Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) allow marketplaces to ensure third-party sellers deliver customer service to their clients within an acceptable time frame.
Amazon for example dictates that customer queries are responded to within 24 hours. Meet the SLA, and all is good. Fail to respond in the timeframe and a behind-the-scenes internal Amazon rating system marks you down. Fail several times and your account can be suspended or even shut for good.
Why? Because these are Amazon’s clients, not yours. A person unhappy with how long it took for an answer on their new toy purchase is likely to spend less time on Amazon, with the possibility that Amazon will not be their first port of call for their next purchase. That customer doesn’t know who you, the seller is, and often doesn’t care. It’s all about Amazon.
So meeting Amazon’s (and other marketplace) SLA’s has got to be a priority if you’re to maintain a healthy relationship.
The hidden stakes of SLA’s: why they matter more than you think
Sure the marketplace cares about the commission it will retain on the sale of your $20 product, but it cares much much more about the life-time-value of the customer who will likely buy thousands of dollars worth of product over several years. To lose a customer due to poor seller support is thus a very bad thing for Amazon!
But there are upsides too.
That same internal seller rating that Amazon holds dear is also a factor when they calculate whether you own the Buy Box, or list high on the options presented when a customer searches for a product. By presenting sellers who deliver great service at the top, Amazon knows that the customer is likely to continue to rely on it, and buy more. Delivering super-quick responses is one way to ensure Amazon’s algorithms hold you in good stead.
And of course those customers who receive great service from a seller will often bookmark that seller and bypass Amazon search to repurchase directly from you. In the best cases, a customer might even go to the effort of finding you outside of Amazon – thereby building a relationship with you, buying more product, and of course, free of marketplace commission charges.
SLA’s across Marketplaces: a universal standard
Other marketplaces behave in the same way. Depending on their sophistication they will apply greater or lesser importance to SLA adherence when deciding whether your product will feature on customer search. Whilst eBay, Mirakl, Walmart etc may have different expectations in terms of time-to-solve, the basic premise is the same.
So there you have it, look after your SLA’s, improve your sales. Simple 🙂
How eDesk can help you master SLA’s
eDesk is a helpdesk solution made just for sellers like you. It has built in SLA alerts for all incoming tickets. You can set different response time-limits based on different marketplaces and even apply SLA’s to support from your own sites. Sellers using eDesk achieved a staggering 97.2% SLA compliance in 2024.
Ready to take control of your SLA’s and elevate your marketplace success? Start a free trial with eDesk today, or book a call to explore how we can support your growth.
