Keeping a Happy eBay Customer: Be Proactive rather Than Reactive

When most people think of keeping a happy customer on eBay, sellers associate it with feedback. While this is a very important process to maintaining a seller’s credibility and reliability, the waiting until a customer leaves feedback is performing bare-minimum customer service. Sellers who expect to gain repeat customers need to take a proactive approach and deliver great customer service throughout the sales process. By providing excellent customer service before, during and after a transaction, eBay sellers can count on retaining customers and receiving positive recommendations, both in written feedback and returning customer loyalty.

Keeping a customer happy before the sale involves making sure a listing is presented as informative, honest and uncluttered. Put yourself in a buyer’s position: would you want to see a listing that looks “busy” or one that gets straight to the point and tells about the product and how it can help you in life? Those needs and desires are the same each time a person comes to your store. Having a simple, easy to read format with a great product description is providing great customer service.

Another aspect of before-the-sale customer service is availability. When shopping at a physical store, if having a merchandise question, a sales clerk should always be available to answer it. The same can be said for an eBay store. Sellers need to answer questions promptly and informatively. When a buyer receives a prompt response, it encourages him/her to shop at your store; instead of moving on to another listing.

During the sale, provide updates. If waiting for payment to process, inform the buyer that the merchandise will ship after the payment has processed and if using a service that provides tracking, include a note saying that you will send another email with tracking information as soon as the item has been shipped. Most buyers will want to know how their package is coming, in case special arrangements for package pick-up have to be made.

At the end of the sale, thank the buyer for his/her purchase and include tracking information. Be sure to mention about contacting you via email should any problems arise and encourage the customer to visit again. A good closing statement can be viewed as a summary and should restate item information, shipping date, expected delivery date, carrier and tracking information.

At the end of the letter, create and provide a link in your email to your seller’s blog. This allows the customer to be in control of product updates without feeling spammed from being put on an email list. A blog should have a personal message to customers thanking them for visiting, your seller’s policy and shipping methods, and new/featured items with product write-ups and descriptions. Link this to your eBay seller’s page and use the blog as another marketing tool, as customers can choose to subscribe to the blog. With the combination of the blog, online store and excellent customer service, as a seller you will appear serious about your business to new and existing customers while gaining and earning their long-term trust.