Product recommendations, interactive customization tools and other customer engagement solutions can help make the online shopping experience more personalized and enjoyable for shoppers. These digital strategies especially impact consumers searching for specific products in certain sizes or colors.

Flutter Eyewear, an online-only eyeglasses and accessories retailer, relies on a variety of personalization tools to engage and educate consumers. People consider a variety of factors when searching for a pair of glasses — lens magnification, frame shape, size and color. A digital try-on tool, online catalog and even paper dolls help make the decision-making process for Flutter customers less of a struggle. With these tools and resources in tow, product return rates have reached only 4%, according to Patti Lee-Hoffman, Co-Founder of Flutter.

Overall, consumers rely heavily on call centers to interact with customer service agents, with 60% of shoppers preferring the channel to others, according to Forrester research. However, as online sales continue to rise, shoppers also are turning to digital channels, such as social media, email and “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) sections. By offering seamless access to customer service tools online, retailers significantly can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

ModCloth, an eTailer that specializes in vintage-style fashion and décor, has implemented Zendesk to meet the demands of a growing customer base. The cross-channel customer service solution has empowered ModCloth to streamline internal processes and improve customer response times leading, to higher satisfaction rates and overall “brand happiness.” In fact, 94% of ModCloth customers have reported a satisfactory experience, a significant difference to the retail industry average of 79%, according to Audrey Griffith, Senior Manager of the ModCloth Customer Care division.

Quality customer service is the backbone of every successful retail organization. By ensuring customers are satisfied, retailers can generate long-term loyalty, which is a key source for long-term revenue and brand advocacy.

During the webinar, titled: Get Serious About Social Customer Care, retail industry experts discussed the importance of customer service; the business effects of good and bad experiences; and how retailers can deliver a great consumer experience through changing communication patterns.

“Good customer experiences have a quantifiable revenue impact,” said Kate Leggett, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. “A happy customer is a loyal one, and loyal customers are more likely to spend their wallets with companies over the long term.”

To better reach consumers across demographics and geographic borders, retailers are expanding their brands with e-Commerce sites that reach around the world.

Crabtree & Evelyn, a bath, body and home fragrance brand and retailer, has embraced this go-to-market strategy with a cloud-based e-Commerce platform from Demandware. The luxury products company has re-launched the U.S. web site using Demandware Commerce to respond faster to shifting consumer e-Commerce trends, provide an improved user experience and extend digital commerce to mobile users.