Last Updated on September 1, 2023 by David
Succeed in building a dropshipping business by fostering customer success.
We (the Re:amaze team) recently had a chance to grab coffee with a group of Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce store owners and chat about how they got started in eCommerce. Among those that attended the event, roughly 30% got their start as a dropshipping business, learning the ropes from the best of the best, and forging their way to 5-digit monthly earnings. During our discourse, a recurring theme began to emerge — the fact that starting a dropshipped business in 2017/2018 is easier than ever before.
“I can’t find a reason why people shouldn’t give eCommerce entrepreneurship a try. With all the technology out there, it costs no money to get started and it couldn’t be any simpler. You literally have nothing to lose. And I’m surprised more people don’t use this to their benefit.” — Irwin Dominguez via Oberlo
Inventories are more abundant, vendors have better logistics, fulfillment technologies are more mature, pricing is more competitive (a double-edged sword), and customer communications are more streamlined. And that got us thinking, given that a dropshipped business already have a lot of traditional responsibilities removed from the equation (little to no capital, low overhead, flexible location, product variation, and the list goes on), what can store owners control to set themselves apart from the pack? The answer? Customer service.
Reputation is important for any successful eCommerce brand. To a dropshipped eCommerce business, customer satisfaction is the foundation of reputation building. It’s also the most crucial factor in growing and sustaining a viable dropshipping business. The shopping and support experience you offer customers is something you have utter control over even when you don’t have control over inventory and fulfillment. Since the burden of work is reduced, the more time you spend with customers, the more successes you’ll find. It’s time to treat customer service as a core asset to your survival. Here are some things to think about for your dropshipping business when it comes to customer service.
Coming to terms with your logistics
When you manage your own inventories including purchasing, organizing, packaging, and delivery, you control every step of the customer experience. You can make sure customers get a good experience because you’ve anticipated what might go wrong and put in the necessary stop-measures. Even if something is about to go out of stock, you can order more ahead of time. Simple logistics such as this make creating customer satisfaction easier over time.
It’s an entirely different story when you’re a dropshipped business, however. You sacrifice control over some of the most intimate steps of creating a positive customer experience. A small lapse in communication with your inventory provider or a poorly packaged item can send your entire operation into chaos. Imagine if:
- Your dropshipper is on holiday when you’re not or vice versa
- They packaged the product in an ill-fitting box
- They used the wrong delivery provider and the order is delayed
- They sent the wrong product
- They ran out of a specific product and didn’t notify you in time
- Etc.
Whatever the issue, you take on the negative customer feedback. Not them. While all of this can be somewhat mitigated by picking a wholesale dropshipper partner that is reliable, it’s also inevitable that something will go wrong. They don’t lose you as a customer because of one mucked up order but you might lose a customer because of a small hiccup.
So, if there’s one thing you can do about logistics is to think up of all the ways things can go wrong ahead of time and prepare your customer service team to respond effectively and efficiently.
Go through your services as a customer
The second thing you should do test drive your offerings from start to end before opening up shop. This is not only a test for your customer service team (perhaps just yourself) and also a test for your dropshipping suppliers. Take notes and see how you hold up under scrutiny. Be tough on yourself so customers can have a better experience in the long run.
- How was the browsing experience?
- How quick was your customer service team to reply to inquiries?
- How was the purchasing experience? Any issues with the transaction?
- Have you reviewed your refund, exchange, and shipping policies? How’s the copy?
Now as for your dropshipping supplier, give them a test as well and pay attention to:
- Was the item’s stock status reflected properly?
- Did you get a tracking number in a timely manner?
- Did you receive your order in a timely manner?
- Was the packaging up to par? Does it pass your scrutiny test? Did proper branding or free gifts get included?
- Was the product received in good condition?
- Were you able to reach someone at the dropshipping supplier on a timely manner? How helpful were they?
Never leave things in autopilot. Always stay one step ahead of your customers.
So much of providing great customer service is being good at anticipating problems, being a detail oriented team, understanding customer behavior, being proactive with customers and engaging them before they engage you, and finally, using real world numbers to shape your decision making process.
For example, you should be your customers’ advocate when an order that should have shipped hasn’t been shipped promptly. Reach out to your supplier and inquire on behalf of the customer. If you want to take it one step further, you can even reach out to the customer and let them be aware of the delay. Instill trust and put a face to your business whenever and wherever you can.
“People don’t trust pages or websites. They trust people. So it’s crucial that your website has a human factor. One way or another, you want to present your prospective customers with faces and names” — Susan Hayes, Shopify
You and your team need to be proactive in resolving potential customer service problems even if the customer hasn’t complained yet. Keep in mind that customers often don’t complain and just issue a chargeback. Having limited access or resources or control in certain aspects of a business can be tough but being proactive will always help save the day.
Being proactive also means paying attention to what your suppliers are doing. Track the inventory levels to make sure your most popular products aren’t going out of stock. If you can stay ahead of the curve, you can even proactively modify your eCommerce platform settings to always remove a product automatically once a stock threshold is reached. In summary, it’s important to always be wary of customer service issues as a result of your inability to control certain aspects of your business. Being extra careful will ensure you don’t have customers ordering products or experiencing delays that wasn’t your fault to begin with.
Always leverage reviews to communicate great customer service
Having great customer service is one thing. Communicating that fact to your prospective shoppers is a whole other thing. As many said during our sit-down, a positive review is worth a thousand words. Having a customer service team and process that has a habit of requesting for reviews and showing off those reviews is one of the most important elements of building a successful dropshipping business. Remember, great customer service is is both reactive and proactive. If you’ve got people saying positive things about you, show it off! Got into the news? Display that in all of its glory right on your homepage.
Signing Off
Starting a dropshipping business is just that, starting. With all the advantages of being a dropshipped business, there are real world risks and real strategies you need to employ in order to be successful. Customer service is not often the most talked about aspect of running a business but being great at managing customer expectations can help you satisfy customer demands even when you’re not 100% in control.
Interested in what else we have to say? Make sure to recommend this article by clicking the heart and follow us for more stories about startup life, customer service, and tips on treating customers right.
You can also find our multi-brand, multi-channel customer service platform at https://www.reamaze.com. Follow @reamaze.