Retail Sector CX: Go from Miserable to Memorable

Although it is one of the better-performing sectors, retail CX has been stuck in neutral for the last several years. Would you believe that the ACSI index for online retail is lower now than it was a decade ago? We set out to know why and here is what we found:

1. State of Digital Customer Service Report 2020, (Source: Dimensional Research)

• 56% of shoppers received multiple answers to the same question across touchpoints or customer service reps
• 73% do not believe that digital customer service in the retail sector has significantly improved

2. Forrester survey on top customer service pain points 2015

• Retail scored dead last in findability of answers on websites and agents not knowing the answer to customer queries

3. State of Agent Experience Report 2022 (Source: BenchmarkPortal)

• Almost half of contact center agents surveyed said that customer interactions are not all in one place
• 61% of agents say that queries are becoming more complex, yet 65% of agents have no knowledge and AI guidance tools to solve these queries

So, how can retailers get out of the CX rut? Interestingly, the above findings give us a roadmap to moving the needle on both CX and AX (agent experience) transformation. Here are the steps to take:

Accelerated by generational preferences and the pandemic lockdowns, shoppers have doubled down on digital with 80% saying that they had increased the use of digital channels during the pandemic. Moreover, today’s digital customers want to go beyond simply checking prices or their order status to accomplishing more complex tasks such as agent-assisted form-filling and online problem resolution and contextual advice. This would require retailers to go beyond the basics to provide service through next-gen touchpoints like knowledge-backed chatbots, messaging, live chat, cobrowsing, in-app service, and proactive omnichannel notifications.

While self-service is getting increasingly smarter and more effective, there are still queries from digital-first shoppers that require human assistance over digital channels like messaging and chat and if all else fails, over the phone or in person, when the retailer has brick-and-mortar presence. If customer conversations are not all “hubbed” or unified into a single desktop, customer service agents will not have complete context. They then wind up asking the consumer to repeat information, a big no-no for good CX.

56% of shoppers point to the lack of knowledge among agents and inconsistency of answers as the top deterrents to retail customer service, per the Dimensional Research survey, mentioned above. The cause? Inconsistent knowledge silos across the enterprise. The solution? An omnichannel knowledge hub with content management, conversational AI, generative AI, and analytics, all unified and orchestrated in one place. This approach will ensure that the knowledge—content, knowhow, and insights—is correct, consumable, compliant, and consistent.

Technology matters as the world goes digital and AI. So do best practices and domain expertise. Make sure you pick a partner whose technology is proven and who has had success at scale in the retail sector, while being compliant with privacy and security standards. Also, does the vendor provide end-to-end services, including training/education, implementation, and managed services? Do they have a formalized customer success program? Do they offer risk-free production pilots—not just a toy sandbox—to try out their solution with expert guidance, all free of charge in the pilot phase. Vendors’ willingness to put real skin in the game shows their commitment to your success and confidence in their own solution.

Prioritizing digitalization, unifying conversations and knowledge with omnichannel hubs, and working with a proven solution provider will enable retail CX and AX to go from miserable to memorable!

Originally published on Retailcustomerexperience.com