With the in-depth development of cross-border e-commerce, the market has become more and more standardized, and the previous “price war” can no longer meet the needs of customers. Therefore, the “customer-centric” operating concept has become more and more important, and companies have begun to emphasize the importance of cross-border e-commerce customer service. Cross-border e-commerce customer service personnel and customers transmit information through the Internet, and the interaction between the two parties is achieved through the communication of text and pictures. The timeliness of cross-border e-commerce customer service is not as strong as that of physical stores or even domestic e-commerce customer service, but the essence is the same, that is, to provide a series of services to meet customer needs.
1. Excellent customer service quality is a manifestation of the competitiveness of cross-border e-commerce companies
In this era of global e-commerce, everyone is closely connected through various information channels. Naturally, people who are proficient in online shopping are increasingly accustomed to judging the quality of products and services by browsing product reviews and pre-sales and after-sales service reviews. Therefore, having good product reviews and customer service reputation is often the most important determinant for online customers to submit orders with confidence. For those international companies pursuing long-term development, excellent customer service quality is also one of their competitive advantages in consolidating their overseas market position.
Practice has proved that with the continuous improvement of people’s purchasing power, under the condition of serious product homogeneity, the traditional competitive advantages of cross-border e-commerce such as low prices, gorgeous product descriptions, gorgeous product pictures, and vigorous advertising promotion cannot stand the test of time. High-quality customer service is now the first in consumer demand and has become one of the important reasons for online shoppers in all regions of the world to support a brand for a long time.
2. Good customer service can improve customers’ purchasing experience
There are many reasons why many cross-border e-commerce brands lose customers, such as poor business capabilities of overseas customer service personnel, poor customer service, or low efficiency of customer service representatives, especially during peak call times, which makes customers wait too long and fail to solve customers’ problems in time. According to relevant statistics, about 90% of American customers said that they are very happy to pay for excellent customer experience; at the same time, 78% of customers will give up buying because of poor service experience. This data proves that in contemporary society, the relationship between brands and customer service is closer than ever before, especially for cross-border enterprises and merchants who are planning to or have already expanded overseas markets but are not proficient in the language and cultural differences of various regions. They must strive to provide localized and personalized services and support for customers in the target market.
The customer’s willingness to buy the product already exists, but the service of the customer service staff can greatly enhance or weaken the customer’s desire to buy. Although the store customer service staff cannot directly decide whether the customer buys or not, they will have a great impact on the customer experience. Retaining old customers and attracting new customers are the only way for customer service staff to create performance. Customers purchase products through cross-border e-commerce platforms, and they expect to obtain not only value-for-money products through this platform, but also a satisfactory service experience. Customers’ satisfaction with the service of customer service staff will form a virtuous circle.
If customers are dissatisfied with the service of customer service staff, more than 90% of customers who are dissatisfied with the store will not patronize the store again, and 70% of these customers will complain to 9 to 11 people around them, and about 20% of customers will tell more than 20 people about their unpleasant service experience. This will form a vicious circle of service experience.