Response Time To Internet Customers Is Mission Critical

As your internet marketing plan is being built, you have to constantly look for ways to replace the human touch with an online experience. Why? Because human touch is unpredictable, un-measurable, and is only as good as the worst person in the chain of activities.

Often times though, our customers really want to communicate with real people, and that is where our customer service personnel have to be well trained. Too often, organizations try to “close the deal” when in fact the customer might not be at that point in the product or service consumption cycle.

Our personnel must seek first to understand the present situation of the customer, and then to satisfy that current need. And it all begins with follow-up and rapid response.

Think about how much that you individually have changed as a consumer. Remember five to ten years ago you might leave a voice message asking for somebody to call you back about a problem that you wanted solved? Your past experiences had you “programmed” to believe that superior service providers could be in touch in hours, but certainly less than a day. If that company called you back in a few hours, you were very pleased.

But is that the case today? Are you willing to wait days or even hours when you know that an answer is only moments away (through your Google gateway)? I have found that my patience for delay as a consumer has vanished. I might not be buying anything right away, but I certainly expect answers immediately. And it is no different with the majority of consumers on the internet. If your company is not providing immediacy, will your prospective customers find it elsewhere?

Regardless of your product or service, focus great care and attention on how you will respond to customer inquiries. Consider as many mechanical processes as possible, but don’t forget that most customers want the human interaction.

Tagged as: customer service, customer service standards, internet consumers, internet customers, internet leads, rapid response, response time