Training Employees Can Improve Online Customer Service

Businesses with ecommerce websites must ensure their employees are capable of delivering quality online customer service.

Customer service employees at online retailers must realise that although their role may not involve face-to-face interaction they still represent their employers' brand and must develop good customer relationship management skills.

An increasing number of ecommerce websites provide live online help through an instant messaging service and it is important that employees are trained in how to act appropriately through this medium.

Live chat can improve customer service by having a constant online presence which can deal with problems and queries in a prompt fashion but it is crucial to have employees who are able to deliver first-class results.

Research by Payments Council revealed that almost on third of people prefer to shop over the internet when they are given the choice and the typical consumer shops online about 22 times a year compared to 81 physical shopping trips.

Retailers can maintain the loyalty of their online customers by training their customer-facing employees in how to cope with common internet retail issues such as late delivery or payment problems.

Training your employees will produce other benefits as it will keep them motivated and new skills are proven to enhance morale, while investment in development will demonstrate that they are valuable to the business.

It can be cost effective to train existing workers as this will remove the expensive procedure of recruiting and it can also help the employee become more efficient and productive.

Meanwhile, Gatwick Airport is the latest organisation to benefit from providing training to its staff as it reported a 15 per cent drop in passenger complaints, while compliments dramatically increased by 94 per cent.

Stewart Wingate, chief operating officer at the airport, said: "Passengers will judge their experience of Gatwick not just on the quality of the airport facilities but also on the friendliness and helpfulness of our staff.

"That is why we are investing in the training and development of our people at the same time as we invest to improve the physical environment of the airport."

The airport sent nearly half of their employees on an accredited qualification course in order to improve customer service and the remaining staff are set to complete their training in the coming year.

Businesses can improve customer service by employing performance improvement consultants who are able to apply systems thinking business theory.


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Himsworth Consultancy is a leading Management Consultancy firm of senior business and peformance improvement consulting professionals that can improve customer service through systems thinking. Click the links to find out more.