{"id":8350,"date":"2016-09-19T09:54:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T13:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.specialtyansweringservice.net\/?p=8350"},"modified":"2018-09-25T22:58:35","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T02:58:35","slug":"10-tips-outsourcing-order-taking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.specialtyansweringservice.net\/10-tips-outsourcing-order-taking\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for Outsourcing Your Order Taking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever placed an online order, you\u2019ve probably fumbled around, surfing your favorite retailer\u2019s\u00a0website for the perfect product. When you don\u2019t know the item number or exact name of what you\u2019re\u00a0looking for, it can take a little time to fill up your shopping cart. That\u2019s fine if you are sitting on the couch\u00a0watching HGTV while you browse. But what if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialtyansweringservice.net\/call-center-services\/order-taking\/ecommerce-call-center\/\">order is being placed over the phone<\/a> with the help of\u00a0an answering service? Do you want the experience to be: A) long and drawn out, or B) handled as\u00a0efficiently as possible? We\u2019re guessing that both you and your customers would opt for B.<\/p>\n<p>If your answering service is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialtyansweringservice.net\/call-center-services\/order-taking\/\">managing e-commerce orders<\/a>, there are a few website tweaks you can put in\u00a0place to ensure that each customer\u2019s phone call goes as smoothly as possible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Give every product on your site an item number. As long as the customer has the number\u00a0handy, this will allow for error-proof searching and speedy checkout.<\/li>\n<li>The operator will need to check out as a \u201cGuest,\u201d so be sure to\u00a0have a guest checkout option available on your e-commerce website. Guest checkout should be set up so that it doesn&#8217;t flag the user if it sees an email address match in your database that\u00a0would require\u00a0the visitor to login. Unless you are using a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.specialtyansweringservice.net\/dedicated-call-center\/\">dedicated agent<\/a> to answer your calls, most call center\u00a0operators are not permitted to have access to\u00a0login information for you or your callers. This maintains the security of sensitive data.<\/li>\n<li>You may have a different set of instructions to follow when placing phone orders. For example, you may not offer free shipping with phone orders, but you may\u00a0if the customer places the order themselves. If that is the\u00a0case, you&#8217;ll want to create a separate web\u00a0interface for the service. A simplified interface\u00a0eliminates operator confusion and minimizes the possibility of incorrect entries.<\/li>\n<li>If you have the resources, consider building a call center-specific version of your website that&#8217;s as trimmed down\u00a0as possible. Give the operators easy access to your search function, keep the graphics and web scripts to a minimum, and create a simple one-page checkout for the call center agents.<\/li>\n<li>If you have new catalogs shipping out, are running a television or print ad, or are doing any advertising that would cause a spike in volume, it&#8217;s best to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/support.specialtyansweringservice.net\/customer\/portal\/articles\/1225145-can-you-handle-a-high-volume-of-calls-for-promotions-or-other-situations-\">let the service know<\/a> a few weeks in advance. This will give them ample time to staff up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The answering service will also work with you on programming your script to improve call flow:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Callers may be required to provide an\u00a0item number to place\u00a0an order. If so, you&#8217;ll want to make sure the agents are asking for this information before they start the checkout procedure.<\/li>\n<li>If you have several product categories, the operators can ask the caller for the type of product,\u00a0and then pop out to the specific webpage for that category rather than search from the site\u2019s\u00a0home page.<\/li>\n<li>If the website is down for any reason, operators can take a message with the caller\u2019s information and\u00a0requested products for easy follow-up by your team.<\/li>\n<li>Specific details regarding pricing, shipping and returns can be added to your Frequently Asked\u00a0Questions as a quick reference for the operators. This will help move calls along.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s important\u00a0to have escalation procedures in place for calls that the operators can&#8217;t handle. When a customer is already\u00a0upset, taking a message and letting them know you&#8217;ll call them back isn&#8217;t always the best course.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you run a web store and outsource customer care to reduce\u00a0overhead, following the guidelines above will help you get the most out of your service, and keep the\u00a0orders rolling in 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve ever placed an online order, you\u2019ve probably fumbled around, surfing your favorite retailer\u2019s\u00a0website for the perfect product. When you don\u2019t know the item number or exact name of what you\u2019re\u00a0looking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":8367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[245],"tags":[172,171],"class_list":["post-8350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-hacks","tag-catalogs","tag-e-commerce"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>10 Tips for Outsourcing Your Order Taking | SAS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"10 must read expert tips if you&#039;re outsourcing your catalog or e-commerce order taking to a call center.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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