cx innovation: a retailer's guide to messaging and automation

CX Innovation: A Retailer's Guide to Messaging and Automation

CO N T E N T S

1. Meet the Modern Consumer - Introducing Gen Z

2. Why Messaging?

3. Modern Consumer Survey - The Results

4. Messaging Across the Customer Journey

5. The Top Retail Queries and How to Service Them

6. The Messaging Success Stairway

7. Delivering Unique Customer Experiences

8. The Future of Customer Experience

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3 conversocial.com | @conversocial

Meet the Modern Consumer - Introducing Gen Z

August 2019 marked the 25th anniversary of the first item

ever sold online. An album by English rock artist Sting, Ten

Summoner’s Tales, was sold for just $12.48 plus shipping. Fast

forward a quarter of a century, and 63% of US consumers now

shop online at least once per month.

This change in shopping habits didn’t happen overnight.

Consumers slowly came round to the idea of online shopping,

placing trust in retailers to protect their private information

and deliver their products in a timely fashion.

So, how can brands prepare for the next evolution of retail?

Knowing your audience is the foundation of any future planning and, in 2020, 40% of all consumers will be

part of Generation Z. Gen Z – defined loosely as people born from 1995 to 2010 – are true digital natives.

From their youth, they have been exposed to the internet, social networks, and cell phones. This early

exposure has produced a cognitive generation that influences people of all ages and incomes, as well as the

way we relate to and consume from brands (take the inspirational Greta Thunberg for example).

Gen Z have fundamentally disrupted how brands will deliver customer experience through:

● Connectivity: Gen Z are digitally savvy, and as a result are constantly connected and shun

traditional channels.

● Socioeconomic influence: Gen Z are driven by unique customer experiences – not generic ones –

valuing brands who provide this.

Ido Bornstein-HaCohen CEO, Conversocial

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11024908/20th-anniversary-of-first-online-sale-how-we-shop-on-the-web.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11024908/20th-anniversary-of-first-online-sale-how-we-shop-on-the-web.html


What’s more, they have no time for bullshit. With almost anything possible at the touch of a button – ordering

a taxi, controlling a home, or even finding true love (or whatever kind of love you’re looking for) – consumer

expectations of brands are at an all-time high (and will only get higher). If not doing so already, brands must

adapt by placing private messaging channels at the heart of their customer experience.

It may seem unnecessary to adapt how you operate as a brand based solely on the preferences of the

youngest generation. However, while Gen Z is undoubtedly the driving force behind the revolution of retail,

there is an undeniable thirst for new customer experiences across the board.

For example, 82% of Gen Z would ask product questions over private messaging channels if given the

choice. But that’s also true for 77% of all consumers.

Retail and messaging channels are now intrinsically, irreversibly linked and it’s up to retailers to provide

the kind of experiences that consumers crave. Messaging and automation has a key role to play in this

relationship management. Through the combination of humans and bots, brands are able to scale their

customer-facing operations to meet the increasing demands for attentive customer engagement.

85% of Gen Z say that good digital customer experience plays an important

role in choosing a retailer to do business with.


Why Messaging?Your customers don’t want to pick up the phone (even for their nearest and dearest), live-chat keeps them

stuck staring at a screen, and email is so impersonal.

It is clear then that the solution to keeping customers happy is not going to come from investing more money

into traditional, less effective channels. Instead, brands are approaching the situation from an entirely different

perspective: utilizing customer experiences over messaging channels, powered by bots & automation.

● Facebook Messenger: With 1.3 billion monthly users and growing, and 20 billion messages exchanged

every month (10x growth in 2 years) between consumers and businesses, Messenger is at the forefront

of customer experience.

● WhatsApp Business: WhatsApp Business is one of the biggest messaging platforms in the world, with

over 2 billion users. The quantity of messages sent daily is over 3x peak global SMS volume. In the UK,

Europe, LATAM and India, it completely dominates other methods of communication.

● Apple Business Chat: There are more than 1.4 billion monthly active Apple devices worldwide. First

launched in March 2018, Apple Business Chat gives iOS and Mac users the option to engage with brands

directly in the Messages app and utilize a range of rich customer experiences.

WhatsApp

Messenger

Google RBM

Messages

2B Users

1.4B Users 1.3B

Users

1B Users

Instagram

2.5B Users


● Google Rich Business Messaging (RBM): It is estimated that businesses will send an estimated 2.7

trillion SMS messages by 2022. RBM, with functionality that rivals customer-built apps, allows businesses

to use rich messaging to reach customers in powerful new ways.

● Instagram Direct: Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, with 80% of those users following at least

one business. With the Instagram Direct API, which will allow customers to exchange threaded messages

with business, opening for BETA to CSPs in 2020 there is another messaging monster around the corner.

With the aforementioned figures and statistics, it is clear that in 2020 every retailer needs to be ready to

offer messaging as a customer experience channel from within their contact center.

Messaging has been the fastest-growing communication paradigm for brands and consumers over the past

year and this trend will only accelerate as brand adoption rates increase. Centered around real-time private

messaging apps — like Whatsapp Business, Messenger Customer Chat, and Apple Business Chat — they

provide a continuous conversation between consumer and brand and are leading the way as the dominant

experience channels for forward-thinking retailers.

Retail and messaging channels are now intrinsically, irreversibly linked and

it’s up to retailers to provide the kind of experiences that consumers crave.


Modern Consumer Survey - The ResultsWe’ve touched upon some of the characteristics of Gen Z but what exactly do they want from their retail

customer experience? To build a better picture of the modern consumer, we surveyed over 2,000 people of all

age groups, genders, and income brackets from the United States to collate a rich data set. Here are some of

the key findings:

The Current Messaging Experience

1. 85% of all consumers say that good digital customer experience plays an important role in choosing

a retailer.

2. 82% of Gen Z would ask product questions over private messaging channels if given the choice. 77%

of all consumers would too.

3. Just 40% of consumers rate their messaging experience positively.

Summary: The digital customer experience is a key factor in how consumers select retailers. They

overwhelmingly want to ask questions over messaging channels but those who have feel disappointed

in the service. There’s an opportunity for retailers to provide richer messaging experiences that leave

customers satisfied.

Attitudes to Automation

1. 65% of consumers believe bots and AI have the potential to enhance the customer experience.

2. 65% of consumers would use an automated messaging experience to make a purchase online.

3. 60% of consumers are comfortable with current non-human interactions.

Summary: As chatbots have become more sophisticated, consumer attitudes to them have evolved.

They appreciate the speed of response and believe that they have the potential to enhance their retail

experience. In fact, the majority of consumers feel comfortable with the idea of making a purchase online

using automated messaging. A unique opportunity for retailers to create new sources of revenue.


Customer Retention

1. 66% of Gen Z have stopped doing business due to poor digital customer service compared to 55% of

all consumers.

2. When it comes to making a repeat purchase, 36% of consumers say that customer service is the most

important factor.

3. 90% of Gen Z are more likely to become a repeat customer if a retailer responds to questions over

messaging channels. 77% of all consumers are also more likely.

Summary: A poor customer experience is a huge turn off for consumers. In fact, they say that customer

service is the second most important factor when deciding to make a repeat purchase. Gen Z places

value on engaging with retailers over messaging channels. If done correctly, messaging can be a retailer’s

differentiator that inspires brand loyalty.

The Move from Social Media to Messaging

1. 78% of Gen Z have made a purchase online after being influenced by an ad on social media. This

compares to 62% of consumers across all age groups.

2. 60% of Gen Z have interacted with an advert from a retailer on social media compared to 55% across

all age groups.

3. 72% of Gen Z would make a purchase within messaging channels (such as Instagram or Messenger) if

given the opportunity. This compares to 62% across all age groups.

Summary: Social media is a great entry point for the customer journey, but it’s not a dynamic solution like

messaging. It’s up to retailers to utilize messaging platforms to communicate fluently with consumers and

build long-lasting relationships. Perhaps most excitingly, as well as being an effective customer retention

tool, messaging is a revenue generator in its own right. The whole purchasing cycle from product discovery

through to sales and aftercare is now available within the messaging ecosystem.


Messaging Across the Customer Journey

The customer journey is a continuous cycle which we like to split into three key areas: acquire, care and engage.

In each area, there are boundless opportunities to build 1-1 personalized experiences powered by messaging

and automation. Here’s an example of how a typical retailer may engage with customers across their journey.

Acquire

Drive commerce through unique and memorable experiences prior to the customer making an initial purchase.

Use Case: Send a discount code via Messenger when a customer has left an item in their cart.

Care

Resolve customer service related conversations effortlessly for happier customers and greater brand loyalty.

Use Case: Use a chatbot to automate the returns process and save your customers’ time.

Engage

Send intelligent messages to your existing customers based on their personal preferences and needs.

Use Case: Send the customer a link to an FAQ chatbot that can answer any questions about their recent purchase.

Care

Engage

AcquireInstructional

Info

Refund WarrantyService

TechnicalSupport

ExchangeOrderReturn

OrderTrackingLoyalty

Upgrade

ProductFAQ

StockCheck

Purchase +Subscribe


The Top Retail Queries and How to Service ThemWe’ve already helped to paint a picture of the modern consumer, but it’s equally as important to gain an

understanding of your most common inbound queries. Efficiency is everything when it comes to customer

experience and by anticipating the queries you receive you can create a plan to handle them more effectively.

Essentially, there are three ways of handling customer queries through messaging:

Human agents

Human agents are best utilized when responses require empathy. For example, a complaint

can be turned from a negative interaction into a positive one as a human is able to empathize

and offer an appropriate response. Human agents will take longer to respond to a query than

a bot but can offer a richer customer experience.

Automation

When used correctly, automation saves customers time and drives efficiency. It is best

implemented when queries have a limited number of predetermined responses. A chatbot

either provides options for the user to select from or is able to understand their intent using

natural language processing. For the best experience, bots should hand over to a human

agent when prompted or when unable to service the query.

FAQ Bot

Allow for customers to self-serve through deep back-end CRM integrations with tracking

systems. This will allow, for example, to track orders in channel with no need for a human

agent to be involved unless the issue requires further escalation.


The Top 5 Retail Queries

Using data from over one million customer queries across all of our retail clients, we found the top five

customer intents. Yes, each retailer will have slightly different results, so it’s important you track your own

intents, but this will give you an idea of the main reasons customers are reaching out via messaging. We also

detail the best way of handling each intent to give you an idea of industry best practices.

Where’s my order?

The most common query that retailers receive is “Where’s my order?” It’s ripe for automation as a bot can

simply ask for an order number and then pull customer data from a CRM. You could also preempt the query

by sending the consumer an update at each part of the order process from receipt, through to dispatch and

delivery.

Product details

Questions about products can vary greatly, so it’s probably a good idea to have a human agent service these

queries. If you found you had a huge volume of messages, you might want to see if there are any major

recurring themes. You could then create a bot which answered the most common product related questions.

Damaged order

This is definitely a query for a human agent. They need to be able to determine exactly what the issue is and

then assess whether to provide a refund, return or some other form of reimbursement. There’s also a high

chance that the customer requires empathetic service as they may be frustrated that their order is damaged.

Returns

While a damaged order requires the assistance of a human agent, you can deploy a bot to handle general

returns. With deep integrations to your back-end systems, the bot is able to collect the relevant information

for the customer and initiate the returns process without the need for human intervention.

Store locator

This is 100% a job for a bot. It’s likely that you’ll have a store locator already on your website that can be

utilized within a messaging channel. All it takes is for the user to enter a postcode or address. There is one

customer input and a definitive factual answer. This is a great entry point for a retailer looking to take their

first steps to customer service automation.

0101

0202

0303

0404

0505


To bot or not to bot…

While it’s easy to sit here and prescribe solutions to different scenarios, it pays to avoid looking at things in

black and white. When it comes to integrating human agents and bots into customer experience, the best

approach is a blend of the two. Bots can do most of the heavy lifting but they should also be able to hand

over to a human agent seamlessly. Each brand has its own unique challenges. Combining bots and humans

is a great place to start.

What does the future hold?

This is just the tip of the iceberg with regard to messaging customer service in the retail industry. As bots

become more advanced, there will be more opportunities for automation, allowing human agents to focus

on building relationships with customers rather than handling more monotonous, high volume queries.

"Back in 2016, Gartner predicted that by 2020, 85% of all customer service

interactions would be automated. While we’re not there just yet, it’s probably

not as far off as you think. Improvements to natural language processing

and machine learning mean that chatbots can carry out increasingly

sophisticated conversations."

Ido Bornstein-HaCohen, CEO, Conversocial


The Messaging Success Stairway Every brand is different and faces unique obstacles when integrating a new customer-facing channel.

However, we’ve pinpointed six key phases that form the foundation for any company to be able to adopt

messaging channels into their customer service repertoire. Think of these phases as the building blocks which

can be tailored to your unique internal operations, challenges, agent resources, and CRM platforms. We start

at zero by engaging with customers on social channels and then take our first steps by moving to messaging.

0

MANAGE

Engage customers on public social

channels

BENCHMARK

Serve customers on messaging

channel(s)

AUTOMATE

Understand customer intent,

automate common inquiries, gather

context for agents

PROMOTE

Promote messaging channel(s), deflect

from traditional channels

PERSONALIZE

Link customer profile, provide

personalized service for order tracking,

proactive notfications for updates

MONETIZE

Product recommendation,

purchase in channel, AR discovery,

appointment booking

1 2 3 4 50 1 2 3 4 5


Phase Zero: Manage Social Reputation

Engage with your customers on public social channels

• This is ground zero for introducing messaging channels. Begin by simply engaging with the positive

brand comments you receive from your customers on public social media channels. This helps to

establish these channels as ready and available platforms for communicating with your brand.

• You should measure the number of messages you receive that are related to customer service. Based on

the volume of messages you receive, assess what staffing levels you would need to achieve the optimum

response time and maintain SLAs.

• Prior to switching over to private, train your agents to ensure they’re well-versed in the new approach

for customer service via messaging channels, and able to handle the incoming conversations.

Phase One: Launch Messaging Channels & Begin Benchmarking

Open up your private messaging channels and begin providing customer service

• Having gauged the engagement you’re receiving across public social channels, open up a private messaging

channel – or channels – that makes the most sense from a business standpoint as a service channel.

• Once operational, start tracking the efficiency of your messaging channel and customer satisfaction.

What is the volume of messages you’re receiving? How long does an agent take to resolve the query?

How many agents do you need to serve all incoming queries while keeping response times low?

• With a newfound understanding of efficiency and customer satisfaction, you can benchmark the

effectiveness of messaging against your traditional customer service channels. Once you can prove the

benefit of messaging, you can progress to the next phase and scale your operation.


Phase Two: Automate, Self-Serve & Handover

Scale your customer service by introducing bots

• Use intelligent automation to prioritize inbound messages – based on identity and full conversational

context – and distribute them to the best individual or team, based on a fully customized workflow.

• Analyze your most common inbound customer queries and assess whether they can be automated by a

bot. Conversations that are ripe for automation tend to be simple requests such as order tracking, flight

updates, and/or store locators.

• Your bots should be flexible and understand when to resolve and when to perform a smooth, seamless

handoff to one of your human agents.

• With bots taking care of a significant portion of the repetitive inbound volume, your agents are then free

to deliver more complex and engaging customer service.

Phase Three: Drive Customers to Messaging

Promote messaging as an official customer service channel on your ‘Contact Us’ page,

promotional materials, etc.

• Promote your messaging channels everywhere that’s appropriate to communicate with your customers:

modules on websites that help answer FAQs as customers are shopping, via IVR messages, through email

blasts alerting customers that your company is ready to talk via messaging channels, etc.

• Continue to monitor and project SLA performance against volume growth trends, and plan

resourcing accordingly.

• Expect to see a drop in public comments and traditional channels as the volume shifts to private

messaging.

• Use your benchmark reports to analyze the viability of replacing your traditional channels, such as

phone, live-chat, and email, with messaging channels.


Phase Four: Personalize Service

Link messaging channels with customer profiles and information to provide personalized services

• Create a fully unified and integrated customer service hub via integration between messaging and

your existing CRM platforms. This allows your customer service agents to access a 360° view of your

customers with context.

• Utilize the information gathered to provide a proactive outbound service – e.g. send a link to view order

tracking via messaging channels prior to receiving the request from the customer.

• Allow customers to make amendments to their orders or reservations from within messaging channels.

Phase Five: Drive Revenue Via Conversational Experiences

Start monetizing your messaging channels

• It must be stressed that this is the very final step and should not be attempted without first conquering

all of the prior phases.

• Build lifelong customer relationships that drive loyalty and long-term revenue through timely, intelligent

messaging. For example, a retailer may message a customer reminding them that they have left a

product in their cart without ordering it.

• Utilize the efficiency of messaging to resolve product or service queries quickly and drive additional revenue.

• Integrate your messaging channels with payment facilities, such as Apple Pay, to process payments

in-channel.

As with the adoption of any new service, it can be difficult to know when to take the leap of faith away from

traditional channels and adopt new technologiies that enhance your customers’ experiences. However,

navigating these phases step-by-step (with our close support, ideally) will ensure you’re on the clearest path

to future-proofing your contact center and setting yourself up for CX success.


Delivering Customer Experiences through Messaging We believe that there are very few retailers who are currently in a position to deliver sophisticated customer

experiences through messaging. It’s vital that the foundations from Phase Zero of the stairway through to

Phase Three are in place before implementing any of the following experiences. However, the following

examples set out what can be achieved when brands invest in placing messaging at the heart of their CX

strategy.

Phase Three: Drive Customers to Messaging

Phone Deflection

Pound-for-pound, phone is the most expensive means of

delivering customer experience while messaging is the most

cost-effective. Start driving people from phone to messaging

by deflecting volume with Chat Suggest. When a customer

clicks to contact a phone number registered with Apple

Business Chat, the option to message the brand is dynamically

presented alongside the click-to-call button.


Phase Four: Personalize Service

Automated Appointment Booking

Link your online presence with your brick and mortar stores

by automating appointment bookings via messaging. Sephora

were able to increase the number of clients showing up for

appointments by 109% simply by offering a seamless booking

process.

Phase Five: Drive Revenue Via Conversational Experiences

In-thread Transactions

During a conversation with a customer or prospect via

messaging channels, retailers have numerous opportunities

to drive towards a transaction. Why drive customers to

webpage or another channel when you can reduce friction

by automatically and seamlessly enabling a purchase directly

within the messaging conversation thread?


The Future of Customer Experience The experiences outlined in the previous chapter foreshadow a future where the customer doesn’t even

interact with a website. They’re able to research a product, book an appointment and even make payment all

within a conversational experience. Being able to build 1-1 relationships with your customers in messaging

channels is an extremely powerful tool.

App adoption rates are at an all-time low. Brands are switching off their public social channels. It's time to

move to messaging.

Combining bots and humans to deliver rich customer experiences over

messaging channels is the future. Are you ready to take your first step?

To carry on the conversation with us on customer experience best practices, tweet us @conversocial or join the discussion on our blog.

If you’d like to find out more about how Conversocial is helping brands to leverage messaging and automation, you can request a demo here.

https://twitter.com/conversocial

https://www.conversocial.com/blog

https://www.conversocial.com/demo-request

cx innovation: a retailer's guide to messaging and automation

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