It’s time for a pop quiz! What gets bigger year after year?
Still,
not too sure? You might be inclined to say that your waist line grows
larger every year and that may just be true. What I am referring to has
little to do with how much you weigh, and has everything to do with
e-commerce sales. Last year, U.S. retailers generated $231 billion in
e-commerce sales. It’s expected to increase 13% to $262 billion. But why
the whopping jump? Forrester (forecasts technology and market research
firm) believes existing online consumers are responsible for the growth
of e-commerce. They believe early shoppers that purchased
“low-consideration” goods such as MP3S and movies are now purchasing
“high-touch, high-consideration” items like appliances and furniture.
For an e-retailer, this news signifies a good year ahead. They should
use support chat software to enhance customer experience on their website.
I’m
not saying there aren’t first-time buyers in the online marketplace.
Forrester reports 4 million people will exercise their pocket vote for
the first time in 2013. While, it’s always great to sell to new
customers, your focus as an e- retailer should be to cross-sell and
up-sell to customers who are already familiar with the world of
e-shopping. This is because such customers do not need to be trained how
to shop online. They already have considerable experience and are now
looking for an e-retailer that sells products of the highest quality and
on agreeable terms. What they are looking for is someone to build their
confidence in buying a product they have never purchased before. After
all, a “high-touch, high-consideration” product is more expensive and if
it is not purchased from the right source, severe consequences can
follow. E-businesses can rely on live support software to increase their confidence!
Live
support software is an online CRM application which e-retailers
integrate on their website. This web-based tool appears as a chat API
and remains active around the clock. As customers move around the site,
customer service representatives (CSRs) monitor their online activity.
After assessing keyword searches and the webpage duration, CSRs send a
proactive chat invitation to initiate a meaningful discussion. Once
support chat software commences, CSRs get to the bottom of everything!
They can navigate browsers around the website to help them discover the
exact information they were searching for. CSRs can also explain
thoroughly all aspects of the product features and delivery options.
