OMNICHANNEL CUSTOMER CARE:

THE TECHNOLOGY EQUATION

A RETAIL DIVE PLAYBOOK

DESIGN DRAFT

T o retailers, it probably seems like there are as many ways to commu-nicate with customers as there are

customer types. Millennials want to text or chat (anything but talk). Boomers want human contact. Other customer groups might prefer social media interaction. The list goes on.

To address these various customers, retailers have to be ready and adaptable—and the consensus right now is that they’re not. But retailers are aware of the problem: Recent

findings from research firm Periscope indicates that 78% of retailers believe they lack a consis-tent customer experience across channels, nor do they have an integrated customer service methodology to achieve that unified 360-degree view of their customers.

Knowing is half the battle, as the saying goes. The good news is that technology is available to address that inconsistency for retailers, and it’s not just one specific technology platform. Many different technology options exist that

can help retailers not only customize how and when they communicate with different cat-egories of customers, but also streamline the customer care experience.

Here, we take a look at which consumer trends matter long-term, how retailers can best assess and expand both their current technol-ogy portfolio and some of the innovations that could help propel retailers to an omnichannel customer care reality.

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ASSESSING THE FIELD OF RETAIL CUSTOMER CARE

A chieving that Holy Grail of retail customer care—the 360-degree customer view, combined with

the ideal technology mix for omnichannel customer interaction—begins with each re-tailer’s individual assessment of its unique customer situation.

The initial challenge is deciding where to make technology investments that are most in line with their customers’ communica-

tion preferences. The first step is analytics. Retailers must analyze how their customers’ experiences translate to repeat business, loyalty and revenue.

Retailers need to understand the data as it relates to satisfaction, resolution rates, contacts per order by channel, beta and A/B testing so that they can better anticipate how it will impact the consumer, according to Robin Gomez, director of operational ex-cellence at Radial. And in order to do this, retailers need to not just have data, but have the right data and historical data.

Here again, there’s a challenge: According to Periscope’s research, when surveyed about reasons why they have trouble delivering om-nichannel experiences, 67% of retailers cite lack of customer analytics across channels; 45% cite poor data quality.

Mining that data is a matter of aggregation from multiple systems and tools, which can be different for every retailer and even every agent.

67% of retailers cite lack of customer analytics across channels; 45% cite poor data quality.

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“Not every agent is using every tool [all the time]—there’s a lot of variation,” Gomez said. This variation changes depending on the customer, the issue and the types of products. Regardless of any of this, the goal is to make the interaction seamless for the customer and as easy as possible with as few systems as possible for the agent. According to Gomez, “there could be 20 [or more] tools that they might have to learn and use to provide good service to their various brand customers.”

Using separate tools based on the customer and channel is common, so the goal is to make the process as easy as possible with as few systems as possible. That said, retailers need to leverage technology that’s as diverse as their client set to get the most out of their customer care interactions.

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TAKING STOCK OF CUSTOMER CARE TECHNOLOGY

F or retailers, taking inventory of customer care technology capabil-ities starts with assessing the mix

and identifying any gaps and inefficiencies. Potential technologies run the gamut: contact management, interactive voice response, call recording, CRM, chat tools, automation and more. The possibilities and combinations are virtually endless and have a similarly endless array of potential applications, depending on the specific retailer, not to mention the vertical in which a given retailer operates. “Having a wide, diverse client set allows us to leverage and implement and use a variety of tools and practices and technologies and understand what works in what situation,” Gomez said.

Making determinations about what’s best from a technology standpoint goes back to data —understanding why customers are con-tacting retailers, and what their disposition is. According to Natalie Kotlyar, assurance partner for consulting firm BDO and leader of BDO’s Northeast Retail & Consumer Products Practice, the biggest challenge retailers face is knowing their customers.

“Retailers need to know if customers are mil-lennials, for example, and that they expect to be contacted in a certain way—they’re probably more prone to texting, email or Facebook,” Kotlyar said. “That comes from data gathering, via the app individual customers download, placing an order, a follow-up phone call, noti-fication of a shipment and the like. All of those touchpoints go to knowing the customer and how to approach that customer.”

Here’s one scenario that illustrates the value of that knowledge: A large brand-name apparel retailer had relied on phone and email for customer support for close to a decade. Those solutions were working, but based on data

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gathered about its customers’ interaction pref-erences, the retailer decided to add chat to its mix to help drive faster service, and increase conversion and service efficiencies.

As a result, 20% of that retailer’s customer service volume now comes through chat. Agent efficiency and cost savings increased, since agents could handle up to three chats at a time versus one phone call or email. In addition, the retailer’s chat client has a 15% conversion rate, driving a significant amount of revenue in this case.

To this point in the process, the quest for om-nichannel retail, 360-degree customer care is largely a mechanical or digital one, driven by analytics and technology. The next step is more difficult to predict, because it involves people.

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W hile technology is critical for successful omnichannel customer care, it’s just as much

a people business. Given that, the human side of customer care (when people actually interact with the customer) is just as critical, and the bottom line is that the two must exist in tandem.

“It’s as much a people business as it is a tech-nology business,” said Ricardo Layun, Radial’s general manager and director of customer service. “You can’t have great people if you don’t have great technology, and you can’t have great technology if you don’t have people who know

KEEPING RETAIL CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS HUMANIZED

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how to use it.” That’s why it’s so critical that once retailers have the right people in place, they take steps to make sure those people are knowledgeable and know how to effectively utilize the technologies in place.

There are many important factors for equipping an effective omnichannel customer care team: providing the right training on how to use systems and tools, simplified user interfaces, reduced numbers of touchpoints, brand and product knowledge, and most of all processes that are repeatable—particularly during busy periods like seasonal demand spikes.

“Retailers also need to consider agent empow-erment,” said Layun. “[They need to measure] success not only by the way an agent sounds on the phone and handles the interaction, but also the empowerment agents have at their fin-gertips.” For example, are they able to adjust a transaction that’s much more complex than it was in the past? Agents need to become advocates of the brand they’re supporting —not just someone who has been trained to answer the phone and follow a procedure, but

someone who really knows the ins and outs of a product and can upsell/cross-sell companion products that the customer might be interested in buying.

Agents are not just answering the phone—they are the retailer’s front-line brand advocates, and they must be trained and equipped in such a way that they thoroughly understand customers’ likes and dislikes so that they can make person-alized recommendations.

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For most retailers, succeeding in omnichannel customer care is about change — and the ability to change is not retailers’ strong suit.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSPARENCY FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

D espite the importance of technol-ogy when it comes to customer care, retailers must work hard to

make it transparent. Making it transparent to the customer addresses potential aversions certain customers might have to technology. But being technology-averse is not universal, said Kotlyar of BDO.

“Some younger customers are not as bothered by all the retailers leveraging technology and gathering their information,” she said. “The

baby boomer customer may find that more invasive.”

The bottom line with customer service is that it’s critical for retailers to convey human inter-action—even when that interaction is fueled by technology.

“When someone has to focus on what the tech-nology is telling them to do, it’s clear they’re not focused on the customer, Gomez said. “An agent may have 10 things going on his or her desktop, but the focus must be on engage-ment and building rapport with the customer. The emphasis should be on customer need and leveraging technology to bring forth that information to the agent when they need it.” Moreover, technology should not be the sole driver of the interaction.

The ultimate benefit of technology in an om-nichannel service environment is to enhance retailers’ bottom lines—to leverage infor-mation to improve customer relationships,

increase retention and drive sales. That’s why retailers invest in technology in the first place. But according to data from Forrester Research, more than 40% of retailers say they are struggling to implement the required technology across all their channels, while 39% of consumers say they are unlikely to visit a retailer’s store if it can’t deliver on the desired experience.

Technology itself doesn’t change overnight, but customer preferences might, and when they do,

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retailers must be prepared to adapt. The future is certain to drive toward more automation: artificial intelligence, for example, along with greater options to resolve customer requests through automated chat or apps on a mobile device. Overall customer interaction is likely to become faster and geared toward self-serve res-olution as consumers become more comfort-able with increased automation.

For most retailers, succeeding in omnichannel customer care is about change—and the ability to change is not retailers’ strong suit. Periscope’s research findings suggest that retailers’ biggest challenges are embracing organizational

change, removing silos and implementing technology that works seamlessly across teams and channels.

But there is hope, in the form of technology: All of the tools required to accomplish the necessary transformation exist. It’s up to retailers, and their partners if they outsource, to assess their current technology situations through research and analytics, determine the right combination of technology for their unique situations, and implement the changes necessary to achieve the desired 360-degree customer vantage point. Embracing innovation will help propel retailers closer to an omnichannel customer care reality.

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Radial is the leader in omnichannel commerce technology and operations, enabling brands and retailers to profitably exceed retail customer expectations. Radial’s technical, powerful omnichannel solutions connect supply and demand through efficient fulfillment and transportation options, intelligent fraud, payments, and tax systems and personalized customer care services.

Hundreds of retailers and brands confidently partner with Radial to simplify their post-click commerce and improve their customer experiences. Radial brings flexibility and scalability to their supply chains and optimizes how, when and where orders go from desire to delivery. Learn how we work with you at www.radial.com.

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