The Chat Revolution – Is Retail Ready?
As retailers work to differentiate themselves in a competitive environment, customer service is proving to be more important than ever. And, like most services, technology has dramatically changed the landscape in which companies operate.
For decades, in-person and phone where the go-to options to resolve most customer issues. Today, consumers can choose from multiple service channels – website, email, text, chat, and social, to name a handful. Although voice remains a popular option, especially when it comes to complex customer service issues, of the multitude of non-voice options, chat is on the rise.
Over the years, Convergys, the leading U.S. customer management firm, has fielded numerous surveys to find out exactly what customers want when they reach out to businesses. The most recent survey shows that chat is, by far, the fastest growing channel for customer service. This growth is directly tied to customers’ expectations that companies should value their time.
Customers are less concerned about niceties; they want results, and chat has proven to be an incredibly effective means of solving customer problems.
Interestingly, it’s not just millennials looking to chat to handle their customer service needs. While the younger generation undoubtedly prefers chat over voice, more than a third of customers over the age of 57 already use chat for customer service, and usage among this group continues to grow.
With this in mind, what does this mean for retailers?
1) Chat should hold a prominent place in a retailers’ customer service strategy. Chat isn’t just a fad. It’s increasingly the preference of a consumer culture that wants everything – including service – to meet them where they are. Trying to dictate channel only leads to additional frustration.
2) Having the right agents can make or break a chat program. The most effective chat programs co-exist with voice programs. Why? The best chat agents are those with strong typing, multi-tasking and written communication skills, and an existing understanding of the brand. Utilizing strong voice agents on a chat program also creates career progression and leads to better employee retention.
3) Analyzing the data acquired through chat customer interactions is incredibly important, but is dramatically different than mining data for a voice program. Establishing the required standards and developing them into something a business can use to improve efficiencies is a critical piece of the puzzle. Working with a company whose sole focus is customer service can avoid costly mistakes and make the vast amount of data that exists in chat interactions actionable.
Customer service is increasingly a mix of human talent and technological advances. Businesses need the technological savvy to serve their customers wherever they want to be served, but they also need people with the necessary skills to solve problems quickly. It’s certainly possible for large enterprises to effectively navigate this rapidly changing landscape on their own. But, whether you’re a retail giant, or a small business looking to rapidly expand, the most proven, cost effective method to deploy a customer service strategy that seamlessly integrates chat – is to look to the experts that have already done this successfully. Let them guide you through the revolution in customer service.
Kathy Juve, SVP Product Development and Marketing, Convergys Corporation