Why customer service is so important to online shoppers?

Of all kinds of shoppers, online shoppers are the most in need of attention, care, assurance and affirmation of the soundness of their online purchase decision, having (mostly) no human physically felt interaction with a sales or a customer service representative and being (mostly) unable to physically test or see the good or service at offer.

Also, e-commerce, while increasingly mature and main-stream in some markets, it is still treated with suspect and wariness of possible fraud, whether in payment and delivery or regrarding the actual quality of the offered merchandise. It is the job of an extra caring and professional customer service to compensate for such "e-commerce intrinsic" issues.

It makes support and communication the most essential piece to the puzzle. Consumers expect to have everything right at their fingertips and if they can't find the item they are looking for or an answer to their question, they're likely to look somewhere else or abandon their search altogether.

The following aspects of customer service have proven to be the most important to consumers.

-Tracking shipments:Consumers don't want to wait for their purchases to arrive and often times get frustrated by slow shipping times. It's crucial for businesses to provide consumers with an easy way to track their shipments, putting their impatient minds at ease.

-Live Customer Service:Consumers are full of questions and looking for immediate answers

-Tutorials:The face-to-face interaction a consumer might get at a large electronics or home improvement store ensures the proper usage of a product.

-Reviews:Delivering quality customer service will lead to good reviews, which will undoubtedly lead to more business.

Shopping online as a way to cut costs, but for potential customers, being unable to examine the product there could be some problems: a purchase may be damaged during shipping,

 clothing may not fit, software may be incompatible, etc. Plus, some customers need support before making a purchase. Furthermore, not all customers are proactive.

Most people think of shopping online as a way to cut costs. E-commerce stores relieve customers of travel time, and retailers of store front expenses.

Online shoppers face an added burden at every stage of the buying process, and your customer support should be there to ease their research workload every step of the way.

In retail sales showroom, when customer enter into showroom one of our salesman will interact and fulfill the following like 

Product Demo

Query resolving

Eye to eye contact with customer

Physical touch experience of the product or offer

On time delivery assurance

Warranty and Service Assurance

etc  

So customer will form 100% trust on our product and service and conclude buying decision.

It is two way process where information will flow from both sides and where they discuss and qualify the options best suitable for the customer and salesman provide guidance to the customer for all his queries then and there and rightful interpretation of services offered to the customer.

In Online Shopping, basically it is more of one way process as far as Customer is concern because there will be no one to do the human aspect in the transaction to facilitate him.

He will get to see only few sentences about 

1. Product Price and offer

2. Technical Specifications

3. Warranty Terms

4. Delivery Terms

5. Service Terms 

So until unless company determine to fulfill and live upto 200% of whatever Offer and service terms committed to the online shoppers it is difficult to create an atmosphere where customer will feel confident and safe to buy your product.

Not only for online shoppers, Customer service or care is most important for any kind of company. The company without proper service will not survive in the long run except if u have a monopoly.

In this highly competitive market, people are expecting quick response from the seller or company. A company must definitely have a24*7 call center, Service centers, a time frame for problem resolutions, and customer feedback page on their web site. if we consider technology advance a mobile app for multiple platforms is also important. 

In simple terms a customer is expecting any time support from the company with in a short time without waiting in queue.

online shoppers face an added burden at every stage of the buying process, and your customer support should be there to ease their research workload every step of the way.

thanks for invitation Mr.Divyesh.

As an ecommerce you are providing a service which is the production of an essentially intangible benefit, either in its own right or as a significant element of a tangible product. customer service is so important to online shoppers because it is the only way to interact with customer as much your customer service is good as much you good reputation and good word of mouth.

Customer service is important to every customer whether it is online or offline business.In online business the customer totally depends on the offer given to him through the website. He is not able to see or feel the product expect for the description mentioned in the web site. Now in order to convince and create a long lasting relationship with the customer, the company has to support their concern through a well organised customer support that can give the best service to the customers. If the customer service gives a14 days money back guarantee it only increases the customer trust which will in turn increase the credibility of the company. Customer service is very sensitive in online business, small things matters a lot. Even a small misunderstanding can flare up and create a bad reputation of the business.

Its tempting to think of customer service as reactive: something that lies dormant until a customer takes initiative to ask for help with their purchase. But some customers ( like me) need support before they make a purchase. That is main objective.

Aside of all the great answers I can only think of a few reasons why customer service is important to online shoppers... People go 'clicking happy" meaning they buy things online without even giving it a second thought just because its on clearance or priced too low. In the end they get buyers remorse, and need to return or complain and customer service is there.  Some customers are arrogant and will call in customer service just to complain and try to get freebees. Others will use the "customer is always right" line to obtain any credit that usually companies will offer to these unsatisfied and unappreciative customers.