TITLE : E-SERVICE: 24 WAYS TO KEEP YOUR CUSTOMERS WHEN THE COMPETITION IS JUST A CLICK AWAY.

Your company has been aggressively learning how to market on the Internet. Are you satisfied with the company's e-commerce performance? Chances are that your customers aren't. Consider these statistics:

* 63% of all online shopping carts are abandoned before checkout.

* 50% of Web shoppers give a site only one chance.

* $362 million in Web site sales are lost each month due to slow downloads.

The message is clear. Customers won't put up with second-class treatment just for the sake of flashy graphics or the chance to save a few pennies. As online shoppers, they want the same quality of service they've come to expect from offline retailers: orders filled correctly and on time-and questions and complaints addressed promptly. Fail them, and they'll quickly click over to your competition -and stick with the site that lives up to its promises, makes it easy to do business, and treats them as valued customers. If service has been taking a back seat in your e-commerce operation, your company is losing countless precious customers every minute.

So how do you achieve a level of service excellence that will more than satisfy fickle surfers and keep them coming back? E-Service supplies the answers an how to deliver standout customer service in the demanding online environment. For the first time, customer service gurus Ron Zemke and Tom Connellan share the results of their extensive research into the expectations and experiences of buyers on the Web. Examining the online world today and offering predictions for the future, they give you a blueprint that reveals how to move into the ranks of premier e-service providers and ignite the growth of your business.

"Customer service is your brand," the authors emphasize. Their proven, ready-to-implement ideas will help you:

* Determine-and raise-your "ETDBW" (easy-to-do-business-with) quotient.

* Discover what delights customers and what turns them off.

* Capture the right buyers -the ones who provide true profit- and retain them for life.

* Design home pages, order forms, and other visual elements in a way that attracts users rather than frustrating them.

* Attend to the make-or-break details of service from entry point to order delivery.

* Personalize the e-experience in a way that respects your customers' intelligence and saves them time.

* Strengthen your brand image in the marketplace.

* Recover from service mistakes, using methods that not only retain at-risk customers, but turn them into your best publicists.

The Internet gold rush is over. We've entered the sobering age of measurable performance and bankable results. But you can transform e-promise into e-profits by adding the magic ingredient: superior e-service. The road map is in your hands. Prepare yourself for an exciting and highly profitable journey!