On the Web, the "area" is much larger, meaning that you will be competing against a far greater number of businesses, making customer service even more important. Do you force your customers to enter billing and delivery addresses each time they order? Or resubmit credit-card details? Do you know which range of products they are interested in? These details can make the difference between keeping or losing a customer.

A recent survey by Forrester Research of 60 companies found that only 48 percent of them claim to be able to identify problems -- such as out-of-stock products or shipping errors -- before the customer does, and only 43 percent modify their services depending on how much a customer spends. The latter is especially important in high-volume businesses because you have to focus your resources on the high-spenders.

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Another important aspect of keeping the customer happy -- and one that has sunk too many businesses -- is customer service. Would you return to a business that didn't return phone messages about a product? Why be any more lax about e-mail? But responding in a timely matter to e-mail queries can quickly overwhelm a small business. It takes as many people to manage e-mail as it does phone calls -- often more. E-mail queuing and management and sophisticated chat software products aimed at customer service can help here. (See a review of chat and total service solutions). Some even let you outsource the whole process. (See "Online customer service: Operators are standing by.")

A consideration for established businesses is integrating information about your traditional customers and online ones. If a customer has a problem on the Web, he or she should be able to walk into a shop and get the problem resolved without having to explain everything all over again.

Finally, frequently survey your customers to find problem areas. There are now several such services that let you survey your Web users. (For reviews of six such programs, see "What are they thinking?" Also check out "Web-based surveys: Just ask them.")

Action items

Inventory the applications you now use to keep track of interactions with your customers. Talk to your application providers about ways to extend those applications to the Web. Survey your customers frequently to uncover customer service problems early.

Find out more

Articles: Know who I am PC Magazine tests nine electronic customer relationship management solutions that can help you find -- and use -- the right answers about your customers' online behavior. Brewing e-sales How companies are using customer relationship management tools to upsell and cross-sell to their most-profitable clients Loyalty: Why you want them coming back BizRate.com research shows loyal customers tend to spend more ZDNet Resource Center: CRM Resource Center More articles, reviews, and discussion on customer relationship management tools and services.

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