Customer Service

The pandemic and resulting economic slowdown has been devastating to retailers. Supply chain disruptions, spending cuts, and labor shortages have all contributed to retail woes. While things have gotten tougher for retailers, customers haven’t gotten more forgiving. According to Zendesk's 2022 Customer Experience Trends, just one bad customer experience can drive consumers to shop elsewhere.…

With recent research showing three out of four consumers prefer communicating with chatbots, it’s no surprise that retail stores want to improve their digital experience. In fact, Gartner predicts 25 percent of enterprises across the globe will have a digital assistant to handle support issues, and it further supports two-thirds of customers who would prefer solving…

Facing a new era of retail in a volatile market, many businesses have had to rapidly expand or strengthen their online presence. Retailers that are thriving are doing so with the help of intelligent automation (IA). In fact, in a recent Deloitte report, 82 percent of sector leaders said “automation wherever possible will be a high priority,” and 67…

Consumer anxiety persists amid soaring inflation. Consumer confidence slid in July to its lowest level since February 2021. According to the latest survey from the Conference Board, fewer Americans think conditions will improve over the next several months and more were pessimistic about their own financial prospects for the short term. To add to consumer…

Inflation is hitting record highs, with prices rising by over 8.5 percent compared to last year. Key sectors such as food and gas are leading the trend with double-digit price increases, but all retail categories have been impacted. In this environment, customers are often unpredictable, more sensitive and more demanding. Pleasing the customer is essential…

How retail brands handle the influx of customer support inquiries during another record-shattering back-to-school (BTS) season will make or break Q3 and beyond. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), BTS spending will match 2021’s record high of $37 billion. You may be thinking, it’s August, it’s too late, school is back in session. However,…

Selecting the right customer service outsourcing partner is key to success. Cost and customer experience are likely at the forefront of your mind as you solicit support, but security should be as high of a priority to consider in the decision-making process. Cyber attackers are getting smarter, which means retailers also have to weigh risks…

Managing an efficient customer service team is a challenge, even in relatively quiet times. However, the job gets far more complex when a crisis hits. Managers can foresee some fluctuations in staffing — like during the holidays — but the true test of a retail service center’s strategies comes when an unexpected event forces the…

Your brand’s customers are getting sick of artificial intelligence, chatbots and automated experiences. Automation isn’t the enemy, but we’ve gone too far; 75 percent of customers want to interact with a real person more as technology improves.

After all the recent upheaval to the retail industry and heightened consumer expectations, omnichannel retailers are looking for ways to future-proof their customer experience (CX) strategies to ensure they’re not caught flat-footed again. Customer experience automation, which leverages digital workers to assist customers in accessing product and order information in real time from pre-purchase through…