{"id":1322,"date":"2009-04-08T02:05:07","date_gmt":"2009-04-08T07:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/ecommerce\/why-removing-email-support-removes-profit-potential.html"},"modified":"2009-04-08T02:05:07","modified_gmt":"2009-04-08T07:05:07","slug":"why-removing-email-support-removes-profit-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/why-removing-email-support-removes-profit-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Removing Email Support Removes Profit Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/images\/blog-images\/istock-000006693001xsmall.jpg\" alt=\"the relationship between email support and profit potential\" width=\"240\" height=\"157\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Warning: this is a rant post.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m starting to wonder if there\u2019s any other kind for me.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s topic of choice: the new trend of online businesses removing email support from their websites.<\/p>\n<p>You read right.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re anything like me, the very idea sends shivers up your spine. You might ask, \u201cHow could any business owner possibly consider that to be a smart move?\u201d Well, I\u2019m asking it, too.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s a curious reality that I\u2019ve seen more than once in the past few months.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I don\u2019t want to call out any specific businesses that may be harmed by said calling out. As we know, things are tough all around (which, incidentally, makes this type of move even more unfathomable). Instead, as an example, I\u2019ll use a big company that seems to pride itself on the decision: Netflix.<\/p>\n<p><b>Why the change?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s list some reasons why opting for a phone-only support system is, generally, a bad idea:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prospects and customers expect that online businesses will offer email support<\/li>\n<li>Prospects and customers default to email when an inquiry arises<\/li>\n<li>Prospects and customers like options<\/li>\n<li>Email support is cheaper than phone support<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, there are many other reasons why choosing phone support over email support is a questionable decision, but those are, arguably, the main ones.<\/p>\n<p><b>Why are these some of the main reasons?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Well, when online businesses don\u2019t use email support, it may be assumed by prospects that the business isn\u2019t legit. It\u2019s hard enough to try and run an online business with an email registered with a free ISP like Hotmail, Yahoo or the like. Imagine the trouble you\u2019ll encounter trying to convince prospects you\u2019re legit if you don\u2019t provide <i>any<\/i> email address at all.<\/p>\n<p>The assumption that business owners make, when opting for phone-only support, is that customers will prefer to pick up a phone and talk to a customer service representative each time they have a question or an issue. That is an assumption that takes a lot of faith, considering that the prospect is originally from the Internet. The fact is that not every issue requires a phone call and time out of a prospect\u2019s day. Likewise, not every prospect prefers to pick up a phone at all. Sometimes, it\u2019s easier and more logical for both business owners and prospects to correspond through email.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also cheaper. Let\u2019s face it: phone-only support is a waste of resources if some issues are non-priority and can be resolved with a few keystrokes instead of a phone call that takes minutes out of a customer\u2019s day and dollars out a business owner\u2019s profits.<\/p>\n<p><b>Netflix\u2019s take<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been a Netflix customer and fan for close to five years now. Their business model isn\u2019t 100% perfect, but it is very satisfying for those in the market for their type of service.<\/p>\n<p>However, one of their problems is glaringly obvious now. Whereas they were once customer-centric in both service and support, they are now business-centric.<\/p>\n<p>You simply cannot create a business, ostensibly, with the customer in mind, and then renege on those ideals later. Well, you can, but it would be difficult to do without having to contend with a few posts like this.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Netflix\u2019s model is for Netflix. Obviously, all businesses are created with business owners and profits in mind. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen such a clear cut shift of focus from consumer to business.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, Netflix has never made it easy for customers to find and use email support. I\u2019ve always wondered why, since their very name lends to the fact that they run an <i>online<\/i> business, which is to be used on the Inter<i>net<\/i>. It\u2019s clear that they\u2019ve always preferred phone support. However, their phone-only decision came about after the news of lost customers to competition and their desire to make human \u201cconnections\u201d with customers that could inspire loyalty. Those things were email support\u2019s coffin nails. And now we, the consumers, are suffering.<\/p>\n<p>But we won\u2019t be the only ones.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of how Netflix wants to spin it, abandoning email support is probably the worst thing that they could have done in terms of keeping customers around. The public- <i>their <\/i>public- does not care if a person is readily available to take their call if the public is more comfortable sending inquiries over email. The public simply feels cheated and frustrated if they can\u2019t communicate through their preferred method. They also feel imposed upon if they only have one option at their disposal.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix has it wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In my mind, when you make customer service your priority, you make <i>customers<\/i> your priority and they, in turn, make your profits their priority. It\u2019s a fine cycle.<\/p>\n<p>And, really, in an age when online customer service would do well to undergo a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palmerwebmarketing.com\/blog\/online-customer-service-needs-a-revolution\/\">revolution<\/a>, the answer is not to default to traditional methods. As online business owners, we have to realize that the \u201ccustomer service\u201d part of the equation is even more important when a business operates on the Internet- where the physical distance between customer and business is greatest and where, often, customer support can be the determining factor for conversions and loyalty.<\/p>\n<p>When that is acknowledged, that\u2019s when the true \u201cconnections\u201d can begin.<\/p>\n<p>Have any of you dropped email support for your businesses?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>Warning: this is a rant post. I\u2019m starting to wonder if there\u2019s any other kind for me. Today\u2019s topic of choice: the new trend of online businesses removing email support from their websites. You read right. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[208,107,209,210,211],"class_list":["post-1322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecommerce","tag-customer","tag-email","tag-phone","tag-service","tag-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}