Blog

Tackling the retail customer service shortfall

Jaime Scott, CEO and co-founder of EvaluAgent, offers insight on why it's crucial retailers ensure that store associates are happy, engaged and delivering top-tier customer service.

Photo by istock.com

February 19, 2020 by Jaime Scott — CEO, EvaluAgent

When times are hard, it is natural for business leaders to look to reduce their expenses. However, while some cost-saving initiatives can be a lifesaver in the face of financial difficulties, others are a false economy that ultimately end up costing a business far more in the long run.

The struggles of the retail industry have been well-documented over the past few years, with brick and mortar retailers in particular battling a worrying decline in footfall and spending.

In addition to store closures, many retailers have been attempting to offset this decline with widespread redundancies — both in store and in their customer support teams.

Not even the retail giants are immune. Following six years of dwindling sales, it was announced at the beginning of 2020 that luxury department store Macy's would be closing one of its call centers, affecting more than 800 jobs.

Unfortunately, while streamlining customer service departments may initially seem an effective way of cutting operational costs, job losses can have an extremely damaging impact on remaining employees and, as a result, the ongoing success of the business.

When businesses close whole customer support departments, or greatly reduce the number of customer support employees, this invariably increases the workload for those who are left, with often a drop in customer service levels as a result. Employees are often expected to field the same number of customer queries but with far less support.

When workloads are too high, and agents feel their teams are unappreciated and knowingly under-resourced, this can quickly lead to falling levels of employee engagement.

Why is engagement so important?

We know that providing customers with a consistently positive experience is one of the best ways for retailers to improve customer retention. This is vital, particularly in today's challenging trading environment, as it has been shown that increasing customer retention rates by just 5% can increase profits by 25%.

Given that customer support carries out much of the critical communication with customers, a well-run customer support team can make or break customer satisfaction levels and make a huge difference to loyalty and retention rates.

So, what makes a well-run customer support team? Put simply, engaged and motivated employees often make the difference between a successful support team and a struggling one.

An engaged employee feels an emotional commitment to their team, the organization and its goals, and will do everything they can to ensure the success of the business and the well being of their colleagues.

Engaged employees typically perform more efficiently and effectively than other employees, with research showing that they are 21% more productive. This means they are likely to provide a much better customer experience and help to differentiate their organisation from the competition.

How to improve customer satisfaction by boosting employee engagement

Bearing in mind the critical role that customer support teams play when it comes to the retail customer experience, retailers should ideally prioritize their customer service departments and ensure they have invested in sufficient resource.  

However, for those retailers that have already begun to reduce their customer service workforce, it will be even more essential to ensure that the remaining employees are as supported, engaged and motivated as possible.

Fewer, more engaged, employees may be able to produce better results than large numbers of unhappy, disengaged workers, so the support of those remaining needs to be the highest priority.

From suitable software, to open communication and effective processes, employees need to be able to operate efficiently in this more demanding environment, without the customer noticing a negative change in service levels.

In order to make significant improvements, retailers need to consider the four pillars of employee engagement: feedback, investment, culture and recognition.

Effective feedback

Annual performance reviews are not enough; employees require regular, constructive, well-delivered feedback in order to stay focused and motivated. Positive reinforcement is essential when it comes to making employees feel appreciated, and even negative feedback can help to drive engagement, provided it is paired with suggestions as to how the employee can develop their skills and improve their performance.

Investment

Growth opportunities are a significant driver of employee engagement. Ongoing learning and development programmes give employees a sense of value and purpose, and help to show that their employer is invested in their future and achievements. Training doesn't have to be expensive; HR departments should be able to advise on free courses that are available for employees, for example.

Culture

It's important that employees do not just feel like another cog in a machine. One thing that many high performing organisations have in common is a positive, supportive workplace culture. Businesses should be constantly exploring new ways to improve their corporate culture and show employees that they are valued as individuals.

Recognition

While reward and recognition are often mentioned in the same breath, it isn't always the obvious things that motivate employees. Recognition can be just as, if not more, powerful than a reward. Recognition programmes are a great way to show appreciation for top performing employees, particularly when the recognition or thanks comes from senior member of the business.

We are undoubtedly in the midst of a retail customer service shortfall, which, if not given careful consideration, could lead to widespread decline in customer satisfaction and damage to retailers' reputations and profits. It's therefore crucial that retailers ensure the staff they do have are happy, engaged and delivering top-tier customer service.

Jaime Scott is CEO and co-founder of EvaluAgent.