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PROCEED WITH CAUTION IN
ECOMMERCE BUSINESS
There is a dangerous
epidemic in this world. If the
corrective measures are not taken, it
will cripple the economic strata of this
world. The epidemic has caused several
companies, both big and small, to shut
down. The epidemic referred to here is
“gross mismanagement of electronic
commerce businesses”. “Crippling the
economic strata” may be a little far
fetched idea, but, most of the e –
commerce businesses are built on an
e-commerce infrastructure which is very
shaky. There is no stability at all. The
primary reason for this instability is:
lack or absence of customer support
services in these “virtual” or
“ecommerce businesses”.
It is a fact that the
business potential of an e – commerce
business is very tempting for you to
start one. It only requires some or no
investment at all, an account for the
processing of credit cards and some
knowledge of coding in HTML. These are
the 2 elements which are required for
starting an e – commerce website.
However, if you think that you can sit
and relax once the business is up and
running, then you are absolutely wrong.
The real work begins only after the
business is up. There is a totally
different formula to maintain a
business. To throw more light on it, a
business can achieve true success only
with proper CRM or “Customer
Relationship Management” which can be
achieved through telephone or live voice
support. This is the most important and
vital component which is missing from
most virtual businesses.
There are several
examples to prove this fact. Over 95% of
the start-up and small companies don’t
even bother to look at this component in
the beginning. Imagine how frustrated
your customer would be if he has to wait
for up to 24hrs to get a reply for his
query. Let it be a small DVD rental web
site. If you continue to run the
business in this manner then, the
frustrated customers will not only stop
booking orders with you but will also
tell their family and friends about it.
In this way the “bad word” will spread
until you have no customers and are
forced to shut down the business. The
solution to this is: have a call centre
of a small size in your company. This
solution has 2 benefits: first, it
solves the queries of the customers
instantaneously and secondly, it builds
a solid customer relationship that
result in free advertising through “word
of mouth”.
It is a proven fact that
even small and start-up internet
businesses greatly benefit by utilizing
the services of a call centre for the
purpose of customer sales or service
calls. You don’t have to invest any
money, initially, as most of the call
centres charge you on per call basis. If
you look at your e – commerce business
from the customers view, then you really
need to set up a call centre. Would you
be happy if you have placed an order
with a company and they have no live
voice facility to answer to your
queries? |
