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June 24 2008
Comment – Customer service
Are brands currently exceeding consumers’ expectations in the virtual world, and if not, what do they need to do? Neville Upton of The Listening company gives his thoughts on the subject.
Neville Upton, CEO, The Listening Company, explains why online retailers need to re-focus their attention on customer service if they are to hold onto their lucrative share of the retail industry.
Customer service is one the main building blocks on which thriving retailers need to build their businesses. But are brands currently exceeding consumers’ expectations in the virtual world and if not, what do they need to do?
It was a question we posed, together with The London School of Economics (LSE), to a 1000 UK consumers aged 18+. And the results revealed some rather worrying trends. Confirming there are significant gaps in the level of customer service offered by online retailers, our research concluded that the sector urgently needs to reassess its relationship with the customer or risk losing the colossal share of the market it has gained over its rival, the High Street, in recent months.
In particular, our research highlighted that many online businesses are failing to offer the right contact tools for customers. Despite the growing popularity of email as a communication tool, over 53.3% of those interviewed still preferred to communicate with businesses over the telephone, particularly for service enquiries, compared to 48% for email and just 16.5% for traditional mail. However when asked, 3 out of 10 consumers stated these contact details simply weren’t available on the websites they have used. What’s more the majority of the people that we spoke to stated that they have made negative purchasing decisions (decided not to use or abandon a transaction with a business) on the basis of not being able to contact a company using their preferred method of communication.
Clearly online retailers have a lot to lose if they cannot provide an adequate level of customer service, so what can be done to improve customer service?
For all, the desire for a quick resolution is a key factor in exceeding customer service expectations and the ability to achieve this, lies in the support and skill of the contact centre agents employed by the retailer to deal with customers’ queries. When asked, 53% of customers consider three minutes waiting time a satisfactory period to speak with a brand representative over the telephone. This is compared to waiting 24 hours for receiving a response when contacting a business via email. In particular, there is nothing more frustrating for a consumer than ringing a contact centre only to be met with a computerised answering service. Partly why people favour the telephone over other channels of communication is because they can speak directly to a real person. You might think that by replacing a skilled operator with an automated service you are saving money and you just might in the short term; but you risk losing brand advocacy and ultimately sales in the long term.
Overall our research has shown that like in our personal lives, as consumers, we are no longer allied to any particular mode of communication. We will select the most convenient or appropriate channel regardless of if the business operates only online. As a result, retailers need to provide their contact agents with the tools to seamlessly combine different communication channels such as telephone, email, SMS, and web chat. Additionally, agents need to have real-timer access to all past interactions with a customer. This should include text transcriptions of chats and emails and scanned copies of letters received and dispatched, ensuring the agent is fully briefed on the relationship that particular consumer has with the brand. The combination of web chat, phone and self serve significantly increases the return on investment by increasing the conversion rate and order value of the purchase made.
Meeting a customer’s expectations can result in securing them as long term brand advocates. We all know that an advocate is a company’s most important and profitable customer and if we honest, its best sales force. Experience has proven that many will only give retailers one chance to get it right. Fail to respond within the desired time or fail to resolve the query to an acceptable level and you risk losing a customer and damaging brand advocacy.
The time has come for online retailers to take a holistic view of their customer offerings. Customer’s expectations will continue to rise and online retailers need to understand that every communication that takes place with customers is not a cost but an opportunity. Embracing this ethos will ensure that the online retail industry continues to generate impressive result, at a time when retail finds itself fighting against a turbulent economic climate.
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