Customer Service Reps

In episode 96 of Total Retail Talks, recorded at our live podcast event in Chicago earlier this spring, Daniel Alarik, founder and CEO of Grunt Style, an online retailer of patriotic apparel, discusses his unique career path, from a drill sergeant in the U.S. Army to the head of an online retail company. In addition,…

I’ve been in the management and customer service business for longer than I care to admit, but as the decades have rolled by, I’ve learned a thing or two about what to look for when hiring and training a stellar customer success team. And at the risk of offending sensitive ears, I think it’s worth…

Tune in to learn how to use digital experiences to capture the interest, loyalty and dollars of Generation Z and millennial consumers.

On Tuesday, six retailers agreed to stop the practice of on-call scheduling after they received inquiries about it from a group of state attorneys general. They join a growing number of retailers that have vowed to ditch on-call scheduling and give their employees more predictable hours. Aeropostale, Carter’s, David’s Tea, Disney, PacSun and Zumiez all said…

Wal-Mart is deploying “Holiday Helpers” to all of its 4,500 or so U.S. stores during the upcoming months. These workers, clad in yellow vests to make them easily identifiable to customers, will be tasked with speeding up checkout time by, among other things, fetching items that shoppers may have forgotten, so they don’t lose their…

This is an actual story. I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to relate: I call an online service provider and I get auto prompts requesting more information “to serve me better.” I punch in my phone number, my social security number and my account number. I follow more prompts and punch in more numbers to…

In an increasingly digital world, online retailers can stand out from the crowd by focusing on the customer experience. One way to do that is by offering superior customer service. CARiD, one of the largest online retailers of aftermarket auto parts, is doing exactly this. Gerald Major, director of client experience for CARiD, says he…

With the holiday season now over, the joys of increased consumer spending, materialism and holiday spirit are quickly overshadowed by a spike in product returns. At these times, customer service agents can often be stretched thin and should be amply supported to maintain not only their own sanity, but customers’ as well. In order to…

My previous post outlined how consumer behaviors are changing and technology is creating new expectations. While these should be welcome developments, they're posing major challenges to retailers. That post also explained why an omnichannel-enabled contact center is a critical part of the solution. In this article, I detail how omnichannel will help retailers positively impact both…

It's sadly ironic that contact centers are frequently staffed by mobile-enabled, always-connected agents who in turn support mobile-enabled, always-connected customers, but do so with antiquated processes, technologies and incentive systems. New research from LogMeIn and Ovum shows that while the majority of consumers typically turn to the web for answers before contacting customer service, only…