by Both in-store and online retail often focus on displaying their products. However, this strategy alone will not lead to more sales, higher customer satisfaction, or enhanced experience (CX). We have seen time and again that human connections – meaningful exchanges and experiences between retailers and customers – are real drivers of loyalty.
Recent data shows that customers also have high expectations from retailers. According to PwC’s research, the most important factors for customers and those willing to pay a premium for them are efficiency, convenience, knowledgeable service and friendly service.
It’s one thing for companies to take note of the technology and customer experience when issues arise or the process is interrupted, but it’s wise for SMBs to always make these a priority. Find out more about what types of technologies can enhance the customer experience and make customers happier, and how to turn that information into an actionable strategy here.
Efficiency and Convenience
Efficiency is easy to overlook because when processes are strong and employees are using their time well, the business can appear to be operating at a standard level. Yet, under the hood, an efficient business doesn’t just start humming; It is driven by technology that minimizes friction, maximizes speed, and enhances the human element that every customer craves.
System consolidation plays a big role in increasing efficiency. All parts of a company’s technology suite (from CRM to POS and every acronym in between) exist when deeply integrated so that powerful AI/ML services can work across the entire system. Including customer sentiment analysis, pre-written contextual responses, anomaly detection and chatbots, to name a few, all of these services save agents time on manual tasks that distract from personalized customer interaction. On the client side, tools like chatbots or auto-triggered replies provide instant support, even on mobile; this can make a critical difference for retailers looking to improve accessibility and convenience.
Customer Context
Seamless customer experience consolidation allows retailers to passively receive, share and store all relevant customer information to improve future interactions. When these different tools are properly integrated, a unified customer service system equips service representatives with instant access to past customer interactions, product use case details, new product inquiries, and preferred engagement frequency and mode. Technology provides the right context for retailers to customize their in-store or online customer experience.
Without the appropriate context, businesses can repeatedly misrepresent a customer by repeating or giving away unnecessary information, trying to upsell a customer for a product they don’t need or already have, or otherwise. All of these common and seemingly harmless events erode a customer’s trust and confidence in a brand or seller.
Analytical
Data analytics is as important to customer service as it is to sales or marketing. However, data capture alone does not improve the customer experience. Even a fully integrated, automated and contextual customer experience system requires management and improvement based on ever-evolving market conditions. However, before a person can take appropriate action, they must be working with clean, consistent and comprehensive data from multiple customer-facing departments and interactions. This, again, is only possible when the technology is harmonized and combined.
Once a business has gathered the right information, data analytics solutions can come into play, creating custom reports, combining survey and feedback data, and providing invaluable insights into team and campaign performance. Using powerful and comprehensive customer service solutions like Zoho Desk, SMBs can customize and schedule reports detailing both the success and recession of all customer experience efforts.
Where Rubber Meets Road
Successful customer experience is a matter of combining powerful technology with meaningful human involvement. All data points in the world are zero unless businesses can effectively use insights to improve service. But unless service agents are freed from mundane tasks and provided with usable information, they cannot connect with customers efficiently and thoughtfully. This is especially true for small organizations that don’t have the time, staff, or resources to maintain a consistently high customer experience. Businesses of all sizes will find the best customer experience results with a solution advanced enough to deliver deep insights and context, while being intuitive and fun to use to drive enterprise-wide adoption.
