Book tells how to make good cyberspace impression

To hook new customers on the Internet and keep them their trust must be earned from the first click. A new "For Dummies" book tells how, according to a news release from the publisher, IDG Books Worldwide Inc.

Suppose a customer visits a Web site and has trouble navigating it, or gets slow or rude service, or sends an e-mail that gets no response. Will that person ever return to the site again? Not likely, according to Karen Leland and Keith Bailey, founders of Sterling Consulting Group and authors of "Online Customer Service for Dummies."

Leland and Bailey offer the following tips in the book:

Make site navigation easy

Highlight and/or reinforce your site section names in some way so that the user knows exactly which section of the site they are exploring.

Make your site navigation self-explanatory. A good test is to ask yourself "could my or my friend's ten-year-old figure out how to navigate this site?"

Use a variety of navigation elements: simple links, graphic icons, navigation buttons, fancy graphics and plain old text.

Give customers a text description of what the links on your site will provide. A short sentence underneath each link makes it easier for customers to find what they want.

Include an FAQ section

After so many years in business you know the most common questions your customers, or potential customers, are most likely to ask.

To this end create a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section on your Web site that clearly states and answers these questions.

Offer a variety of contact options

One of the principles behind excellent service is to do business with your customers the way they want to do business with you.' Give customers your phone number, street address, fax and e-mail. Providing a variety of contact options makes you look more like an established business and less like a fly-by-night company.

Get back to customers quickly

The sooner you get back to your customer the better; however, a general rule is to return all e-mail inquiries within 24 hours. If you don't have the information the customer needs within this time, you may want to consider using an automated response system. This will act to fill the gap until you can get back to your customer with the necessary information.

"Real time" technology.

According to a Jupiter Communications survey, 40 percent of online customers prefer to speak with a live human being when they have questions about a product or service. Thanks to software developed by companies such as Speak-2-Talk (www.speak2talk.com) and Digiphone (www.digiphone.com) your customers can use their computers like a phone and speak with a live agent without disconnecting from your Web site. Using technology that provides a "chat room" type interface, products from companies such as LivePerson (www.liveperson.com) and HumanClick (www.humanclick-.com) allow online customers to have an interactive dialogue with a service rep via a small window that pops up on whatever page is being viewed.

Once a business has hooked customers through that all-important "first impression," it can keep them on the line by always providing excellent service.

"Customers who feel that they are in a dialogue with and listened to by your organization become highly profitable and lifelong customers who, as the relationship matures, spend more and more of their money with your customer while requiring little or no incentive to continue purchasing," wrote Leland and Bailey. "This loyalty is developed through the types of experiences customers have with your company. If you can consistently provide quick, competent service, you increase the likelihood that your customers will stay with you."

Karen Leland and Keith Bailey are co-founders of Sterling Consulting Group Inc., an international management consulting firm specializing in off-and on-line quality service. They have a combined 30 years of experience in the field.