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Quality Assurance and Consumer Service - E-Business
Your website will succeed or fail based on how well you serve your customers. Here are some quality assurance strategies to think about as you plan for your e-business site.
Order Modification
Your customers will want to be able to change or cancel their order before shipping. Ensure that each customer order has a unique identifier, like an order number, that the customers can use later to change their order.
Back Orders
You will get orders for products that are not in stock. It is important that you let your customers place an order expecting that the product will be available for shipment in the future. You also need a way to contact the customer, if you cannot get the product in stock again. You should only charge the customer when you are ready to ship the order.
You should have a policy for incomplete orders and have it posted for customers to see. Will you ship the items on the order that are available and then the rest as they come in stock? Will there be a shipping charge for each part of the order you send or will one shipping charge count for all the packages sent to complete the order? Will you hold the entire order until all items are available? Will you give the customer a choice about partial or full shipments?
Order Status
There are many ways to let your customers track their order shipment. You may want to use a few different simple options in order to improve your customer service.
- E-mail the customer a shipping tracking number after the purchase is made.
- Give a link to the shipper's Web page where the tracking number can be entered.
- Give the customers e-mail support to help them track their order.
- Give your customers a toll free number that they can call to find out the status of their order.
Shipping Insurance
Protect yourself and your customers by taking out shipping insurance. It will usually cover loss, damage or delay of cargo. There are different types of insurance, so make sure you know what your policy covers. The risks and costs will vary based on the type of transport you use. International shipping insurance costs more than domestic insurance. You usually buy shipping insurance through the carrier and it covers 110% of the stated value of the goods, as well as the shipping costs.
