Customer Service Reps
March 23, 2022 at 11:02 am
The interactive voice response (IVR) system has been with us for the better part of a century, with its origins dating back to the 1930s. Today’s IVRs do more than let consumers complete a range of routine tasks like checking product availability or store hours. Where brands have embraced conversational artificial intelligence (AI), they’ve found…
March 7, 2022 at 11:56 am
The convenience of online shopping is indisputable — and it continues to give brick-and-mortar retail a run for its money. While 2021 saw a rise in brick-and-mortar retail as a result of lifted pandemic restrictions and vaccine availability, e-commerce sales still grew at nearly three times the rate of brick-and-mortar. But digital retail does not…
February 10, 2022 at 10:14 am
Now that the 2021 holiday shopping season is behind us, and returns are in full force, many of the challenges for the retail industry (and opportunities) for the new year remain. These include supply chain disruptions, empty shelves, the Great Resignation, widespread web outages, and more. It’s not unreasonable to think that many customers may…
January 31, 2022 at 11:53 am
Off the heels of the busy holiday season, digital consumers are continuing to rewrite the rules of retail in 2022. To keep up with evolving demands, the industry will see the rise of a “digital workforce.” A digital workforce is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and can work alongside retailers’ sales and service reps to…
January 20, 2022 at 6:57 pm
In order to delight customers in a post-pandemic world, retailers must optimize an increasingly delicate balance between technology and a human touch. The bar for personalized experiences continues to rise, with 95 percent of shoppers adamant that they don't want to talk to a robot, and 84 percent say being “treated like a person and…
January 19, 2022 at 12:00 pm
A year when shifting consumer behaviors and heightened expectations made the jobs of customer service (CS) teams a whole lot more difficult, 2021 illuminated the rising value of great CS for brands looking to pave a path towards success post-pandemic. Navigating a historic increase in customer query volumes, dramatic operational reconfigurations, and intensifying pressure to…
January 18, 2022 at 1:53 pm
In 2022, the retail industry will have to significantly improve its customer service and customer experience (CX), which were severely impacted by the pandemic. Customer service is often the frontline for a company’s brand and reputation, and a third of consumers say that it’s worse now than prior to the pandemic. We’ve all been impacted…
January 11, 2022 at 12:53 pm
A recent Clickatell survey showed that the typical customer spends 13 hours a year on hold — hours they would rather be relaxing (58 percent), doing chores (46 percent) or spending with family (36 percent). Additionally, one-third of those respondents said spending even five minutes to nine minutes on hold can lead to negative feelings towards a brand. Even with…
January 10, 2022 at 2:37 pm
Around half of customers would switch to a competitor after just one bad customer service experience. Just one. That’s not a lot of room for error. To compete in today’s e-commerce world, retailers must invest in robust and talented customer service teams. Unfortunately, a rapid increase in online shopping plus a decrease in the labor…
December 16, 2021 at 5:51 pm
Some of retail’s busiest days are coming up fast, and contact centers everywhere are going to be stretched to their breaking point as shoppers log on and call in to ask about offers, seek recommendations, chase packages, and organize returns. Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday or the first day of January sales, the contact…
