全屏显示专题章节

Customer support is essential on the Internet，whether you are selling online or supporting offline activity.Buying a product from your site or making a return visit is an expression of commitment on the part of the visitor;this need to be matched by a strong commitment on your part too.^①

Visitors need to have confidence in your site if they are to do business with you. This means combining professionalism with a genuinely personal touch.If you have an e-Business site this is especially important.Far too many people in the world of e-Business fail to see the Web as a means of deepening relationships with their audience，preferring to see visitors as“hits”rather than as human beings.The companies that achieve real staying power and long-term success recognize the importance of information and interaction for Web users and subsequently use both to express their commitment to customers.^②

According to research conducted by Verdict^③，the main concern of the online consumer(and the potential online consumer)relates to fulfillment.Indeed，the main conclusion drawn from the research is that“Excellence in all aspects of fulfillment will separate the online winners from the losers over the next few years.”

If you sell products from your Web site，you therefore need to make sure that your customers are more than satisfied with your delivery and fulfillment process.Here are some of the ways in which you may decide to do this.

●Send goods out with receipts　Surprisingly many large e-Business sites don't provide receipts，leaving customers with a bad impression of the site and its service.

●Learn from successful sites　Amazon has a legendary fulfillment procedure.If you buy a book or CD from Amazon，you are taken through the ordering process one stage at a time.As soon as you have made your order，you are immediately sent a confirmation e-mail that tells you how to check on the whereabouts of your order at the Amazon site.Then，as soon as your chosen product leaves Amazon，you are sent another message indicating that your purchase is on its way.

●Offer free delivery　The most effective way to satisfy fulfillment fears is to offer

●Show what products are available　All too often，shopping carts are left abandoned because shoppers go through the whole ordering process before being told a product is unavailable，often a day later.Make it clear which products are and are not available at your site.

●Keep customers informed　If there are going to be delivery or other problems，make sure customers are not left in the dark.Send e-mail messages as soon as it looks like there will be a hitch.

●Offer a choice of delivery options　Many online shoppers will be willing to pay extra to have a next day or same day delivery.Customize the delivery process by providing a selection of possibilities.This also helps you to personalize your site.

●Have a clear returns policy　Successful e-tailers typically accept returns within a set period of time and offer to cover return postage costs for faulty goods.Publish your returns policy on your site alongside the main order forms.

Trust is a necessary ingredient of any site-visitor relationship and is especially important for e-Business sites.

Becoming an Internet success is about much more than just attracting a large number of visitors.It is about getting these visitors to place their faith in your site.

It may come as no surprise to learn that the hardest task e-Business sites face is winning over e-shopping virgins.^④When asked about building trust，online retailers always mention the importance of the first sale.As Jim McFarlane from Petplanet.co.uk put it，“The issue is assuring first-time customers that we can be trusted.Once we deliver the first order without error or complication，the customer relaxes and starts to trust us.”

Harry Ganz from the UK largest online pharmacy，Garden(www.Garden.co.uk)，supports this view.“The hardest order is the first order:give good service on that first order and you have a customer for life.”

Here are some ways in which first-timers can be released from their inhibitions regarding the Internet.

Your site visitors are all in various states of Internet enlightenment.Some will already know that shopping online is safer than buying dinner in a restaurant，while many others will be very wary about giving out personal information and need lots of assurance.

Obviously it would be easiest simply to tell people how trustworthy you are，but you will need to make any assurances credible.The best way to do this is to sign up to one of the growing number of online reassurance schemes intended to calm nervous buyers.^⑤A good example is the Which?Web Trader Scheme.

To qualify as a member，an e-Business site must confirm that its shopping facilities are secure.Other reassuring logos that can build customer trust include those of the Truste Scheme(Figure 2:www.truste.com)and the Clicksure Certified Merchant(www.clicksure.com).

By getting in touch with these sites and participating in their programmers，you can assure your visitors that you're complying with certain Internet standards.

One reason for the paranoia about e-Business security is that the Internet is a new medium.E-Business site should be injected with a sense of familiarity and references to the“real world”shopping experiences.“On the Internet，familiarity doesn't breed contempt”，says Sophie Burke of shoeworld.co.uk，“it builds brand loyalty.With the use of recognizable icons，browsers are easily transposed from a traditional shopping experience to one that is online.”That's why most e-Business sites have adopted the shopping basket idea，so that visitors can wander the online aisles，pick up what they want and then head for the checkout.

One important lesson many e-Business sites have had to learn is that if third parties are involved，something can，and all too often will，go wrong.Don't subcontract out sales to companies that may not be able to keep to set timescales.The customer has trusted your Web site，not a courier service.

The Web is often seen as inhuman and lacking the level of personal service found in real world shops and businesses.People trust each other，not machines.As Yooni Suh，New Media Manager for Boxfresh(www.boxfresh.co.uk)advises，“Start with the basic human emotions involved in friendship and the rest will follow.”

Good communication clearly helps business online to keep things on a human level. This is why effective e-Business sites，from Amazon down，confirm customers'orders within minutes.If customers are kept in the dark about what is happening.They are unlikely to feel 100 percent confident that what they have ordered will arrive on time and in the right condition.

Providing pictures of staff members and putting a real world address on the site will also help to make it more human.Any company with a Web site should display their address and telephone number as this gives people confidence that the company has a physical presence as well as a virtual one.^⑥This is where clicks and mortar firms have an advantage over their solely Internet-based rivals.

While your Web site is a great way of starting relationships with your customers，e-mail is the best way to build on them.In fact，you may have found that e-mail starts to replace offline methods of customer support(telephone calls，fax messages，snail mail，face-to-face meetings and so on).It is fast，cost-effective and convenient and can help you keep in touch with people around the globe at any time of day.

However，as you may have discovered，e-mail has fast become a victim of its own success.Many companies receive hundreds of e-mails every day.Of course，if you become inundated with this quantity of mail，it is impossible to reply to each message personally.You may therefore want to consider one of the following two options.

1.set up a file library of responses　If people are requiring the same information，set up a file library of responses to frequently asked questions(FAQ)and respond to each related message with a cut and posted“here's one I made earlier”response.

2.use automatic response software　If you are finding a file library too time-consuming，you may have to consider obtaining an automatic response software program.You then set up different mailboxes for different types of messages and set the software up to respond automatically with a different reply for each mailbox.A computer response may not be the perfect solution，but it is better than no response at all.Until recently，it was quite commonplace for e-mail requests and feedback to Web sites to remain unanswered or ignored.Nowadays，the software available enables you to preset criteria so that people receive a more personalized response than a mere acknowledgement of receipt.

These solutions，however，are not ideal and，where possible，it is better to send individual messages.

According to a survey conducted by Internet research firm InTuition，58%of companies feel that e-mail can cause misunderstandings and damage business relationships.

The trouble is that as e-mail is such an immediate and informal medium that many people believe that an“anything goes”approach^⑦is acceptable.It is not.When sending messages to customers or other people relevant to your business，you need to make sure no damage is caused.To do this，you and your colleagues will need to agree on some basic e-mail etiquette(or“netiquette”).Here are some main rules of e-mail netiquette:

●Have a purpose　E-mail messages must have a real purpose.Always ask“Do I need to send this message?”If the answer is no，don't send it.

●Use the Bcc option　When sending a message to lots of people simultaneously，use the Bcc:line rather than the To:or Cc:options.This will conceal the addresses of the other recipients.^⑧

●Check the recipient address　An e-mail message that arrives at the wrong address can cause huge embarrassment.

●Don't use emotions　Emotions are icons used to indicate emotions in e-mail messages by resembling a face on its side∶∶-)for instance is the icon used to express happiness.Using emotions in business communications generates an unprofessional image.^⑨

●Be grammatically correct　Communications littered with examples of poor spelling and grammar clearly send the wrong signals.

●Keep subject lines short and specific　Ideally，they should be no longer than eight words.

●Avoid sending attachments　Many people can have trouble opening attachments and those who don't are often reluctant to do so for fear of viruses.

●Avoid HTML　Don't use HTML-formatted files because many e-mail programs cannot translate them.

●Be brief　Messages should always be fewer than 20 lines long.

●Respond quickly　Make sure you respond to message within 24 hours.

●Be legal　Make sure messages are devoid of legally sensitive material.

●Write in plain English　“Please contact me if you have any questions”is preferable to“Should you require any further information，please do not hesitate to contact me.”

To make sure you support customers online，you need to think from their point of view.Fears about security and fulfillment must be alleviated by using your site to inform and interact with visitors.The Internet can also be used to gain a better understanding of the requirements of your target audience.This knowledge can then form the basis of your customer support efforts，helping you to satisfy your site visitors on their own terms.

New Words and Expressions

21.subcontract(n.)to make a contract that assigns some of the obligations of a prior contract to another party订立转包合同

26.etiquette(n.)the practices and forms prescribed by social convention or by authority礼节

1.Buying a product from your site or making a return visit is an expression of commitment on the part of the visitor;this need to be matched by a strong commitment on your part too.本句中，前一分句由两个并列关系的动名词短语“Buying a product from your site or making a return visit”作主语;短语“on the part of”理解为“regarding or with respect to the one specified就…而言”。后一分句中动词“match”有“to correspond exactly与…相匹配”的意思。

2.The companies that achieve real staying power and long-term success recognize the importance of information and interaction for Web users and subsequently use both to express their commitment to customers.本句中，定语从句“that achieve real staying power and long-term success”修饰并限定主语“the companies”;“both”指代的是前面出现的information和interaction。

3.Verdict:英国著名的市场调研机构Verdict Research，可登录其网站www．verdict．co．uk。

4.It may come as no surprise to learn that the hardest task e-Business sites face is winning over e-shopping virgins.本句中，“It may come as no surprise．．．”可理解为“…是不足为奇的”。省去that的定语从句“e-Business sites face”修饰并限定task;动词短语“win over”意指“将…争取过来，拉过来”，本句中是指将“e-shopping virgins”(那些还没有电子购物经历的人们)争取过来。

5.The best way to do this is to sign up to one of the growing number of online reassurance schemes intended to calm nervous buyers.本句中，主语“the best way”由不定式短语“to do this”修饰。动词短语“to sign up”指“to agree to be a participant by signing one's name通过签名同意成为…的成员”。“intended to calm nervous buyers”为省去“which are”的定语从句，修饰“online reassurance schemes”(网上担保方案)。

6.Any company with a Web site should display their address and telephone number as this gives people confidence that the company has a physical presence as well as a virtual one.本句中，连词as用作“因为”的意思。指示代词this指代前面提到的“to display their address and telephone number”。

8.Bcc:line;Cc:line:Bcc指blind carbon copy:a copy of an e-mail message sent to a recipient without the recipient's address appearing in the message.Most e-mail clients include two fields labeled cc and bcc.When you enter addresses in the cc field，the message is copied to those addresses and the cc addresses appear at the top of the e-mail message.When you enter addresses in the bcc field，however，the addresses do not appear in the message.This is useful if you want to copy a message to many people without each of them seeing who the other recipients are.