Ah, the customer. The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-demanding entity that keeps a profit moving through a business and – with the right attention – keeps a business looking popular. If a business is taking care of its customers, it’s a business that is going to be successful. Customers rely on you to run your online business like a machine, and they like everything right now. And that means now.
When they place an order online and it’s not the right product they receive, they don’t want to be passed from pillar to post to rectify the solution. When a customer is shopping online, they want an efficient website that works right now, not one that won’t have any movement at all. As the person in charge of your site, it’s up to you to ensure that you are running it in a way that offers maximum efficiency for your customers along with optimum security. You need to have a good customer service response with an easy to use online payment gateway that is secure and ready to go. Without those things, your business is going to tank pretty quickly. When you run an e-commerce site, you’re expected to be good at what you do. After all, you’re managing large amounts of orders through a website that is designed to provide a solution to a problem – whether that’s a product or service. The key? Getting it right.
It can be overwhelming as you get more popular, but running your site has to be as smooth as possible and we’ve got some tips to get you there.
First in, first out.
It’s a rule you would hope all online websites would apply, but the problem with most online businesses is that they are not looking carefully enough at the orders that they get and as they pile up, older orders get skipped. Don’t do this. Work from the first on the list and down – because those who were first need taking care of.
Use your filters.
Filtering was brought in to help you to manage your processes from order being placed to shipping. Filter your payments received and you can ensure that you are working through your orders in a timely way.
Watch your inventory.
It’s so easy to lose track of what you have in your inventory. When attention is focused on something else, it happens. Outsource it if you have to, but you need to keep track of what you have and what you don’t so that you don’t run out and keep your customers waiting for you to order more.
Shipping.
Handling your shipping efficiently is so important. Customers don’t want to wait around for their order to arrive. They want to know the exact time frame that it should be there and they want it to meet their expectations. Meet them and you’ll get rave reviews, and thus, more customers.
Customers want fast orders, fast responses and fast shipping. If you can provide those things, they will continue to use your services.