For so many of us, checking out a sale at a local department store or looking online for a deal on a new device is both a necessity and fun. But, what happens when these experiences are sub-standard? For those in the retail trade, this reality is becoming more common in their captive contact centers, and leading to customer churn. Overcoming these challenges may mean thinking outside the box, but all options need to be on the table for retailers to both win new customers and retain existing ones.
Providing customer support for clients in the retail space is not easy. This was highlighted in some recent survey data collected by Ryan Strategic Advisory, which identified some interesting CRM trends among retailers. For instance, the adoption of digital channels in this sector is pronounced, and in many cases it exceeds the cross-industry average. According to the survey results, email has 100% penetration among retailers, while social media in being deployed by more than four-out-of-five firms in this category. There is also significant take-up of SMS, instant messaging and web-chat. This is no surprise considering the trend towards ecommerce, which now accounts for nearly 12% of US retail sales. This begs the question, "how can retailers guarantee the best possible service across so many channels?"
This issue is amplified by retail contact center investment priorities. The survey shows that the emphasis for customer experience executives in this sector relates to expanding capabilities in digital channel delivery, applying automated CRM solutions and a renewed focus on agent training (presumably to better service customers across non-voice platforms). These are all very worthy areas of investment, but here is where things get tricky for retail contact center managers.
One of the most worrying data points that Ryan extracted from his survey was around budget flexibility; if contact center executives plan to move forward with developing more rounded digital channel deployments, optimally-trained agents and new automation initiatives, having the resources with which to do so is a no-brainer. But, the recently-published findings show that in the coming two years, over half of all retailers see their CRM investment flexibility remaining flat or shrinking. This will result in poor interactions, half-baked digital solutions and lost loyalty among consumers.
Retailers need to approach this contact center paradigm creatively. With so many being in a tight financial position, finding new ways of ensuring channel availability and automating more aspects of front-office interactions will be difficult. However, to win new customers (and to keep old ones), those retailers that cannot invest appropriately need to reach out to new service partners that have the right experience and technology ready to go. This will provide these retailers with an immediate advantage relative to under-resourced competition, which is crucial especially as more purchases and support are done digitally. So much is changing in how consumers buy products, and having the best third-party customer experience solutions as a differentiator is a must for progressive retailers.
Written by Stephen B. Ferber
