Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Contents page:

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. pg.3

Retail customer service challenges ....................................................................................................................... pg.4

Making it better ........................................................................................................................................................... pg.8

Make it easier for customers to contact you ......................................................................................................... pg.9

Our round up of the best self-serve technology available to retailers ............................................................ pg.10

 Chatbots ......................................................................................................................................................... pg.10

 Mobile web apps .......................................................................................................................................... pg.11

 Interactive Voice Response (IVR) .............................................................................................................. pg.12

Increasing the efficiency of your agents ................................................................................................................ pg.13

 SMS ................................................................................................................................................................. pg.13

 Email ................................................................................................................................................................ pg.15

 Social media .................................................................................................................................................. pg.15

 Live chat ......................................................................................................................................................... pg.16

How can Esendex help? ............................................................................................................................................ pg.17

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... pg.22

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

3

1. Retail Week - What went wrong for Woolworths?

2. The Independent - MFI relaunches as online retailer

3. Retail Week - JJB Sports: what went wrong?

Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Introduction

The ways in which we buy products have evolved an enormous amount in the modern marketplace. Tools

such as SMS, web chat and bots have been arriving at breakneck speed - all of which add convenience,

speed and intelligence to interactions with retailers.

Failure to make use of these new tools can have devastating consequences. Remember Woolworths¹, MFI²,

and JJB Sports³? All of these retailers went out of business in part due to their failure to adapt to a digital

communication age.

On the other hand, there’s a risk of backing the wrong horse. There are so many opportunities to improve

the customer experience, that without a focused, problem-solving approach, it’s easy to see underwhelming

results and a weak return on investment.

In this eBook we’ll looking at the following:

 Identifying the problems in retail customer service

 The role of mobile in improving customer service

 Case studies from Esendex’s retail customers, showing the applications and results of

  mobile-first digital communications.

Retail customer service challengesAt some point most people have been on the receiving

end of poor customer service in retail: maybe the staff

were rude, maybe the product was bad, or maybe your

complaint wasn’t dealt with in the right way.

5

1. Ombudsman Services - Consumer Action Monitor

In fact, this is a growing problem for retail. According to the fourth annual Consumer Action Monitor¹, retail

accounted for a massive 24 percent of the 55 million complaints recorded in 2016. That’s more than the

telecoms and utilities sectors combined!

0 55million

COMPLAINT-O-METER 2016

24%

What’s even more worrying for the retail sector is that 28 percent of those customers who made a

complaint, said that they would be spending less with a business from which they’d received poor service.

This equated to a staggering £37 billion in lost revenues in 2016.

So what are the issues?

1. Customers should be seen and heard

The sheer volume of B2C interactions in the retail sector make it next to impossible to avoid customer

complaints. The key here is how to deal with them in the most effective way.

The modern shopper is well informed and knows that if they are treated badly by one business, there will be

many more who want to be their new best friend. Retailers have to make sure customers feel like they have

a voice, and more importantly are being listened to when they do hit a snag.

Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

6

We can look again to the Consumer Action Monitor to stress the importance of that point.

Modern business communications channels will play a big part in solving this problem. It’s no longer good

enough to rely on a return visit to the store, or to expect customers to wait on hold for an indefinite amount

of time on the phone waiting to speak to a representative. Customers expect to be heard fast, and at a time

that suits them.

19% 63%28%

of the consumerssurveyed felt that

after making a complaintthey hadn’t been heard

saw badcustomer service

as the norm

simply didn'tsee the point in

complaining

2. We don’t understand our customers

While complaints will never go away completely, retailers can reduce the volume of complaints they receive

by having a better idea of who their customer is and what their expectations are. More satisfied customers

should result in greater brand loyalty, a virtuous circle every retailer wants to achieve.

But building this picture isn’t easy. Being able to track which products are selling best in stores and websites

is great for providing feedback on what is happening now. But how do you know what your customers

expect tomorrow? How can retailers sensitively get under the skin of their customers to find out what

annoys them, and how they think you can improve?

Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

The importance of hunting down this information in an effective and engaging way cannot be

stressed enough.

When we factor in statistics like these, the importance of finding out what makes our customers tick is

hard to ignore.

14xmore likely for a business to sell to an existing customer than to anew one³

7x

On average, happy customers tellnine people about their experiences with a company²

more expensive to win a new customerthan it is to retain an existing one¹

7

Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector 1. Salesforce - 18 Interesting Stats to Get You Rethinking...

2. GrooveHQ - 22 Customer Support Statistics That You Absolutely Need to Know

3. GrooveHQ - 22 Customer Support Statistics That You Absolutely Need to Know

Making it betterNow it’s time to start looking at some of the solutions,

and analyse in detail the tools which we can use to solve

those issues.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Make it easier for customers to contact you

It’s a bit of a no-brainer, but giving customers multiple channels through which to contact you will increase

the likelihood of them contacting you if they have an issue, presenting you with the opportunity to fix it

before you lose their business.

Despite this many retailers insist on only providing a telephone number (which frequently results in lengthy

delays) or a basic web form, which triggers an auto-response email with a promise of a response ‘within

48 hours’.

This doesn’t drive brand loyalty because it puts the needs of the retailer - your need to stagger incoming

messages so as to not over-tax your agents - over the needs of the customer.

There are two solutions to this:

1. Increase the efficiency of your agents, so that they can handle more enquiries

2. Give customers more ability to self-serve, reducing the strain on your agents.

The two are of course linked; if you can drive a reasonable proportion of your customers through self-serve

channels, your agents will be more available to those customers who have a more challenging enquiry.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Our round up of the best self-serve technology available

to retailers

Great! What size did you want me to check for you?

Bot

Yes, we have plenty of that size in stock. If you’d like to order that today please click here.

Bot

Is that the ‘Floral Print Ruffle Maxi Dress’ currently priced at £70?

Bot

Yes

It’s 10766

Stephanie

Stephanie

Stephanie

Can you check if you have a dress in stock for me?

Hi Stephanie! Yes, sureI can. Do you have the product code?

Bot

SMALL LARGEMEDIUM

Chatbots

Bots are great for customer service as, like IVR systems, they

allow customers to self-serve around the clock, and get useful,

yet automated, responses to their customer service interactions.

This in turn represents a benefit to the business by allowing

human agents to focus on more complex customer queries.

You might also be surprised at the array of tasks that a bot

can carry out, including automatically processing customer

transactions and collecting customer data.

There are lots of platforms for bots on the market today.

Messaging platforms like Slack, Telegram and most prominently

Facebook Messenger offer toolkits which allow businesses to

automate the process when questions like “What time do you

open today?”, “What is your refund policy?” or “Is this product

in stock?” are asked.

A well designed bot can deal with just about anything you throw

at it. By using NLP (Natural Language Processing), bots are

effectively able to learn from the interactions they have with

customers, and in turn provide more intelligent and contextual

responses. Equally, there’s always the option to route an

interaction to a human agent should the situation require.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Mobile web apps

Mobile web apps go by many different names, but the

underlying principle remains the same. The customer

receives either an SMS or email, which includes a link to

a series of web pages which are optimised for use on a

mobile device. This web app is a series of optimised web

forms which put the needs of mobile phone users first

(rather than desktop users).

They remove the distractions of traditional web forms by only

including the elements hat the customer needs to complete

their journey, and reduce friction by making all interactions

touch-screen friendly. This results in a much higher

click-to-completion rate than would be ordinarily achieved

through traditional web pages accessed on a smartphone.

Mobile web apps are great for customer service in that they help businesses build a much clearer picture

of who their customers are, and what it is that they want. Businesses can carry out detailed and intelligent

surveys, with interactive features like sliders, radio buttons, and Net Promoter Score measurement tools.

By using data from spreadsheets or by hooking up to a CRM system, customer details such as their name,

purchase history and location can be used to add context to the journey, and in turn, increase engagement

rates. Some mobile web apps are able to take the data collected in the journey and import it directly back

into the CRM system automatically, prompting future action where required.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Interactive Voice Response systems

IVRs have been around for a while now and the chances are you’ve already used one. IVRs are the

telephone menu systems which enable the identification, segmentation, and routing of callers to the most

qualified agent or area.

They can be used for a variety of things like taking payments, answering customer questions and arranging

appointments - all things which make IVRs a fantastic addition to any customer service workflow.

IVRs are great for two main reasons:

1. They’re much more convenient for your customers. A customer can call your customer service line

and engage with your business immediately, rather than having to wait for a customer service agent

to become available.

This can also be done around the clock 24/7. There’s no need for an IVR to go for lunch or clock off

at 5 o’clock, meaning that you can be dealing with customers at the time which suits them best.

2. With the implementation of an effective IVR system, customer service agents will spend less time

dealing with repetitive queries, and can focus on callers with more challenging issues. The automated

nature of IVR, coupled with less dependency on speaking with a person, means businesses can

expect to see big cost savings too.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Increasing the efficiency of your agents

SMS

While all of the above technology should allow your agents to provide a better service to customers,

it’s worth considering implementing SMS as an additional

customer service channel.

44 percent of people with mobile devices would

rather benefit from the convenience of completing

a customer service journey through SMS, than

waiting to speak to an agent.¹

79 percent of contact centres are aware that

customers now expect SMS customer service

support as a standard.²

With those stats in mind we can confirm that

SMS isn’t just something that is viable for modern

customer service support - it’s something that

should already be in place.

77percent of millennials (people

born between 1980-1996) have a much betterperception of businesses who offer SMS support for customer service than those that don’t.³

1. Ameyo - 30 Significant Contact Center & Customer Service Stats

2. Ameyo - 30 Significant Contact Center & Customer Service Stats

3. Ameyo - 30 Significant Contact Center & Customer Service Stats

SMS is ideal for customer surveys

Businesses can build a clear picture of who their customers are, and what they expect, by sending them a

survey which can be completed in their own time using their mobile device.

SMS Surveys support straightforward yes/no questions, and 1-10 satisfaction rating scales, and grouping

the answers to these questions can give your business insight into the general sentiments of your

customers. Allowing customers to provide more information about a particular response gives you the

opportunity to correct a negative impression on an individual level. Both tactics help businesses make

better decisions, and ultimately have happier customers who are more likely to make repeat purchases.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Two-way interaction via SMS Chat

SMS Chat products allow businesses to send text messages and manage multiple conversations with

multiple customers, all from the convenience of an easy to use desktop portal.

SMS for delivery tracking

Customers love to know the whereabouts of their packages once they’ve placed an online order, but it

can be a bit of a pain to have to login to a webpage, enter a tracking number and then find the status

of the order. SMS can automate this process for retailers and delivery partners by triggering automatic

delivery updates to the customer. This benefits the customer, who is kept in the loop about the stage

of their delivery, and the business can ensure that someone is on hand to receive the order, reducing

re-deliveries and costs.

percent

Customer 2

Customer 2

Customer 2

Just the opening times foryour Celadon City store please.

Great! I was heading downto catch all the great offers you have on. Thanks Kate!

Hi Kate, it’s Ash here!

Hi there! My name is Kate, how can I help you today?

Customer 1

Well Kate, I hope so too. And yes, it was in your Mordor store (the one with the very rude staff).

Customer 1

Hi there Ash, what didyou need help with today?

No worries. So our Celadon City store is open from 9am-7pm (weekdays) and 10am-5pm (weekends). And just to let you know Ash, we have a sale on all week at that store!

Hello Kate, I’m Dr. Jenkins.I want to make a complaint!

Right OK. Would you be able to explain what happened please?And did this take place today?

I’m sorry that you’ve had a bad experience with us Dr. Jenkins. Hopefully I can help resolve thisfor you. May I ask if it was in oneof our stores?

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Email

Although email has been something of a victim of its own success, due to over-communication and spam

reducing the effectiveness of the channel, a study by Kentico showed that 48 percent of retail customers

surveyed still picked email as their go-to customer service channel. We also know that 94 percent of all

online retailers offer email customer support.¹

While email might not be able to boast an open rate like SMS, it can still be used by retailers as a versatile,

cost effective channel for providing great customer service.

Email can be used for just about any customer service application, including delivery updates, order

confirmations, handling queries and complaints. An additional benefit of using email is that all

communications are automatically saved, which means customer departments have a full record of

all conversations.

Email might not be the newest kid on the block, but its importance as part of a multichannel customer

service approach can’t be denied.

Social media

As the network of people using social media continues to expand, the opportunity for retailers to use social

media as a channel for providing great customer service grows with it.

Using social media allows businesses to converse with customers directly, and often in a public forum. The

added pressure of having an audience can make businesses strive to provide better customer service, and

also benefit from the great PR which comes from a well handled query or complaint.

1. HelpScout - 75 Customer Service Facts, Quotes & Statistics

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Live chat

Live chat connects website visitors with customer service agents through a simple chat interface. In theory,

it’s faster and more convenient than many channels to get an answer to any question that they might have.

Live chat isn’t the most popular customer service channel with just 14 percent of retailers surveyed

offering the facility, and only 21 percent of customers surveyed saying that it is their favourite customer

service channel.¹

However live chat does have its benefits. The real time nature of live chat not only means that customer

queries get resolved faster (which obviously benefits the customer), retailers have also seen the benefit of

using live chat as a sales booster. In fact 31 percent of shoppers surveyed in a recent poll said that they

were more likely to make a purchase after a live chat.²

1. eConsultancy - Why do online retailers need live chat?

2. eConsultancy - Consumers prefer live chat for customer service

How can Esendex help?This section aims to show you how our customers have

combined multiple communication channels to solve

some of the customer service challenges we’ve explored.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Esendex Mobile Journeys

Our mobile web app solution, Mobile Journeys, empowers customers to self-serve, providing convenience

to them, and reducing the strain on your customer service department.

Mobile Journeys are built on a platform which makes them completely customisable, both in terms of

features, and how the Mobile Journey looks and behaves.

Here’s an example of how Mobile Journeys can work for your customer service department:

Welcome screenfor Mobile Journey

Welcome!

Introductorylink throughsocial media

IntroductoryEmail with link

to Mobile Journey

IntroductorySMS with link

to Mobile Journey

Customersupplies

database oftheir customer

contacts

START

Link to3rd partyCRM for

informationupdate

Payment processing(E.g. pay store card balance)

Order status anddelivery updates

Arrange for customerservice agent call back

Frequently asked questions(E.g. store opening times)

Complete a survey fora discount voucher

Book an appointment(E.g. personal shopping assistant)

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Esendex IVRs

As well as providing the functionality you’d expect from an IVR, such as channelling customer calls to the

right department, your customers will be able to make payments, ask questions, and manage bookings

through our IVR’s easy to use routes.

An IVR reduces the strain on your customer service department, by allowing your customers to resolve their

own issues at a time that suits them best.

How a typical IVR customer service workflow could look:

Customer callsin to welcomemessage andoptions menu

START Invitation tocompletecustomer

satisfactionsurvey

Payment processing(E.g. pay store card balance)

Order status anddelivery updates

Arrange for anagent call back

Frequently asked questions(E.g. store opening times)

Transfer to acustomer service agent

Book an appointment(E.g. personal shopping assistant) Amend

appointmenttime

Amenddelivery

time

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Esendex SMS

We’ve already explored many of the applications for SMS in the retail space - delivery notifications,

customer service enquiries and surveys - we’ll now explore SMS Surveys in more detail.

SMS Surveys are a highly effective way of gathering customer feedback as they utilise a ubiquitous channel

(even the most basic mobile phone can receive and respond to an SMS Survey) and can be timed to be sent

when your customer’s shopping or customer service experience is fresh in their mind.

Hi, this is the Midland Tea Company. We’ll send you a short questionnaire to find out how happy you are with our service. For any assistance please call 0345 356 5678.

1/3 How easy was it to navigate our website? Please reply with a number between 10 (very happy) and 0 (very unhappy).

2/3 Were you pleased with the product which we supplied? Please reply Yes or No.

Thanks for completing our survey. Your feedback is really useful to us. If you’d like to speak to us, please call us on 0345 356 5678.

3/3 Are there any suggestions that you’d like to make to help us improve our service?

3/3 We’re sorry you weren’t satisfied. What was the problem?

Yes No

Free text

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Insurance provider LV= were committed to getting to the heart of the customer experience, and, prior to SMS,

used an outbound automated voice call to request feedback. This was generating a 3% response rate; switching to

an SMS Survey increased that to 27%.

Kelly Kemp | Senior Insight Analyst at Liverpool Victoria

SMS is an excellent method for getting quick feedback and enables us to take the

feedback on board in real time.

Esendex Bots

Our customer service bots for Facebook Messenger deal with all kinds of customer service topics such as:

 Frequently asked questions

 Complaint handling

 Stock checks

 Damaged goods reporting

 Processing payments

 Processing returns.

One of the key additional benefits of using a bot from Esendex is that we have built in failsafe systems if

any message from the bot cannot be delivered to the customer. Should your customer not be logged into

Facebook Messenger or not have internet signal, we’ll send the message by SMS. This guarantees that your

message gets delivered, and the conversation continues.

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Shopping for better business communications in the retail sector

Conclusion

For too long, customer service within the retail sector has been a growing issue. Obviously the amount of

B2C interactions within retail is going to be higher than any other sector, and so the amount of complaints

will be proportionally higher too. But that doesn’t excuse retail from an over-reliance on inbound phone

systems, and customers having to visit brick and mortar stores to resolve queries.

The future of customer service in the retail sector is enabling the customer to self-serve through the

channel that works best for them.

Providing the customer with the convenience of being able to choose which channel to use (SMS, voice,

mobile web apps, chatbots etc.), and the ability to automate some responses for speed and scalability is

key to both the customer and retailer alike.

Designed and published by Esendex Ltd. Esendex Limited 2017 | Registered company number: 04217280

About Esendex

Esendex is a mobile business communications provider helping thousands of customers worldwide.

We offer 1-2-1 account management to help you get the best out of your transactional and

marketing campaigns, and have direct network connections to all of the major networks,

meaning that your messages will be delivered quickly, securely and reliably.

To contact your account manager:

Call 0345 356 5758

Visit www.esendex.co.uk where our agents are available on LiveChat (office hours only).