Customer Service
How to: Empowering product experts to dazzle online shoppers
Joseph Noonan, CEO of Vee24, shares insight on how to give customer service experts the tools and training needed to provide unbeatable customer service which will equate to higher sales.
August 6, 2021 by Joseph Noonan — CEO, Vee24
U.S. consumers spent $861.12 billion online in 2020, up 44% over the previous year, and today's retailers are pulling out all the stops to attract shoppers.
A digital experience that provides an immersive, full-service experience that is as equally satisfying as in-person shopping is becoming essential. As in the brick-and-mortar store, your team — product experts and sales agents — are the key to delivering this experience.
Is your digital strategy considering the agent experience? Is your team properly trained and equipped with all the latest tools to enable them to perform at the top of their game? If your agents are supported, armed with the right information at their fingertips, and given helpful tools, they will be confident and motivated to provide exceptional service that delights your customers. Great service from your agents leads to increased sales and happy, loyal customers.
Chatbots ease agent workload, provide important customer data
AI-powered chatbots are an essential component of a retail digital strategy. Intelligent chatbots streamline customer inquiries by answering FAQs, co-browsing customers to webpages with relevant information, or seamlessly connecting them to live agents when a human touch is needed.
As chatbots interact with customers, they gather information that can be handed off to an agent when the customer is transferred to live assistance. Armed with this information, the agent is ready to help without the customer having to repeat themselves. Chatbots can also schedule appointments for customers with live agents, providing service at a time that is most convenient for the customer. By managing traffic, assisting with basic tasks, and arming the agents with information, chatbots help keep agents focused on the more interesting, complex engagements, and set up for success.
Face-to-face video chat lets agents get personal
The best way to create a personal connection is to look someone in the eye, listen to what they have to say, and react with knowledge and empathy. Online retailers are training their agents to use live video to make the virtual shopping experience a highly personalized one.
Retailers like Clarins UK are helping their product experts foster a personal connection in a virtual boutique environment, giving visitors the ability to connect face-to-face via video chat. Clarins' carefully trained product experts see the customer, listen to their beauty concerns, and help them choose beauty products that meet their specific needs. Product experts can also access CRM information so they are thoroughly knowledgeable about the customer and their previous buying history as they offer advice. High definition, live video brings the personalized boutique experience into the virtual world, fostering trust and loyalty, motivating the customer to return again and again to shop.
High-definition video helps agents show off, sell products
Clarins product experts also have access to multi-camera, high-definition video in order to display and demonstrate products to the customer as they visit the virtual boutique. HD video enables the product expert to demonstrate application techniques for various products or provide a glimpse at the quality or texture of a product the customer is interested in.
High-definition video technology empowers the product expert to provide the customer with information and reassurance, especially for big purchases that have traditionally been made in-person. UK furniture retailer DFS arms on-site sales associates with mobile video so they can give remote customers detailed, personal tours of the showroom floor. The sales staff can provide an up-close look at the shape and texture of a sofa, recommend complementary products, and respond to questions about product specs and availability. This personal attention makes the customer feel like they are experiencing products in person and generates the confidence shoppers need to move forward with a purchase.
Give agents the ability to virtually hold the customer's hand
Agents can also elevate the customer experience by guiding customers to relevant information about a product of interest or complementary offerings.
With real-time collaboration tools including co-browsing, co-form filling, and secure file transfer, product experts can make personalized recommendations and show a shopper how to use different products. They can also virtually hold the customer's hand, help them fill their shopping basket, and walk them right up to the virtual "register," increasing the likelihood that the sale will be completed.
Happy agent, happy customer
Live engagement technologies such as live text chat, video chat, and real-time collaboration increase conversions and boost average order value (AOV) by as much as 35% over unassisted transactions.
That's good news for you and your sales agents. Your team is essential to your business success with virtual shoppers. Providing them with the right technology and training can have a significant impact on their confidence and their performance. A happy, confident agent will lead to happy, satisfied shoppers and further result in sales success for your company.
Joseph Noonan is CEO at Vee24
About Joseph Noonan
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