Sixty-two percent of retail CX professionals agree that antiquated on-premises contact center technologies are limiting their ability to connect with omnichannel customers, yet 81 percent of retailers continue to use them.
A seamless, consistent customer experience (CX) is now an imperative. Customers expect fast, flexible, and personalized service, but many brands are lagging under the weight of outdated CX technology. Leading retailers are transforming their contact centers to drive increased satisfaction and connections, creating long-term customer value.
Connecting the omnichannel journey
As agents and digital associates are tasked with handling more issues, engaging across new channels, and operating from remote environments, yesterday’s technology is not capable of providing the scale, flexibility, or agility needed to meet the needs of the modern customer.
Cloud-based contact centers have the power to connect the pre-purchase and post-purchase experience in a meaningful way for brands and their customers. They elevate self-service, streamline customer journeys, augment agent performance, and help to uncover rich customer insights. With the right tools, CX will be more satisfying, agents will be more productive, and experience designers will be more capable of meeting specific needs.
“Our vision is to reinvent the contact center from being reactive, transactional, and not ‘on-brand,’ to being a key lever for engagement and revenue that drives customer experience excellence across all channels,” said Shannon Colquhoun, V.P. of Retail, E-Commerce and Consumer Goods at Talkdesk.
Providing flexibility and choice
AI and automation have the power to dramatically elevate all facets of CX operations, yet only 31 percent of retail CX professionals report using AI in their contact centers today. Innovative brands are using cross-channel bots and intelligent routing to optimize omnichannel CX. Their customers are able to quickly solve more problems on their own, and quickly reach helpful agents when they cannot. Automation tools also play a role in elevating internal operations. They handle repetitive back office processes, freeing agents to focus on more complex, brand-enhancing work that leads to revenue generation.
AI can assist agents by providing predictive insights, next-best-action recommendations, cross-sell and upsell recommendations, instant knowledge base lookups, and more. Automation and AI can fuel a more robust customer intelligence program, analyzing every interaction, and helping CX leaders glean valuable insights about customer affinity, sentiment, and intent.
Customer intelligence hubs
Seventy-two percent of retail CX professionals are experiencing an increased demand for customer data analytics. Cloud-based contact centers can serve as a critical hub of customer intelligence by providing operational feedback loops for all departments. Product teams gain actionable insights into which features create the most loyalty or frustration. Marketing teams benefit through an understanding of how to build deeper customer connections. And sales and merchandising teams benefit by learning what customers are saying about their buying experiences.
Exceptional customer service
“At Tuft & Needle, we provide a seamless mattress shopping experience for all customers, through all channels,” said Amber Scott, head of CX for Tuft & Needle. “Talkdesk enables us to meet our customers where they are and strengthen the connections we have with them. Their industry standard for uptime and consistent product innovations have helped us grow as a business and cement our ability to provide some of the best customer experience in ecommerce.”
The idea of a contact center that is versatile, customer-centric, omnichannel, and AI-driven is not a fantasy. It is a reality that Talkdesk makes possible, helping leading brands deliver great omnichannel experiences that establish powerful competitive advantages. See it for yourself by scheduling a demo at www.talkdesk.com.