Customer experience (CX) can make or break a brand’s success. With so many online retailers competing for customers’ attention, you need to prioritize CX and make it a fundamental part of your business strategy. One crucial element of CX is contact center best practices.
In this article, we’ll explore five best practices e-commerce businesses can use to improve CX through advanced communication, technology utilization, and proactive issue resolution.
1. Dynamic Customer Engagement
Modern customers expect communication that’s convenient, personalized, and in real-time. With advanced tools and technologies, e-commerce contact centers can proactively engage customers through dynamic and personalized interactions.
It’s no secret that generative AI disrupted the contact center landscape. The pivotal year was 2014 when the advent of generative adversarial networks (GANs) laid the groundwork for revolutionary advancements. Fast forward to the present, and AI-driven chatbots have become the backbone for enhancing customer interactions.
AI-driven chatbots offer swift, personalized, and efficient responses, delivering added value to customers, and boosting CX. Some of the key benefits integrating this technology include:
- Increased productivity: by handling routine queries, agents can focus on more critical issues that require human expertise.
- 24/7 availability: AI-driven bots can operate around the clock, providing support outside of business hours.
- Automated routine tasks: while handing repetitive and mundane tasks, agents can focus on delivering personalized interactions.
- Scalability: AI-driven chatbots enable contact centers to scale their operations since they’re particularly useful during peak periods.
Other generative AI examples include cloning for virtual assistants, script generation for agents, appointment scheduling, knowledge base, call summarization, virtual agents, etc. For instance, personalized emails help businesses connect with customers by tailoring communication to their specific needs and preferences.
2. Efficient Query Resolution
E-commerce businesses must be quick to respond and resolve shopper queries. Customers get frustrated and unhappy when they must wait a long time or receive incorrect support.
This can lead to them leaving or submitting negative reviews. Therefore, you must consider process optimization to improve query resolution.
One way e-commerce businesses can achieve this is by using technology to streamline support processes. You can enhance your contact center platform by integrating AI knowledge bases and chat systems. These tools will assist agents in efficiently resolving queries by organizing and prioritizing them. Such measures reduce wait times and improve query resolution accuracy, fostering better CX.
3. Multi-channel support
Consumers expect support across different channels, devices, and platforms, regardless of where they are in their online purchasing journey. Therefore, for better CX, businesses must embrace an integrated multi-channel approach that considers customers’ preferred communication channels.
For instance, a shopper might start browsing a website, have a chat conversation, and call support if unsatisfied with his experience. Customers want a smooth experience across different channels, so businesses must connect communication channels to provide a consistently good customer experience.
4. Empowering agents with technology
Providing support to e-commerce customers is challenging because it demands patience, empathy, and technical knowledge. Agents need real-time access to customer data, inventory, and shipping information to provide personalized and efficient support. This is where the latest technology helps.
For example, cloud migration of contact centers brings about cost efficiencies, scalability, flexibility, and adaptability. By eliminating the need for large upfront investments in hardware and infrastructure, organizations with work-from-anywhere capabilities can focus on improving agent satisfaction and opening access to a broader talent pool.
Employing technology such as CRM, inventory management, and shipping tracking systems helps agents resolve issues faster. Technology helps agents by providing valuable information, saving time searching, and allowing more time for urgent customer inquiries.
Integrating AI with traditional support tools is another way to empower agents with additional insights and contextual information that enable better customer engagement.
5. Proactive Issue Resolution
Most e-commerce problems are usually with the customer purchase. Shoppers often encounter website downtime, payment failures, out-of-stock items, transaction challenges, or poor mobile optimization.
For instance, an order that went through but has not yet been shipped. In this situation, e-commerce businesses should adopt a proactive approach by anticipating potential issues, even before customers realize it. Microsoft’s latest customer service report states that 68% of customers will appreciate businesses that act proactively.
One way is to monitor interactions on different CX platforms like Genesys, NICE, Talkdesk, Five9 and use the information to solve problems before they arise. Meanwhile, deploying AI-driven machine learning models can help detect unusual patterns and behaviors, preventing potential fraud.
Wrapping It Up
E-Commerce businesses can enhance purchasing experience by effective communication, streamlining processes, and addressing issues early. Use these contact center best practices to improve shopping experience, guarantee customer loyalty, and make a long-lasting positive impact.
