With the rise of online shopping and E-commerce in recent years, it was only a matter of time before many businesses moved towards digital commerce. However, the sudden surge of COVID-19 delt a huge blow to brick-and-mortar businesses all over the world and in many cases serving as the final death blow.

Whether they were prepared for it or not, businesses had to make the jump online to survive the pandemic, but while a functioning website with information and a shopping cart is welcome, it is far more necessary to continue your relationship with your customers. Keeping your customers happy and cared for is always vital for a business. It is essential to keep that spirit of customer service alive through proper self-service for your E-commerce company by making the jump to digital.

What Exactly is “Self-Service?”

Before getting carried away with optimizing your customer experience online, it is important to pin down exactly what self-service is in E-commerce. Much like a self-checkout at a grocery store, customer self-service is a system where your business can provide all the help clientele need to browse, purchase, or receive help in regards to the services you provide.

From FAQs, , or online chatbots, customers have taken to this kind of service extremely well over the years. According to Zendesk, 67% of customers would rather go through self-service systems than speak with a company representative.

Why Should You Do It?

The fact that customers are fans of self-service should be enough to give you a push to start or improve your systems, but there are plenty of other perks that will make the jump worthwhile.

For starters, with an easy-to-browse and informative website, customers will keep coming back for return business. Pleasing and intuitive design is not just for looks, as if potential clients can easily find what they want on your webpage and leave without too much trouble, they will likely keep coming back. Even something small like a password reset function can do wonders to help customers stay satisfied with your business. A confusing interface and categorizing will often frustrate them, resulting in them taking their business elsewhere rather than suffering any more with your business.

Proper self-service also includes systems to ensure the customer has their questions and problems taken care of while on your website. With the rise of video and picture guides on the internet, many consumers have given up on dealing with company call centers for smaller issues due to the hassle. Incorporating visual elements and FAQ sections on your website will help keep customers coming to your page to deal with any problems instead of resulting in other organizations cannibalizing your income.