An article in March 28th New York Times tells the life story of Christopher Ely, a butler trained in his craft at Buckingham Palace. The article goes into great detail about Mr. Ely’s devotion to the art of ironing and laundry. In short, Mr. Ely is devoted to Customer Service. So much so, he will be teaching classes in butler related topics in New York City. His inspiration for turning in his iron for a chalkboard? “I really want to revolutionize service,” Mr. Ely, impeccably dressed and with a British accent and elfish grin, said. “I’m tired of bad service.” Yes, it all comes down to customer service.

Perhaps butlers are a unique type of customer service agent. But, it’s likely Mr. Ely is not alone in his cries for better service. In an age when you are more likely to be served by machine instead of person, pressuring online companies for improved e-service is a new idea. VeriShow; an e-service platform with multimedia Live Chat with Web Meeting capabilities suggests the following tips for impressing customers with excellent e-service.

1. Use multimedia tools to chat with your customer: Remember you are not a machine, so using a multimedia live-chat e-service platform allows you to chat, text, and see your customers through video. This builds a human relationship, which leads to enhanced trust and customer loyalty.

2. Video chat isn’t always the best way: People may choose to shop from their computer because they like shopping in their pajamas. So your customer may not want to video chat if they are still wearing their robe and slippers. Use whichever chat medium the customer wants. Don’t push video chat if the customer doesn’t want it.

3. Give your email: When e-service isn’t about shopping, it’s about service. The customer might have a question about how to use a product or which product to buy. Since you have already built a relationship with the customer through live chat, it’s likely they will prefer to follow-up with you (not someone else in the company) after your chat has finished. Give them your email address so they can reach you directly when they have more questions.

4. Provide free upgrades or free shipping, (just because): If you sense the customer is wavering, provide an incentive for them to buy. That’s the beauty of live, personal e-service, you can improvise!

5. Keep a list of common FAQ and links to relevant websites handy: There is nothing more annoying than waiting for an e-service rep to type in a webpage or answer a question with lots of miss-spellings. Copy and paste is much quicker and more reliable!