Here are some interesting discussions from my UOP Management class.
What are the customer satisfaction expectations of business-to-business e commerce?
I am not sure who developed the acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Silly), but that suits this question perfectly! If the saying, “time is money” is accurate than most businesses must realize that other businesses are responsible to conserve time to maximize profitability. When a website or customer service becomes overly complex or cumbersome, it can be a definite distraction.
I recall going onto another business’s website to research some information for the company that I worked for and the website was overwhelming. There were entirely too many links and tabs that said the same thing, but did not say anything. The contact us section felt as if I was filing my taxes. And most importantly, most of the products were out of stock or not available. Of course, I took our business to another company, however, I began to think how this company’s business is being hindered because the presentation that they are offering is sub-standard. Most people in the business world want the direct approach when they are in need of a product or service. To cause they to have to go through a labyrinth just causes the other company to move on.
These are some of the expectations that I have for vendors that I work with and sites that I develop:
* Prompt response to requests
* Competitive pricing
* Timely order processing
* Communication regarding availability of items / inventory levels
* Accurate invoicing
* Timely payments
* Polite and informative sales and support representatives
* Consistency when it comes to policies and procedures
* Easy to navigate website (for ordering or checking availability)
What communications techniques may e-commerce businesses use to satisfy these expectations?
The communication techniques that e-commerce businesses can use to satisfy these customer expectations are; build a web-site developed for customers to easily get through the ordering process, hire well qualified customer service representatives to handle phone calls and answer customer questions and complaints, produce pricing catalogs that describes price issues and how the change in market effects the change in price, and establish surveys that rate how effective the process was between businesses and any changes that could be made in order to be more productive.
