Customer Service, Feedback & Pitfalls to Avoid Monsoon

Owned by Mary Volkmer (Unlicensed)
Jan 03, 2020
4 min read

Customer Service

While the dynamics of customer service interaction differ between a mail order customer and an in-store customer, the end result is the same. We want to provide a smooth, pleasant, and hassle-free experience. Rather than face-to-face interaction, communication will be primarily through email and your customers will expect prompt replies to their inquiries. They may request the status of their order, express urgency for the item, or request a refund. These emails cannot go unanswered. The importance of these customers cannot be discounted because of the lack of face-to-face interaction.

Feedback

Due to the anonymity that the Internet provides, shoppers rely heavily on the experience of previous customers and their feedback. Feedback can make or break a seller online. While some shoppers base their purchase solely on price, the majority look for a balance of price, security and reliability. They want to know their purchase will be delivered in a timely fashion and in the condition stated. Previous customer feedback provides the assurance that you are a reliable seller. At the same time, your customer may depend on you to provide feedback as well to display their reliability to future sellers.

Feedback can be a give and take proposition. Some buyers may not leave you feedback until you provide theirs first. Others may not provide any feedback at all. To help achieve online selling success it is of utmost importance that you maintain as close to 100% rating as possible. Below is a sample of buyer feedback on Amazon.com.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Amazon and the other online markets are very sensitive to issues regarding fulfillment, customer satisfaction, and fraud. Amazon is the most vigilant about these issues. There are several things you must monitor closely to ensure that you remain in good standing with Amazon. If you apply the same high standards to all of the markets you sell on, your online selling experience will be successful.

Speed of Order Fulfillment

In order to maintain a high standing with Amazon and your customers, be sure to fulfill all orders within 24 hours of receiving the order. If you have orders languishing in your ‘Manage Orders’ screen for more than 48 hours, you should consider these to be in critical status. Whether you can fulfill an order or cancel an order, you should always do your best to complete the processing of that order within 24 to 48 hours.

Consistency of Order Fulfillment

You should maintain an order fulfillment rate of 95% or higher (one cancellation per every 20 orders) as a general goal. If your fulfillment rate drops below 92%, Amazon may suspend or even disable your seller account. It is crucial to maintain these fulfillment levels to remain in good standing with Amazon.

Feedback Ratings

 You should maintain an Amazon customer feedback rating of 95% or better as a general goal. If your feedback rating drops below 90%, Amazon may suspend or even disable your seller account. It is crucial to maintain these feedback levels to remain in good standing with Amazon. To maintain good feedback ratings:

  • Ensure that you are processing all orders within 24 hours and shipping them daily.

  • Ensure that you are maintaining a 95% order fulfillment rate.

  • Ensure that your online inventory is accurate.

  • Ensure that your emails are configured and sent properly.

  • Ensure that the condition of your used items shipped meets the Amazon standards for ‘Good’ condition items. (Per Amazon: Good: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels.) More information regarding condition guidelines can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=1161242

‘A-Z Guarantee Claims’

If a customer complains to Amazon that an item was not received or cancelled and refunded 30 days after the order date, Amazon may instigate an ‘A-Z guarantee claim’ and may refund the money to the customer itself. This is always considered to be a red flag by Amazon, and you should limit your ‘A-Z claims’ to one per month or less. More information on A-Z claims can be found at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/102-8437233-7730517?ie=UTF8&nodeId=13832181

Performance Monitoring

Monitoring your performance on a daily basis will allow you to catch problems as they arise. You should log in to your Seller account at least once per day to monitor these metrics on Amazon.

Amazon Performance Summary page

http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/seller-performance/summary.html

 Amazon ‘Velocity Limits’

 In some cases, Amazon may withhold funds if your sales are too high.  If a seller begins selling too much, too quickly, Amazon sees that as a risk of fraud until they can be sure that the orders have been fulfilled. Maintain high fulfillment and feedback scores to prevent a ‘Velocity Limit’ issue. If you are notified of a ‘Velocity Limit’ issue, please contact CampusHub Support at WebHelp@TheCampusHub.com or 877-488-0880.  In most cases, this can be resolved quickly, but customers sometimes may have their funds held for over a month before the issue can be resolved.

Adopted from MonsoonWorks.com “Pitfalls to Avoid”