One of the most cost effective tools for providing live customer support on websites today is live chat software. Programs such as LivePerson and RhinoChat allow your customer support people to manage multiple customer support conversations simultaneously. These tools offer one of the most effective ways to scale your support team’s throughput without increasing headcount significantly.
Putting your phone number at the top of your website increases trust and credibility. This is probably the most simplistic piece of advice that numerous websites fail to follow. Why? There are many reasons but most of them boil down to fear and ignorance. Ignorance of how customers actually think about the buying process on line. Fear of too many phone calls. Fear of not having the staff to handle the calls.
Many e-commerce stategy websites talk about e-commerce best practices. They discuss usability, recommend specific software, or offer very specific e-commerce tactics, but few spell out what’s really needed to have a successful e-commerce website. Often some of the more in-depth advice is hidden behind online paid seminars or documents.
If you are looking for free tips on how to get started in e-commerce, DMZ's Top 10 E-commerce Best Practices list below is a great starting point.