the progress of the delivery.

Product Data Entry

One of the major tasks of outsourcing an e-commerce customer service team is to keep the correct product information in the database system organized. You know that valuable product information like specific product descriptions, specifications, and other benefits are necessary for gaining the customer's trust and smooth customer experience. Regarding product data entry, they carefully focused on identifying missing info, analyzing technical details, customer-centric product description language, updating data based on product upgrades, etc.

  • Product Data Collection and Integration – Basically, the support agents allocate the product data using various methods, such as customer reviews, surveys, feedback forms, analysis of purchase history, and customer interactions. Data collection automation is another concern of the agents. Also, there are methods involved, such as support emails and calls, live chat, and social media surveys. Different tools are available to integrate the collected data, such as Google Analytics, Kissmetrics, CrazyEgg, and Glew.
  • Product Data Enrichment and Validation – Including the right and validated product data is highly important for business. So that the customer can get accurate and up-to-date information about the product. The data enrichment process implies tasks like data standardization, attribute mapping, product image optimization, and detailed product content optimization. To validate the data, the service team follows approaches like cross-verification, checking data quality, and data analysis based on agent feedback.
  • Product Content Management – Customer service agents manage the contents of the product using different types of methods, such as customer query answers, recommending similar products, solving product-related issues, providing product details for order confirmation, gathering product information, and updating product info.
  • Multi-channel Distribution – Multi-channel product data distribution means ensuring the product data are available in all the relevant social media channels. Your product info, such as description, pricing, and stock level, should be relevant on all social channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Ecommerce Call Center

An outsourced call center can be an efficient solution for any type of e-commerce website, large or small. They manage all customer interactions and customer inbound calls. As you already know, they also monitor aspects like order tracking, payment inquiries, etc. In this section, we will discuss some of the services focused on by e-commerce support services that are often provided by the outsourced customer support team.

  • Technical Support Services – The outsourced support team helps with relevant technical customer issues such as product functionality, account access issues, website navigation issues, documentation about any tech products, etc. So, the tech support agents have advanced knowledge about multiple e-commerce platforms and technologies. It improves the overall customer experience and brand reputation of a tech-related online store.
  • Email Support Services – The team also focuses on e-commerce email support services for the company. With a dedicated email inbox, they communicate with the customers about multiple queries. Faster replies and 24/7 availability are the highest priority of email support services. Also, the agents have complete expertise in knowledge-based information about all the products and services for smooth response. There are multiple types of email support tools available, such as Freshdesk, Zoho,  Zendesk, Groove, Salesforce Service Cloud, etc.
  • Inbound Order-Taking Services – Also, the outsourced team ensures the e-commerce company’s inbound order-taking process. In this process, customers directly interact with the support agent and place their desired order.
  • Live Chat Support – Well, the live chat support techniques are another important part of an e-commerce call center service. Most e-commerce customers prefer solutions through the live chat process because it provides them with faster responses. Some of the common methods that are used in the live chat process include integrating live chat widgets on a website, adding live chat software on the website, and agent accessibility to the customer database. Also, three different types of live chat tools are available: Intercom, HubSpot, Tidio, Drift, Gorgias, etc.

eCommerce Accounting

An outsourced customer service system can manage the account-related tasks of an e-commerce company efficiently. Here, the team often works on multiple financial sections, such as applying credits, issuing refunds, processing returns, etc. In general, the support team has expert support professionals who are skilled in tracking and recording financial transactions and other data. So they can execute the account-related tasks properly.

  • Accounts Payable and Receivable Management – The call center agents manage account payable parts like automated invoice processing and online payment gateways, clarify payment terms, check the credits and compromise payments, and manage the supplies. There are different types of software platforms available for these tasks, such as Sage Intacct, NetSuite ERP, Spendesk, Xero, Quickbooks, etc. Also they focus on receivable-related tasks like cashflow management, account invoicing, proper cash application, etc.
  • Invoice and Purchase Order Processing – The third-party support team also manages the invoice and purchase order processing tasks. Some everyday tasks are – order verification, shipping address verification, price dissimilarity resolution, and on-hold order management. There are some common challenges that might occur during these tasks, such as – errors in data entry, complex pricing structure, and information gaps. They also use these tools to optimize tasks such as Spendwise, Precoro, ProcureDesk,
  • Bank and Credit Card Reconciliation – The service center also maintains the bank and credit card-related sections, such as solving customer transaction issues of card or accounts, expired card issues, credit card limitations, fraud protection, payment system errors, recurring billing errors, slow transaction process, etc.
  • Budgeting and Forecasting – Another important of the customer service agents is to optimize and plan the budgets based on predicted sales figures. First, they go through sales forecasting, such as market trend analysis, prediction modeling, and analysis of previous sales data. After the forecast, the focus is on budget-related tasks such as – cost breakdown, customer acquisition cost, and differentiating the variable and fixed costs.

What is the Process of E-commerce Support?

The process of e-commerce customer support means how the support team helps the customers and optimizes the overall purchasing experience to boost the company's growth. You know the customer wants to get a faster solution regarding products and services. So, in an e-commerce support strategy, efficiency matters most.

In this part, we will discuss the process of e-commerce support and how it works.

Major Steps of the E-commerce Support Process

Major Steps of the E-commerce Support Process

  • Contact with the Customers – Normally, the customers are contacted through different communication methods like live chat, phone calls, emails, and social media platforms with their queries. Most queries are related to product purchase info, order tracking, delivery fees, shipment details, payment process, etc.  Also, some of the customers want personalized support for their queries. Also, the support team often organized platforms for self-service. So customers can solve their issues on their own.
  • Issue Identification – Identifying customer issues is the most important factor for support-related tasks. Here, the support agents carefully and accurately pinpoint the customer issues and gather information from them. These are some key things to remember for issue clarification – active listening, open-ended questions, refined patterns, problem validation, and understanding patterns. These elements help the team identify issues such as training agents, customer feedback, and better ticketing systems.
  • Troubleshooting the Issues – It’s a process of identifying the root cause of the customer problem. Based on the customer issues, support agents guide the customers with regular troubleshooting processes like checking their account information, verifying their shipping details, and resetting their passwords. Also, if the e-commerce company has the proper documentation, the agents can easily suggest it to the customers. These things are essential for a better troubleshooting process – transparency, a strong knowledge base, clear communication, and the ability to solve diverse issues.
  • Implement the Multi-channel Support – Currently, multi-channel support has become an integral part of the customer service system. It makes the support system more flexible for the customers and tweaks their overall support experience.  To ensure multi-channel support, the team focuses on factors like understanding customer preference, using the appropriate channel, integrating an advanced support system, keeping the brand message and right tone, and training the support agents. Along with that, the implementation of artificial intelligence(AI) can be efficient for this type of support. There are different types of AI chatbots available that can be trained and fine-tuned with data to provide automated support.
  • Provide Personalized Support – Customer-centric or personalized support systems can be a powerful factor in building customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Well, the AI chatbot can be considered a customized support system, as we mentioned earlier. According to Segment, 73% of business leaders think that AI adaptation can be effective for personalized support and marketing efforts. Key things are essential for this type of support system, such as – using customer data, addressing their name during communication, and tailored solutions based on customer preference.

Factors to Consider When Choosing an ecommerce Customer Service Outsourcing Partner

Selecting the right outsourced e-commerce customer service partner can be difficult because you have to focus on different types of things. Also, customer service is a huge responsibility. In this section, we are going to discuss some of the essential things to consider when choosing a customer service outsourcing partner.

Factors to Consider When Choosing an E-commerce Customer Service Outsourcing Partner

1. Expertise in Relevant Industry

Before choosing the outsourced customer support partner, you must ensure they have professional knowledge of this customer service industry. Their basic purpose is to provide your customers with relevant information and solutions so that they can ensure overall customer satisfaction and improve experience.

“According to SurveySparrow's data, 81% of customers are ready to spend more money for a better customer experience. “

These are some factors of the industry expertise of a customer service team -

  • It’s important for the support to have extensive knowledge about the products and services features, benefits, and functionalities of the relevant sectors in which they are working.
  • Understanding the customer characteristics is crucial. Multiple types of customers require different types of solutions for the services and products. So, the support agents must carefully clarify their needs.
  • Also, the service provider should be knowledgeable about recent market trends, new challenges, and upcoming technological advancements. Currently, AI and automation are becoming part of the customer service process.
  • The customer support team should be flexible in providing sales-related support and understand the sales cycle.

2. Customer Service Quality Metrics

Measuring the customer service quality metrics is necessary to ensure they can execute the service-related tasks efficiently and effectively. If they don't be able to do that, it can be a threat to your overall business growth and conversion rate.

The quality metrics can be measured in multiple ways, such as resolution time, average response time, and business growth insights. It's helpful for clarifying the team's efficiency. Look at some standard KPI metrics of customer support below.

  • CSAT(Customer Satisfaction) – It is a metric that means how a company’s overall services and products are satisfying the customers.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) – NPS refers to customer loyalty metrics, such as how customers often recommend a product to others after purchasing it.
  • Customer Efforts Score(CES) – These metrics determine how a customer can solve the issues, communicate with the agents, and use the customer support portal. According to Salesforce’s research, 61% of customers prefer self-service to solve issues.
  • Average Handling Time (AHT) – AHT refers to the overall duration of each customer interaction that might be through phone calls or messages.
  • First Contact Resolution Rate (FCR) – FCR means how many customers get their solution when they first contact the support agent.

3. Integration Adeptness

Faster integration adeptness is one of the biggest factors for any type of outsourced customer service team. If the team doesn't easily get an idea about the e-commerce company's overall technical system and what tools they often use, they are not appropriate for that company.

You know the customer service system can be managed with multiple types of tools, platforms, and systems. It requires tools based on the purposes, such as - live chat software or platforms, CRM, email marketing tools, social media management tools, etc.

Let us know how an outsourced customer support team can adapt tools -

  • First, the support team identifies the customer’s needs and chooses tools that will be effective in supporting customers.
  • Secondly, they utilize the current integration tools functionalities and performance that the store already has.
  • Thirdly, they need to research current trends and find new tools that can be integrated with the support system.
  • Also, they need to implement faster training methods with proper materials for the entire team. It can boost adaptability faster.

4. Focus on the Price Structure

It's highly significant to analyze the pricing structure of the customer service provider. It can be considered the most common thing to consider as you are running an online store and investing money in a service.

So, the price structure of an outsourced customer service partner depends on multiple factors. First, it depends on time, such as - price per hour, price per transaction, price per minute, monthly subscription base package, etc.

There are different types of service providers available who provide service based on availability, such as support for business hours and 24/7 support. The subscription-based outbound customer service basically depends on the business plan.

Most service providers have different subscription plans. Such as -

  • Business plan for a small size company.
  • Business plan for a medium size company.
  • Business plan for the large size company.

Along with that, some of the providers also create their pricing structure based on specific interactions or services. By the way, an interaction-based structure is essential for a small business because it can easily take the specific customer service to meet its specific requirements. Some of the common factors are -

  • Live chat support.
  • Email support.
  • Call support.

5. Data Security Capabilities

A well-established outbound customer service team should have an advanced security system for their data because you have lots of customer data and their purchasing information for your store. So, while choosing customer service, you must focus on their security.

The service team must securely maintain the necessary data, such as financial details, contact information, and customer personal details. The number of cybercrimes is increasing day by day.

According to Astra's research data, the number of cyber crimes will reach approximately 10.26 billion within the year 2026. There are some rules that have been followed by the international market.

  • General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) – This is a European law that has been followed to control customer’s personal data.
  • California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA): It’s a privacy act for customers to maintain and protect their personal information on a website.
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): This act is specifically for the workable protection of customers’ sensitive data. Any health service provider can’t disclose customer information without their consent.

So, customer service providers must follow these rules to ensure data security. Along with that, you should focus on their data encryption and data handling process. In terms of data encryption, the service team should store data on a reliable server and protect them from unauthorized access. Also, the data should be handled in a proper minimization process, hiding sensitive information like credit card numbers and unnecessary data if not needed.

Where Can I Find an ecommerce Customer Service Provider?

You know, different e-commerce customer service providers are available in the market. But sometimes, choosing the right e-commerce customer service provider becomes difficult. Before selecting a service provider, you have to know and clarify how they process their services, such as order processing, product data entry, call center management, agents' skills and expertise, and accounting processes.

We will suggest our expert and industry-specialized e-commerce customer service team, who will manage your customer service-related inbound and outbound call management, cold calling, sales lead generation, etc. You can contact us right now to schedule a consultation and appointment.

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