How to increase customer service level on your Magento store

Giving great customer service in an eCommerce business is much more difficult than in a brick-and-mortar store. An extra degree of effort is necessary to keep up with customer requests and questions, and it’s incredibly easy for customers to fall off the radar. Therefore, good customer communication is critical for retention and conversion. Provided that […]

By Kathleen


Giving great customer service in an eCommerce business is much more difficult than in a brick-and-mortar store. An extra degree of effort is necessary to keep up with customer requests and questions, and it’s incredibly easy for customers to fall off the radar. Therefore, good customer communication is critical for retention and conversion.

Provided that you are running your store on Magento,  below you will find a few links (in red) to some Magento Extensions that can potentially increase the efficacy and streamline the customer service department for an online store.

We’ve all done it. An email drops into the inbox, asking about an out-of-stock item, and put on hold in favor of an immediate sale. A week later, the email is buried under several pages of Special Offers, and a potential customer goes unanswered. Or a request comes in, via the website contact form, asking a question about shipping rates. The question is lost amidst the wave of inquiries about a new product line.

There are several ways of handling customer communication in order to be effective. One method, often used in larger businesses, is to have a person, or a team of people, on staff for the purposes of client liaison. This can be effective, if the staff is well trained and knowledgeable about all the products in your catalogue, as well as every aspect of your business.

In many ways, automating responses can be a better way of communicating with potential customers. Companies of all sizes can automate many aspects of communication, especially in regards to questions and notifications. Magento offers a number of well-built extensions to help with this automation.

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Every online store needs an Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) page. There are always questions that fall outside the scope of the Terms & Conditions file, and a well-configured Knowledge Base allows for easy edits to questions and answers.  Insert a question and answer set about your shipping, tax info, a specific category of product, or even basic store info such as hours, location, or contact information. Knowledge bases are also great resources for rich content, which always helps with SEO.

Another method of disseminating information quickly is to use Product Questions. Customers can ask for information right on the product page, and you can answer them in the same place. Not only is it a great way to keep customers engaged in conversation, it’s a great way to add more customer-relevant information to your products.

Speaking of products, frequently customer inquiries are in regards to the stock status of items. When will this item be back in stock, will you ever sell that other related item, and so forth. Using Product Updates Notifications allows customers to choose which products interest them, without having to resort to constant ongoing email conversations with multiple customers over a period of months.

One advantage to automating multiple aspects of your communication is to reduce the amount of noise between your store and the customer. This ensures the customer is interested in what your store is telling them, while keeping your products in the forefront of their awareness. The more productive your email chain, the more likely the customer will return to your store to complete their purchase.

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