Setting Up Customer Service For Your Dropshipping Stores

Sharline Shaw

How well are you handling customer service for your dropshipping stores? This is a question you should constantly be asking yourself, as it can make or break your business.

Consumers are usually willing to pay more for products and services from a brand known to offer good customer service experiences. In other words, if your customers are happy with the service they’re receiving, they’re more likely to stick around—and even spend more money.

So it’s clear that customer service is important for any business—but it’s especially critical for running a successful online business. Since you’re not physically handling or shipping products yourself, customers will often have questions or issues that need to be addressed. And if they don’t receive the help they need, they’ll take their business elsewhere.

Although it may initially seem daunting, there are some simple steps you can take to set up customer service for your dropshipping store that will keep your customers happy.

8 Steps for Setting Up Customer Service for Your Dropshipping Store

1. Set up a dedicated customer service email address

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Make sure your customers have a specific email address they can use to contact you with any questions or concerns. This will help ensure that all customer service inquiries are directed to the right place, and it helps to create a separation between customer service and other aspects of your business.

Some tips for setting up your customer service email address:

  • Use a professional-sounding email address, such as [email protected] or [email protected].
  • Avoid using generic email addresses, such as Gmail or Yahoo, as this can make you appear unprofessional, and your customers may not take you seriously.
  • Ensure the email address is easy to remember and type so your customers will have no trouble finding it.

2. Use a CRM system to manage customer inquiries

A CRM system can be a valuable tool for managing customer service inquiries. It will help you keep track of all conversations and ensure that each inquiry is addressed promptly.

Let’s say you’re selling products on multiple platforms, such as Amazon and Shopify. Just as you’d use Shopify ERP integrations to manage your inventory, a CRM system can be used to manage customer service inquiries from all channels in one place. This way, you won’t have to worry about losing track of any conversations or forgetting to follow up with a customer.

3. Respond to customer inquiries promptly

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Don’t keep customers waiting more than a few hours for a response to their inquiry. If you can’t respond that quickly, let them know when they can expect a response. With this in mind, consider using a chatbot to answer basic customer service questions outside of normal business hours.

Let’s say you’re a dropshipping company selling cloud-based phone systems. A chatbot can answer common questions that customers may have, such as “What are the features of your cloud-based phone system?” or “What are the cloud-based phone system’s pros and cons?”. 

This would free up your customer service team to address more complex issues and help to ensure that all customer inquiries are addressed promptly.

4. Be polite and professional in all communications

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Remember, the way you communicate with your customers reflects on your brand as a whole. Therefore, it’s important to always be polite and professional when responding to customer inquiries.

Some tips when responding to customer inquiries:

  • Be clear and concise in your responses.
  • Use positive language. This is vital, regardless of whether the customer is unhappy with the product or service.
  • Avoid using slang or jargon that the customer may not understand.

5. Take the time to understand the customer’s issue

Before responding to a customer inquiry, take the time to fully understand the issue at hand. This will help you provide an accurate and helpful response. Some great questions to ask when trying to understand a customer’s issue are:

  • What is the problem?
  • When did the problem start?
  • What steps have you already taken?
  • What is your desired outcome?

6. Offer a solution that is fair to both parties

When crafting a response to a customer inquiry, be sure to offer a solution that’s fair to both parties. For example, if a customer is unsatisfied with the quality of your product, you may offer to send a replacement or provide a refund. 

However, if the customer is simply unhappy with the colour of the product they received, you may not be able to offer a refund but could offer to send a different colour.

Remember, the goal is to come to a resolution that’s fair to both parties and leaves the customer feeling satisfied. They’ll then be much more likely to do business with you again in the future and even leave a positive review on your listing.

7. Follow up with the customer after the issue has been resolved

Once you’ve helped to resolve a customer’s inquiry, be sure to follow up with them afterward to ensure that they’re satisfied with the resolution. This can further help to boost customer loyalty.

Let’s say you sell perfume, and you made a change to your dropshipping perfume supplier after lots of bad customer feedback. You want to follow up with each customer that had a bad experience and apologize for the inconvenience. 

You may also want to offer them a discount on their next purchase. This would show your customers that you’re committed to providing them with a great experience and will do your best to make things right.

8. Use a project management tool to keep track of customer service tasks

A project management tool, such as Bitrix24, can be a valuable asset for managing customer service tasks. A project management tool allows you to create task lists, assign tasks to team members, set due dates, and track the progress of each task. This will help to ensure that all customer service inquiries are addressed in a timely and efficient manner. Additionally, integrating contact centre softwares with your project management tool can streamline your customer service operations by providing features like call routing, ticketing systems, and customer interaction history in one centralized platform.

Some alternatives to Bitrix24 for project management include Asana, Trello, and Basecamp.

Suggested reading: Best Dropshipping Agent In China
Suggested reading: How to Start 1688 Dropshipping Business?

Final thoughts

So there you have it. These are some steps to help you set up customer service for your dropshipping store. Follow the tips that we’ve outlined here to help ensure that your customers are always happy with the service they receive. Happy customers are more likely to stick around—and even spend more money.

Good luck and happy dropshipping!

Author Bio

Jenna Bunnell – Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Dialpad

Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system that gives business owners and sales representatives useful call details using VoIP telephone systems. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Jenna has also written for other domains such as SpotOn and UpCity. Check out her LinkedIn profile.

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Sharline

Article by:

Sharline Shaw

Hey I'm Sharline, the founder of Leeline Sourcing. With 10 years of experience in the field of sourcing in China, we help 2000+ clients import from China,Alibaba,1688 to Amazon FBA or shopify. If you have any questions about sourcing , pls feel free to contact us.