If you think the only thing that matters about selling on Amazon is sales/profit, then this article is most definitely for you. If you’re selling on Amazon, then you need to have a strong focus on making their customers happy and protecting your Amazon seller metrics. Here are eight reasons why you should be upping your Amazon customer service game.
1. Buyers Want to Feel Like They Matter
Shoppers want to be viewed as people, not dollar signs. They’re making an investment in you and want that to be a two-way street. After all, there are plenty of merchants they can be shopping at, whether online or at a brick-and-mortar store. Plenty of buyers won’t hesitate to take their business to a place where they feel valued, or spend more than the going rate to get that feeling.
2. Buyers Want to Know They’re Getting the Item They Bought
At first glance, this might not seem like customer service, accurately describing the products you’re selling. But accuracy means honesty, and that leads to trust — a hugely important quality in the online world. If you’re honest with your buyers, you’ll increase your chances of sales and start to build a great reputation. And that’ll increase your chances of pleasant encounters and positive feedback.
3. It Helps Differentiate You From the Competition
If you and 300 other merchants are all selling the same knickknacks at roughly the same price, how are you going to set yourself apart from the crowd? Yep, you guessed it — excellent customer service. Competition is fierce in online selling and you’ll want to give yourself every advantage possible of getting ahead.
4. Word Will Get Around
One of the top, if not the top, ways of building a reputation is by having others speak about you and spread the word. And what kind of message do you want going around? That you take shortcuts and only care about making a profit, or that you care about the person and the process and are willing to do whatever it takes to make it right?
5. An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
It’s a heckuva lot easier to prevent a problem before it ever becomes one than to muck yourself out of a royal mess. And forgive us if we’re sounding like a broken record, but you can use prevention to your advantage by engaging in excellent Amazon customer service.
Be kind and helpful, answer questions promptly, do exactly as you say, and you’ll up your chances of avoiding problems. But if you do find yourself in a situation most foul, don’t accept it as the end and still work on making it right.
6. People Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel
Maya Angelou was spot on when she said how you make people feel is what they’ll remember at the end of the day. Treat them well, with kindness and honesty and respect, and that’ll be their lasting impression of you.
People are a lot more apt to forgive minor lapses if they think you’re a decent person who’s really trying hard to do the right thing. And while we judge ourselves on intentions and others on their actions, it still matters a tonne to make your (good) intentions as clearly understood by others as you possibly can.
7. Buyers Make Assumptions about You
It might not be fair, but buyers — especially in online marketplaces — tend to make quick assumptions about sellers. If they see you have a tonne of great service reviews, one assumption they could make is that extends to everywhere else in your business: products, shipping times, prices, etc.
8. You Can Use It to Leverage Your Business
While providing excellent customer service for the sake of doing something good should/is the primary goal, it can come with a nifty byproduct, too: being able to attract more buyers. If you can say to potential shoppers, “Look, I’ve got a 4.9 seller rating on Amazon, so you’re pretty much guaranteed of an amazing process2, then you have some leverage to work with. Shoppers need more convincing online than offline to go with a merchant, and using your excellent track record can be one of the ways of doing so.