What Makes Good Online Customer Service?

Providing good customer service for an online company or affiliate program is different from the traditional brick and mortar business.

In my experience, e-commerce relations are a a whole new entity. First and foremost, online customers and affiliates expect everything to be instantaneous. If you site is down or difficult to navigate, your customer simply moves on to the next site, never giving you a second thought. The following are suggestions on how to improve customer service on your affiliate site.

1. The appearance of your website should be top-notch.

No one (even we internet marketers) want to be involved with a spammy looking site. This includes pictures of sports cars and piles of cash. Nothing turns off a seasoned-marketer or frightens the newbie more than pictures of fast cars and cash. You website must also explain everything in detail on the main page including full disclosure of the compensation plan. I suggest a comprehensive video no more than 7 minutes long.

2. When building a business on the internet, make sure you hosting company can handle your ever growing volume.

One of the most frustrating things that I encounter as an affiliate marketer is slow websites. I suggest that if you want to keep an ever-growing customer or affiliate base, make sure that your site works at top speeds. You existing customers may stick with you on a slow moving site but they will not be referring new members. Discuss with you hosting company the exact volume that you hope to have in the future and make sure they can accommodate it before you begin to build your site.

3. Publish a Facts and Questions page on you website. People need to know all of the rules before they join your program. Then after the facts and questions allow people an area to text their questions. Always answer these questions within 24-hours or shorter. Remember everything with internet marketing must be fast and easy. Live chat services are even better. With a live customer service chat you are able to alleviate any concerns right away.

4. Remember in the world of affiliate marketing the competition for people's business is fierce. So provide easy to follow, comprehensive instructions on how to promote the business. YouTube videos and webinars are the best teachers so use them to your advantage. Always provide your affiliates with videos and text about your site, encourage them to copy and paste.

Educate your affiliates on what they can and cannot say about your program. The rules in the United States are becoming stricter.

5. Right now it is really difficult for online companies to obtain a payment processor to please everyone. Because the purpose of online affiliate marketing is that it can be done by anyone in the world, you must find a reliable and easy way for people to pay you. It may be credit cards or Paypal or another popular payment processor. Some affiliates companies are even paying to their own credit cards now.

With most affiliate companies, people now expect to be paid within 24-hours of requesting payment. Unfortunately for the company, this entails many fees.

6. In affiliate marketing, keeping affiliates happy and informed must be your number one priority. Find ways to keep them actively engaged on the website. Avoid the tendency of only sharing information with only top affiliates and assuming that the news is sent down the ranks. Try to send a fresh announcement every couple weeks.

If you are considering starting your own internet company, I suggest doing your homework first and understanding all of the costs involved in the process. In affiliate marketing, a little planning goes a long way in great customer service.