The retail landscape is gradually changing. Earlier, retail businesses were mainly brick-and-mortar with minimal exposure to the internet. Now, along with a physical store, every business has an online outlet as well. Several online retail stores may not have a physical outlet and are purely based on eCommerce platform. Retail BPO services are hired to provide excellent customer service in this changing landscape. As customer expectations rose drastically, you should be ready to provide service across different channels like phone, email, live chat support, social media, text, etc.
Here are some of the best practices adopted by an eCommerce call center for efficient customer service
Understanding that all customers are not the same
The subhead might sound conflicting to the practice that tells you about every customer's importance, bettering customer experience at all costs. This is correct and every customer should receive excellent customer service. However, all shoppers are not equally valuable. It will be easier if you could segment shoppers by their Customer Live Time Value. It signifies the financial worth of the relationship. A customer who frequently purchases at or close to the usual retail price will get high CLV. Customers who infrequently buy from your store and only when items are on discount, will have lower CLV. This is a time-taking segmentation procedure, and if you can't manage it all by yourself, retail call center services are there for help. After the segmentation, it becomes easy to prioritize customers with high CLV, communicating with them first, taking their calls first, offering more tailored service, and walking the extra mile to keep them contended. Of course, low CLV buyers should also be treated well.
Centralizing Product Catalogue information
The product and service order processing can become a lot smoother and speedier for the customer if all the information about the products or services are provided in one place. These comprise key features, the highest number of photographs, and also videos, where applicable. The catalog information should also include shipping details and refund/ return policies. It will decrease customer calls and inquiries regarding product information and save sales representatives time to look into other pressing issues. This is one of the essential best practices for any thriving eCommerce call center.
Leveraging analytics and focus on the metrics that matter
Efficient analytics are crucial to make sure that live chat support operates smoothly and they strap up their resources. Multiple key metrics can be applied to calculate the performance of an eCommerce BPO provider. Many of them are also applicable for financial services outsourcing.
- Call Quality: Are customer service representatives courteous, professional and providing correct information?
- First Call Resolution: How often are inbound cases resolved on the first try?
- Customer Satisfaction: How pleased are customers with their calling experience?
- Appropriate Staffing: Are there enough workforce and resources to handle the call volume during peak season?
- Response Time: How long do reps take to reply to an inbound call?
Any efficient and experienced company offering BPO services will consider these key metrics while evaluating the effectiveness of their performance. However, retail call centers often rely on a mix of technologies across several locations. Using cloud communications centralizes data collection and allows you to identify budding customer issues. As a retailer, you can focus on inventory management, do competitor analysis, and access the call center's performance with which you teamed up.
