customer service

Customer Service and Website Design

Customer Support at the Design Stage
When we talk about website design we usually think about color harmony, logos, text positioning and such like, so it must feel quite strange to mention customer service in the same sentence as website design.

However would you think it odd to mention the sales page when discussing website design?
No. It seems to fit quite well doesn't it?

The fact that many feel this incongruity between the design of a site and the function of customer support demonstrates to what extent customer care has been left in the background. If we brought our major customers in on the discussion, I wonder just how they would feel about that!

While sales are often considered to be the lifeblood of any business, good customer service is like the oxygen that gives the blood its power. While a great sales page can bring in plenty of new clients unless those customers recieve good customer service, your business is not likely to be around for too long.

Unfortunately customer service is usually left in the background, often not even being mentioned on the website. It is seen as a re-active service only. In other words, when there is a problem, that is when we dust off the customer support policy and wheel it out into service (if we remember where we put it).

Because it is not part of the website core, it's importance can be trivalised, techicians and other staff can forget about how customer loyalty and good customer relationship management actually effect the bottom line.

How To Add Customer Support After the Design Stage
In many cases it is not going to be easy to redesign the website in oder to fit in another menu tab which is labeled Customer Service. And it is probably fair to say that after paying for a well crafted sales page, you are not going to want to destroy the flow by adding a few paragraphs about customer care.
So what is the solution?

The solution comes in the form of an easily recognized Trust Seal. I do not mean one that just says that the site is safe against hackers! That does not say anything about customer care. You need one that will actually help you perform the task of giving great customer service.

A Trust Seal that focuses on support will not detract from your sales message but will be a visible proof that you adhere to a recognized consumer care policy. For those customers that want that extra reassurance, they can click on the seal and see that you are an "Approved Validated Member" and that you have a glowing "Excellent" customer support status.

Providing first class customer service can be a challenge especially for the small and medium sized companies. Many support softare systems are out of the budget range. However by combining the support software with an on-page-seal, you get the best of both worlds at an affordable price.