Problems with availability time?
Many companies do want to interact with online customers and use
their feedback, but they lack the personnel or time to do that.
It is really important to have the will, anything else can be
settled out. If you are one of those, read further and you might
get some ideas.
Some companies place the "chat button" on their website, but
rarely are available for support. Some of the others adore the
concept, but are unable to organize the website support issues
because the lack of time or personnel. In any case, you must
carry out whatever you start doing and keep your promises to
your website visitors. Inconsistency and false information can
make your interactions with customers worse.
Although the solution lies in analyzing and using the most of
your resources in the situation, here are some starting ideas to
help you decide:
* You can place an expert in the field to answer the
questions of your website visitors in appointed hours. For
example: If you are a website for diet products, you can put
expert in nutrition available 2-3 hours per day at stated hours
on the website. That would lead to increasing the amount of your
website visitors, as well as your credibility and reputation.
* You can state smaller interval of "availability hours"
each day, by writing: "Operators are available from 12:00
until 15:00 each day. We are glad to answer any of your personal
questions, requirements and doubts".
* If you sell standardized products, you can state
availability hours for receiving customized orders from your
customers. You can place your sales and technical staff
online in appointed hours and inform your current and potential
customers about the service.
* Put your current employees to serve online customers while
their working time interchangeably. They already know
everything about your products and the company and probably
don't need additional training. For example: If you have a
store, you can setup your shop assistants as receptionists on
your website. They can split the support time into smaller
intervals and provide support rotating.
* If you already have a phone-support personnel, you can
also use them to serve online visitors. They all have the
knowledge and availability of new streams of information and can
adapt and start almost immediately.
Depending on the situation, these solutions can become very
creative. We will be glad to receive some of yours.