The secret of success in electronic commerce lies in placing a new emphasis on a well-established area. That area is customer service, which is now the only point of(19)between a business and the buying public.
There are a number of factors in a real-world shop that (20) peoples perceptions of a business: these (21)the location and the appearance of the premises,the quality and the pricing of the merchandise or services’and the behaviour of the staff.
However, if a company is trying to make a good impression with online customers,most of these factors do not
(22) a part. In the(23) of these factors, theway customers are (24) when they have a reason to call has a fundamentaleffect on a companys ability to retain them as customers. Even more than regular telephone or in-person customers, web customers are impatient，easily frustrated andalways conscious that they have other places where they can (25) their business.Preventing them from doing that means meeting them on their own(26)andproviding them with what they want.
This necessity, in(27)，means that companies that sell over the net must getback-end functions right. Imposing(28)requirements on customers will notwork; a business that (29) on customers emailing for assistance instead of usingthe phone, for example, will lose repeat custom.
If the phone is used, it must be answered (30), and the staff should look forways of helping even the most awkward customers(31), as is more usual,trying to find some(32)to blame the customer for any problem.
An important，final point is that it is vital that all addresses，web links and phonenumbers work properly and efficiently. This ought to(33)without saying.Experience，however, shows that it does not.