In 2022, almost every business has an online presence. It’s almost impossible to be successful without one. To do well and continue vying for the custom of the billions who shop online, you must understand what it is your customers want. It’s about keeping your finger on the pulse and never letting it slide off.
According to eCommerce worldwide statistics for the CAGR forecast 2021-2025, over two billion people purchased goods or services online in 2020. Whether they were shopping for a new pair of trousers, a hairdryer, or security software, each of them had one thing in common: they used the internet and an online business to complete this transaction.
Not every one of these transactions will have gone smoothly, however. There will have been many customers who were dissatisfied for some reason, whether it was because they ordered the wrong size or received faulty goods.
In these instances, they’ll naturally have turned to the company they bought from, looking for some form of resolution, but not all of them will have interacted with a customer service representative. Some will have turned to self-help resources instead.
The self-service phenomenon
Examples such as these are part of the wider self-service movement. An increasing number of customers are choosing not to interact with customer service personnel when they encounter issues. Rather, they prefer to use customer self-help options to solve the problem.
Because of this, 89% of US consumers now expect companies to have an online self-service portal. What’s most interesting about this is that many prefer this option over traditional human interactions, such as calling a contact centre or emailing a company for help.
In part, this is because of how much quicker it is to access this kind of assistance. Many of us lead time-poor lives where we don’t have the luxury of spending innumerable minutes on hold, waiting for someone to get back to us.
We prefer to have help immediately at our disposal when we need it, and self-help materials are one way for companies to deliver this. While they can take many forms, FAQs are an invaluable example – and one every business should make available to its customers.
The importance of FAQs
FAQs, or frequently asked questions, pages do exactly what they say on the tin: answer common customer queries. They can be useful not only post-purchase – when a customer might run into issues – but before buying too.
Let’s start at the beginning. FAQs have many uses, but one thing they’re particularly good at is helping customers to make informed decisions. Take a look at the options for online gambling in Thailand in 2022, which, in this instance, is in the form of a directory site sharing casino promotions and bonuses. As well as listing various products, it features a selection of frequently asked questions, such as “what are the best sports betting sites in Thailand?”. These help to guide the viewer’s decision-making by resolving any uncertainties that may be holding them back from purchasing.
In this way, FAQs are a great tool for building trust and helping readers make the decision that’s best for them. Because their choices are more informed, they’re also less likely to be dissatisfied when they use the product they’ve bought, as they understand what they’re getting and have gone in with their eyes open.
For businesses with returnable and refundable products, this is especially helpful, because it reduces the likelihood of items being sent back. That’s why clothing stores like Asos and SHEIN take advantage – and why they make customer reviews and other self-help materials readily available too.
FAQs are also a useful resource post-purchase, as they can help to iron out teething issues without customers having to send back or cancel the goods or services they’ve bought. Even if they do wish to do this, they make the process simpler, so the overall customer experience is more positive and there’s a greater likelihood of them buying from you again in the future.
When it comes to FAQs, these are self-help resources that every business should have on its website. Be sure to include one on yours to reduce returns, improve the customer experience, and deliver the instantaneous assistance that consumers in 2022 have come to expect from the companies they patronise.
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