It is incredible how a person’s opinion can turn on the smallest thing. In online business, that would be customer service through a virtual assistant. Customer service can literally make or break an online business venture. It can set you apart from other businesses of a similar nature, and make you really stand out from the crowd, in a positive or negative light. You have the potential to build a significant feeling of trust here, with visitors, customers or those who are still deciding.
What is Customer Service?
Take a moment and consider these points carefully. Let’s say that the reader signs up to join your affiliate program or to receive a newsletter. A number of days pass and they haven’t received any notification, information or confirmation. That reader will then decide to take back their request as they don’t want anything to do with you.
It is important, to say the least, to follow through on the offers you make to readers and customers alike. That is why they came to you in the first place. You have to follow through and this will help to formulate their decision to stay, so it goes without saying that this action is very important, if you are to succeed.
Just like in a store, no one wants to wander around aimlessly without support. The moment that you have to ask for help, the point has been passed. It is the job of the business owner to be available in case they are needed.
How to Provide Good Customer Service
Now, of course it would be totally unrealistic to think that you will sit at your computer 24/7 waiting for a reader to ask a random question. A process must be put in place, though, so that somebody, like a virtual assistant for example, is waiting for just such an eventuality, 24/7.
Here are some suggestions:
• Messages sent via autoresponder
• Scheduled delivery of newsletters
• A frequently updated FAQ page
• An easily navigable website, with user-friendly tabs, links and site map
• An answering service
• Virtual assistant
It’s important that when you aren’t available personally, your customers and readers are catered for. As an example, when you have an affiliate program, the information or links should be sufficient to educate the readers and to tell them how they can go about signing up. The sign-up form should only include a request for the information that you really need, so they are as easy as possible to fill in.
When you have time, go through your email messages for those whose questions didn’t fit one of the recorded categories on your “Contact Us” page. Those people will have received an auto responder message from you, informing them that you will get back to them within 24 hours with the information that they have asked for.
Any truly professional virtual assistant will guarantee to you that prompt service on your part is an indication that you are very serious about somebody’s business. You value their action and want to ensure that they are quite pleased with their choice. Customer service is a big part of building a healthy long-lasting relationship with your readers, and it’s a detail that if left unattended, could mean the loss of an otherwise great online investment.


