How To Respond To Customer E-mails In Online Business

Let's say you  already have your online business running sales are good,  and your marketing campaign is bringing in new customers, so your business is growing.  

Then you are now receiving emails about your service or product now what ?

A person who emails you has an interest in your business. To delay a response or ignore this person may be the start of your business decline. 

This of course may not happen immediately but eventually word of mouth would spread around, that you mostly do not care for your customers or potential customers enough to provide good customer service.  

 This may then lead people to go somewhere else for their purchases and services. So here are Some tips for effectively dealing with emails from Customers.

Try to answer most emails within 24 to 48 hours minimum. The maximum time frame you would want is  about 48 hours.

To accomplish this you will want to set aside time each day just to respond to emails. 

Some say three times a day, morning, mid afternoon, and evening is best as it ensures everyone gets a timely response.

Make sure you are courteous and professional.  

 There are some times you just don’t feel like answering a question that has an answer plainly on your website or sales letter, or some question you feel is irrelevant or foolish.   

The urge to send a fiery response is there. If you do not feel you can politely and professionally answer, take a break.  Come back after you took some time, so you can cool down. 

To the customer who asked this is an important part of their decision on whether they will do business with you or not. Do not push away a customer or potential customer with a hasty emotional response.

If you really dislike answering email or it becomes too much for you to keep up with.  Hire someone to do this task for you.

You will want to choose this person carefully.  Get someone who is friendly and knows your business. 

  Find someone who has the time and English skill necessary to get a prompt and understandable reply back to the customer.

There may be some questions you will get over and over. 

For these have a standard response that set aside that you can cut and paste into your response and then tailor the rest of your response to that particular customers email.

Learn to use your email filters.  This will automatically sort your email along with any junk mail you receive. 

The advantage now is if you set up folders for sales, customer inquiries, feedback and others.  

 You can then prioritize your responses.   

Answer your email them in an order that you feel is important. 

You may want to respond to inquiries and feed back faster than sales. 

 By using email filters you save time from having to separate into groups yourself.

We all understand that things do come up unexpectedly.  This can cause a delay in responses.  

 Make use of an auto responder, post it on your website, or send out a newsletter quick if something comes up. 

People are aware that things can happen and will understand just make sure you keep them informed on when they can expect a response.

If you pay attention to your customers and potential customers comments, questions, or concerns you will make them a happy and loyal group who will help your sales.

  If you ignore them, they will then go somewhere else. 

This will also have an effect on your sales, and it will mostly be a negative effect.

How To Increase Online Business Profits

You must have heard the saying “work smarter not harder” this is basically true for your online business as well. Your goal is to increase profits not increase your work load. Importantly, offer an up-sell for your product or services. 

A good example of an up-sell is if a popular game console sells a basic edition for $195.95 now they also offer a premium edition for $295.95.  The difference is two components that are required for specific game play. 

To upgrade at a later date those two components would cost approximately $150.00 dollars more.
 Most people will purchase the premium edition as they see this as a good deal and getting more for their money.

You will want to test various methods of providing an up-sell for your particular service or product. You can offer this premium edition or enhanced service prior to customer purchasing or after they have purchased and before final purchase settlement.

Subscriptions are an excellent way to increase your profits.  If customers like your service they will be happy and renew each year.  It requires little time, effort, and cost to keep them as customers and happy. 

It is much easier to keep someone happy than to build a new relationship from scratch. A subscription service is easily done. By using your imagination you will find one that fits your target audience. Here are a couple of suggestions to help start. Have a popular site category on your website. 

Charge a yearly fee for inclusion in your links or directory.

 This will pay for your time and effort to review each link request and also allows discourages the casual link requester which also improves the quality of your links.

Offer a printed copy of your newsletter.  Include expanded details on information and also coupons or discounts that readers of the regular newsletter would not receive.

Create a subscriber only service and offers information or services that are not immediately available to someone visiting your site.  An example would be. If you have a housing referral site that gives housing information. 

 For a fee they can also get contact information for any of the rentals or for sale homes on your site.

Continually follow up with customers and potential customers. Let them know you are available for any questions or concerns they may have. If you have any new products or services just in and not announced on your site as of yet.

  Be sure to inform the customer who has purchased a companion service or product of these new offerings first. An auto responder can make this task much easier than manually doing each one.

Work on building relationships. You want your online business to be considered friendly, reliable, and trustworthy. 

Offer to go above and beyond expectations if possible. You will set yourself apart by gong from the online world to the outside world even if it is just a simple thank you card sent in the regular mail. 
People do remember such acts and will reward you with future purchases, and a word of mouth recommendation to others.

If necessary get rid of the high maintenance customer.  You will never be able to make everyone happy. 
 Some customers are so constantly demand extra’s but not willing to pay for them; others are just rude to you on a regular basis. 

Be polite but explain that you will no longer be able to supply them with goods or services for them. 
You can direct them to a competitor’s website if you wish. But it is your online store and you have the choice as to if you want to serve them or not. The goal is to make money and increase profits not increase your work load and headaches.

All the best and have a wonderful day.