An ecommerce business should focus on good customer service and on delivering value to their customers. But, you should know that not all customers are good customers. You should take care in identifying and dealing with bad customers. Here are a few signs which should make you wary of a customer and deal with them in an appropriate fashion:
1) Using abusive language:
A customer who has a tendency of using abusive language should throw up warning signals. Train your customer service reps to handle such situations tactfully. They should not abuse the customer in return, neither should they put up with abuse. You are there to sell your products to customers, but that does not mean that your employees have to listen to abuses. Use IP banning software to block such customers after giving them sufficient warning.
2) Having integrity issues:
A few bad customers try to cheat your business by trying to get something for nothing. You can identify such customers if they keep on badgering you to return items and get their money back. They know that high return shipping costs might cause you to ask them to keep the products while refunding their money. If this happens more than a few times with a particular customer, you definitely have a customer who has integrity issues. Treat such occurrences strictly and consider blocking the accounts of those customers permanently.
3) Having unreasonable expectations:
Set proper customer expectations. If a holiday is coming up, then inform customers in advance of possible delays in shipping times. As an example, before Christmas, most online retailers should be upfront about when the delivery of a product will happen. Ensure that you display appropriate messages at various areas on your site and in order confirmation emails. However, at times, you may have to deal with customers who order late and still are persistent about getting delivery before Christmas. While you should definitely be as courteous as possible in dealing with such customers, make sure that you are firm in what you can and cannot do.
4) Using threats to try and intimidate you:
Some customers will use threats to try and intimidate you or your employees. They may do this to try and get you to succumb to pressure and do things their way. Such customers might threaten to bad-mouth your business on social media. Or even threaten to bring a lawsuit against you. To deal with such customers, you should stay calm. Stop communicating with them altogether. Tell them that you need to consult a lawyer and will get back to them after that. Such a step will, in most cases, make the customer go away.
Bad customers can prove to be a drain on your resources. Following our tips on identifying and dealing with bad ecommerce customers will allow you to focus on other productive activities.
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