The Best Tools for Ecommerce Customer Service

How can you make buying decisions easier and problem solving faster for buyers? An exceptional ecommerce customer service experience.

96% of consumers say customer service is an important factor for brand loyalty. If customers are able to find answers to their questions and fix issues they’ll feel more comfortable making a first time purchase. It also increases your chances of them becoming a loyal, repeat customer.

A bad customer service experience can be just as impactful, unfortunately. You’ll not only lose a sale if your customers are met with an AI chat bot who continues to spit out blog posts options rather than connecting them with a person when they need it. You’ll also hurt your reputation in the long-term.

Below are 30 customer service tools ecommerce businesses can use to create an exceptional pre and post-purchase experience.

What are ecommerce customer service tools?

Customer service tools are technology based solutions that help businesses provide exceptional customer experiences. This includes everything from live chat to knowledge base articles to social media. When looking for a great customer service tool, look for products that are easy to use, effective, and have a measurable return on investment.

Make sure to meet your customers where they’re at.

You can invest in an exceptional social media management platform, but if your customers prefer phone calls your investment won’t yield the return on investment you may expect.

Comprehensive Ecommerce Help Desk Platforms

An ecommerce help desk platform is ideal for businesses that want to integrate multiple aspects of their customer service experience into one place. These platforms act as a centralized hub, normally including some or all of the following features:

• Support tickets
• Shared inbox
• Reporting dashboard
• Integrations
• Knowledge base
• Social media scheduling

By housing multiple aspects of your customer service in one place, you can ensure your team keeps all the balls in the air, together. Afterall, nothing makes a customer more upset than a product not working and then having to tell 5 people at the same company about how it’s not working.

A centralized hub with a streamlined process helps ecommerce businesses provide current and future customers with a fast, convenient, proactive, and friendly service.

If your business needs help creating a streamlined, omni channel communication approach and a comprehensive dashboard that has multiple features, consider one of the following.

Helpdesk: A customer service software that manages customer data, inquiries, and orders.

ZenDesk: There are two specific types of softwares offered, one for service and one for sales, supporting both pre and post-purchase phases.

Gorgias: Specificially designed for ecommerce companies, this software includes order management, order fulfillment, and customer service in one tool.

ThriveDesk: Connect your email, live chat and contact form into one shared inbox your team can access.

Zoho Desk: Includes self service, ticket management, template responses, automations and more.

EDesk: Centralize questions and feedback, and a way to manage your reviews, and automate chat using AI.

Zammad: Connect all your communication channels and review reporting.

Groove: A place to house live chat, reporting, integrations and more across your entire team.

Creating an Omni Channel Communication Strategy

When creating a communication strategy, consider all the places that your customers are trying to reach you. Are they emailing you? Calling? Reaching out on social media? Filling out a contact form on the website?

Once you’ve discovered the main points of connection, you can create an omni channel communication strategy. That way, no matter how your customer reaches out or follows up with you, they’ll get the same exceptional experience across any platform. Some tools that help ecommerce businesses manage their omni channel communication strategy include:

Monkey Pesa: Manage conversations with your customers across email, twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SMS, WhatsApp and more.

Intercom: This software provides companies with a live AI chat, help desk, knowledge base, and email marketing support in one platform.

Tawk.to: Ideal for companies that need a way to manage live chat and their knowledge base at the same time. Plus, the chat features are free!

Examples of software for specific channels are listed below.

Call Centers & Phone Systems

AnswerForce: Live answering for your phones and a virtual receptionist.

CloudTalk: 24/7 customer support that helps business owners answer calls, provide quick answers, and route calls when needed.

Aircall: A business phone system to help sales and support teams connect with customers.

TalkDesk: Integrate phone calls with your customer service help desk to keep conversations running smoothly.

Email Support

Helpscout: Customer support and a shared inbox to keep conversations going with clients and potential buyers.

Gmail: Able to integrate with Google Chat, Google Meet and more, Gmail is an easy way to manage customer communications.

Hiver: If you’ve ever wanted to turn your emails into tasks for your employees, consider this platform.

Live Chat or Chat Widget

It’s hard to find a website these days that doesn’t have some kind of chat widget. Likely because 30% of customers prefer chatting with a live support agent over emailing. A chat feature powered by AI can help answer questions and direct people to helpful information.

LiveChat: Leverage AI to increase your sales and qualify leads.

Chatra: Unlimited chat and chat history for a low monthly fee, this platform integrates with your website, email, and Facebook business page.

Social Media Management

50% of customers aged 18-34 have contacted a business via social media. Social channels aren’t the equivalent of billboards – they’re actually an extension of your front office. When someone asks a question, you shouldn’t ignore it.

Buffer: Ideal for businesses who need help scheduling posts, managing inquiries, and measuring social efforts.

Mention: Monitor your brand’s online presence, discover what customers are saying about your brand, and schedule your posts.

Sprout Social: Schedule posts, track your social engagement, and manage DMs across multiple social media channels all from one dashboard.

Website Platforms

When creating a great customer experience on your website, make sure that the style and content is optimized for mobile. This includes a layout that can adapt to multiple device types, easy to use menus, limited pop ups or distractions, and legible font and text sizes.

Shopify: Perhaps the most well known website platform for ecommerce businesses, Shopify provides marketing, payment management, and much more.

Squarespace: If creating a website intimidates you, Squarespace may be a good place to start as they have many ecommerce templates to build an aesthetically pleasing website and require little to no coding.

Square Online: A website builder and management platform specifically for controlling ecommerce inventory and orders. It has less customizations but is very straightforward and easy to use.

Bonus points for websites that include an email marketing software!

Self Service Ecommerce Support

64% of people try to resolve an issue before contacting customer service. And who could blame them, with all the horrible hold music in the world! Self service shortens the buyer’s journey and can answer frequently asked questions ranging from How do I wash my new robe? to How to pair my new headphones with my android?

Document360: Build, share, and manage all of your self service pages to help customers find the answers they’re looking for.

HelpSite: House your FAQs and knowledge base so customers can find information when they need it.

Review Platforms

All businesses live and die by their reviews. The perception customers have of a business matters. Their feedback can be invaluable in improving products and experiences. Which is why monitoring, responding, and acting on reviews is so important.

Yopto: A bit more than just a review platform, Yopto has SMS management, loyalty and referral management and email management, too.

Birdeye: Employ AI to help manage your reviews and improve your rating.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when managing your reviews.

1. Ask for reviews or feedback within a couple of days of the item’s delivery.
2. If someone gives hard feedback, try to respond with humility. Address the customer’s concerns and solve the issue if you can.
3. Keep in mind their opinions are not an attack on you, simply a review of your product.
4. Share great reviews across your social media channels and thank the reviewer.

Build a Loyal Following with your Ecommerce Customer Service Experience

Creating a consistent experience across all communication channels can pay off. 84% of customers say that customer service helped them finalize their buying decision.

Yet don’t think of customer service as a silver bullet to increase sales, but rather as a delicate ecosystem or food web. Each component is important for delivering an exceptional experience. If you lose one part, the rest can come toppling down. Strive for a balanced ecosystem across your customer service!

If you feel like you’re adrift in an ecommerce sea all alone, consider Shift a lifeboat. Sign up for our email list to get more ecommerce tips – and never feel lost at sea again.