By Anand Janefalkar,
UJET
As consumer values and priorities are shifting
towards a more multichannel and digital experience, we are watching the retail
industry evolve right before our eyes. However, whether you’re online, in a
store, or in an app, simply having a great product and a competitive price is
no longer enough. According to the 2019 State of Service report by Salesforce,
80% of customers now consider their experience with a company to be as
important as its products.
Limited time offers, flash sales or referrals
might be good for a short-term fix, but retailers that want to truly outpace
their competition need to take a different approach. In order to truly capture
the voice of the customer and create a more personalized and streamlined
experience for customers, retailers need to look inward at the customer support
organization and the contact center. Here are three ways retailers can leverage
customer support to create the ideal customer experience.
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Gathering Data And Feedback
Your contact center and support agents
arguably have more daily interactions with your customers than anyone else and
have direct insight into who your customers are and how they are interacting,
connecting, and feeling about your products and services. Today’s contact
centers provide the data-driven context and automation needed to keep pace with
customers. They also are a premier location for retailers to tap into in order
to paint a real-time picture of who their customers are, how they are using
their products and what improvements can be made.
It’s All About The App
According to App Annie’s State of Mobile 2019 report, in
2018, U.S. consumers spent 60% more time in shopping apps than they did just
two years prior. Mobile shopping is the next frontier of retail, but creating a
unique mobile experience goes beyond exclusive offerings and QR codes. By securely
leveraging in-app information and capabilities such as purchase history,
previous support issues, text, photos and videos, retailers can automate
incoming support issues and safely direct customers to the right agent,
expediting the entire process. Customers today communicate with each other
through multiple channels, such as voice, text, images and more, so it’s only
natural that retailers use these channels as well.
Be Where Your Customers Are
Retailers know this better than most: you
can’t reach your customers if you’re targeting the wrong places. For most, this
means, are they shopping online or in the store. However, some of the best
cross-sell and upsell opportunities can come from a better understanding of the
different channels customers are using when they are reaching out for support.
This can be extremely helpful for marketers in particular. For example, if the
insights from your support team show that the majority of your customers reach
out via your mobile app, then leveraging in-app messaging could be an effective
way of driving future updates and announcements.
Like many other industries, retail is becoming
driven by technology. As competition becomes more intense, retailers need to
explore every option at their disposal that can give them a competitive advantage.
For most, this means exploring third-party research data or advertising
campaigns, both of which come at a substantial cost. In reality, the most
effective and efficient way for retailers to capture the voice of their
customers is to partner from within and leverage the contact center and support
agents to create a customer experience that is second to none.
As Founder and CEO of UJET, Inc., Anand
Janefalkar has 15 years of experience in the technology industry and has served
as a technical advisor for various startups in the Bay Area. Before founding
UJET, he served as Senior Engineering Manager at Jawbone, and also previously
contributed to multiple high profile projects at Motorola.
