Top Holiday Pet Peeves Every Ecommerce Specialist Must Avoid

Have you ever felt like your holiday cheer was slowly being smothered by the routine of Christmas shopping? Unfortunately, with all of the hustle and bustle, it's common for holidays to become more stressful than exciting. However, one way to avoid that is to learn about some of the top pet peeves of eCommerce specialists.

These behaviors can often be overlooked or misinterpreted by customers, but if your customer support team avoids these flubs, you'll not only have happier customers but increased profits as well.

Keep reading to learn about the top holiday pet peeves and how to avoid them.

1. Not offering a free gift with purchase at the time of purchase

Whether it's a toy, key chain, or other valuable item, customers are less likely to purchase if they don't believe they'll get something in return for their money. Giving them that something right away will encourage them to spend more in the store rather than online.

2. Not offering free shipping on time-sensitive orders

The holidays are all about convenience. As an ecommerce specialist, you need to ensure that your customers get the gifts and food they're buying as quickly and easily as possible. If products cannot be shipped on time, you'll risk losing sales in both the current holiday season and during the following year.

3. Not having a process for accepting returns for orders

It's essential to have a clear policy on returns to avoid confusion among your customers, but even more so that you can prevent product damage when items are returned or exchanged.

4. Not having a process for exchanging damaged goods

If an item is damaged on delivery, your customer doesn't want to wait for an exchange to happen because it could take as long as two months before the next order is delivered. If you build a ecommerce website that offers free shipping on all orders, you'll also need to have a process for processing returns of damaged items if they're returned from the customer or found when they arrive at your store.

5. Not communicating with customers effectively

Ecommerce coordinators might not realize that the customer service department and the shipping department are separate departments, but customers often confuse them to get an answer.

Your ecomm team needs better training on how to effectively communicate with customers.

6. Setting unrealistic return deadlines

After all, your customer service team must know that customers are not always going to send back a defective item before the deadline you have set. If you set the deadline as soon as it's received, you increase the risk of losing profits on returns that could have been processed earlier.

7. Not having a policy for handling refunds due to damaged or defective products

It's easy to get caught up in the hustle of the holiday season, but without a plan in place for handling returned products, your ecomm company runs the risk of losing money on refunds due to damaged or defective products.

Have a solid holiday marketing plan

Ecommerce specialists must have a solid marketing plan in place before they start the holiday shopping season. Just like other store owners, they need to know how much time and money is going to be invested in the marketing process.

This way, they can plan and prepare their staff in advance so that they don't run into any trouble when the holidays get closer.

Make sure your ecomm team have a good understanding of the obstacles that lie ahead, ensuring smooth marketing on time.