The most common ecommerce customer complaints

Keeping your customers happy isn’t easy. You can’t just rely on good will and the bare minimum; people want to know you care about their experience, and are actively working to constantly improve it.

In fact, 84% of consumers think that customer service is a deciding factor in making a purchase.

For ecommerce companies, however, there are unique challenges not faced by physical stores. Customers can’t see your staff’s smiles and good attitude behind a screen, after all (though with VR, who knows what’s possible?).

We’ve had a look at some of the most common ecommerce customer complaints, and how you can strategise to minimise - or eradicate - them.

I’ve paid for something, but now I’m told it’s out of stock

Overselling features prominently in the nightmares of ecommerce managers, and it also happens to be a problem unique to online shopping.

It’s one thing for a customer to be disappointed that an item has sold out. But it’s even worse when they’ve gone through checkout only to be informed it’s out of stock. Now you need to apologise and issue a refund - with no guarantee that the customer will return to your store after a souring experience.

This is mostly a problem for companies with multiple stores selling the same items. By integrating a stock control solution, such as Stockr, you can eliminate overselling by unifying your stock pool and reducing the time it takes for individual stores to update.

Where’s my order?

Your customers want to know when something is sent out for delivery, and when it’s going to arrive. If someone pays for first class delivery, they shouldn’t have to put up with anything less.

Most ecommerce companies outsource their shipping, so you’ll have to rely on whoever you’ve partnered with for fulfilment to make sure orders get where they need to be.

That said, you can maximise your fulfilment capability with powerful data integrations. By ensuring your third-party logistics (3PL) partner or shipping company is properly connected to your ecommerce platform, WMS, or ERP, your outgoing orders will be accurately monitored and your customers can be reliably updated about the status of their purchase.

I don’t like the payment options you have available

It was once a simpler time; to buy something online, the only option available was to put in your credit or debit card details.

Now, however, there’s dozens of payment options and variations of standard payment methods. And people love using them.

In fact, 67% of shoppers say they get frustrated when there’s a lack of payment options. Perhaps they’re waiting for a new card and need to use PayPal - or they could be treating themselves before their next payday and want to try a buy-now-pay-later service.

Some companies have difficulties with this because they’re doing their tech stack integrations in-house. Connecting dozens of payment apps takes time and resources away from your development team which could be better spent on other areas of the business.

With a low-code integration platform like Patchworks, you can quickly and reliably integrate your desired payment methods and avoid customer anguish.

The customer service I’ve received has been subpar

This is an interesting complaint, because we’re not just talking about customer service prior to or during a sale; we’re also talking about customers complaining about how their complaint has been handled.

It could be a minor annoyance, such as their case being handled by multiple people so they’ve had to explain the problem numerous times.

Or, perhaps it’s taking too long to resolve the problem.

One way of avoiding these complaints is by having a fully integrated customer relationship management (CRM) system. That way, you can track all of your previous contact with individuals - as well as your colleagues’ - to make sure they’re getting the best service possible.

How strong data integrations empower your customer service

One thing all of these complaints have in common is that they can often be the result of poor data integration. A lack of customer satisfaction doesn’t always mean that your service strategy is at fault; it can also mean you don’t have the right infrastructure or tech stack to alleviate problems.

Patchworks’ new low-code, self-service platform allows businesses to take control of their integrations and set up instant connections between core business processes.

That means you no longer have to spend time and money on building your own integrations. Just find the application you need, and instantly connect it with your platform.

For more information on the Patchworks platform, or to speak to a member of our team, contact us today through our website for a free consultation.