How Top Retailers Increase Quality and Flexibility of CX without Sacrificing Cost or Security

In this digital anytime, anywhere, and any device world, customer care matters along the entire shopping journey. That’s why providing care of the utmost quality, cost effectiveness and flexibility is an absolute must in order to succeed.

Today’s channel-hopping consumers enter and exit contact or care at any stage, and often switch up their contact mode mid-journey. And with customer care agents often serving as the last brand touch before the customer’s next shopping journey begins, it’s imperative to make every experience remarkably positive.

In order to do that, brands must know what their customers are thinking and expecting from their care professionals:

#1 Quality = Empathy

Today, consumer-defined quality of experience is associated with these specific outcomes:

• Questions answered
• Transactions completed
• Issues resolved

Shoppers expect these outcomes delivered competently – and with their best interest top of mind. They must feel that their time is valued and that they are understood – especially when they’re feeling frustrated. Even if their problems can’t always be solved, sometimes you can earn a customer’s loyalty and return business by ensuring they’ve felt heard. That means that as shopper journeys grow in complexity, so does the need for empathetic customer care personnel.

#2 Flexibility = Capacity

Quality matters only if resources are available – empathy is irrelevant if you can’t answer to your customers when they need you to. Demand must be met – and matched – with capacity. Sadly, some companies can’t help but fail their customers because of geographically limited resources and high-cost or finite capacity physical environments. What they need most is the flexibility of being able to ramp up quickly and then slow down as needed – to ensure that customers are getting the seamless, attentive care they want and expect, no matter what or when.

Giving the customer exactly what they want comes with a price.

Having too many resources on hand in the event of unpredictable peaks can be costly for many businesses. Traditional contact centers often incur major costs because of unproductive time. Additionally, eCommerce merchants are expected to provide their customers peace of mind against theft and fraud with their impenetrable security measures and regulatory compliance. It all adds ups. And in the attempt to move business forward, these necessary costs end up setting many businesses back.

So how can a company provide the quality and flexibility their customers expect, without sacrificing cost or security?

By utilizing a platform with the core essential functions:

1. Provide a layered approach to security – by design and by demographic.
2. Attracts mature, risk-averse agents that invest their own time and capital to run virtual micro-call center companies.
3. Can consistently deliver the service and protection digital consumers demand across voice, chat, email, text, and social media.

Arise’s platform-based care and contact delivery – either as a baseload or supplemental capability – can bring flexibility by-design and provide you access to professional high empathy agents with an affinity for your brand that consumers identify with. That’s why Service Partners on the Arise Platform deliver superior customer experience outcomes: increased up-sell rates, close rates, and continuous out-performance of their clients’ competition.

Read our white paper to learn more about how brands like yours improve profitability in digital channels – and reduce the downside impact of unpredictability – with the Arise Platform.